既濟 → 明夷
Hexagram 63: After Completion → Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 5).
Line 5
九五 東鄰殺牛。不如西鄰之禴祭。實受其福。
Nine in the fifth place means: The neighbor in the east who slaughters an ox Does not attain as much real happiness As the neighbor in the west With his small offering.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
魚鱉貪餌，死於網釣。受危國寵，為身殃咎。
Fish and turtles, greedy for bait, die by net and hook. Accepting a perilous kingdom's favor becomes calamity for one's person.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water sits above fire, and fish and turtles snap greedily at the bait, dying in nets and on hooks. Those who accept a dangerous state's favor make themselves targets, bringing calamity upon their own persons. The verse links animal appetite to political naivety: the creature that bites the lure is no different from the courtier who accepts a doomed regime's patronage. From After Completion to Darkening of the Light, fire-and-water order yields to fire sinking into the earth — brightness driven underground. The completed world becomes treacherous, and those who fail to see the dimming light are consumed. Darkening of the Light demands the wisdom to conceal one's brilliance; the fish that could not resist the bait lacked precisely this restraint.
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