臨 → 明夷
Hexagram 19: Approach → Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 3).
Line 2
九二 咸臨吉。无不利。
Nine in the second place means: Joint approach. Good fortune. Everything furthers.
Line 3
六三 甘臨。无攸利。既憂之。无咎。
Six in the third place means: Comfortable approach. Nothing that would further. If one is induced to grieve over it, One becomes free of blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
春多膏澤，夏潤優渥；稼穡熟成，畝獲百斛。
Spring brings abundant rain, summer moisture rich and full; the crops ripen to maturity -- each acre yields a hundred bushels.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth above the lake descends into fire hidden within the earth — the Darkening of the Light. Yet the verse is paradoxically bright: spring brings abundant rain, summer offers rich moisture, the grain ripens to full maturity, and each mu yields a hundred hu. This is the harvest of a perfect agricultural year — every season delivering exactly what is needed. From Approach to Darkening of the Light, the contrast demands attention: the brightest harvest occurs precisely when light enters the earth. Fire buried underground is not extinguished but transformed into fertility — the hidden warmth that drives germination. The darkened light becomes the subterranean energy that nourishes roots, producing abundance invisible to those who see only the surface.
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