明夷 → 家人
Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light → Hexagram 37: The Family
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 5, 6).
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.
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
三𣏌无棗，家无積莠。使鳩求婦，頑不我許。
Three wolfberry trees, not a jujube among them; the household has no store of grain. A turtledove is sent to seek a bride; stubbornly, they refuse me.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire beneath the earth kindles wind from fire — the Family, where domestic order radiates outward from the hearth. Yet this household has nothing: 'Three medlar trees without jujubes; the family has no stored provisions.' Then a matchmaker is sent — the turtledove, traditional marriage broker of the folk tradition — but 'stubbornly I am refused.' The household that cannot feed itself cannot attract a bride. From Darkening of the Light to the Family, the transformation reveals a painful irony: the hexagram of domestic harmony is reached from a state of deprivation so severe that no family can form. Wind from fire requires a hearth to sustain it, but when the pantry is bare and the match is rejected, no warmth can emerge to create the home.
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