Hexagram 36: Ming Yi

Earth over Fire · 地火明夷 · Tendency: Inauspicious

Structure

• Number: 36 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷣
• Upper trigram: Kun (Earth)
• Lower trigram: Li (Fire)
• Lines: yang yin yang yin yin yin (bottom to top)

The statement

利艰贞。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

This hexagram indicates that the environment is not clear, and it's not advisable to fully reveal your true thoughts or abilities for now. It's suitable to protect yourself, observe discreetly, and conserve strength. When encountering injustice or obstacles, don't clash head-on; hold your ground and wait until the situation becomes clear before acting.

A Buddhist reading

Ming Yi (Brightness Damaged) is light that has been wounded. Ouyi Zhixu says that knowing how to advance without knowing how to withdraw guarantees injury; here the light has entered the earth and no longer shines outward, so holding to what is right under hardship is what using darkness in order to be bright actually means. His decisive comment concerns practice: afflictions and bad karma, illness and demonic interference, arrogance and wrong views are without exception the very field on which the highest form of calming and insight practice works. Adversity is itself the training ground. Jizi, in the fifth line, stood beside a blind ruler and was humiliated, yet stayed soft outside and firm within, and no one could put out his lamp.

After Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655), whose Chan commentary on the Changes reads each hexagram as a stage of practice.

The statement is quoted from the Book of Changes, which is in the public domain. The English reading on this page was prepared for this library.

Related hexagrams

• Previous / Inverted: Hexagram 35: Jinthe whole figure turned upside down
• Next: Hexagram 37: Jia Ren
• Opposite: Hexagram 6: Songevery line changed to its opposite
• Nuclear: Hexagram 40: Xielines two to four below, three to five above

Related

• Liu Yao Divination ChartLiu Yao casts a hexagram about one specific matter and reads its structure. Unlike BaZi or Zi Wei, which describe a person, Liu Yao describes how a situation stands at a particular moment. This page walks through the full process from casting to attribution.
• Mei Hua Yi Shu CalculatorMei Hua Yi Shu is traditionally attributed to Shao Yong. What sets it apart is how freely it casts: a time, a spoken number, a direction or something noticed in passing will all serve. It attaches no stems and no relatives, reading the trigrams directly. This page covers casting through to the subject and object.