无妄 → 蠱
Hexagram 25: Innocence → Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
Line 1
初九 无妄。往吉。
Nine at the beginning means: Innocent behavior brings good fortune.
Line 2
六二 不耕穫。不菑畬。則利有攸往。
Six in the second place means: If one does not count on the harvest while plowing, Nor on the use of the ground while clearing it, It furthers one to undertake something.
Line 3
六三 无妄之災。或繫之牛。行人之得。邑人之災。
Six in the third place means: Undeserved misfortune. The cow that was tethered by someone Is the wanderer's gain, the citizen's loss.
Line 4
九四 可貞。无咎。
Nine in the fourth place means: He who can be persevering Remains without blame.
Line 5
九五 无妄之疾。勿藥有喜。
Nine in the fifth place means: Use no medicine in an illness Incurred through no fault of your own. It will pass of itself.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
驂駕蹇驢，日暮失時。居者無憂，保我樂娛。
Harnessing a lame donkey to the cart; daylight fades, the hour is lost. Those who stay at home have no worry; they keep their ease and pleasure.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lame donkey is hitched alongside the carriage horses, and by nightfall the traveler has missed his chance. But those who stay at home have no worries — they preserve their joy and ease. From Innocence to Work on the Decayed, the transformation illuminates the relationship between mismatched effort and domestic contentment. Gu's image of wind beneath the mountain suggests decay arising from stagnation, yet the verse inverts this: the one who ventures out with inadequate means fails, while the one who remains behind thrives. The lame donkey among chariot horses captures Wuwang's lesson about right action — sincerity must be matched with capacity, or the journey collapses before it begins.
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