I Ching Hexagram 30 - Brightness
Description and interpretations of I Ching (Yijing) hexagram 30 "Brightness"
離 - Lí
Thuần Ly
Brightness
Upper (Outer) Trigram: ☲ Li, Fire
Lower (Inner) Trigram: ☲ Li, Fire
Other Titles: Clarity, The Clinging, The Symbol of Brightness and of Separateness, Flaming Beauty, Radiance, Fire, The Net, Allegiance, The Cosmic Mean, Synergy, Sunlight, Perception, Pertaining to Comprehension, The Light, Consciousness, Lucidity.
English Translations & Interpretations
The Judgement
Wilhelm/Baynes: The Clinging. Perseverance furthers. It brings success. Care of the cow brings good fortune.
Legge: The free course and success of Clarity comes from firm correctness. The nourishment of bovine docility creates good fortune.
Blofeld: Flaming beauty. Righteous persistence brings reward. Success! Rearing cows -- good fortune! [Cows are gentle creatures which require looking after; hence this sentence means that good fortune can be gained by looking after those in need of help.]
Liu: Fire. It is of benefit to continue. Success. To take care of the cow leads to good fortune.
Shaughnessy: The Net: Beneficial to determine; receipt; raising a cow is auspicious.
Cleary(1): Fire is beneficial for correctness and development. Raising a cow brings good fortune.
Cleary (2): Fire is beneficial if correct; then there is success, etc. [In Buddhism, when demons cause disturbance, it is necessary to cleave to true teaching to get rid of aberrations.]
Wu: Allegiance indicates that it will be advantageous to be persevering and pervasion will follow. It will be auspicious to raise the cow.
The Image
Wilhelm/Baynes: That which is bright rises twice: the image of Fire. Thus the great man, by perpetuating this brightness, illuminates the four quarters of the world.
Legge: The image of brightness repeated forms Clarity. The great man, in accordance with this, cultivates more and more his brilliant virtue, and diffuses its brightness over the four quarters of the land.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire rising in two tongues of brilliant flame. The Superior Man, by perpetuating the brilliance of the ancients, illuminates every quarter of the earth. [In other words, we should make ourselves as completely dependent on the principle of righteousness as natural objects are dependent upon nature; in this way, we are sure to be successful.]
Liu: Doubled brightness symbolizes Fire. A great man perpetuates the light and illuminates the four corners of the universe.
Cleary (1): Light has dual function. Thus do great people illumine the four quarters with continuing light. [The sun goes in at night and comes out in the daytime; this pattern represents inner illumination and outer illumination, one light having dual function…Outer illumination has to be based on inner illumination… Illumination must reach inside and outside, so that both are illumined and both are correct.]
Cleary (2): Illumination doubled makes fire. Great people illumine the four quarters with continuing illumination.
Wu: Brightness doubled makes Allegiance. Thus the great man carries on the brightness to shine the four corners of the earth.
Line 1
初九: 履錯然, 敬之, 无咎．
Wilhelm/Baynes: The footprints run crisscross. If one is seriously intent, no blame. [It is precisely at the beginning that serious concentration is important, because the beginning holds the seed of all that is to follow.]
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows one ready to move with confused steps. But he treads at the same time reverently, and there will be no mistake.
Blofeld: Approaching with reverent steps, he pays them his respects -- no error! [This suggests a rather delicate situation in which we should avoid any appearance of lacking respect for others.]
Liu: The footsteps are confused. If one is cautious, no blame. [Everyone should watch his steps so that he doesn’t injure his feet.]
Shaughnessy: Treading counter-wise; respect it; there is no trouble.
Cleary: The steps are awry. If you are heedful of this, there will be no fault.
Wu: The subject is treading cautiously. With due respect, he will be blameless.
Line 2
六二: 黃離, 元吉．
Wilhelm/Baynes: Yellow light. Supreme good fortune.
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows its subject in her place in yellow. There will be great good fortune.
Blofeld: Yellow sunlight -- sublime good fortune.
Liu: The yellow light of the sun indicates great good fortune.
Shaughnessy: Yellow net; prime auspiciousness.
Cleary: Yellow fire is very auspicious.
Wu: The yellow fire will bring great fortune.
Line 3
九三: 日昃之離, 不鼓 缶而歌, 則大耋之嗟, 凶．
Wilhelm/Baynes: In the light of the setting sun, men either beat the pot and sing or loudly bewail the approach of old age. Misfortune.
