Hexagram 4 of 64
蒙 méng
Youthful Folly
艮 (gèn, Mountain) above · 坎 (kǎn, Water) below
The Judgment 卦辞
Not knowing is the starting point. Ask sincerely and a teacher appears; ask repeatedly without listening and the oracle falls silent. Stay a student.
The Image 大象
A spring rises at the foot of the mountain: youthful inexperience. The wise person nurtures character through consistent, disciplined practice.
The six lines 爻辞
Each line of 蒙 has its own classical text. If a line in your cast is changing, its text is the heart of your reading.
Line 1 · 初六
First lessons in confusion: set clear rules and remove the shackles — but going too far breeds resentment.
「发蒙，利用刑人，用说桎梏，以往吝」
Line 2 · 九二
Tolerate foolishness with warmth. Receiving people gently — like a good marriage — lets them grow capable.
「包蒙吉，纳妇吉，子克家」
Line 3 · 六三
Do not marry the one who abandons herself at the sight of a rich man. Nothing comes of pursuing what has no anchor.
「勿用取女，见金夫，不有躬，无攸利」
Line 4 · 六四
Trapped in one's own confusion, too proud to ask. That isolation is the real poverty.
「困蒙，吝」
Line 5 · 六五
The innocence of a child asking openly. Good fortune — stay a beginner.
「童蒙，吉」
Line 6 · 上九
Strike through confusion — but only to defend, never to attack. Aggression backfires.
「击蒙，不利为寇，利御寇」
If you drew this in a reading
A pattern of tension and craft. This hexagram belongs to the large middle family of mixed patterns: it works, but only along its own grain. Read the Judgment closely — mixed hexagrams usually name the exact condition on which their promise depends.
In yes/no questions this hexagram reads as “not yet clear” — the answer hinges on timing and execution.
The trigrams give the flavor: 艮 (Mountain) above — keeping still — restraint, meditation, knowing when to stop — over 坎 (Water) below — the abysmal — depth, danger, flow through difficulty. Where those two energies meet, 蒙 is born.
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