歸妹 → 明夷
Hexagram 54: The Marrying Maiden → Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4).
Line 2
九二 眇能視。利幽人之貞。
Nine in the second place means: A one-eyed man who is able to see. The perseverance of a solitary man furthers.
Line 3
六三 歸妹以須。反歸以娣。
Six in the third place means: The marrying maiden as a slave. She marries as a concubine.
Line 4
九四 歸妹愆期。遲歸有時。
Nine in the fourth place means: The marrying maiden draws out the allotted time. A late marriage comes in due course.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
縮緒亂絲，舉手為災。越畝逐兔，喪其衣袴。
Pulling tangled thread from a knotted skein; every touch brings further disaster. Crossing the furrows to chase the hare, losing one's very trousers.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder over lake descends into earth over fire: the maiden's troubled bond plunges into the Darkening of the Light. Pulling at tangled silk only makes the knot worse; every gesture invites disaster. Chasing a rabbit across the plowed fields, one loses one's very trousers. The verse pairs two images of misguided effort: the more one struggles with knotted thread, the tighter it binds, and the hunter who abandons propriety in pursuit of prey loses what he already had. From the Marrying Maiden to Darkening of the Light, brilliance sinks below the earth. The gentleman conceals his intelligence while enduring difficulty. The verse captures exactly this necessity: in a darkened world, frantic action only strips away what little remains.
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