无妄 → 夬
Hexagram 25: Innocence → Hexagram 43: Breakthrough
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 6).
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 6
上九 无妄。行有眚。无攸利。
Nine at the top means: Innocent action brings misfortune. Nothing furthers.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
白虎黑狼，伏司亦長。遮遏牛羊，病我商人。
White tiger, black wolf; lurking in ambush along the road. They block the cattle and sheep; bringing harm to our merchants.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
The white tiger and black wolf lurk in ambush and domination. They block the passage of cattle and sheep, harming the merchant's livelihood. From Innocence to Breakthrough, the transformation exposes the tension between predatory obstruction and the decisive force needed to overcome it. Guai's image of the lake rising to heaven demands that accumulated pressure be released in a single, resolute act — the decisive removal of what is harmful. Yet the verse presents the predators still in control, the merchants still suffering. The breakthrough has not yet come; the white tiger and black wolf still command the road. The hexagram's promise is a call to action, not a guarantee of safety.
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