Hexagram 30, line 3
九三Line 3 of Brightness (Fire)
Nine in the third place · 離 lí
爻辭 The line text
日昃之離，不鼓缶而歌，則大耋之嗟，凶。The third line, 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.
日昃之離，何可久也。'A position like that of the declining sun:'—how can it continue long?
In plain words
'The clinging of the setting sun: if one does not beat the clay pot and sing, there will be the lament of great old age — misfortune.' Line three is the end of the lower Li, where the first fire burns down; the image is the sun declining, a day or a life past its height. Yang in a yang place, this line is strong enough to resist the fact, and the text offers it two responses. One is to sing to a simple drum, accepting the evening with cheer; the other is to groan over lost years. The small Image says of the declining sun, 'how can it last?' (何可久也). Cheng Yi takes the song as the wisdom of knowing an end and making peace with it before the next light begins.
If this line is changing
A phase is ending and no amount of effort will extend it; meet the ending with a song rather than a complaint, and you will be ready when the next fire is lit.
Where the line stands
- A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang line that moves when cast.
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
- It belongs to the lower trigram 離 Li (the Clinging) (fire).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 6: both lines are yang, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.
之卦 When this line moves
離 Brightness (Fire) becomes ䷔ 21 噬嗑 Biting Together
Thunder and lightning: jaws closing on an obstacle. Something is in the way and must be bitten through — favourable for administering justice.
What it becomes21 · 噬嗑 Biting Togethershì kèThe six lines of 離 Brightness (Fire)
- 初九Nine at the beginningconfused steps · reverence · early light
- 六二Six in the second placeyellow light · the mean · great good fortune
- 九三Nine in the third placesetting sun · sing or lament · nothing lasts
- 九四Nine in the fourth placesudden arrival · burning out · no one can bear it
- 六五Six in the fifth placetears in torrents · sorrow · the ruler's place
- 上九Nine at the topthe king's expedition · strike the leaders · spare the followers
Read 離 Brightness (Fire) for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine in the third place of hexagram 30, Brightness (Fire), mean?
- 'The clinging of the setting sun: if one does not beat the clay pot and sing, there will be the lament of great old age — misfortune.' Line three is the end of the lower Li, where the first fire burns down; the image is the sun declining, a day or a life past its height. Yang in a yang place, this line is strong enough to resist the fact, and the text offers it two responses. One is to sing to a simple drum, accepting the evening with cheer; the other is to groan over lost years. The small Image says of the declining sun, 'how can it last?' (何可久也). Cheng Yi takes the song as the wisdom of knowing an end and making peace with it before the next light begins.
- What does hexagram 30 become when line 3 changes?
- Brightness (Fire) becomes hexagram 21, 噬嗑 Biting Together: Thunder and lightning: jaws closing on an obstacle. Something is in the way and must be bitten through — favourable for administering justice.
- Is line 3 of Brightness (Fire) in its correct place?
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).