初九：无妄，往吉。
A sincere motive and an action suited to reality allow a natural beginning, without constructing a scheme to control another person's response.
I Ching Hexagram 25
Wú Wàng · Innocence
无妄 · Hexagram 25
Wu Wang concerns sincere motives and action without contrivance. Thunder moves beneath Heaven while living things follow their nature. It does not assume that good people avoid trouble; it asks you to act honestly and recognize that not every unexpected event is caused by your choices.
Upper trigram: Heaven/Qián
Lower trigram: Thunder/Zhèn
The situation you may be in
You may be trying to control every outcome or blaming yourself for an unexpected event. Distinguish conduct for which you are responsible from conditions you could not direct, returning to facts and appropriate action.
How to respond
Do what is genuinely called for and reduce tests designed to obtain a particular response. When something unexpected happens, investigate before blaming yourself or forcing every event to carry a hidden meaning.
Judgment and Image
Judgment
无妄：元亨利贞。其匪正有眚，不利有攸往。
Innocence. Supreme success. Perseverance furthers. If someone is not as he should be, he has misfortune, and it does not further him to undertake anything.
Image
天下雷行，物与无妄；先王以茂对时，育万物。
Thunder rolls beneath heaven: Innocence. The ancient kings, in accordance with the time, nurtured all beings.
Applying it to real life
Love & relationships
Express feelings directly rather than testing affection through withdrawal or jealousy. Sincerity cannot guarantee reciprocity, but it lets you choose on the basis of the actual relationship.
Career & work
Build trust through real ability and careful work rather than inflated achievements. When unexpected trouble involves you, clarify facts and responsibility without treating every external disruption as personal failure.
Choice & decisions
Ask whether the choice fits the facts and a legitimate need rather than an imagined shortcut or reward. Fulfill your responsibilities and leave room to adapt to what you cannot control.
Timing & pace
Move with actual conditions rather than chasing signs. When something unusual occurs, establish whether intervention is needed; manufacturing activity and ignoring a real problem are both departures from sincerity.
The six changing lines
The lines unfold from the bottom upward, describing one pattern of change from its first appearance to its extreme. If your reading has a changing line, begin with that position.
六二：不耕获，不菑畬，则利有攸往。
Do the cultivation without letting the imagined harvest dictate every step. Give the present work the attention it needs.
六三：无妄之灾，或系之牛，行人之得，邑人之灾。
Unexpected loss may come from another person's conduct or a mistaken attribution. Check the cause rather than assuming that suffering proves fault.
九四：可贞，无咎。
With a sound and sustainable position, you need not revise your principles at every disturbance. Consistency can prevent needless action.
九五：无妄之疾，勿药有喜。
Check whether a problem has been misunderstood or overtreated before adding remedies without evidence. Physical symptoms call for an appropriate assessment.
上九：无妄，行有眚，无攸利。
Even an innocent intention can cause trouble through ill-timed action. Stopping unnecessary intervention may be the response reality requires.
A common misreading
Wu Wang does not exempt good intentions from consequences. Its advice against unnecessary remedies is not an instruction to refuse medical care; the reflection concerns unwarranted intervention, while actual health concerns require assessment on their own facts.
Related hexagrams
Text and interpretation
Updated 12 September 2026Reviewed by MysticEast Research
This page preserves the Chinese Judgment, Image, and line texts of the received Zhouyi. MysticEast's modern explanations are newly written to emphasize stages of change and practical judgment rather than fixed good-or-bad predictions.
Read the Zhouyi at the Chinese Text ProjectLet the hexagram meet your actual question
A guide gives you the map. A cast made with a clear question can help locate the exact stage of change you are experiencing.