Hexagram 36, line 1
初九Line 1 of Brightness Hidden
Nine at the beginning · 明夷 míng yí
爻辭 The line text
明夷于飛，垂其翼。君子于行，三日不食，有攸往，主人有言。The first line, undivided, shows its subject, (in the condition indicated by) Ming Î, flying, but with drooping wings. When the superior man (is revolving) his going away, he may be for three days without eating. Wherever he goes, the people there may speak (derisively of him).
君子于行，義不食也。'The superior man (is revolving his) going away:'—(in such a case) he feels it right not to eat.
In plain words
A bird in flight with its wings drooping: at the bottom of Ming Yi the light is only beginning to be wounded, and this line, yang in its correct place and farthest from the dark ruler at the top, is the first to feel it. It leaves before the damage is done — 'the superior person on his journey goes three days without eating' — and wherever he arrives the host has something to say against him, because no one else yet sees what he saw. The small Image reads the hunger as chosen rather than suffered: 'it is right not to eat' (義不食), the refusal of a wage from a darkening house. Commentators think of Bo Yi, who left rather than serve.
If this line is changing
If you can already see the light going out of a situation, leave early and accept that it will cost you and that others will not understand yet; being first to go is lonely but right.
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 corresponds (應) with line 4: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
明夷 Brightness Hidden becomes ䷎ 15 謙 Humility
A mountain hidden within the earth: greatness that stays low. The only hexagram whose six lines all turn out well — humility succeeds, and the superior person carries things through to the end.
What it becomes15 · 謙 HumilityqiānThe six lines of 明夷 Brightness Hidden
- 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
Read 明夷 Brightness Hidden for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine at the beginning of hexagram 36, Brightness Hidden, mean?
- A bird in flight with its wings drooping: at the bottom of Ming Yi the light is only beginning to be wounded, and this line, yang in its correct place and farthest from the dark ruler at the top, is the first to feel it. It leaves before the damage is done — 'the superior person on his journey goes three days without eating' — and wherever he arrives the host has something to say against him, because no one else yet sees what he saw. The small Image reads the hunger as chosen rather than suffered: 'it is right not to eat' (義不食), the refusal of a wage from a darkening house. Commentators think of Bo Yi, who left rather than serve.
- What does hexagram 36 become when line 1 changes?
- Brightness Hidden becomes hexagram 15, 謙 Humility: A mountain hidden within the earth: greatness that stays low. The only hexagram whose six lines all turn out well — humility succeeds, and the superior person carries things through to the end.
- Is line 1 of Brightness Hidden 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).