Also known as Youthful Folly, Inexperience, Enveloping.
The character 蒙 means covered over, like a young plant under a layer of growth. Hexagram 4 is about not knowing yet, and about the bond between a learner and a teacher. It is also the hexagram that speaks most directly about how to ask the I Ching a question.
The figure
Mountain over Water. A spring wells up at the foot of a mountain. The water doesn't know its course yet, but it keeps moving and finds one. Stillness sits above uncertainty.
The judgment
Inexperience, and it goes well. You do not chase the one who needs teaching; they come to you. Answer the first honest question. Asked the same thing three times over, say nothing.
The learner has to want to learn, so the teacher waits to be asked. The first sincere question gets an answer. Asking the same thing again and again is a way of not listening, and it gets no answer. If you have cast the same question twice, this is the classic reply.
The image
A spring breaking out below the mountain. Act on what you decide, and let the character follow from the acting.
The spring doesn't stop to plan its route. It fills each hollow in turn. Learning works the same way: thoroughly, one step after the next.
The six lines
Counted from the bottom, the way the figure is built when you cast it.
- Line 1, at the bottom. To teach someone inexperienced, some discipline helps. But don't put them in chains. Too much restraint backfires.
- Line 2. Be patient with people who don't know yet. It goes well. You are ready to carry real responsibility.
- Line 3. Don't attach yourself to someone who loses their head over money or status. Nothing good comes of it.
- Line 4. Stuck in not knowing, and cut off from anyone who could help. This brings embarrassment. The problem is leaving it alone.
- Line 5. The openness of a child who is ready to learn. It goes well.
- Line 6, at the top. When you correct a mistake, aim to prevent harm, not to punish. Don't become the problem yourself.
Reading it for a question
Hexagram 4 says you don't have the full picture yet, and that's fine. Find the right teacher, or be a patient one. Ask one clear question, then act on the answer rather than casting again.