Line 2 of

Hexagram 25: 无妄 wú wàng

“Without Embroiling” — King Wen #25 · 六二

Line 2 六二

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.

— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1882 (public domain)

The Changed Hexagram 之卦

Line 2 changing turns hexagram 25 into䷉ Hexagram 10: 履 lǚ — “Treading”Read line 2 of hexagram 10 →

Reading This Line

In the received Zhouyi text, line 2 of hexagram 25 is a yielding (yin) line occupying the second line, settled inside the lower trigram. The classical line statement — 不耕穫,不菑畬,則利有攸往。 — is what commentators from the Ten Wings onward have read as the figure's own commentary on this one position. James Legge's 1882 rendering, quoted above, keeps the imagery of the original: each line of a hexagram is read as a stage of the same picture, and this page collects the source text for that stage. If you treat the line as moving in the traditional way, flipping it alone produces the changed hexagram linked above; readers have long used that pair of figures to compare a situation as given with the same situation one line different. As always with classical divination texts, this is presented for cultural and reference interest — the text itself carries no prediction about any modern reader's situation.

Questions About Hexagram 25 Line 2

What does line 2 of hexagram 25 say?

The received text reads: 不耕穫,不菑畬,則利有攸往。 In James Legge's 1882 translation: “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.”

Which hexagram does line 2 change hexagram 25 into?

Changing only line 2 of hexagram 25 (无妄, “Without Embroiling”) gives hexagram 10 — 履 (lǚ, “Treading”). This is the classical way a changed hexagram is derived from moving lines.

Are line pages available for every hexagram?

Yes. Every one of the 64 hexagrams now has six line pages — one per line from the bottom line up to the top line — each with the classical Chinese text, Legge's 1882 translation, and the changed hexagram that line produces when it moves.

1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1882), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text. · For reflection and reference — not financial, medical, or life advice.