明夷 → 井
Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light → Hexagram 48: The Well
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 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 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 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
陽并悖狂，拔劍自傷，為身坐殃。
Yang rages in blind madness; he draws his sword and wounds himself. He brings disaster upon his own body.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire beneath the earth meets water above wood — the Well, a structure of nourishment that does not move. Yet the verse depicts self-destruction: 'Yang energy turned perverse and mad, drawing a sword to wound itself — the body sits in its own calamity.' The well serves everyone but cannot serve the deranged: when inner disorder reaches the point of self-harm, even the most reliable source of sustenance cannot help. The 'sword drawn on oneself' is among the most violent images in the Yilin — not murder but suicide, rage turned inward. From Darkening of the Light to the Well, the transformation warns that suppressed light, if it festers into madness rather than patient endurance, becomes a force of self-annihilation. The well remains available, but the one who needs it has already turned the blade.
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