Hexagram 4 · ䷃
Youthful ignorance can still be guided toward success. The student must come sincerely for instruction; a first honest inquiry can be answered, but repeated tes...
Judgment
Youthful ignorance can still be guided toward success. The student must come sincerely for instruction; a first honest inquiry can be answered, but repeated testing only blocks lea...
Image
A spring emerging at the foot of a mountain suggests the first stirring of understanding. The noble person uses decisive discipline and steady practice to cultivate virtue.
Lines
At the beginning, ignorance needs firm discipline. Restraint and correction are helpful, but pressing too far only brings humiliation. Patiently guiding the ignorant brings good fo...
Success. It is not I who seek the young fool; the young fool seeks me. At the first consultation, I inform him. If he asks two or three times, it is importunity. If he importunes, I do not inform him. Perseverance furthers.
Youthful ignorance can still be guided toward success. The student must come sincerely for instruction; a first honest inquiry can be answered, but repeated testing only blocks learning. What helps here is steady commitment to what is right.
Youthful Folly: beneath the mountain there is danger, and one halts before danger. This is Youthful Folly. Youthful Folly succeeds because one proceeds in due measure and with balance. 'It is not I who seek the young fool; the young fool seeks me' because their wills correspond. 'At the first consultation, I inform him' because firmness and balance are present. 'If he asks two or three times, it is importunity; if he importunes, I do not inform him' because that insults the way of instruction. To nourish uprightness through enlightenment is the work of sages.
This hexagram speaks of ignorance at the beginning of learning: danger lies below, so one must stop and seek guidance. It is a time for teaching, discipline, and forming upright character. When teacher and student meet sincerely, enlightenment becomes possible.
A spring comes forth at the foot of the mountain: the image of Youthful Folly. The noble person nurtures virtue through decisive action.
A spring emerging at the foot of a mountain suggests the first stirring of understanding. The noble person uses decisive discipline and steady practice to cultivate virtue.
To enlighten youthful folly, it is beneficial to use punishment and remove fetters and shackles. To go on in that way brings humiliation.
At the beginning, ignorance needs firm discipline. Restraint and correction are helpful, but pressing too far only brings humiliation.
Small Image
Using punishment to enlighten youthful folly means regulating by proper law.
Corrective discipline is useful at the start because ignorance needs boundaries.
To bear with youthful folly brings good fortune. To accept a wife brings good fortune. The son is capable of taking charge of the household.
Patiently guiding the ignorant brings good fortune. Such steadiness can even make someone fit to help manage a household.
Small Image
To bear with youthful folly brings good fortune because firmness and gentleness are joined.
Patiently bearing with ignorance works because firmness and gentleness cooperate.
Do not marry this woman.
Do not bind yourself to what is seductive but unstable. When someone sees only wealth and advantage, the match is not sound.
Small Image
Do not take this woman: her conduct is not in accord.
Refusing this match means her conduct is not sound.
Entangled as if trapped by pustules, regret.
When confusion becomes entanglement, regret follows. One is trapped in ignorance and cannot move freely.
Small Image
Entangled youthful folly shows a distant withdrawal from what is real.
Entangled confusion shows one has drifted far from what is real.
The childish person receives sustenance.
A teachable, childlike openness receives nourishment and guidance. This is favorable.
Small Image
Childlike folly brings good fortune because of compliant obedience.
Childlike openness brings good fortune through willing receptivity.
The childish person acts without instruction; beneficial to smite the defense.
When ignorance turns aggressive, correction is necessary. The aim is not cruelty, but restoring order and preventing further disorder.
Small Image
Striking against youthful folly means one may rise above disorder and restore order.
Striking against ignorance aims to stop disorder and restore order.
What does Mêng / Youthful Folly mean in the I Ching?
Youthful ignorance can still be guided toward success. The student must come sincerely for instruction; a first honest inquiry can be answered, but repeated tes...
How should I study Hexagram 4 on this page?
Start with the judgment and image, then read the line statements in sequence. At the beginning, ignorance needs firm discipline. Restraint and correction are helpful, but pressing too far only brings humiliation. Patiently guiding the ignorant brings good fo...
How can this hexagram be applied in a modern reading?
This hexagram speaks of ignorance at the beginning of learning: danger lies below, so one must stop and seek guidance. It is a time for teaching, discipline, and forming upright character. When teacher and student meet s...
Primary text: Zhouyi / I Ching, including the Judgment, Image, line texts, and related commentaries.
Translation basis: public-domain and modern study references, with AI used only as a learning aid.