← The I Ching
Hexagram 36 · ☷ over ☲
Darkening of the Light
Ming Yi
The judgment
The bright one hidden under the earth — intelligence and integrity in an environment that is hostile to both. This hexagram counsels concealment of your clarity, not its abandonment. The light is not extinguished; it is protected until the time when it can be shown safely.
The image. Earth covers fire — the light concealed, dimmed but not destroyed.
Guidance
Don't show your full hand where it won't be safe. Keep your clarity and your values intact by not exposing them to what would extinguish them — wait for a better moment.
How it’s built
Every hexagram is two trigrams — the lower one beneath the upper. This one is Lí below Kūn.
☷Upper · Earththe Receptive — yielding, devotion, the nourishing ground, the mother
☲Lower · Firethe Clinging — light, clarity, beauty, the middle daughter