above Kun, the Receptive, earth · below Li, the Clinging, fire
This hexagram shows surroundings that cannot bear your light. The Image advises veiling your glow while staying bright. Be ‘full of light within and yielding and compliant without’; with this attitude even the greatest hardship can be overcome. Hold your conviction firmly inside without showing it everywhere, and leave some things alone. Avoid reckless behaviour that draws overwhelming enmity on you to no purpose, and still don’t let anyone bend your will.
Where can you veil your light without giving up who you are?
Here the sun has sunk beneath the earth and is therefore darkened. The name of the hexagram actually means wounding of the bright, which is why the individual lines often speak of wounds. The situation is the exact opposite of that in the preceding hexagram. There, a wise man stands at the head, with able helpers alongside whom he advances; here, a dark man holds a position of authority, and the able and wise are harmed by him.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
The Darkening of the Light.It is favourable to be persevering in hardship.
Even unfavourable circumstances must not be allowed to sweep one along defenceless or to bend one’s inner resolve. This is possible if one is full of light within and yielding and compliant without. With this attitude even the greatest hardship can be overcome. One may, it is true, have to hide one’s light at times in order to hold to one’s will despite difficulties in one’s immediate surroundings. Perseverance must live in one’s innermost awareness and must not show itself outwardly. Only thus can one keep one’s will intact amid difficulties.
The light has gone down into the earth:the image of the darkening of the light.So the noble one lives with the great multitude:he veils his glow and yet stays bright.
In times of darkness one must be cautious and reserved. One should not draw overwhelming enmity on oneself to no purpose by reckless behaviour. In such times one should not go along with people’s habits, but neither should one drag them critically into the light. In one’s dealings at such times one must not want to know everything. One must let many things rest, without being beguiled by them.
Wilhelm placed the signs ○ and □ after certain lines (p. 334 f.). They mark the rulers of the hexagram. □ stands by the constituting ruler: the line that gives the hexagram its meaning, however high it stands and whatever its character. ○ stands by the governing ruler. It is always of good character and becomes ruler through the meaning of the time and its position, usually in the fifth place. Where a line is both, it carries ○.
The light darkened in mid-flight.He lets his wings droop.The noble one, on his wanderings, goes three days without food.Yet he has a place to go.His host finds cause to talk about him.
A great upward surge meets with hostile fate and forces you to turn aside. If you stay true to your principles and make no inner compromises, you fall into want, and the people around you misunderstand you and speak ill of you. Keep your goal firmly in sight all the same, even when others are talking about you.
With a magnificent resolve one seeks to soar above all obstacles. But then one meets with hostile fate. One withdraws and turns aside. The time is hard. Restlessly one must hurry on without a lasting place to stay. If one will not make inner compromises but stays true to one’s principles, one falls into want. Yet one has a fixed goal to strive towards, even if the people with whom one lodges do not understand one and speak ill of one.
The darkening of the light wounds his left thigh.He renders help with a horse’s might. Good fortune.
The wound in question gets in the way, though it is far from fatal; rescue is still possible. Anyone struck like this thinks of the others who are threatened too. Put all your strength into saving what can be saved; that turns out well.
Here the lord of light is in a subordinate place. He is wounded by the lord of darkness. But the wound is not mortal, only a hindrance. Rescue is still possible. The one affected thinks not of himself but only of rescuing the others who are threatened too. So he strives with all his strength to save what can be saved. In this dutiful action lies good fortune.
The light darkened while hunting in the south.One lays hold of its great head.Perseverance must not be expected in haste.
Anyone who zealously creates order, with no ulterior motive, catches the ringleader of the disorder as if by chance. With that the victory is won. Don’t rush to abolish the abuses that have crept in, though; they have prevailed for too long to be cleared away at a stroke.
It looks as though chance were at play. While the strong and loyal man is intent on creating order by zealous activity, without any ulterior motive, he comes upon the ringleader of the disorder as if by chance and takes him captive. With that the victory is won. But one must not press on with the removal of abuses too hastily. That would do harm, because the abuses have prevailed for too long already.
He enters the left cavity of the belly.One obtains the heart of the darkening of the lightand departs from gate and yard.
This line shows someone who gets close to the source of the darkness and learns its most secret thoughts. From this it becomes clear that there is no longer any hope of improvement. Use this insight and leave the place in good time, before disaster strikes.
One is near the head of darkness and so learns his most secret thoughts. In this way one realises that there is no longer any hope of improvement, and is enabled in good time to leave the place of misfortune before it strikes.
The light darkened, as with Prince Gi.Perseverance is favourable.
The image comes from a prince who lived at the court of a tyrant who was his kinsman, could not get away and hid his true convictions. That is the lot of anyone who cannot leave their post when things are dark. Stay inwardly unbending and be doubly careful outwardly; that way you escape the danger.
Prince Gi lived at the court of the dark tyrant Dschou Sin, who, though unnamed, is the historical example underlying the whole situation. Prince Gi was a kinsman of this tyrant and therefore could not withdraw from court. So he hid his good disposition and feigned madness. He was then kept as a slave, without letting outward ill treatment shake his disposition.
From this follows the lesson for those who cannot leave their post in times of darkness. With invincible perseverance within, they need twofold caution without, in order to escape danger.
Not light but dark.At first he rose up to the heavens,then he fell headlong into the depths of the earth.
The darkness is at its height: what climbed so high that it could harm all who are good is now brought down by its own darkness. Evil must fall at the very moment when it has wholly overcome the good and so used up the strength it lived on. Stay full of light within; a power like this carries its own end inside it.
Here the darkness has reached its peak. The dark power was at first placed so high that it could wound all who were good and full of light. In the end, however, it perishes of its own darkness, for evil must fall at the very moment when it has wholly overcome the good and thereby used up the strength to which it had owed its existence until then.
Would you like to put your own question to the I Ching? Six throws of three coins, and the answer appears straight away.
Consult the I ChingTexts by Richard Wilhelm: I Ging. Das Buch der Wandlungen (first edition Jena 1924), translated into English by NUMEN COMPASS from the Diederichs edition, Munich 1996. Wilhelm’s German text is in the public domain. The section ‘What the hexagram says today’, the question for you and the short notes under the lines are our own reading. The I Ching is no substitute for medical, legal or psychological advice.