无妄 → 小過
Hexagram 25: Innocence → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 5, 6).
Line 1
初九 无妄。往吉。
Nine at the beginning means: Innocent behavior brings good fortune.
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
伊尹智士，去桀耕野。執順以強，文和無咎。
Yi Yin, the wise minister; leaving Jie, he plowed the wild fields. Holding to compliance with strength; civil and gentle, without fault.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Yi Yin, the wise minister, abandoned the tyrant Jie and went to plow the wilderness. Holding to compliance yet backed by inner strength, he achieves civil harmony without blame. Yi Yin's departure from Jie's corrupt court to farm at Youshen, before later joining King Tang to found the Shang dynasty, is one of classical China's great stories of principled withdrawal preceding transformative service. From Innocence to Small Exceeding, the transformation captures the wisdom of doing slightly more than expected in humble ways. Xiaoguo's image of thunder above the mountain — a small bird flying — counsels exceeding in small matters while remaining modest in great ones. Yi Yin's field labor is precisely this: a great man performing humble work, storing virtue until the moment of rightful return.
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