无妄

Hexagram 56: The Wanderer → Hexagram 25: Innocence

The Wanderer
Mountain / Fire
无妄
Innocence
Heaven / Thunder
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 5).

Line 3

九三 旅焚其次。喪其童僕。貞厲。

the wanderer
fénburns
this
camp
sàngand lose
this
tóngyoung
servant
zhēnpersistence(ing)
is difficult

Nine in the third place means: The wanderer's inn burns down. He loses the steadfastness of his young servant. Danger.

Line 4

九四 旅于處。得其資斧。我心不快。

the wanderer
is
chùthe shelter
having secured
his
resources
and an ax
but lamenting 'my...
xīnheart
is not
kuàihappy

Nine in the fourth place means: The wanderer rests in a shelter. He obtains his property and an ax. My heart is not glad.

Line 5

六五 射雉。一矢亡。終以譽命。

shèshooting
zhìthe pheasant [as a gift for the local noble]
one
shǐarrow
wángis lost
zhōngbut in the end
for the sake of
praise
mìngand commission

Six in the fifth place means: He shoots a pheasant. It drops with the first arrow. In the end this brings both praise and office.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramMountain HeavenKeeping Still → The Creative
Lower TrigramFire ThunderThe Clinging → The Arousing

Yilin Verse

體重飛難,未能越關。

Body too heavy to fly; unable yet to cross the pass.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Fire on the mountain, and a heavy bird cannot cross the pass. Its body is too cumbersome for flight, and the barrier remains uncrossed. In just two terse lines, the verse captures total futility: the desire to soar exists, the destination is visible, but physical reality forbids passage. The wanderer is grounded by his own weight — whether of possessions, obligations, or simply unsuitability for the task. From The Wanderer to Innocence, thunder rolls beneath heaven in spontaneous, unforced movement. Yet the heavy bird cannot access this natural ease. Innocence requires lightness of spirit, freedom from the accumulated burden that makes the body too dense for flight. What weighs the traveler down is precisely what must be shed.

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