# Hexagram 25: Innocence

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/25
Last updated: 2026-10-07

```
━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
```

- **Upper trigram:** [Qian 乾](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/qian), Heaven, the creative, strong
- **Lower trigram:** [Zhen 震](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/zhen), Thunder, the arousing, movement
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 100111 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

Innocence: acting without calculation. The right response to the moment arises naturally when motive is clean. Scheming, posturing, or strategizing for advantage here brings misfortune; the situation rewards transparent, unforced action rooted in honest intention.

## Image

Thunder rolling under the heavens. The ancient kings aligned themselves with the seasons and nourished all things.

## Counsel

Do not overthink this. Drop the elaborate plans and the hidden agendas. Ask simply: what is the true thing to do? Do that, and let the outcome be what it will be. Innocence is not naivety: it is the refusal to corrupt clear action with private calculation.

## The six lines

*Numbered from the bottom upward. These line texts are read when that line is changing in a cast.*

### Line 1

> A nine at the beginning means:
> Innocent conduct brings good fortune!

### Line 2

> A six in the second place means:
> If in ploughing one does not think of the harvest,
> and in clearing the land one does not think of using the field,
> then it is favorable to undertake something.

### Line 3

> A six in the third place means:
> Undeserved misfortune:
> The cow someone had tied up
> is the wanderer's gain, the citizen's loss.

### Line 4

> A nine in the fourth place means:
> Whoever is able to be persevering remains without blame.

### Line 5

> A nine in the fifth place means:
> In case of undeserved illness, use no medicine.
> It will become good of itself.

### Line 6

> A nine at the top means:
> Innocent action brings misfortune.
> Nothing is furthering.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [53 Development](https://thefreeiching.com/library/53)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [26 Great Taming](https://thefreeiching.com/library/26)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [46 Pushing Upward](https://thefreeiching.com/library/46)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [12 Standstill](https://thefreeiching.com/library/12) |
| Line 2 | [10 Treading](https://thefreeiching.com/library/10) |
| Line 3 | [13 Fellowship](https://thefreeiching.com/library/13) |
| Line 4 | [42 Increase](https://thefreeiching.com/library/42) |
| Line 5 | [21 Biting Through](https://thefreeiching.com/library/21) |
| Line 6 | [17 Following](https://thefreeiching.com/library/17) |

Previous: [24 Return](https://thefreeiching.com/library/24). Next: [26 Great Taming](https://thefreeiching.com/library/26). [All sixty-four hexagrams](https://thefreeiching.com/library).

*The judgment, image and counsel are original contemporary paraphrases written for The Free I Ching. The line text is the CC0 translation from [jesshewitt/i-ching](https://github.com/jesshewitt/i-ching), derived from Richard Wilhelm's 1924 German edition.*

## Cite this page

The Free I Ching. "Hexagram 25: Innocence." https://thefreeiching.com/library/25 (updated 2026-10-07).

*The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice. Short quotations with a link back are welcome. Please do not republish a page in full. The open data files at [/data](https://thefreeiching.com/data) are licensed CC BY 4.0.*

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Source: The Free I Ching (https://thefreeiching.com/library/25). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.