明夷 → 渙
Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light → Hexagram 59: Dispersion
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 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 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 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
逐禍除患，道德神仙。遏惡萬里，福常在前，身樂以安。
Driving out calamity, banishing harm; the virtuous way of the divine immortal. Warding off evil for ten thousand miles; blessings ever go before. The body is at ease and at peace.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire beneath the earth becomes wind upon water — Dispersion, where accumulated stagnation is scattered and dissolved. 'Pursuing calamity, expelling harm — the way of virtue and the immortals. Evil is blocked for ten thousand li; blessings are always before me; the body is joyful and at peace.' This is a vision of spiritual cleansing: malevolent forces are driven away across vast distance by virtuous power, and what remains is unobstructed blessing. The language of 'dao de shen xian' evokes Daoist cultivation traditions where inner refinement produces an aura that repels evil naturally. From Darkening of the Light to Dispersion, the transformation scatters the accumulated darkness as wind breaks up ice on the river — not through force but through the gentle, persistent action of a purified spirit.
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