明夷 → 革
Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light → Hexagram 49: Revolution
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 4, 5).
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
方圓不同，剛柔異鄉。掘井得石，勞而无功。
Square and round do not match; hard and soft belong to different realms. Digging a well, one strikes stone; labor without success.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire beneath the earth meets fire within the lake — Revolution, where fundamental change demands the right conditions. 'Square and round do not fit together; hard and soft belong to different realms. Digging a well and striking rock — labor without result.' The verse catalogues incompatibilities: geometric, material, elemental. The well-digger who hits bedrock has expended effort in a place where water will never come. Revolution requires that fire and water interact productively, but here nothing aligns. From Darkening of the Light to Revolution, the transformation reveals that not all darkness can be revolutionized — some conditions are simply mismatched. Attempting to force change where the basic elements are incompatible wastes energy without producing transformation.
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