I Ching, Yijing or Zhou Yi
"Oracle of the moon": © 2000 LiSe
Yi Jing, Oracle of the Moon
The image of hexagram 36
Míng Yí, Wounding Brightness
What does it mean, 'inner' and 'outer' trigram (popup)
Fire below Earth: the sun hides its light at night, which is necessary for a right balance of light and dark. Same goes for people, showing or hiding your light should both happen at the right time and situation.
Long ago there were 10 suns, one for each day of the 10-day week. They would rise in succession, until one day all ten came up together. The earth got scorched, but Hou Yi, Lord Yi, shot down 9 of them and saved the earth from incineration.
Ideogram of the hexagram name: the first (upper) character is sun + moon: brightness. The second character is an image of an archer with a string arrow. According to other sources a kneeling archer, aiming his arrow. It means level, smooth, wounding or barbarian (which is anyone 'not us'), but it is also the name of the East tribe, the tribe of the famous archer 夷羿 Yí Yì (Yí of Yì) or 后羿 Hòu Yì (Lord Yi), who shot down the 9 surplus suns. There is no reason, that one single translation should be the true one, excluding all others, which makes it very difficult to find a 'right' name for this hexagram. It might mean Brightness Injured, Darkening of the Light (Wilhelm), Bright Barbarian, Ming Yi Bird (Waley) or Injury to the Eye (also Waley). Mingyi can be a pheasant, but it can also allude to the golden colored raven which carries the sun. Hou Yi shot down the 9 ravens who carried the surplus suns (not the suns themselves).
The 'Great Image' says: Brightness enters into the earth : hiding brightness. The noble one governs the masses using darkness and also brightness.
Hex. 36 is the contrast of 6, which is about fighting for justice, where the light has to shine with impartiality.
Hex.36 is about showing or hiding the light according to circumstances.
To be what you really are, to live the life that belongs to you. That is what everybody wants, but most spoil it because they think it is enough to do just that. Open and impulsive they jump into life, only to find out that everything and everybody counteracts. Hide your light when necessary, so nobody can blow it out. Be careful and modest in everything you do and show, not to evoke obstructions. Do not deny obstructive forces, explore them and recognize them, so you know what measures to take or how to circumvent them. When the trees in an industrial region turned black from the smoke, the butterflies turned black too .. and survived.