Hexagram 30: Lí (The Clinging Fire)
离为火 · 第 30 卦 · Fire over Fire · 中文版
The Judgment
Li indicates that, (in regard to what it denotes), it will be advantageous to be firm and correct, and that thus there will be free course and success. Let (its subject) also nourish (a docility like that of) the cow, and there will be good fortune.
离：利贞，亨。畜牝牛，吉。
Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan)
Li means being attached to. The sun and moon have their place in the sky. All the grains, grass, and trees have their place on the earth. The double brightness (of the two trigrams) adheres to what is correct, and the result is the transforming and perfecting all under the sky. The weak (second line) occupies the middle and correct position, and gives the indication of 'a free and successful course;' and, moreover, 'nourishing (docility like that of) the cow' will lead to good fortune.
彖曰：离，丽也；日月丽乎天，百谷草木丽乎土，重明以丽乎正，乃化成天下。柔丽乎中正，故亨；是以畜牝牛吉也。
The Great Image
(The trigram for) brightness, repeated, forms Li. The great man, in accordance with this, cultivates more and more his brilliant (virtue), and diffuses its brightness over the four quarters (of the land).
象曰：明两作，离；大人以继明照于四方。
The six lines
Line 1 (first): The first NINE, undivided, shows one ready to move with confused steps. But he treads at the same time reverently, and there will be no mistake.
'The reverent attention directed to his confused steps' is the way by which error is avoided.
In plain words: Footsteps criss-crossing; with care and respect there is no fault. The first line is the start of the hexagram of clinging brightness: at the beginning, many things are going on at once. The Small Image says respect is how one avoids fault.
初九：履错然，敬之无咎。 象曰：履错之敬，以辟咎也。
Line 2 (second): The second SIX, divided, shows its subject in his place in yellow. There will be great good fortune.
'The great good fortune (from the subject of the second line) occupying his place in yellow' is owing to his holding the course of the due mean.
In plain words: Yellow brightness: supreme good fortune. Yellow is the colour of the centre. The second line is yielding, central and correct, the ruler of the hexagram. The Small Image says this is because it finds the middle way.
六二：黄离，元吉。 象曰：黄离元吉，得中道也。
Line 3 (third): The third NINE, undivided, shows its subject in a position like that of the declining sun. Instead of playing on his instrument of earthenware, and singing to it, he utters the groans of an old man of eighty. There will be evil.
'A position like that of the declining sun:' - how can it continue long?
In plain words: Brightness in the setting sun: if one does not beat the pot and sing, there will be the laments of old age: misfortune. The third line is at the end of the lower trigram, like the sun about to set; the choice is between accepting one's time with song and lamenting it. The Small Image asks how the light of the setting sun could last.
九三：日昃之离，不鼓缶而歌，则大耋之嗟，凶。 象曰：日昃之离，何可久也。
Line 4 (fourth): The fourth NINE, undivided, shows the manner of its subject's coming. How abrupt it is, as with fire, with death, to be rejected (by all)!
'How abrupt is the manner of his coming!' - none can bear with him.
In plain words: Suddenly it comes, like fire, like death, like being cast aside. The Chinese idiom for something coming out of nowhere comes from this line. The fourth line is strong and presses hard on the ruler in the fifth place; its fierce arrival is not accepted. The Small Image says it has nowhere to stay.
九四：突如其来如，焚如，死如，弃如。 象曰：突如其来如，无所容也。
Line 5 (fifth): The fifth SIX, divided, shows its subject as one with tears flowing in torrents, and groaning in sorrow. There will be good fortune.
'The good fortune attached to the fifth SIX, divided),' is due to its occupying the place of a king or a prince.
In plain words: Tears pouring down, sighing in sorrow: good fortune. The fifth line is yielding in the place of honour, hemmed in by the strong fourth and top lines, and anxious; but it faces its fear and examines itself, and so it is fortunate. The Small Image says this is because it clings to the place of kings and lords.
六五：出涕沱若，戚嗟若，吉。 象曰：六五之吉，离王公也。
Line 6 (sixth (top)): The topmost NINE, undivided, shows the king employing its subject in his punitive expeditions. Achieving admirable (merit), he breaks (only) the chiefs (of the rebels). Where his prisoners were not their associates, he does not punish. There will be no error.
'The king employs him in his punitive expeditions:' - the object is to bring the regions to a correct state.
In plain words: The king sends it out on campaign; there is praise; it takes the leaders' heads but does not seize their followers: no fault. The top line is strong and clear-sighted; campaigning for the king, it punishes only the ringleaders and spares those who were led along. The Small Image says this is to set the state right.
上九：王用出征，有嘉折首，获匪其丑，无咎。 象曰：王用出征，以正邦也。
Line positions
3 of the six lines stand in their proper place (strong lines in odd places, weak lines in even places).
The second and fifth lines hold the central places of the lower and upper trigrams; both are weak, so they do not correspond.
Of the three pairs of corresponding places (first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top), 0 pairs are made of one strong and one weak line.
| Line | Proper place | Central | Corresponds with |
|---|---|---|---|
| top (strong) | — | — | 3rd line: no |
| 5th (weak) | — | yes | 2nd line: no |
| 4th (strong) | — | — | 1st line: no |
| 3rd (strong) | yes | — | top line: no |
| 2nd (weak) | yes | yes | 5th line: no |
| 1st (strong) | yes | — | 4th line: no |
Strong lines belong in odd places and weak lines in even places; the second and fifth are the central places; first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top correspond, and they "respond" when one is strong and the other weak.
These are structural conventions, not scores of good or bad fortune. Commentators differ: Wang Bi treats the first and top places as beginning and end without fixed yin or yang positions. Read each line with its Small Image and the whole hexagram.
Place in Jing Fang's eight palaces
Jing Fang grouped the 64 hexagrams into eight "palaces" of eight, each headed by a doubled trigram. Changing the lines of the head hexagram one by one from the bottom gives the next five; the last two are the "wandering soul" and "returning soul" hexagrams. The Li palace runs: Lí (head), Lǚ (1st change), Dǐng (2nd change), Wèi Jì (3rd change), Méng (4th change), Huàn (5th change), Sòng (wandering soul), Tóng Rén (returning soul).
A recorded case from Takashima
Li to Shi He: a marriage the reading advised against: A friend about to marry received the third line of Li, "the light of the setting sun". Takashima read Li as parting and said the match was better not made; the friend did not believe it, married, and before long separated over family discord.
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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction.