Mêng — Youthful Folly
Mêng — Youthful Folly
(20)
The Judgement
YOUTHFUL FOLLY has success.
It is not I who seek the young fool;
The young fool seeks me.
As the first oracle I inform him.
If he asks two or three times, it is importunity.
If he importunes, I give him no information.
Perseverance furthers.
The Image
A spring wells up at the foot of the mountain:
The image of YOUTH.
Thus the superior man fosters his character
By thoroughness in all that he does.
The Lines
Six at the beginning means:
To make a fool develop
It furthers one to apply discipline.
The fetters should be removed.
To go on in this way brings humiliation.
Six in the second place means:
To bear with fools in kindliness brings good fortune.
To know how to take women
Brings good fortune.
The son is capable of taking charge of the household.
Six in the third place means:
Take not a maiden who, when she sees a man of bronze,
Loses possession of herself.
Nothing furthers.
Six in the fourth place means:
Entangled folly brings humiliation.
Six in the fifth place means:
Childlike folly brings good fortune.
Six at the top means:
It punishing folly
It does not further one
To commit transgressions.
The only thing that furthers
Is to prevent transgressions.
(Note: the numbers in parentheses below the title of each hexagram refer to the page in the Wilhelm/Baynes 1968 Third Edition of I Ching or book of changes where additional commentary on the individual hexagram can be found.)
