Hexagram 30 of 64
離 Lí · The Clinging
上 離 Fire (Lí) over 下 離 Fire (Lí)
Lean on the light, and pass it on.
Judgment
Zhouyi, hexagram 30, judgment. English translation in preparation.
Image
In short: light arises twice.
Zhouyi, hexagram 30, Great Image. Short gloss by Koyonari; full translation in preparation.
Commentary
Lí is light arising twice, one blaze kindling another in succession. Lí reveals that light glows only when adhering to substance, and human lives follow the same truth: lean upon someone's light today, and pass that light forward tomorrow. Clinging is not fragile dependence; it provides luminosity a tangible anchor so that radiance may endure.
Koyonari commentary.
The Six Lines
“Footsteps crisscrossing in early confusion; maintaining reverence brings no blame.” The steps are tangled and disorderly. Treating this with respect and care brings no blame, meaning no fault and no reproach. Lǚ refers both to walking and to conduct. Chéng Yí and Zhū Xī explain cuòrán as confused and unsettled; Wáng Bì reads it as a manner of respectful caution. At the beginning of Lí (Fire), the first yang line emphasizes care in taking the first steps.
Zhouyi, hexagram 30, line 1. Koyonari translation.
“The reverence of crisscrossing steps avoids blame.” When footsteps are crisscrossing and confused at the start of affairs, maintaining reverence and caution (one view holds that cuòrán itself depicts being vigilant and cautious) serves to ward off faults and blame.
Zhouyi, hexagram 30, line 2. Koyonari translation.
“Yellow attachment; supreme good fortune.” Lí means attachment or dependence, and yellow is the color of the center. Their combination thus means adhering to the middle way, judged to bring great good fortune. The second yin line is yielding, central and correctly placed. What it adheres to is precisely the balanced, upright way, hence the great good fortune.
Zhouyi, hexagram 30, line 3. Koyonari translation.
“Yellow brightness, supreme good fortune: obtaining the central way.” Yellow is the central color. Great fortune comes because six in the second holds the center.
Zhouyi, hexagram 30, line 4. Koyonari translation.
“Light of the setting sun; without beating the earthen pot and singing, one laments old age with sighs: misfortune.” The sun moves westward and its light fades, like a person entering old age. If there is no singing to the beat of an earthenware pot, only sighs over aging remain. Dié means advanced age. Misfortune here denotes the disadvantage of dwelling entirely on anxious laments about aging. The subject is how to face life's declining years.
Zhouyi, hexagram 30, line 5. Koyonari translation.
“Brightness of the setting sun: how could it last?” Illumination from the declining sun cannot endure for long.
Zhouyi, hexagram 30, line 6. Koyonari translation.
“Sudden rushing in; flared like fire, dead like ash, cast aside.” A sudden rush, like a fierce blaze, is followed by images of death and abandonment. The fourth yang line is forceful and impatient: it acts violently but cannot find a stable attachment. Burning, death and abandonment picture a situation in which aggressive advance leaves one with no place to be accepted.
Zhouyi, hexagram 30, line 7. Koyonari translation.
“Coming abruptly: nowhere can accommodate it.” Arriving so suddenly, nowhere can tolerate or harbor it.
Zhouyi, hexagram 30, line 8. Koyonari translation.
“Tears flowing like rain, sighing with grief; good fortune.” Tears pour down like rain amid sorrowful sighs, yet the judgment is good fortune, meaning favorable. The yielding fifth yin line occupies an exalted position, but its insecurity brings such fear and sorrow. The Xiàng Zhuàn (Commentary on the Images) attributes its good fortune to attachment to the position of kings and lords. Wáng Bì stresses support from others; Chéng Yí and Zhū Xī emphasize deep fear and concern that prompt caution.
Zhouyi, hexagram 30, line 9. Koyonari translation.
“Fortune of six in the fifth: clinging to rulers.” The fifth is auspicious because it clings to royal position.
Zhouyi, hexagram 30, line 10. Koyonari translation.
“The king marches forth on expedition; praise in severing the chief ringleader, taking captive the followers without butchery; no blame.” The king sends troops on a campaign, wins commendable military success and eliminates the chief wrongdoer; those captured are not his own kind, so punishment is not extended indiscriminately. Chǒu here means others of the same kind. No blame means no fault and no reproach. The emphasis is on making distinctions when assigning punishment.
Zhouyi, hexagram 30, line 11. Koyonari translation.
“The king campaigns: to rectify the state.” The ruler marches out to correct and rectify the realm.
Zhouyi, hexagram 30, line 12. Koyonari translation.