明夷

Hexagram 22: Grace → Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light

Grace
Mountain / Fire
明夷
Darkening of the Light
Earth / Fire
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 6).

Line 6

上九 白賁。无咎。

bái(plain) white
adornment
(is) no
jiùblame

Nine at the top means: Simple grace. No blame.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramMountain EarthKeeping Still → The Receptive
Lower TrigramFire Fire

Yilin Verse

作室山根,人以為安。一昔崩顛,破我壺飱。

Building a house at the mountain's base, people thought it safe. One night the cliff collapses; it shatters our pots and provisions.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Fire beneath the mountain, and now that mountain collapses. A house built at the base of a cliff seems secure to its inhabitants. Then one night the cliff gives way, shattering the cooking pots and destroying the evening meal. The safety was always illusory — the mountain that provided shelter was also the source of destruction. From Grace to Darkening of the Light, fire beneath the mountain sinks into fire buried beneath the earth. What illuminated the surface is now driven underground. The collapse of the cliff-house captures this inversion precisely: the mountain that held fire (Grace) becomes the mass that buries light (Mingyi). Relying on what looks stable without examining the foundation leads to catastrophic reversal.

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