明夷 → 晉
Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light → Hexagram 35: Progress
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 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 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 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
陳辭達城，使安不傾。增榮益譽，以成功名。
He presented his case and secured the city; making it safe, preventing its fall. He increased its glory and honor, and thereby achieved lasting fame.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire beneath the earth rises as fire above the earth — Progress, the most natural companion to Darkening of the Light, its structural inverse. 'Presenting eloquent arguments at the city walls, keeping it secure and unshaken. Glory and reputation increase; merit and renown are achieved.' This is the diplomat or counselor whose words preserve a state: rhetoric deployed not for display but for defense. The phrase 'chen ci da cheng' evokes the tradition of persuaders who saved cities through argument alone. From Darkening of the Light to Progress, the transformation is a direct reversal: light that entered the earth now rises above it. The buried fire becomes the sun climbing over the horizon, and the merit of hidden endurance translates into visible achievement.
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