Line 3 of
Hexagram 25: 无妄
“Without Embroiling” — King Wen #25 · 六三
Line 3 六三
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).
— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1882 (public domain)
The Changed Hexagram 之卦
Line 3 changing turns hexagram 25 into䷌ Hexagram 13: 同人 — “Concording People”Read line 3 of hexagram 13 →Reading This Line
In the received Zhouyi text, line 3 of hexagram 25 is a yielding (yin) line occupying the third line, at the threshold between the lower and upper trigrams — in the received text a classic place of unease. The classical line statement — 無妄之災：或繫之牛，行人之得，邑人之災。 — 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 3
What does line 3 of hexagram 25 say?
The received text reads: 無妄之災：或繫之牛，行人之得，邑人之災。 In James Legge's 1882 translation: “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).”
Which hexagram does line 3 change hexagram 25 into?
Changing only line 3 of hexagram 25 (无妄, “Without Embroiling”) gives hexagram 13 — 同人 (tóng rén, “Concording People”). 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.