隨 → 明夷
Hexagram 17: Following → Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 5).
Line 3
六三 係丈夫。失小子。隨有求得。利居貞。
Six in the third place means: If one clings to the strong man, One loses the little boy. Through following one finds what one seeks. It furthers one to remain persevering.
Line 4
九四 隨有獲。貞凶。有孚在道以明。何咎。
Nine in the fourth place means: Following creates success. Perseverance brings misfortune. To go one's way with sincerity brings clarity. How could there be blame in this?
Line 5
九五 孚于嘉。吉。
Nine in the fifth place means: Sincere in the good. Good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
日在阜顛，鄉昧為昏；小人成群，君子傷倫。
The sun atop the hill, the countryside dims to dusk; petty men swarm together, the gentleman grieves for propriety.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rests within the lake, but the sun sits atop the hill's crest, tilting toward dusk. All that faces away from the light is shadow; twilight descends. Petty men gather in groups while the gentleman's moral order crumbles. The 'sun on the hill' is a precise image of the moment before darkness claims the sky — the exact tipping point where light yields to shadow. From Following to Darkening of the Light, fire enters the earth in Ming Yi, brilliance buried underground. The verse enacts this burial: as small men swarm, the gentleman finds his ethical bonds severed. Following in an age of declining light means following the darkness downward unless one has the wisdom to conceal one's brightness, as Ming Yi's image counsels.
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