One Question, One Cast: Why "Those Who Are Good at the Changes Do Not Divine"

The first divination is answered; asking again and again is disrespect

It is not I who seek the ignorant child; the ignorant child seeks me. At the first divination I answer. To ask a second and third time is disrespect, and disrespect gets no answer.

This is the judgment of Meng (Youthful Ignorance). Ask once, and you are told. Ask about the same thing over and over, and that is disrespect, and you are told nothing more. There is nothing mysterious in the reasoning: casting again and again really means that you do not want this answer and would like a different one. By that point the hexagram is no longer of any use.

No doubt, no divination

One divines to settle a doubt. Where there is no doubt, why divine?

The words are from the Zuozhuan ("Zuo Commentary"), eleventh year of Duke Huan. Divination is for settling doubts. If you have already made up your mind, there is no need to divine. If the matter is trivial, there is no need to divine. If the matter is improper, there is even less reason to divine. As Zhang Zai of the Northern Song put it: "The Changes gives counsel to the noble one, not to petty people."

Those who are good at the Changes do not divine

Those who are good at the Odes do not explain them; those who are good at the Changes do not divine; those who are good at the Rites do not act as master of ceremonies. Their mind is the same.

The words are from the Dalue ("Great Compendium") chapter of the Xunzi. Someone who has truly understood the Changes understands the logic of advancing and withdrawing, of surviving and perishing. Such a person sees their own situation clearly and knows what to do, so there is no need to cast a hexagram. Confucius read the Changes until the leather cords binding the bamboo strips wore through three times, and yet in the Analects all he says is: "It is simply a matter of not divining."

So casting a hexagram does not mean handing the decision over. What the judgments and line statements give you is a description of your situation from a different angle, and a word of reminder. Whether to act, and how, is still up to you.

Putting it into practice

• Cast only one hexagram for one matter. A result you do not like is also an answer.
• Ask something specific, and ask about only one thing at a time.
• After the matter has played out, go back and compare it with the reading. This is what the ancients called "turning the divination over in your mind".

For the steps of casting, see How to cast with three coins.