无妄

Hexagram 12: Standstill → Hexagram 25: Innocence

Standstill
Heaven / Earth
无妄
Innocence
Heaven / Thunder
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 1).

Line 1

初六 拔茅茹。以其彙。貞吉。亨。

pulling
máothatch
by the roots
thereby
uprooting its
huìwhole cluster
zhēnpersistence
promising
hēngfulfilling

Six at the beginning means: When ribbon grass is pulled up, the sod comes with it. Each according to his kind. Perseverance brings good fortune and success.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramHeaven Heaven
Lower TrigramEarth ThunderThe Receptive → The Arousing

Yilin Verse

陰冥老極,陽建其德;履離載光,天下昭明;功業不長,蝦蟆代王。

Yin, dark and aged, reaches its extreme; yang establishes its virtue. Treading the bright, bearing radiance; all under heaven is illumined. Yet glory does not last; the toad usurps the throne.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Heaven and earth stand apart as darkness reaches its extreme and yang reasserts its virtue. Treading upon fire brings radiance, and the world grows bright once more. Yet the achievement does not last: a toad usurps the throne. The 'toad becoming king' may allude to Han-era apocryphal lore where the toad in the moon represents yin's reassertion — a grotesque pretender displacing legitimate authority. From Standstill to Innocence, Pi's stagnation transforms into heaven with thunder moving beneath — the shock of genuineness, action aligned with cosmic truth. The verse traces a full cycle: yin exhausted, yang restored, brilliance achieved, then corrupted by a grotesque usurper. Innocence demands purity of motive; the toad on the throne is its antithesis.

The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store

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