Hexagram 4 as yes or no
Hexagram 4 Immaturity as a yes-or-no answer
As an answer to a yes-or-no question Meng says that you do not yet know enough to decide, and that the remedy is a single sincere question to someone who does. The judgment is a rule about divination itself: the first asking is answered, the second and third are an insult. So the hexagram also warns against casting again — the uncertainty you feel is the answer, and the next step is to learn, not to re-ask.
A changing line in the lower trigram describes how the learning should go: line one says set a firm rule and then relax it; line two says be patient with whoever is unformed, and the matter goes well; line three says do not attach yourself to the nearest strong option. In the upper trigram the lines describe your own openness: line four says you are cut off from the people who could inform you and must go to them; line five is the hexagram's yes, because you are willing to ask; line six says a hard correction is due, but only in defence.
The hexagram in brief
A spring at the foot of a mountain: youthful ignorance that can be taught. Success comes to the learner who asks sincerely — the teacher does not chase the student.
Ask once, sincerely, and act on the answer; nourish correctness with patience and clear boundaries.
The judgment
蒙：亨。匪我求童蒙，童蒙求我。初筮告，再三瀆，瀆則不告。利貞。Măng (indicates that in the case which it presupposes) there will be progress and success. I do not (go and) seek the youthful and inexperienced, but he comes and seeks me. When he shows (the sincerity that marks) the first recourse to divination, I instruct him. If he apply a second and third time, that is troublesome; and I do not instruct the troublesome. There will be advantage in being firm and correct.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 蒙 Immaturity has its own page:
- 初六Six at the beginningdispelling ignorance · discipline · removing fetters
- 九二Nine in the second placeembracing the ignorant · taking a wife · the son runs the house
- 六三Six in the third placedo not take this woman · losing oneself · no benefit
- 六四Six in the fourth placetrapped in ignorance · isolated · far from substance
- 六五Six in the fifth placechildlike openness · good fortune · docile and humble
- 上九Nine at the topstriking ignorance · not as a robber · warding off robbers
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Does hexagram 4, Immaturity, mean yes or no?
- As an answer to a yes-or-no question Meng says that you do not yet know enough to decide, and that the remedy is a single sincere question to someone who does. The judgment is a rule about divination itself: the first asking is answered, the second and third are an insult. So the hexagram also warns against casting again — the uncertainty you feel is the answer, and the next step is to learn, not to re-ask.
- What does Hexagram 4, 蒙 Immaturity, mean?
- A spring at the foot of a mountain: youthful ignorance that can be taught. Success comes to the learner who asks sincerely — the teacher does not chase the student.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).