Hexagram 36 as yes or no
Hexagram 36 Brightness Hidden as a yes-or-no answer
Ming Yi answers 'should I act openly' with no, and 'should I hold on' with a qualified yes: 'it is favourable to be steady in difficulty'. The hexagram says the light is real and the moment is wrong for showing it. Whatever you are considering, the stance it recommends is to protect the substance and withhold the display — to be bright by being dim, as the Great Image puts it. This is not a counsel of despair; the sun under the earth is the sun before dawn.
The changing line decides between leaving, acting and enduring. In the lower trigram the answer tends to action: line one says go now, even at a cost; line two says you are hurt but can get clear, so do; line three is the one line that says confront it, and then be patient. In the upper trigram the answer tends to withdrawal or endurance: four says you have understood enough, leave; five says you cannot leave, so dim your light and keep your purpose; six says the darkness is at its end, and what you were asking about is already turning.
The hexagram in brief
The sun sunk under the earth: the light wounded. In dark times it is favourable to persevere — hide your brilliance, as the ancient sage did under a tyrant.
Keep your inner light while appearing modest; endure injustice without being corrupted or exposed.
The judgment
明夷：利艱貞。Ming Î indicates that (in the circumstances which it denotes) it will be advantageous to realise the difficulty (of the position), and maintain firm correctness.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 明夷 Brightness Hidden has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginningdrooping wings · leaving early · going hungry
- 六二Six in the second placewounded in the thigh · a strong horse · King Wen
- 九三Nine in the third placehunting in the south · the great chief · not too fast
- 六四Six in the fourth placethe left belly · understanding the dark · leaving by the gate
- 六五Six in the fifth placeJizi · feigned darkness · the light cannot be put out
- 上六Six at the topdarkness itself · first to heaven, then to earth · the fallen ruler
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Does hexagram 36, Brightness Hidden, mean yes or no?
- Ming Yi answers 'should I act openly' with no, and 'should I hold on' with a qualified yes: 'it is favourable to be steady in difficulty'. The hexagram says the light is real and the moment is wrong for showing it. Whatever you are considering, the stance it recommends is to protect the substance and withhold the display — to be bright by being dim, as the Great Image puts it. This is not a counsel of despair; the sun under the earth is the sun before dawn.
- What does Hexagram 36, 明夷 Brightness Hidden, mean?
- The sun sunk under the earth: the light wounded. In dark times it is favourable to persevere — hide your brilliance, as the ancient sage did under a tyrant.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).