明夷 → 巽
Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light → Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 5, 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 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.
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
出入蹈踐，動順天時。俯仰有節，禍災不來。
Going out and coming in with care; moving in accord with heaven's seasons. Bowing and rising with proper measure; calamity and disaster do not come.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire beneath the earth meets doubled wind — the Gentle, where pervasive influence works through repetition rather than force. 'Going out and coming in with careful steps, moving in accord with heaven's timing. Bowing and rising with proper rhythm — calamity and disaster do not come.' Every action is calibrated to the natural order: steps measured, posture attuned, timing observed. This is the discipline of one who has learned from the darkness not to attract trouble. From Darkening of the Light to the Gentle, the transformation reveals that survival through oppression trains a special sensitivity to timing and propriety. Wind upon wind penetrates everywhere, and the person who moves with this doubled gentleness becomes invisible to harm — not through concealment but through perfect alignment.
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