Méng, hexagram 04

Not knowing

One has to care for the ignorant, the formless. It still has unlimited possibilities. Without it, life would die away by lack of renewal.
Blessed are those who have something of this in their mind, how little it may be. And listen carefully to those who speak from out this unborn thing. They are the true sages. Lao-Tze said: “I am ignorant, like a baby that has never yet laughed ...the people are bright, bright, I alone am dumb, dumb”. (DaoDeJing verse 20).

Hex.4 is the opposite of hex.49, the absence of ideas versus the certainty that things should be done differently. Learning from surroundings versus changing your surroundings. An opposite works like the shadow in a mind: don't neglect that side, or it will haunt you. The big changes hex.49 causes can be a destroying chaos for an innocent mind which has to learn about life.

Hex.3 and 4 are the pair of beginnings and youth. More about hex.3 and 4

Hex.04

Méng: a pig SHI³ (3), covered MI² or MAO⁴ (2) with or by plants CAO³ (1). On OB there is no grass radical. According to Wang HongYuan: hunters disguised in animal skins. It seems the pig might not be a pig, but another animal, maybe a tiger. The two images resemble each other and are easily confused.
MENG²: to cover, ignorant (child), illiterate, immature, inexperienced; receive; meet with; a darkened mind, a cloudy sky, unconscious, senseless. Meng¹: cheat, deceive, make wild guess.

The trigrams: Water below Mountain.
  At the foot of the mountain a spring wells up: Ignorance. A noble one nurtures virtue by reliable conduct.
  Water inside means that there is not yet a solid structure, it has to find its form, and that has to be its own genuine form. So be rolemodel instead of a strict teacher. Learn with curiosity instead of just copying someone else.
  Mountain is your solid self, body and ego. Water is the soul, the huge reservoir of all feelings, memories, wisdom and fears. It is open and vulnerable like a child, but also wise like an old zen-master, because it is connected to universe. Water "knows" the laws of Heaven and passes them on. Listen and learn! It has no form, it needs you to make its wisdom manifest.

Water and Fire are in between reality and spirits. One of Meng's meanings is Dodder, a parasitic plant. It did not live from the earth, so it had to live from heaven or spirit. A holy plant. Symbol for learning straight from something higher. The noble one does not teach with words, but with his spirit, his conduct.

More about 3 and 4
About the lines of hex.4
Back to the story of hex.4