Hexagram 36 · Lower canon
Ming Yi · Darkening of the Light
When the light is covered, do not put yourself out.
The figure
- Number
- 36 (Lower canon)
- Upper trigram
- Earth (Kun)
- Lower trigram
- Fire (Li)
- Keywords
- enduring · inner light · guarding
- Reversed hexagram
- Song · Conflict
- Inverted hexagram
- Jin · Progress
The meaning
What the name means Ming Yi is the light wounded: the light is pressed down.
The picture The sun sinking under the earth, its light shut out and the world in the dark.
The sense of the whole The whole hexagram is about being in the dark. When the surroundings are bad it is no time to show strength. Keep the light inside you, act carefully, and do not let the dark outside put you out.
In plain words: what this hexagram says
The light is hidden. No need to show yourself; hold the small brightness in your heart and wait for the clouds to pass.
The upper trigram is Earth and the lower is Fire: Earth above, Fire below. When you read it, first picture the two together as a scene, then set it against the original below. The plain words speak only of stance and do not foretell.
The judgement
利艱貞。
The image
明入地中，明夷；君子以蒞眾，用晦而明。
The six lines
From the bottom up, the first line is the lowest. When you cast this hexagram and a line is changing, read the matching one. The original is classical Chinese.
- 初九明夷于飛，垂其翼。君子於行，三日不食。有攸往，主人有言。
- 六二明夷，夷於左股，用拯馬壯，吉。
- 九三明夷於南狩，得其大首，不可疾貞。
- 六四入於左腹，獲明夷之心，於出門庭。
- 六五箕子之明夷，利貞。
- 上六不明晦，初登於天，後入於地。
To learn how to read a hexagram, see "How to read a hexagram"; for changing lines, see "Changing lines and the resulting hexagram".