无妄 → 升
Hexagram 25: Innocence → Hexagram 46: Pushing Upward
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 6 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
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.
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
三雁南飛，俱就井地。鰕鰌饒有，利得過倍。
Three geese fly south; together they settle in well-watered fields. Shrimp and loach abound; profits double and more.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Three wild geese fly south together, arriving at the well-fields — the ancient grid system of Zhou agriculture. Shrimp and loaches abound in the irrigated paddies, and profits more than double. From Innocence to Pushing Upward, the transformation traces natural migration to agricultural prosperity. Sheng's image of wood growing within the earth captures the slow, organic rise of well-rooted growth. The geese follow their instinct southward; the well-fields yield their harvest without force. The verse embodies Wuwang's ideal: when action aligns with natural pattern, abundance arrives effortlessly. Pushing Upward's steady, methodical ascent — accumulating small gains into great — mirrors the fish multiplying in the fields below.
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