Hexagram 25 of 64
No Falsehood
无妄 Wú Wàng
Upper trigram: 乾 Qián, heaven
Lower trigram: 震 Zhèn, thunder
The judgment
元亨。利貞。其匪正有眚，不利有攸往。
Supreme success. It is fitting to hold firm. If one is not upright there is error, and it is not fitting to have somewhere to go.
The Great Image
天下雷行，物與无妄；先王以茂對時，育萬物。
Thunder moves beneath heaven, and all things are given freedom from falsehood. In the same way, the former kings matched the seasons with abundance and nurtured the ten thousand things.
The six lines
Lines are counted from the bottom. Read a line closely when it changes in your cast.
Line 1 初九
无妄，往吉。
No falsehood. Going brings good fortune.
Going forward here rests on having nothing false in your motive. Ask what you would do if you stopped working out how it might look.
Line 2 六二
不耕穫，不菑畬，則利有攸往。
Not plowing and reaping, not clearing new land and tending old. Then it is fitting to have somewhere to go.
The line pictures land neither worked for a harvest nor cleared for later use. Consider what you could do for its own sake without counting on what you expect to get.
Line 3 六三
无妄之災，或繫之牛，行人之得，邑人之災。
A calamity not brought on by falsehood. Someone tethers an ox. The passerby gets it, and the villagers have the calamity.
Someone ties up an ox, a passerby walks off with it, and the villagers pay for it. You may be caught up in a trouble you did nothing to cause, so ask what a fair response looks like when no one has earned it.
Line 4 九四
可貞，无咎。
It can be held firmly. No blame.
This line says only that holding firm is possible and carries no blame. Ask what is already yours to keep steady, and consider leaving the rest alone for now.
Line 5 九五
无妄之疾，勿藥有喜。
An illness not brought on by falsehood. Without medicine there is joy.
This is an old image and says nothing about any real illness, which belongs with a doctor. Think instead about a worry in your everyday affairs that has no fault behind it, and ask whether it needs fixing at all.
Line 6 上九
无妄，行有眚，无攸利。
No falsehood. Going brings error. Nothing is favorable.
Even with nothing false in you, the line names error in going now. Consider whether good intentions are leading you to act at a moment that does not suit action.
What this hexagram says
This hexagram is thunder below and heaven above. Thunder moves under the sky and each thing responds as it is. It stands for acting without pretense or scheming.
The judgment offers success to what is upright and warns that going anywhere without uprightness brings error. The test it sets is one of motive. Ask what you are hoping to get from this that you have not admitted to yourself.
If your question is about a hard choice at work or in a relationship, tradition reads this as a time to act straightforwardly and expect little. The lines also allow for trouble that comes without cause, and the last one cautions that even a sincere person can move at the wrong time.
A hexagram is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
Where this text comes from
The Chinese follows the Wikisource text of the Zhou Yi (its page for this hexagram, 周易/无妄), compared with the Project Gutenberg edition. The Great Image comes from the Wikisource page 周易/大象.
- Wikisource, 周易
Retrieved 2026-11-08
- Project Gutenberg eBook 25501, 易經
Retrieved 2026-11-08
Read this hexagram with its traditional commentaries in our library.
Where the sources differ
- In the second line, Wikisource (A) writes 穫 (to harvest) and Project Gutenberg (B) writes 獲 (to obtain).
The English renderings and the advice are by Cast & Chart. The advice is a modern reading and is not part of the classical text.