无妄 → 革
Hexagram 25: Innocence → Hexagram 49: Revolution
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 6).
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
枯旱三年，草葉不生。粢盛空乏，無以供靈。
Scorching drought for three years; grass and leaves do not grow. The grain offerings are empty and spent; nothing to offer the spirits.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Three years of withering drought: not a blade of grass nor a leaf grows. The sacrificial grain vessels stand empty, with nothing to offer the spirits. From Innocence to Revolution, the transformation reveals nature's most brutal correction. Ge's image of fire within the lake — two incompatible elements in direct contact — demands radical change. The three-year drought strips everything to its essence: no harvest, no ritual, no communion with the divine. When the earth itself ceases to yield, the existing order has exhausted its mandate and revolution becomes not choice but necessity. The empty offering vessels are the most damning image: a regime that cannot feed its gods has already lost heaven's endorsement.
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