The 64 hexagrams / Hexagram 36
Darkening of the Light
Hexagram 36 · 明夷 Míng Yí
Earth above · Fire below
坎 palace · 游魂
What hexagram 36 says
The light sunk into the earth. Ability suppressed by circumstance. Be bright inside and dull outside — this is the whole strategy.
Above: Earth (Kun) — receptive, yielding, sustaining.
The six lines
Read from the bottom up. The first line is the beginning of the situation, the sixth is its outer edge. The Chinese text is the classical line text; the line below it is a reading of what it is pointing at.
yang — solid
yin — broken
yang — solid
yin — broken
yin — broken
yin — broken
How to use this hexagram
If you cast this as your primary hexagram, it describes the situation you are in. If it came up as the transformed hexagram, it describes where things are heading once the changing lines have flipped. If you are only looking it up, read the judgment first — the line texts are for specific moments inside the situation, not for the situation as a whole.
Frequently asked
What does I Ching hexagram 36 mean?
Hexagram 36, Darkening of the Light, is made of Earth above and Fire below. The light sunk into the earth. Ability suppressed by circumstance. Be bright inside and dull outside — this is the whole strategy.
How do I read hexagram 36 in a casting?
Read the primary hexagram first — it describes the situation as it stands. If any of your six lines were changing lines (sixes or nines from the coin tosses), read those lines' texts next: they mark where the situation is moving. The hexagram produced after those lines flip is the transformed hexagram, and it shows where the movement leads.
What are the six lines of hexagram 36?
Hexagram 36 has six lines, read from the bottom up. The texts below are given in order, first line (bottom) to sixth line (top).
Which palace does hexagram 36 belong to?
In the six-line (liuyao) system, hexagram 36 sits in the 坎 palace, wandering soul — the situation has lost its home and drifts. The palace gives the hexagram its ruling element, and from that element the Six Relatives are assigned to each line.