Hexagram 36: Darkened Light
Outer trigram (upper)
Khôn
Earth · Earth
Inner trigram (lower)
Ly
Fire · Fire
Judgment
明夷：利艱貞.
Translation
The Light Obscured: it is favorable to hold to what is correct amid hardship.
Commentary
Kun above represents earth, Li below represents light. The light (Li) is buried beneath the earth (Kun) — brightness is suppressed. Line 5, yin, occupies the place of honor without holding the correct position, representing a ruler shrouded in darkness, and the noble person is pushed down. One must endure with patience, conceal one's talents amid hardship, and hold to what is correct.
Line Readings
Line 1 (yang)
初九：明夷，于飛垂其翼．君子于行，三日不食，有攸往，主人有言.
Translation
The light is obscured; a bird flies with its wings drooping. The noble person sets out, going three days without food. Wherever he goes, his host has harsh words for him.
Commentary
Line 1, yang, has its brightness suppressed and must flee like a wounded bird with drooping wings. The noble person departs amid hardship, criticized even by his host — someone still within the country.
Line 2 (yin)
六二：明夷，夷于左股，用拯馬壯，吉.
Translation
The light is wounded in the left thigh; a strong horse is used to escape. Good fortune.
Commentary
Line 2, yin, holds both the center and the correct position. Though wounded (in the left thigh), its strength — like a sturdy horse — and its centered, correct virtue allow it to escape.
Line 3 (yang)
九三：明夷，于南狩，得其大首，不可疾，貞.
Translation
The light is wounded; hunting in the south, one captures the chief offender. One must not act rashly — hold to what is correct.
Commentary
Line 3, yang, holds the correct position, like someone setting out to root out tyranny — hunting toward the bright south — and capturing the ringleader of evil. But one must not be hasty; patience and correctness are required.
Line 4 (yin)
六四：入于左腹，獲明夷之心，于出門庭.
Translation
Entering the left side of the belly, one grasps the true intent of the one who darkens the light, then leaves through the courtyard gate.
Commentary
Line 4, yin, sits close to line 5 (the darkened ruler), as if having gained entry to the inner circle, come to understand the schemer's true intentions, and then made an escape.
Line 5 (yin)
六五：箕子之明夷，利貞.
Translation
Jizi's light is obscured; it is favorable to hold to what is correct.
Commentary
Line 5, yin, occupies the ruler's position but is not the ruler — rather, a wise minister suppressed in the way Jizi was under the tyrant King Zhou. By feigning madness, hiding one's virtue, and holding to what is correct, it is favorable.
Line 6 (yin)
上六：不明晦，初登于天，後入于地.
Translation
Not bright but dark; rising first to the heavens, then falling to the earth.
Commentary
Line 6, yin, is the one who darkens the light — the tyrannical ruler. Rising to prosperity at first (ascending to the heavens), it ultimately collapses (falling to the earth).