Reading
Judgment
Innocence. Sublime success.
Perseverance furthers.
If someone is not in the right, they have misfortune,
and it is not favorable to undertake anything.
The human being has received from heaven the originally good nature, that it may lead them in all motions. Through surrender to this divine within them, the human being attains a pure innocence which, without ulterior thoughts of reward or advantage, simply does what is right with instinctive certainty. This instinctive certainty effects sublime success and furthers through perseverance. But not everything instinctive is nature in this higher sense of the word, only that which is right, which accords with the will of heaven. Without this rightness, an unreflective instinctive manner of action produces only misfortune. Master Kung says of this: "Whoever deviates from innocence, where are they going? The will and blessing of heaven are not with their deeds."
Image
Under heaven goes thunder:
all things attain the natural state of innocence.
Thus the ancient kings, rich in virtue and in accordance with the time,
fostered and nourished all beings.
When thunder, the life force, stirs again under heaven in spring, then everything sprouts and grows, and all creatures receive from creative nature the child-innocence of the original being. So too do the good rulers of people: with the inner richness of their being they care for all life and all culture and do everything necessary for their cultivation at the right time.
Commentary
Above is Ch'ien, heaven; below is Chen, motion. The lower hexagram, Chen, is determined by the strong line that it has received from above, from heaven. When accordingly the motion follows the law of heaven, then the human being is innocent and without falsity. That is the genuine, the natural, untroubled by any deliberations or ulterior motives. Where intention is noticeable, the truth and innocence of nature is lost. Nature without the direction of the spirit is not true nature, but degenerate nature. From the thought of the natural, the idea develops further in part, so that the hexagram also contains the thought of the unintended, the unexpected.
Changing Lines
Line 1
A nine at the beginning means:
Innocent conduct brings good fortune!
Commentary
The first original stirrings of the heart are always good, so that one can confidently follow them and may be certain that one has good fortune and attains one's aim.
Line 2
A six in the second place means:
If in ploughing one does not think of the harvest,
and in clearing the land one does not think of using the field,
then it is favorable to undertake something.
Commentary
One should do every work for its own sake, as time and place demand it, and not squint at the outcome; then it succeeds, and what one undertakes has success.
Line 3
A six in the third place means:
Undeserved misfortune:
The cow someone had tied up
is the wanderer's gain, the citizen's loss.
Commentary
Sometimes undeserved misfortune comes upon one, caused by someone else, as for instance when a man comes along the road and leads off a tethered cow. His gain is the owner's loss. In all actions, even innocent ones, one must orient oneself by the right time, otherwise unexpected misfortune comes upon one.
Line 4
A nine in the fourth place means:
Whoever is able to be persevering remains without blame.
Commentary
What really belongs to one, one cannot lose, even if one were to throw it away. One need therefore not be anxious about it. One must only be anxious to remain true to one's own being and not to listen to others.
Line 5
A nine in the fifth place means:
In case of undeserved illness, use no medicine.
It will become good of itself.
Commentary
If from outside, by chance, an unexpected evil comes that is not grounded in one's own nature and has no foothold in it, one should not reach for outer means to remove it, but let nature take its quiet course; then it will improve of itself.
Line 6
A nine at the top means:
Innocent action brings misfortune.
Nothing is furthering.
Commentary
If one is in a situation where no further advance is in season, one must wait calmly and without ulterior thoughts. If one acts thoughtlessly in order to press on against fate, a success will not be attained.