Hexagram 36, Míng Yí (Darkening of the Light): Line 6 (top)

明夷卦上六 · 地火明夷 · 中文版

上六:不明晦,初登于天,后入于地。

The line (Legge)

The sixth six, divided, shows the case where there is no light, but (only) obscurity. (Its subject) had at first ascended to (the top of) the sky; his future shall be to go into the earth.

Small Image commentary

'He had at first ascended to (the top of) the sky:' - he might have enlightened the four quarters of the kingdom. 'His future shall be to go into the earth:' - he has failed to fulfil the model (of a ruler).

象曰:初登于天,照四国也。后入于地,失则也。

In plain words

Not light but darkness: first it climbs to heaven, then it goes into the earth. The top line is the ruler of darkness in this hexagram, traditionally the tyrant: first raised to the throne, then brought down for losing the way. The Small Image says climbing to heaven meant it could have lit the four quarters, and going into the earth means it lost its rule.

Applying it to your situation

This line warns those in high places not to lose their light. Has your position made it hard to see yourself clearly?

Position

A broken (yin) line in the top place, which is a yin (even) place, so it is in its proper place. Its partner is line 3; one is yin and the other yang, so they respond to each other.

If this line moves

With this line moving alone, Míng Yí changes into Hexagram 22 Bì (Grace). The Jiaoshi Yilin verse for this change (Chinese): 焦氏易林·明夷之贲.

A recorded case from Takashima

Ming Yi to Bi (Grace): reading the making of cement in a line: In 1888 Takashima co-founded a cement works at Atsuta with Sakata and Hattori. Casting on the company two years later, he got the top line of Ming Yi, "not bright but dark; first it rose to heaven, then it went into the earth", and matched it step by step to making cement: clay dug from the ground, fired as if rising to heaven, then laid into walls and floors, back into the earth.

The hexagram

Hexagram 36 Míng Yí (Darkening of the Light). The Judgment: Ming Yi indicates that (in the circumstances which it denotes) it will be advantageous to realise the difficulty (of the position), and maintain firm correctness.

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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. Plain-English readings and position notes by this site.

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