Feng to Ming Yi: held down for years, then a patron at last

Date not recorded · The manager of a wealthy household · 中文版

The cast

Hexagram 55 Fēng (Abundance), line 4 moving, changing to Hexagram 36 Míng Yí (Darkening of the Light).

Original text

豪家支配人某來。請占運氣。筮得豐之明夷。爻辭曰。九四豐其蔀。日中見斗。遇其夷主。吉。斷曰。豐其蔀。言草之盛也。日中見斗。斗而晝見。是晝晦也。其害皆足以蔽明。四以陽居陰。爻象是陽爲陰所蔽。幸四入震。爲動之主。一動則撥開雲霧。得以重見天日。以得遇其夷主。今足下問氣運。得此爻象。知足下曩時必爲人所抑制。不得自明。今幸得遇逢財主。可以謀事。但此主素性昏庸。故稱曰夷主。惟足下誠實素著。得以信任無疑。傳曰吉行。可以獲吉矣。

In plain words

The manager of a wealthy household came to ask about his fortunes. The cast gave Feng with its fourth line moving, changing into Ming Yi. The line reads: "Nine in the fourth place: the screen is so thick that the Dipper is seen at noon. He meets his lord of like kind; good fortune."

Takashima's judgment: "the thick screen" means dense growth blocking the light; "the Dipper seen at noon" means stars visible in the middle of the day, darkness at noon. Both are enough to hide the light. The fourth line is yang in a yin place, the image of yang hidden by yin. Fortunately the fourth line enters Zhen and is the master of movement; once it moves, it parts the clouds and sees the sun again, and so it meets its "lord of like kind".

Asking about your fortunes and drawing this line shows that you have long been held down by others and unable to show what you can do. Now you have had the luck to find a backer with money, and can get things done. But this backer is somewhat dull by nature, which is why he is called a lord "of like kind". Since you are known for your honesty, he will trust you without reservation. The commentary says "it is good to go", and good fortune will come.

How Takashima read it

Only one line text is read: with one moving line, the fourth line of Feng is read.
The images are light blocked: "thick screens" and "stars at noon" both hide the light, read as a man long held down and unable to show his ability.
The line's place: the fourth line rules the upper trigram Zhen, movement; once it moves, the clouds part, read as a turn in his luck.
A word is taken in another sense: the "yi" of "yi zhu" is usually read as "peer, of like kind"; Takashima reads it as "dull", so the backer is both a benefactor and flawed, and the manager must win him over with his honesty.

About the outcome

The text does not say what became of the manager. "Long held down" is inferred from the line; the manager himself would have known whether it was true.

Applying it to your situation

"Stars at noon": broad day, yet dark enough to see stars. When you feel overlooked, it is often not a lack of ability but that something is blocking the light. What is your "screen", and how might you move to clear it?

Original: Takashima Kaemon, Takashima Ekidan (expanded edition), recorded by Yanagida Ikusaku, Chinese text by Wang Zhiben, 1901. Translation, notes and reflection by this site.

These are historical records kept by the diviner himself. The outcomes are his own account; this site uses them to study how the lines were read, not as evidence that divination predicts events.

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