Hexagram 4: Youthful Inexperience
Outer trigram (upper)
Cấn
Mountain · Earth
Inner trigram (lower)
Khảm
Water · Water
Judgment
蒙：亨，匪我求童蒙，童蒙求我，初筮告，再三瀆，瀆則不告，利貞.
Mông: Hanh, Phỉ ngã cầu đồng mông, đồng mông cầu ngã. Sơ phệ cáo, tái tam độc, độc tắc bất cáo. Lợi trinh.
Translation
Youthful inexperience leads to success. It is not I who seeks out the child, but the child who seeks me. Ask once, and I will answer; ask two or three times, and it becomes tiresome — when it becomes tiresome, I will not answer. Success comes to those who hold to what is right.
Commentary
By the meaning of its trigrams, Cấn (Mountain) represents stillness and Khảm (Water) represents danger. Danger within, stillness without — unable to advance, and showing a confused, unclear state — this is why the hexagram is called Mông. This hexagram centers on lines 2 and 5. Line 2 is firm yang, centered, and rules the inner trigram — fit to be a resolute teacher who opens up and enlightens the child's ignorance. It corresponds with line 5, which is soft, yielding, and likewise centered — the image of an obedient student. With teacher and student thus suited to each other, learning is bound to bear good fruit, which is why this hexagram carries the virtue of success. Since the teacher is firm and the student is yielding, it is not the teacher who seeks the student, but the student who must seek the teacher.
Line Readings
Line 1 (yin)
初六：發蒙，利用刑人，用說桎梏，以往吝
Translation
Line 1, yin: To dispel ignorance in one who is deeply confused, discipline should be used so as to free them from their shackles — but going too far will bring regret.
Commentary
Being at the very bottom of this hexagram, this yin line represents the most deeply confused person, who can only be freed from the shackles of desire through firm discipline. Once the result is achieved, discipline should stop — carried too far, it will bring regret. The phrase in the original, literally 'employ the officer of punishment,' means to apply disciplinary correction.
Line 2 (yang)
九二：包蒙吉，納婦吉，子克家
Translation
Line 2, yang: Showing tolerance toward the confused and accepting the weak and unenlightened as one would a wife — this is favorable; taking on higher responsibility from a lower position is like a son capably managing the household.
Commentary
Line 2 is yang and firm, yet centered, and so is said to have the virtue of tolerance. It rules the inner trigram and presides over all four yin lines, and so is said to accept them — the soft, unenlightened kind, likened to a wife. Though positioned low, it is the most important line in the hexagram, and so is likened to a son who capably manages the household in his father's stead. In sum, this line is favorable.
Line 3 (yin)
六三：勿用取女見金夫，不有躬，無攸利
Translation
Line 3, yin: Do not take a woman who, at the sight of wealth, forgets herself and gives in at once — nothing good can come of it.
Commentary
Line 3 is soft yin — within this hexagram of confusion — and it is neither centered nor correctly placed. It is therefore likened to a woman of poor character, unfaithful and greedy for wealth. The petty person who forgets righteousness at the sight of profit is much the same (yin also carries the sense of the petty, small-minded person). Phan Bội Châu considered this the worst line of the hexagram: the type of person it describes is not worth employing, nor even worth trying to educate any further.
Line 4 (yin)
六四：困，蒙，吝
Translation
Line 4, yin: Trapped within confusion and ignorance — regret.
Commentary
In this hexagram, only lines 2 and 6 are firm yang, capable of dispelling ignorance; the rest are all yin. Line 4 is confused just as line 3 is, but even worse off, since it sits far from the yang line 2 (whereas line 3 at least sits near it), and is surrounded on both sides by yin lines (3 and 5) — as if shut inside a wall of ignorance, and so inevitably trapped, bound to feel regret. The Small Image commentary explains: it must feel regret and shame, being the only one among the four yin lines so far removed from the 'substantial' — that is, the yang — lines.
Line 5 (yin)
六五：童蒙吉
Translation
Line 5, yin: Like a young child who knows nothing yet, but is easy to teach — favorable.
Commentary
This fifth line is the best of the yin lines, as noted earlier in the discussion of King Wen's Judgment text, since it possesses the virtue of softness (yin) and centeredness (at the center of the outer trigram), and corresponds with the firm line 2 below. It can be likened to a child who is easy to teach, listening to the teacher (line 2). Phan Bội Châu regarded this line as a ruler — since it occupies the most honored position in the hexagram — who knows how to place trust in a worthy minister (line 2).
Line 6 (yang)
上九：擊蒙不利為寇，利禦寇
Translation
Line 6, yang: Correcting ignorance with excessive severity will only provoke resentment in the one being taught, who may turn hostile — this brings no benefit. Guarding against outside dangers (the temptations that lead a person astray) is what truly benefits.
Commentary
Standing at the very top of this hexagram, this line represents ignorance carried to its extreme. It is yang, at the top, but not centered — so although it has the ability to dispel ignorance, it does so too harshly, provoking resentment and resistance in the ignorant one, who may refuse to be taught and even turn hostile, causing harm. The best approach is instead to guard against the outside influences that tempt and lead a person down the path of confusion.