Legge: The third line, dynamic, shows its subject in a position like that of the declining sun. Instead of playing on his instrument of earthenware, and singing to it, he utters the groans of an old man of eighty. There will be evil.
Blofeld: In the light of the setting sun, young men do not beat upon their cooking pots or sing; the old sigh piteously -- misfortune!
Liu: Under the light of the setting sun, one sings without beating the pot, bemoaning one's old age. Misfortune.
Shaughnessy: The net of the sun's decline; not drumming the earthenware jar and yet singing, then the sighing of the great mourning kerchief; inauspicious.
Cleary (1): The afternoon light; unless you drum on a jug and sing, there will be the lament of old age, which is unfortunate.
Cleary (2): In the fire of the afternoon sun, you either drum on a jug and sing, or lament as in old age. This bodes ill. [When you use insight too much without concentration to balance it, sometimes you will be extremely joyful, drumming and singing, and sometimes you will be extremely anxious, lamenting as in old age. Sadness and joy disturb the song of your heart; intellectual insight cannot sustain itself – backsliding and loss are inevitable.]
Wu: The sun is passing the meridian. If he does not playhis earthen instrument and sing, but sighs like an old man of eighty years, there will be foreboding. [The passing of the meridian is like the passing of the prime time in life. If one does not make the best of his life now, it will be gone forever.]
Line 4
九四: 突如, 其來如, 焚如, 死如, 棄如．
Wilhelm/Baynes: Its coming is sudden; it flames up, dies down, is thrown away.
Legge: The fourth line, dynamic, shows the manner of its subject's coming. How abrupt it is, as with fire, with death, to be rejected by all!
Blofeld: How sudden its coming! Then with flamelike swiftness it is dead and cast away. [Apparently we may expect some unlooked for good fortune, but of a kind that will have passed away before we have had time to enjoy it.]
Liu: It comes abruptly; it burns up, dies, and is cast aside.
Shaughnessy: As if going out, as if coming, as if confused, as if dying, as if dismissing.
Cleary: The coming forth is abrupt, burning, dying, abandoned.
Wu: So abruptly it comes, like burning, like dying, like being abandoned. [The symbolic associations paint a scene of hell. Some scholars consider this judgment to be the most vicious of the 384 judgments of the lines in the Yi Jing.]
Line 5
六五: 出涕沱若, 戚嗟若, 吉．
Wilhelm/Baynes: Tears in floods, sighing and lamenting. Good fortune.
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows its subject as one with tears flowing in torrents, and groaning in sorrow. There will be good fortune.
Blofeld: His tears streamed forth as though to extinguish his piteous sighs -- good fortune! [Bitter regret serves us in good stead.]
Liu: A flood of tears, sighing, and sadness. Good fortune. [There may be suffering and mourning, but good fortune hides in misfortune.]
Shaughnessy: Going out with tears as if streaming and grief as if sighing; auspicious.
Cleary: Weeping and lamenting. Good fortune. [This is clearly knowing one is not illumined.]
Wu: With tears flowing profusely, he sighs with sorrow. Auspicious.
Line 6
上九: 王用出征, 有嘉; 折首, 獲匪其醜, 无咎．
Wilhelm/Baynes: The king uses him to march forth and chastise. Then it is best to kill the leaders and take captive the followers. No blame.
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows the king employing his subject in his punitive expeditions. Achieving admirable merit, he breaks only the chiefs of the rebels. Where his prisoners were not their associates, he does not punish. There will be no error.
Blofeld: The King went forth to set things to rights and, blessed by heaven with victory, he destroyed the leader of the rebels; but he did not chastise the rebel followers -- no error!
Liu: The king goes to fight. Victory. He kills the leader and captures the followers. No blame.
Shaughnessy: The king goes out on campaign; there is the joy of cutting off heads and bagging the non-masses; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): The king hereby goes on an expedition; there is good luck, and he crushes the leader. As the captive is not the common followers, there is no blame.
Cleary (2): The king goes on an expedition, has good luck, and overcomes the leader, taking captives, but not because they are repugnant. No fault.
Wu: The king leads his expedition, commends those who kill the defiant chieftains, and captures those who are against his people. There will be no blame.
Notes
For an in-depth glossary of I Ching, click here.
Hexagram 30 implies intelligence, brightness, and beauty. The double fire signifies bright sunlight, which indicates a moment of happiness, success, and recognition.
Fire needs fuel, otherwise, it will die off. But if there is too much fire, the outcome can be dangerous.
Things will go smoothly for the honest and upright person, but for those with ill intentions, failure will prevail. Serious focus is required before any action.
