无妄 Innocence
Upper trigram: Heaven (the sky) · Lower trigram: Thunder (thunder)
Naturalness — act from sincerity, never from scheming.
Modern interpretation
Act from sincerity, not calculation. Unexpected events may occur — accept them without trying to game the outcome. Stay natural and upright; innocence honestly held is its own protection.
The Judgment · 卦辞
元亨，利贞。其匪正有眚，不利有攸往。
“Wû Wang indicates great progress and success, while there will be advantage in being firm and correct. If (its subject and his action) be not correct, he will fall into errors, and it will not be advantageous for him to move in any direction.” — James Legge, The Yî King (1882)
The six lines · 爻辞
Read from the bottom line upward. Each line pairs the received Chinese text with Legge's English translation.
无妄往，吉。
“The first line, undivided, shows its subject free from all insincerity. His advance will be accompanied with good fortune.”
不耕获，不菑畲，则利用攸往。
“The second line, 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.”
无妄之灾，或系之牛，行人之得，邑人之灾。
“The third line, 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).”
可贞。无咎。
“The fourth line, undivided, shows (a case) in which, if its subject can remain firm and correct, there will be no error.”
无妄之疾，勿药有喜。
“The fifth line, undivided, shows one who is free from insincerity, and yet has fallen ill. Let him not use medicine, and he will have occasion for joy (in his recovery).”
无妄行，有眚，无攸利。
“The topmost line, undivided, shows its subject free from insincerity, yet sure to fall into error, if he take action. (His action) will not be advantageous in any way.”
About changing lines
In a real I Ching reading, hexagrams are built by casting coins or yarrow stalks six times, bottom line first. Some lines come out “old” (unstable) — an old yin or old yang flips into its opposite, producing a second hexagram that shows where the situation is heading. The changing lines are the moving parts of your answer: read their individual line statements above, and they point to the direction of change.
Ask a question and cast the coins — free, with a plain-English interpretation grounded in the classical text.
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