无妄 → 剝
Hexagram 25: Innocence → Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5).
Line 1
初九 无妄。往吉。
Nine at the beginning means: Innocent behavior brings good fortune.
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
行露之訟，貞女不行。君子無食，使道壅塞。
The lawsuit of "Dew on the Path"; the chaste woman will not walk it. The noble man goes without food; the proper way is blocked.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
The Shijing ode 'Xing Lu' tells of a chaste woman who refuses an improper marriage and faces litigation for her refusal. The righteous woman will not go. The gentleman has nothing to eat, and the Way itself is blocked. From Innocence to Splitting Apart, the transformation traces integrity's cost to its bitter end. Bo's image of the mountain crumbling upon the earth represents structural collapse — yang stripped away until only a single line remains. The virtuous woman's refusal and the gentleman's hunger both embody this erosion: when innocence holds firm against a corrupt world, the world does not yield but strips away every support. Yet the act of principled refusal itself preserves what matters most.
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