Hexagram 25: Wu Wang

Heaven over Thunder · 天雷无妄 · Tendency: Inauspicious

Structure

• Number: 25 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷘
• Upper trigram: Qian (Heaven)
• Lower trigram: Zhen (Thunder)
• Lines: yang yin yin yang yang yang (bottom to top)

The statement

元亨，利贞。其匪正有眚，不利有攸往。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

This hexagram reminds you to act according to reality, not based on fantasy or luck. Suitable to stay on the right path, follow procedures, and avoid taking risks beyond your ability and facts. Sudden situations may not be caused by you, but you should avoid magnifying small problems through reckless actions.

A Buddhist reading

Wuwang (Without Falsehood) means being wholly genuine. The virtue of the nature, Ouyi Zhixu says, is present in everyone, and only delusion makes it feel like something external. Once practice arises out of that nature, one recognizes it as having been ours all along, which is what it means for the master to be within. And since practice arises from the nature, every act must accord with it: while body, speech, and mind remain unclean, even a fine insight benefits neither oneself nor anyone else. On the line about needing no medicine, he observes that a person standing on faultless ground easily grows harsh toward others, so that clinging to the cure becomes the disease. The top line warns against leaning on innate virtue while refusing to practice, all lofty talk and stumbling conduct.

After Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655), whose Chan commentary on the Changes reads each hexagram as a stage of practice.

The statement is quoted from the Book of Changes, which is in the public domain. The English reading on this page was prepared for this library.

Related hexagrams

• Previous: Hexagram 24: Fu
• Next / Inverted: Hexagram 26: Da Xuthe whole figure turned upside down
• Opposite: Hexagram 46: Shengevery line changed to its opposite
• Nuclear: Hexagram 53: Jianlines two to four below, three to five above

Related

• Liu Yao Divination ChartLiu Yao casts a hexagram about one specific matter and reads its structure. Unlike BaZi or Zi Wei, which describe a person, Liu Yao describes how a situation stands at a particular moment. This page walks through the full process from casting to attribution.
• Mei Hua Yi Shu CalculatorMei Hua Yi Shu is traditionally attributed to Shao Yong. What sets it apart is how freely it casts: a time, a spoken number, a direction or something noticed in passing will all serve. It attaches no stems and no relatives, reading the trigrams directly. This page covers casting through to the subject and object.