Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light
Ming Yi · 明夷
The Judgment
In adversity, persistence furthers. The sun sinks beneath the earth. A person of dark nature holds authority and harms the wise. Don't be swept along by unfavorable circumstances. Maintain inner light while remaining outwardly yielding. Hide your light to make your will prevail despite hostile environment. Perseverance dwells in inmost consciousness, invisible from without.
The Image
Light has sunk into the earth. Live among the masses: veil your light, yet still shine. Caution is essential. Don't awaken overwhelming enmity through inconsiderate behavior. Don't fall in with bad practices; don't censuriously expose them either. Let many things pass without being duped.
「明入地中，明夷。君子以蒞眾，用晦而明。」光進入地裡，君子藏起光芒卻依然發亮。黑暗的時代要謹慎。不要用輕率的行為招惹強大的敵意。不要跟著別人做壞事，也不要急著揭發他們。讓很多事情過去，但不要被騙。
The Six Lines
Darkening of the light during flight. Lowering wings. Going without food for three days on wanderings, but having somewhere to go. The host speaks ill of you. You retreat and evade, hurrying without permanent abode, remaining true to principles despite deprivation. Fixed goal, regardless of being misunderstood.
Wounded in the left thigh. Aid given with the strength of a horse. Good fortune. The injury is not fatal—only a hindrance. Give no thought to yourself; think only of saving others also in danger. Acting according to duty brings good fortune.
Darkening of the light during the hunt in the south. The great leader is captured. Victory achieved as if by chance—you seize the ringleader of disorder. But don't expect perseverance too soon. Abolishing long-standing abuses requires patience.
Penetrating the left side of the belly. You get at the very heart of the darkness and discover the secret thoughts. There is no hope of improvement. Leave the scene of disaster before the storm breaks.
Darkening of the light as with Prince Chi, who feigned insanity at the tyrant's court. He could not withdraw, so he concealed his true sentiments. Held as a slave but not deflected from convictions. For those who cannot leave their posts: invincible perseverance of spirit, redoubled caution.
Not light but darkness. First climbing to heaven, then plunging into earth's depths. The dark power reaches its climax, wounding all who side with good and light. But evil must fall at the moment it has wholly overcome good—consuming the energy to which it owed its duration.
Artwork & Treatise
The Ghost of a Flea
William Blake, 1819
A grotesque humanoid creature emerges from shadow in William Blake's 1819 visionary painting. The figure possesses a muscular body but a beast-like head, its tongue extended toward a bowl that appears to contain blood. Blake claimed he painted what he saw during a seance—the ghost of a flea magnified to human scale, embodying the spiritual essence of a bloodsucking creature. The painting places the viewer inside the realm of concealed malevolence, where predatory forces exist beyond ordinary perception, where what feeds on life operates in darkness.
This is Míng Yí (明夷), Darkening of the Light. The character 明 depicts sun and moon—illumination itself—while 夷 suggests wounding or destruction. Ancient diviners saw this configuration when Earth (Kūn) sits above Fire (Lí)—receptive darkness covering clarity and light, the inversion of Progress. Blake's creature embodies this structure: it exists in shadow, emerges from concealment, represents intelligence twisted toward predation. The painting captures what ancient practitioners described as ming ru di zhong—light entering the earth, brilliance forced into hiding.
{artwork_reasoning}
The Judgment text speaks with deliberate restraint: "Darkening of the Light. In adversity it furthers one to be persevering." Zhou Dynasty court diviners understood this hexagram as counsel for dangerous times when speaking truth brings punishment, when clarity must conceal itself to survive. The text does not promise triumph over darkness but persistence through it. Ancient commentators noted this configuration appeared during tyrannical reigns, when capable officials concealed their abilities to avoid jealous attack, when the worthy withdrew from corrupted systems while maintaining inner integrity.
The Image Text offers survival strategy: "The light has sunk into the earth: the image of Darkening of the Light. Thus does the superior man live with the great mass: he veils his light, yet still shines." Blake's creature reveals what operates in concealment, but the hexagram addresses how one moves through such an environment. In the I-Ching's sequence, Míng Yí follows Jìn (Progress): after light has risen and become visible, it attracts predatory attention. The ancient text teaches that preservation of light sometimes requires its deliberate obscuring, that survival through dark times serves the eventual return of conditions where clarity can once again shine openly.
Yilin Verse
他山之儲，與璆為仇，來攻吾城，傷我肌膚，邦家騷憂。
Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — Unchanging verse for 明夷 (Míng Yí)
Character-by-Character Breakdown
Classical Chinese text with pinyin and English meanings