无妄
Wú Wàng · Innocence
Act without a hidden agenda, and do not mistake an accident for a verdict.
The judgment
无妄：元，亨，利，貞。 其匪正有眚，不利有攸往。
Innocence succeeds if you stay true. If you are not upright, there is trouble, and it does not help to go anywhere.
Received text; plain English after the Chinese. Source: 周易經傳 (public-domain). Passage: hex25.judgment.
The image
象曰：天下雷行，物與無妄。先王以茂對時育萬物。
Thunder moves under heaven, and all things are what they are. The old kings matched the season and nourished the ten thousand things.
Received text; plain English after the Chinese. Source: 周易經傳 (public-domain). Passage: hex25.image.
Act without a hidden agenda, and do not mistake an accident for a verdict.
The six lines
Each line is a stage, from the bottom of the hexagram to the top. Open any line to read it in plain English.
初九 無妄，往吉。 Innocence: going forward is lucky. Nothing extra is needed; just do the thing plainly.
Innocence: going forward is lucky. Nothing extra is needed; just do the thing plainly.
六二 不耕獲，不菑畬，則利有攸往。 Do not farm for the harvest alone, do not clear land only for the yield. Then it is favorable to go on.
Do not farm for the harvest alone, do not clear land only for the yield. Then it is favorable to go on.
六三 無妄之災，或系之牛，行人之得，邑人之災。 An unexpected disaster: a cow is tied up, a passer-by takes it, and the town is blamed. You can do everything right and still be caught in someone else's accident.
An unexpected disaster: a cow is tied up, a passer-by takes it, and the town is blamed. You can do everything right and still be caught in someone else's accident.
九四 可貞，無咎。 You can stay true. No blame: hold your position and do not explain.
You can stay true. No blame: hold your position and do not explain.
九五 無妄之疾，勿藥有喜。 An illness that came without cause. Do not medicate it; it passes, and there is joy.
An illness that came without cause. Do not medicate it; it passes, and there is joy.
上九 無妄，行有眚，無攸利。 Innocence, but moving now brings trouble. There is nothing to gain by going: stay still even though you are right.
Innocence, but moving now brings trouble. There is nothing to gain by going: stay still even though you are right.