Hexagram 25, line 5
九五Line 5 of Without Falsehood
Nine in the fifth place · 无妄 wú wàng
爻辭 The line text
无妄之疾，勿藥有喜。The fifth line, undivided, shows one who is free from insincerity, and yet has fallen ill. Let him not use medicine, and he will have occasion for joy (in his recovery).
无妄之藥，不可試也。'Medicine in the case of one who is free from insincerity!'—it should not be tried (at all).
In plain words
The ruler of the hexagram, yang in the central and correct place of the upper trigram and answered by the compliant second line, meets an affliction that has no cause in its own conduct. The text uses the image of a sickness that strikes someone who has done nothing to deserve it, and its counsel is 勿藥有喜: do not reach for a remedy, and there will be cause for joy. The small Image is sharper still: a remedy for a trouble that is not of one's making 'must not be tried' (不可試也). Read as the tradition reads it, the line is about a sound position disturbed by an outside shock — the correct response is to keep doing what is right and let the disturbance run its course, not to treat the innocent situation as though it were at fault.
If this line is changing
When a problem arrives that you did not cause, resist the urge to fix, explain or over-correct; stay in your proper place and let it clear by itself.
Where the line stands
- A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang line that moves when cast.
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
- It is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.
- It belongs to the upper trigram 乾 Qian (the Creative) (heaven).
- It corresponds (應) with line 2: 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 ䷔ 21 噬嗑 Biting Together
Thunder and lightning: jaws closing on an obstacle. Something is in the way and must be bitten through — favourable for administering justice.
What it becomes21 · 噬嗑 Biting Togethershì kèThe 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 Nine in the fifth place of hexagram 25, Without Falsehood, mean?
- The ruler of the hexagram, yang in the central and correct place of the upper trigram and answered by the compliant second line, meets an affliction that has no cause in its own conduct. The text uses the image of a sickness that strikes someone who has done nothing to deserve it, and its counsel is 勿藥有喜: do not reach for a remedy, and there will be cause for joy. The small Image is sharper still: a remedy for a trouble that is not of one's making 'must not be tried' (不可試也). Read as the tradition reads it, the line is about a sound position disturbed by an outside shock — the correct response is to keep doing what is right and let the disturbance run its course, not to treat the innocent situation as though it were at fault.
- What does hexagram 25 become when line 5 changes?
- Without Falsehood becomes hexagram 21, 噬嗑 Biting Together: Thunder and lightning: jaws closing on an obstacle. Something is in the way and must be bitten through — favourable for administering justice.
- Is line 5 of Without Falsehood in its correct place?
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands. It is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).