Hexagram 25
无妄
Wú Wàng
Innocence
Upper Trigram
乾 Qián
Heaven — Creative
Lower Trigram
震 Zhèn
Thunder — Arousing
Classical Texts
The Judgment
元亨利貞。其匪正有眚。不利有攸往。
The Image
天下雷行，物與無妄。先王以茂對時育萬物。
The Lines
Line 1
初九 无妄。往吉。
Line 2
六二 不耕穫。不菑畬。則利有攸往。
Line 3
六三 无妄之災。或繫之牛。行人之得。邑人之災。
Line 4
九四 可貞。无咎。
Line 5
九五 无妄之疾。勿藥有喜。
Line 6
上九 无妄。行有眚。无攸利。
Young Hare
Albrecht Dürer, 1502
Innocence
A young hare crouches in alert stillness, fur rendered in translucent washes of brown and gray, each whisker catching light. Albrecht Dürer painted this creature in 1502 as a nature study, working from direct observation to capture the animal's exact proportions and textures. The hare's watchful eye and tense readiness suggest not naivety but complete attunement to immediate reality—no calculation, no strategy, only responsive presence.
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Zhou Dynasty diviners called this configuration Wu Wang (無妄), meaning "without falseness" or "the unexpected." The character suggests freedom from deception, particularly self-deception. Heaven (Qian) sits above Thunder (Zhen): creative force moves spontaneously downward into arousing action, unmediated by deliberation. The hare embodies this structure—heaven's natural order expressed through thunder's immediate response. Ancient practitioners saw this hexagram when circumstances demanded instinctive rather than calculated action, when overthinking would corrupt natural correctness. Dürer's 1502 watercolor study depicts a hare in naturalistic detail, capturing the animal's alert posture and textured fur. The creature sits in a state of natural being without artifice, embodying the hexagram's theme of innocence and spontaneous action aligned with natural instinct. The Judgment text states directly: "If someone is not as he should be, he has misfortune, and it does not further him to undertake anything." Innocence here means alignment with one's genuine nature, like the hare being fully hare. Dürer's careful rendering paradoxically captures what cannot be staged—the creature's unselfconscious being. Zhou court records show this hexagram appearing when advisors counseled rulers to trust first impulses over clever schemes. The text warns that "innocence" means freedom from artifice, not ignorance; the hare's alertness demonstrates intelligence without guile. The Image Text offers unexpected counsel: "The kings of old nourished all beings according to the seasons." Natural timing governs innocent action—the hare remains still when stillness serves, bolts when movement serves, never forcing against the moment. In the I-Ching's sequence, Wu Wang follows Return and precedes Great Accumulating Force. After restoration of the fundamental (24), one moves with natural correctness (25) before gathering strength (26). Dürer's hare, poised between rest and flight, inhabits that readiness without agenda—power available but not deployed, innocence as capacity rather than weakness.
Yilin: Forest of Changes
From Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — the verse for Hexagram 25 in its unchanging form. A Han dynasty collection of four-character verses interpreting every hexagram transformation.
夏臺羑里，湯文厄處。皋陶聽理，岐人悅喜。西望華夏，東歸無咎。
Xia Tai and Youli; where Tang and Wen met their trials. Gao Yao judged with discernment; the people of Qi rejoiced. Looking west toward Huaxia; returning east, no fault.
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Xiatai and Youli — the prisons where King Tang and King Wen endured unjust captivity before founding their dynasties. Gao Yao, the legendary minister of justice, listens and adjudicates, and the people of Qi rejoice. Looking west toward the central kingdoms, then returning east without blame. From Innocence to Innocence, the self-referential transformation doubles the hexagram's meaning. Tang and Wen suffered innocent misfortune — the very essence of Wuwang — yet their imprisonment became the crucible of dynastic virtue. Gao Yao's just hearing restores order. The verse encodes Wuwang's complete cycle: the innocent suffer, justice eventually prevails, and one returns home without fault.
中文注释
夏臺羑里——商湯囚於夏臺，文王囚於羑里，皆無辜受難而終成大業。皋陶聽理——上古法官秉公審判——岐人悅喜。西望華夏，東歸無咎。從無妄至無妄，自指之變卦將卦義加倍。湯、文之獄正是無妄之極致——無辜受災——然囹圄反成鍛造王業之熔爐。皋陶之公正聽斷恢復秩序。詩編碼無妄之完整循環：無辜受難，正義終至，歸而無咎。
Related Hexagrams
Same upper trigram: Heaven (乾)