Transformation · lines 2, 3, and 4

Innocence becomes Small Things

Starting hexagram
Resulting hexagram

What this change means

Lines two through four move, and the Thunder of Innocence rises into Heaven while the upper Heaven turns to Wind. The result is 9 Small Things, wind drifting across the sky. With three lines moving, the two judgments are weighed equally. Innocence sets sincerity as the ground of success and says that, without it, affairs grow difficult. The resulting hexagram says that success is in view, but it isn't time yet: obstacles remain, and for now small actions are the right size. Together they ask for honest patience. Don't let impatience tempt you into cutting corners or inventing reasons to go big. Keep your motives clean, resolve the remaining obstacles one by one, and refine your conduct in modest ways. When the moment for larger action comes, it will find you ready and with nothing to hide.

What to read, in order

Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.

  1. The judgment of 25 Innocence

    If you act with a pure heart, free of hidden motives and without straying from what is right, true to original human nature, you'll let the blessings of heaven reach you. Otherwise you'll meet obstacles and your affairs will become difficult.

    Great success. Constancy is favorable. If it is not upright, there is calamity. It is not favorable to have somewhere to go.

  2. The judgment of 9 Small Things

    You're facing a situation that promises success, but it isn't time yet. There are still obstacles on the way that you need to resolve. For now you can take small actions and wait for the right moment to act on a large scale.

    Success. Dense clouds and no rain, from my western outskirts.

  3. Line 2 of 25 Innocence

    Doing your work without thinking about what you'll get from it is the way to succeed.

    Not plowing with the harvest in mind, not clearing land with the ripe field in mind: then it is favorable to have somewhere to go.

  4. Line 3 of 25 Innocence

    Watch and act at the right time, because a good deed done at the wrong moment turns out badly.

    An undeserved calamity: someone tied up an ox; the traveler takes it, and the calamity falls on the villagers.

  5. Line 4 of 25 Innocence

    No one can take from you what belongs to you, so keep doing the right thing at the right time, and you'll reap the fruits.

    Constancy is possible. No fault.

The trigrams

Below Thunder Heaven
Above Heaven Wind

The way back

9 Small Things → 25 Innocence
lines 2, 3, and 4

Other transformations of Innocence

Make your own cast

The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.

Toss the coins