Hexagram 4: Méng (Youthful Folly)
山水蒙 · 第 4 卦 · Mountain over Water · 中文版
The Judgment
Meng (indicates that in the case which it presupposes) there will be progress and success. I do not (go and) seek the youthful and inexperienced, but he comes and seeks me. When he shows (the sincerity that marks) the first recourse to divination, I instruct him. If he apply a second and third time, that is troublesome; and I do not instruct the troublesome. There will be advantage in being firm and correct.
蒙：亨。匪我求童蒙，童蒙求我。初筮告，再三渎，渎则不告。利贞。
Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan)
In Meng we have (the trigram for) a mountain, and below it that of a rugged defile with a stream in it. The conditions of peril and arrest of progress (suggested by these) give (the idea in) Meng. 'Meng indicates that there will be progress and success:' - for there is development at work in it, and its time of action is exactly what is right. 'I do not seek the youthful and inexperienced; he seeks me:' - so does will respond to will. 'When he shows (the sincerity that marks) the first recourse to divination, I instruct him:' - for possessing the qualities of the undivided line and being in the central place, (the subject of the second line thus speaks). 'A second and third application create annoyance, and I do not instruct so as to create annoyance:' - annoyance (he means) to the ignorant. (The method of dealing with) the young and ignorant is to nourish the correct (nature belonging to them); - this accomplishes the service of the sage.
彖曰：蒙，山下有险，险而止，蒙。蒙亨，以亨行时中也。匪我求童蒙，童蒙求我，志应也。初筮告，以刚中也。再三渎，渎则不告，渎蒙也。蒙以养正，圣功也。
The Great Image
(The trigram representing) a mountain, and beneath it that for a spring issuing forth form Meng. The superior man, in accordance with this, strives to be resolute in his conduct and nourishes his virtue.
象曰：山下出泉，蒙；君子以果行育德。
The six lines
Line 1 (first): The first SIX, divided, (has respect to) the dispelling of ignorance. It will be advantageous to use punishment (for that purpose), and to remove the shackles (from the mind). But going on in that way (of punishment) will give occasion for regret.
'It will be advantageous to use punishment:' - the object being to bring under the influence of correcting law.
In plain words: To open up ignorance, it is favourable to use punishment to set people straight, and to remove the shackles in time; to go on this way brings regret. The shackles are fetters for the feet and hands. At the start of teaching, clear rules are needed, but rules are there to set people on the right path, not to manage them with punishment for ever. The Small Image says punishment is used to set the law right.
初六：发蒙，利用刑人，用说桎梏，以往吝。 象曰：利用刑人，以正法也。
Line 2 (second): The second NINE, undivided, (shows its subject) exercising forbearance with the ignorant, in which there will be good fortune; and admitting (even the goodness of women, which will also be fortunate. (He may be described also as) a son able to (sustain the burden of) his family.
'A son able to (sustain the burden of) his family:' - as appears from the reciprocation between this strong line and the weak (fifth line).
In plain words: Bearing with the ignorant brings good fortune; taking a wife brings good fortune; the son can run the household. The second line is the only yang line in the lower trigram and sits at its centre: it is the teacher. It can bear with many who do not yet understand, and it corresponds to the fifth line, like an able son who holds the family together. The Small Image says the son runs the household because firm and yielding meet.
九二：包蒙吉；纳妇吉；子克家。 象曰：子克家，刚柔接也。
Line 3 (third): The third SIX, divided, (seems to say) that one should not marry a woman whose emblem it might be, for that, when she sees a man of wealth, she will not keep her person from him, and in no wise will advantage come from her.
'A woman (such as is here represented) should not be taken in marriage:' - her conduct is not agreeable to what is right.
In plain words: Do not take such a woman as wife: when she sees a man of wealth she cannot keep hold of herself, and nothing is gained. The third line is weak, neither central nor correct. It ought to correspond to the top line but clings instead to the nearby second line, a picture of forgetting one's commitments at the sight of gain. The Small Image says such conduct does not follow the right way.
