明夷 → 訟
Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light → Hexagram 6: Conflict
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 6 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 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 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.
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
穿鼻繫株，為虎所拘。王母祝祠，禍不成災，遂然脫來。
Pierced through the nose, tied to a stump; held captive by the tiger. The Queen Mother prays at the shrine; the disaster does not become calamity, and at last one breaks free.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire vanishes beneath the earth as heaven and water diverge in opposite directions — the image of Conflict. An ox is led by a ring through its nose, tethered to a stake, then seized by a tiger: captivity upon captivity. Yet the Queen Mother of the West intercedes with prayers and offerings, and disaster does not ripen into catastrophe. The captive escapes. The invocation of the Queen Mother draws on Han-dynasty cult practices where she was petitioned to avert calamity and grant longevity. From Darkening of the Light to Conflict, the transformation warns that when light is suppressed, disputes and entrapments multiply — but also reveals that appeals to a higher order, made at the right moment, can untangle even the most dangerous bonds.
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