Youthful Folly · Shan Shui Meng
Youthful Folly — the student who asks before acting.
The traditional reading
Hexagram 4 is the young shoot that knows it does not know. Its wisdom is to ask plainly and to keep the question simple — the first time. A beginner who seeks instruction with humility is met halfway; one who probes endlessly meets a closed door. Ask once, listen well, and then act.
Structure of the hexagram
- Lower trigram: Water (Kan) · Water
- Upper trigram: Mountain (Gen) · Earth
- House: Fire (Li) · Fire
- Text in the original Chinese: 山水蒙