六三：勿用取女；见金夫，不有躬，无攸利。 象曰：勿用取女，行不顺也。
Line 4 (fourth): The fourth SIX, divided, (shows its subject as if) bound in chains of ignorance. There will be occasion for regret.
'The regret arising from ignorance bound in chains' is due to the special distance of (the subject of this line) from the solidity (shown in lines 2 and 6).
In plain words: Trapped in ignorance: regret. The fourth line has yin lines above and below it and is far from the second and top lines, which could teach it; there is no teacher to ask. The Small Image says the regret of being trapped comes from standing alone, far from what is solid. "Solid" refers to the yang lines, a picture of people with ability and virtue.
六四：困蒙，吝。 象曰：困蒙之吝，独远实也。
Line 5 (fifth): The fifth SIX, divided, shows its subject as a simple lad without experience. There will be good fortune.
'The good fortune belonging to the simple lad without experience' comes from his docility going on to humility.
In plain words: Open to teaching like a child: good fortune. The fifth line is yielding in the place of honour and corresponds to the second; it is willing to set aside its rank and learn from below, which is why it is fortunate. The Small Image says its good fortune lies in being yielding and modest.
六五：童蒙，吉。 象曰：童蒙之吉，顺以巽也。
Line 6 (sixth (top)): In the topmost NINE, undivided, we see one smiting the ignorant (youth). But no advantage will come from doing him an injury. Advantage would come from warding off injury from him.
'Advantage will come from warding off injury:' - (the subject of this line) above and (the ignorant) below, all do and are done to in accordance with their nature.
In plain words: Striking at ignorance; it is not favourable to act like a robber, but favourable to ward robbers off. The top line is strong at the peak of the hexagram, and its teaching is severe; but severity should only keep harmful things out and must not turn into harm to the student. The Small Image says that warding off robbers lets those above and below go along together.
上九：击蒙；不利为寇，利御寇。 象曰：利御寇，上下顺也。
Line positions
1 of the six lines stand in their proper place (strong lines in odd places, weak lines in even places).
The second and fifth lines hold the central places of the lower and upper trigrams; being one strong and one weak, they correspond.
Of the three pairs of corresponding places (first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top), 2 pairs are made of one strong and one weak line.
| Line | Proper place | Central | Corresponds with |
|---|---|---|---|
| top (strong) | — | — | 3rd line: yes |
| 5th (weak) | — | yes | 2nd line: yes |
| 4th (weak) | yes | — | 1st line: no |
| 3rd (weak) | — | — | top line: yes |
| 2nd (strong) | — | yes | 5th line: yes |
| 1st (weak) | — | — | 4th line: no |
Strong lines belong in odd places and weak lines in even places; the second and fifth are the central places; first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top correspond, and they "respond" when one is strong and the other weak.
These are structural conventions, not scores of good or bad fortune. Commentators differ: Wang Bi treats the first and top places as beginning and end without fixed yin or yang positions. Read each line with its Small Image and the whole hexagram.
Place in Jing Fang's eight palaces
Jing Fang grouped the 64 hexagrams into eight "palaces" of eight, each headed by a doubled trigram. Changing the lines of the head hexagram one by one from the bottom gives the next five; the last two are the "wandering soul" and "returning soul" hexagrams. The Li palace runs: Lí (head), Lǚ (1st change), Dǐng (2nd change), Wèi Jì (3rd change), Méng (4th change), Huàn (5th change), Sòng (wandering soul), Tóng Rén (returning soul).
A recorded case from Takashima
Meng to Sun: Tanaka Heihachi entrusts his brother to Takashima: Tanaka Heihachi wanted to place his wayward younger brother in Takashima's household to be straightened out, and the cast gave the first line of Meng, "to lift ignorance, use discipline". Takashima read it as setting firm rules and keeping the young man at home, and foresaw that the mother would find it too strict.
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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction.