明夷 → 臨
Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light → Hexagram 19: Approach
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 3).
Line 2
六二 明夷。夷于左股。用拯馬壯吉。
Six in the second place means: Darkening of the light injures him in the left thigh. He gives aid with the strength of a horse. Good fortune.
Line 3
九三 明夷于南狩。得其大首。不可疾貞。
Nine in the third place means: Darkening of the light during the hunt in the south. Their great leader is captured. One must not expect perseverance too soon.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
爭訟不已，更相談訽。張季弱日，被髮北走。
Lawsuits without end; each side trading accusations. In Zhang Ji's darkest hour, with hair unbound he fled north.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire hidden beneath the earth rises as the lake before the earth — Approach, where authority draws near with both teaching and tolerance. The verse opens with endless litigation: 'Lawsuits without cease, parties accusing one another back and forth.' Then a sudden historical flash: 'Zhang Ji, on a day of weakness, fled northward with hair unbound.' The identity of Zhang Ji remains debated — possibly Zhang Chang, the Han official known for painting his wife's eyebrows, or a figure from an earlier tradition of disgrace and flight. Unbound hair signifies the abandonment of civilized order, a person fleeing in total disarray. From Darkening of the Light to Approach, the transformation juxtaposes the chaos of disputes with the hexagram's promise of oversight: only when legitimate authority approaches can the cycle of accusation and flight be broken.
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