明夷 → 咸
Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light → Hexagram 31: Influence
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5).
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 4
六四 入于左腹。獲明夷之心。于出門庭。
Six in the fourth place means: He penetrates the left side of the belly. One gets at the very heart of the darkening of the light, And leaves gate and courtyard.
Line 5
六五 箕子之明夷。利貞。
Six in the fifth place means: Darkening of the light as with Prince Chi. Perseverance furthers.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
新作初陵，踰蹈難登。三駒推車，跌頓傷頤。
A new mound freshly raised; too steep to climb or cross. Three colts push the cart; they stumble and fall, injuring their jaws.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire buried beneath the earth meets the lake upon the mountain — Influence, where mutual responsiveness flows between above and below. Yet the verse describes failed ascent: 'A newly built mound, difficult to climb over and tread upon. Three colts push a cart; they stumble and injure the jaw.' The mound is too fresh to be stable; the young horses lack the strength to haul their load uphill. Influence requires receptivity — the mountain must be open to the lake above — but here the connection misfires. The colts strain and fall, damaging the very organ of nourishment. From Darkening of the Light to Influence, the transformation reveals that premature attempts at connection, launched from a position of suppressed light, are more likely to stumble than to succeed.
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