離Li · Clinging Fire
In one sentence
Attach yourself to the right people and things, and the light can last.
Fire has to cling to something in order to burn. Your situation is the same: what you depend on, and whom you go with, decides the outcome. Choose a legitimate support. Don't let your temper run too fierce; like raising a cow, cultivate a little gentleness. Stay true and things go through.
Asking about work, love or money
- Work
- Fire has to cling to fuel before it can burn, and your talent likewise needs the right platform and the right people before it can show. Choose a proper thing to depend on, and do not lean on the wrong place. You are bright and drawing attention now, but do not be too fierce in temper; pull your edge in a little, be willing to cooperate and to listen, and the light will last.
- Love
- A relationship is two people clinging to each other. Lean on the right person and both of you shine; lean on the wrong one and it burns out and is gone. Passion is good, but do not burn too fiercely: a little less temper and possessiveness, a little more gentleness and consideration. If you are single, do not be drawn only to dazzling people; look at whether the person is worth depending on.
- Money
- Where your money comes from and what it depends on is the key question now. The trade you rely on and the people you work with should be proper and reliable; do not hang your livelihood on something unsteady. When money is coming in strongly, do not burn through it too fast; slow your temper, tend it patiently the way one raises livestock, and let it flow thin and long.
This is the hexagram as a whole. If your cast has changing lines, the line text governs; each line's page has its own reading for work, love and money.
The judgment
In plain wordsIt is favorable to stay true, and things go through. Like raising a cow, cultivate a gentle, compliant nature in yourself, and there is good fortune.
The Tuan commentary
離，麗也；日月麗乎天，百穀草木麗乎土，重明以麗乎正，乃化成天下。柔麗乎中正，故亨；是以畜牝牛吉也。
Li means to cling. The sun and moon cling to heaven. The hundred grains, the grasses and the trees cling to the soil. Doubled brightness clings to what is correct, and so transforms and completes all under heaven. The yielding clings to the center and the correct; hence "success". Therefore "raising a cow brings good fortune".
The Tuan (“judgment”) commentary is one of the Ten Wings. It explains the hexagram name and the judgment from the two trigrams and the positions of the lines.
The image
明兩作，離。大人以繼明照于四方。
Brightness arises twice: Li (Clinging Fire). The great person carries the light forward and illuminates the four quarters.
The lines
Nine at the beginning
Text履錯然，敬之无咎。Footsteps crisscrossing. Be reverent and there is no blame.In plain wordsJust setting out, your steps are tangled, in a hurry to climb. Carry a respectful, careful heart and there is no blame. More on this line →
Six in the second place
Text黃離，元吉。Clinging to yellow. Supreme good fortune.In plain wordsClinging to yellow — yellow is the color of the center. Your attachment is centered and correct. Great good fortune. More on this line →
Nine in the third place
Text日昃之離，不鼓缶而歌，則大耋之嗟，凶。The light of the setting sun. If one does not beat the clay pot and sing, there will be the sighs of great old age. Misfortune.In plain wordsThe sun is slanting west. If you don't beat the clay pot and sing, content and at ease, you will only lament that you are old. Misfortune. One stretch of life is nearly over; only by making peace with that do you get through it. More on this line →
Nine in the fourth place
Text突如其來如，焚如，死如，棄如。How sudden its coming! It burns, it dies, it is cast away.In plain wordsIt comes so suddenly, like a fire flaring up; it burns out, dies, and is thrown away. Charging and forcing your way at the juncture between old and new ends just like this. More on this line →
Six in the fifth place
Text出涕沱若，戚嗟若，吉。Tears in floods, grieving and sighing. Good fortune.In plain wordsTears streaming down, sorrow and sighing. Your position is unsteady, pressed from above and from below; but precisely because you are this worried and fearful, it turns out to be good fortune. More on this line →
Nine at the top
Text王用出征，有嘉折首，獲匪其醜，无咎。The king sends him out to march. There is merit in striking down the chief; the captives taken are not the rank and file. No blame.In plain wordsThe king sends him on campaign: he wins merit, executes only the ringleader and does not drag in those who followed. No blame. Authority reaches everywhere, yet punishment is not used to excess. More on this line →
Lines are counted from the bottom. “Nine” is a yang (solid) line, “six” a yin (broken) line. A line applies to your reading only when it is a changing line.
Related hexagrams
Primary, resulting, nuclear, opposite and inverted hexagrams explained →
In the hexagram calendar
Li is one of the four cardinal hexagrams (Kan, Zhen, Li, Dui). It has no pentad of its own; instead its six lines govern six solar terms in turn: Summer Solstice, Minor Heat, Major Heat, Start of Autumn, End of Heat, White Dew.