離 → 困

Commentary

Doubled fire meets the lake drained of water: brilliance discovers profit within oppression. In spring one turns east, in summer south, following the yang and achieving success — meeting with gain. The verse prescribes directional alignment with the seasons: spring's energy rises in the east, summer's in the south, and one who follows the sun's trajectory prospers. This is cosmological advice at its simplest — move with the light, not against it. From The Clinging to Oppression, fire's clarity enters a lake without water, the image of exhaustion. Yet the verse finds opportunity precisely within depletion: by orienting oneself to follow the yang, even in the driest season one locates the remaining current of vitality. The oppressed who align with natural rhythm discover that profit hides where others see only emptiness.