明夷 → 剝
Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light → Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 6).
Line 1
初九 明夷于飛。垂其翼。君子于行。三日不食。有攸往。主人有言。
Nine at the beginning means: Darkening of the light during flight. He lowers his wings. The superior man does not eat for three days On his wanderings. But he has somewhere to go. The host has occasion to gossip about him.
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.
Line 6
上六 不明晦。初登于天。後入于地。
Six at the top means: Not light but darkness. First he climbed up to heaven, Then plunged into the depths of the earth.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
驚虎無患，虞為我言。賴得以安。
The startled tiger brings no harm; the warden speaks on my behalf. Through this I find peace.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire plunges beneath the earth as the mountain rests upon the earth — Splitting Apart, where structure erodes from below. Yet the verse offers unexpected comfort: 'The startling tiger poses no danger; a guardian speaks on my behalf, and I am kept safe.' The 'yu' (虞) here likely refers to a warden or protector — an official whose advocacy shields the vulnerable from predatory power. Even as the ground crumbles, a single voice of protection can make the difference between survival and destruction. From Darkening of the Light to Splitting Apart, the transformation doubles the peril — light is buried and the structure above is collapsing — yet demonstrates that even in extremity, having one reliable advocate can secure safety against all expectation.
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