Hexagram 4
Youthful Folly
蒙
Upper
Mountain · 艮
keeping still
Lower
Water · 坎
the abysmal, danger
Contemporary judgment
Youthful folly: inexperience meeting a situation it does not yet understand. This is not weakness; it is the beginning of wisdom. The teacher does not chase the student. Sincere questioning and genuine humility now are the seeds of true learning.
Image
A spring at the foot of the mountain. The young water has not yet found its path. The superior person cultivates character through steady practice and attention.
Counsel
Ask honestly and then listen. Do not demand answers on your own terms: you do not yet know which questions are worth asking. Accept the discipline of a real practice, even when progress feels invisible. Real understanding arrives quietly to those who stay with the work.
The six lines
Numbered from the bottom upward; displayed here from first to sixth.
Line 1
A six at the beginning means: To develop the fool, it is favorable to put them under discipline. One should take off the fetters. To continue thus brings humiliation.
Line 2
A nine in the second place means: To bear with fools in gentleness brings good fortune. To know how to take a wife brings good fortune. The son is equal to the household.
Line 3
A six in the third place means: You should not take a maiden who, seeing a man of bronze, cannot keep herself in hand. Nothing furthers.
Line 4
A six in the fourth place means: Confined youthful folly brings humiliation.
Line 5
A six in the fifth place means: Childlike folly brings good fortune.
Line 6
A nine at the top means: In punishing folly, it is not favorable to commit transgressions. It is favorable only to ward off transgressions.
Contemporary sections are original app interpretations. Line text comes from the CC0 translation in jesshewitt/i-ching.