The spring runs unclear beneath the mountain.
Youth seeks wisdom. The teacher chooses the student.
The Judgment
A young person stands before a mountain — inexperienced, eager, but not yet knowing what questions to ask. This hexagram depicts the delicate relationship between ignorance and knowledge, between the one who seeks and the one who might teach.
Youthful folly is not a fault to be corrected quickly. It is a necessary condition, like uncarved wood that contains every possibility. The danger lies not in inexperience itself but in the impatience that refuses to acknowledge what it does not know.
True teaching cannot be forced. The teacher must wait for the student to ask, and ask seriously. When instruction is offered to those who have not sought it, or who seek it carelessly, it falls on unreceptive ground. The relationship between teacher and student requires mutual recognition — wisdom recognizing genuine inquiry, inexperience recognizing its need for guidance.
The Image
A spring issues forth at the foot of the mountain.
Water finds its way down the mountainside not by force but by following the natural channels available to it. It begins as scattered drops and seepages, gradually gathering into something that flows with purpose and direction.
The development of understanding follows a similar pattern. It cannot be rushed or forced into predetermined channels, but must be allowed to find its own course through patient attention to what actually presents itself.
