无妄 → 豐
Hexagram 25: Innocence → Hexagram 55: Abundance
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 5, 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 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
河水小魚，不宜勞煩。苛政苦民，君受其患。
Small fish in the river's shallows; one should not vex them with toil. Harsh governance afflicts the people; the ruler bears the consequence.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
The small fish of the river should not be troubled with too much handling — an echo of Laozi's famous dictum that governing a great state is like cooking small fish, requiring a light touch. Harsh governance torments the people, and the ruler himself suffers the consequences. From Innocence to Abundance, the transformation turns on the paradox of power at its zenith. Feng's image of thunder and lightning arriving together represents overwhelming force and clarity combined. Yet the verse warns against precisely this excess: abundance of force misapplied destroys what it governs. The small fish ruined by overhandling is the people broken by oppressive administration. Wuwang's innocence demands restraint even — especially — when power is at its peak.
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