Six Doors · No. 4
第4卦 蒙 Méng · Youthful Folly
Essence: Inexperience seeks its teacher; ask once, in earnest.
I
Judgment
Inexperience is workable when the learner comes seeking, not when wisdom chases them. Ask once and take the answer seriously; asking again and again is a way of refusing it. This unformed stage is exactly where integrity gets planted.
II
Trigrams
Upper
艮 Mountain
Lower
坎 Water
III
The lines
- Line 1Discipline opens the beginner's eyes, but keep it a tool; punishment as a habit corrupts the lesson.
- Line 2Bearing patiently with the unformed is the strength that holds a household together.
- Line 3Do not bind yourself to someone who loses themselves at the sight of advantage; nothing good comes of it.
- Line 4Sealed inside ignorance, far from any teacher—this isolation is the real loss.
- Line 5The open, unguarded willingness of a child to learn is the most fortunate stance of all.
- Line 6Strike at entrenched folly only to prevent harm, never to vent; force serves defense, not conquest.
IV
All the doors
Every single-step transition available from where you stand.
- Line 141 损 · Decrease
Give from the surface to strengthen the core.
- Line 223 剥 · Splitting Apart
Erosion runs its course; guard the uneaten seed.
- Line 318 蛊 · Work on the Decayed
Rot invites repair; mend what neglect has spoiled.
- Line 464 未济 · Before Completion
Not yet across; the ending is still yours to shape.
- Line 559 涣 · Dispersion
Dissolve what divides, and the whole regathers.
- Line 67 师 · The Army
Collective force needs discipline and a just cause.
V