无妄 → 損
Hexagram 25: Innocence → Hexagram 41: Decrease
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5).
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 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
方軸圓輪，東行不前。組囊以錐，失其事便。還師振旅，兵革休止。
A square axle in a round wheel; eastward it will not advance. Piercing a pouch with an awl; losing its proper use. The army returns, troops withdraw; arms and war come to rest.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A square axle fitted to a round wheel — the carriage cannot move eastward. Piercing a brocade bag with an awl, one ruins its proper function. The army returns and musters for dismissal; weapons and armor are set aside. From Innocence to Decrease, the transformation reveals how mismatch and misuse lead to deliberate reduction. Sun's image of the mountain above the lake — the lake's depth nourishing the mountain's height — represents purposeful sacrifice of the lower to benefit the upper. The square-axle metaphor captures wasted effort from fundamental incompatibility, while the pierced bag shows tools destroying what they were meant to serve. Only withdrawal and disarmament restore balance.
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