Hexagram 25 — Without Embroiling
King Wen #25 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Innocence and naturalness. Align with what is right, and unexpected good follows.
What Hexagram 25 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 25 places thunder (震) beneath heaven (乾) — movement breaking out of stillness below, creative force pressing upward above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Without Embroiling”: innocence and naturalness. Align with what is right, and unexpected good follows. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
天下雷行，物與無妄；先王以茂對時，育萬物。
The thunder rolls all under the sky, and to (every)thing there is given (its nature), free from all insincerity. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, (made their regulations) in complete accordance with the seasons, thereby nourishing all things.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Thunder moves under heaven: all things receive their nature, without falsity. Ancient kings matched the seasons richly and nurtured the ten thousand things.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 25 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Without Embroiling describes innocence and naturalness. Align with what is right, and unexpected good follows — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: movement breaking out of stillness, held inside a larger setting of creative force pressing upward. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Without Embroiling about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: innocence and naturalness. Align with what is right, and unexpected good follows. When lines move in your cast, read them against this base — the moving lines show which part of the figure is awake for you, and the changed hexagram shows where it is heading.
Questions About Hexagram 25
What does 无妄 (wú wàng) mean?
Hexagram 25 of the I Ching is named 无妄 (wú wàng), usually rendered "Without Embroiling" in English editions. Its figure is built from thunder (震) below and heaven (乾) above — movement breaking out of stillness beneath creative force pressing upward.
Is hexagram 25 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 25 is warm: it contains one occurrence of 吉 (good fortune), and 1 of 無咎 (no blame). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached.
What does hexagram 25 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Without Embroiling points to innocence and naturalness. Align with what is right, and unexpected good follows. The figure pairs thunder (震) beneath heaven (乾) — movement breaking out of stillness meeting creative force pressing upward — which is the traditional picture of how this energy behaves between two people. For how to phrase a love question before casting, see our guide to asking the I Ching about love.
What does hexagram 25 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Without Embroiling through the figure itself: thunder (震) below, heaven (乾) above — movement breaking out of stillness held inside creative force pressing upward. The plain reading: Innocence and naturalness. Align with what is right, and unexpected good follows. The text carries 1 mention of 吉 (good fortune), so it is read as workable — provided the conduct the lines describe is kept.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 25 mean?
A cast of hexagram 25 can produce moving lines. Each of the six lines has its own statement (爻辭) in the classical text below, read from the bottom up, and a moving line is read as the part of the figure that is awake for your question. When a line moves it turns into its opposite, and the whole figure becomes a second hexagram: changing every line of 25 gives hexagram 46, 升 (Ascending). Every line also has a page of its own on this site — Line 1 through Line 6 under this hexagram — with the classical Chinese and Legge's translation side by side.
How is hexagram 25 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 25 gives hexagram 46 — 升 (Ascending). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 26 — 大畜 (Great Accumulating). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 53 — 漸 (Infiltrating).
Cast it yourself
Shake the tube, watch your own coins fall.
- The hexagram's classical meaning — judgment and all six lines
- Moving lines marked — but not read for you
- No account, no email, nothing to pay
Get the reading, not just the text
Same cast, read all the way through:
- Every line read for you — what each moving line means inside your question
- The changed hexagram — where your situation is heading, and how to read the turn
- A closing that answers you directly — act, wait, or say it out loud
New to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
The Classical Text 經文
元亨利貞。其匪正有眚，不利有攸往。
Wu Wang indicates great progress and success, while there will be advantage in being firm and correct. If (its subject and his action) be not correct, he will fall into errors, and it will not be advantageous for him to move in any direction.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
無妄，往吉。
The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject free from all insincerity. His advance will be accompanied with good fortune.
不耕穫，不菑畬，則利有攸往。
The second SIX, divided, shows one who reaps without having ploughed (that he might reap), and gathers the produce of his third year's fields without having cultivated them the first year for that end. To such a one there will be advantage in whatever direction he may move.
無妄之災：或繫之牛，行人之得，邑人之災。
The third SIX, divided, shows calamity happening to one who is free from insincerity - as in the case of an ox that has been tied up. A passer by finds it (and carries it off), while the people in the neighbourhood have the calamity (of being accused and. apprehended).
可貞，無咎。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows (a case) in which, if its subject can remain firm and correct, there will be no error.
無妄之疾，勿藥有喜。
The fifth NINE, undivided, shows one who is free from insincerity, and yet has fallen ill. Let him not use medicine, and he will have occasion for joy (in his recovery).
無妄，行有眚，無攸利。
The topmost NINE, undivided, shows its subject free from insincerity, yet sure to fall into error, if he take action. (His action) will not be advantageous in any way.
Line by Line 逐爻细读
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text.2 The Image (象傳) is an ancient text in the public domain; its plain-English gloss here is original to The Hexagrams, not a quotation from any copyrighted edition. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.