Hexagram 36, line 6
上六Line 6 of Brightness Hidden
Six at the top · 明夷 míng yí
爻辭 The line text
不明晦，初登于天，後入于地。The sixth line, divided, shows the case where there is no light, but (only) obscurity. (Its subject) had at first ascended to (the top of) the sky; his future shall be to go into the earth.
初登于天，照四國也。後入于地，失則也。'He had at first ascended to (the top of) the sky:'—he might have enlightened the four quarters of the kingdom. 'His future shall be to go into the earth:'—he has failed to fulfil the model (of a ruler).
In plain words
Not light but darkness. The top line is the source of the hexagram's injury — yin at the summit of Kun, the tyrant whose reign the other five lines have been surviving. The text gives his trajectory: at first he climbed to heaven, afterwards he went into the earth. The small Image spells out what each meant: at the height he 'could have illuminated the four quarters' (照四國), and the fall came because he 'lost the rule' (失則). It is the one line in Ming Yi that is not a victim of the darkness but its author, and its end is the hexagram's end.
If this line is changing
If you hold power and have been using it to keep others in the dark, understand that this is the end of that arc; if you are under such a power, know that it is already past its height.
Where the line stands
- A broken line, yin — written 六 (six), the number of an old yin 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 upper trigram 坤 Kun (the Receptive) (earth).
- It corresponds (應) with line 3: 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 ䷕ 22 賁 Adornment
Fire at the foot of the mountain: beauty lighting the forms of things. Success in small matters through grace and style; ornament should serve substance, not replace it.
What it becomes22 · 賁 AdornmentbìThe 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 Six at the top of hexagram 36, Brightness Hidden, mean?
- Not light but darkness. The top line is the source of the hexagram's injury — yin at the summit of Kun, the tyrant whose reign the other five lines have been surviving. The text gives his trajectory: at first he climbed to heaven, afterwards he went into the earth. The small Image spells out what each meant: at the height he 'could have illuminated the four quarters' (照四國), and the fall came because he 'lost the rule' (失則). It is the one line in Ming Yi that is not a victim of the darkness but its author, and its end is the hexagram's end.
- What does hexagram 36 become when line 6 changes?
- Brightness Hidden becomes hexagram 22, 賁 Adornment: Fire at the foot of the mountain: beauty lighting the forms of things. Success in small matters through grace and style; ornament should serve substance, not replace it.
- Is line 6 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).