Hexagram 25, line 3
六三Line 3 of Without Falsehood
Six in the third place · 无妄 wú wàng
爻辭 The line text
无妄之災，或繫之牛，行人之得，邑人之災。The third line, divided, shows calamity happening to one who is free from insincerity;—as in the case of an ox that has been tied up. A passer by finds it (and carries it off), while the people in the neighbourhood have the calamity (of being accused and apprehended).
行人得牛，邑人災也。'The passer-by gets the ox:'—this proves a calamity to the people of the neighbourhood.
In plain words
Here innocence meets misfortune that is not of its own making: an ox is tethered by the road, a passer-by walks off with it, and the villagers are blamed for the theft. Line three is yin in a yang place, neither correct nor central, at the top of Zhen where movement is at its most restless — a position exposed to what others do. The small Image states the injustice flatly: 'the traveller gets the ox, the villagers get the calamity' (行人得牛，邑人災也). The text does not say the villagers did anything wrong; it says that being in this place at this moment is enough to be caught up in someone else's gain.
If this line is changing
If something has gone wrong through no fault of yours, do not turn it into guilt or a grievance; name it as the kind of loss that happens, tidy what is in your hands, and let the rest pass.
Where the line stands
- A broken line, yin — written 六 (six), the number of an old yin line that moves when cast.
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
- It belongs to the lower trigram 震 Zhen (the Arousing) (thunder).
- It corresponds (應) with line 6: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
无妄 Without Falsehood becomes ䷌ 13 同人 People United
Fire rising to heaven: people gathering in the open field. Fellowship succeeds when it is public and principled rather than clannish, and it makes great undertakings possible.
What it becomes13 · 同人 People Unitedtóng rénThe six lines of 无妄 Without Falsehood
- 初九Nine at the beginningsincere start · go forward · the will fulfilled
- 六二Six in the second placeno harvest in mind · unforced work · ready for anything
- 六三Six in the third placeundeserved loss · the tethered ox · wrong place
- 九四Nine in the fourth placehold firm · no partner · what is yours
- 九五Nine in the fifth placeunprovoked trouble · do not meddle · it passes
- 上九Nine at the toptime exhausted · do not act · innocence overstretched
Read 无妄 Without Falsehood for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Six in the third place of hexagram 25, Without Falsehood, mean?
- Here innocence meets misfortune that is not of its own making: an ox is tethered by the road, a passer-by walks off with it, and the villagers are blamed for the theft. Line three is yin in a yang place, neither correct nor central, at the top of Zhen where movement is at its most restless — a position exposed to what others do. The small Image states the injustice flatly: 'the traveller gets the ox, the villagers get the calamity' (行人得牛，邑人災也). The text does not say the villagers did anything wrong; it says that being in this place at this moment is enough to be caught up in someone else's gain.
- What does hexagram 25 become when line 3 changes?
- Without Falsehood becomes hexagram 13, 同人 People United: Fire rising to heaven: people gathering in the open field. Fellowship succeeds when it is public and principled rather than clannish, and it makes great undertakings possible.
- Is line 3 of Without Falsehood in its correct place?
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).