明夷 → 兌
Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light → Hexagram 58: The Joyous Lake
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5).
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 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 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
內崩傷中，上亂无恆。雖有美粟，我不得食。
Collapsing within, wounded at the center; above, disorder without constancy. Though there is fine grain, I cannot eat it.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire beneath the earth meets doubled lake — the Joyous, where inner truth expresses itself through open exchange. Yet the verse describes the collapse of joy: 'Internally crumbling, wounded at the center; above in chaos without constancy. Though there is fine grain, I cannot eat.' The doubled lake should foster mutual delight, but here the inner structure has given way. Fine millet — material abundance — sits uneaten because the capacity to receive nourishment has been destroyed from within. From Darkening of the Light to the Joyous, the transformation reveals the bitter paradox: joy requires the ability to receive, and when internal devastation is complete, even genuine blessings cannot be absorbed. The lake is full but the mouth will not open.
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