# Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/36
Last updated: 2026-10-07

```
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
```

- **Upper trigram:** [Kun 坤](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/kun), Earth, the receptive, yielding
- **Lower trigram:** [Li 離](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/li), Fire, the clinging, clarity
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 101000 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

Darkening of the light. The outer situation does not favor your truth. To express it openly now invites harm or misunderstanding. This is not a time to protest or to push your vision; it is a time to keep the inner light alive quietly, continue your real work, and trust the longer cycle.

## Image

The sun sunk beneath the earth. The superior person, when dealing with the multitude, conceals their brightness and still remains luminous within.

## Counsel

Protect your inner truth without advertising it. Do not engage with those determined to misunderstand or exploit you; do not cast pearls where they will only be trampled. Keep your real work moving, even in quiet. The darkness is not permanent, and your steadiness through it is itself an achievement.

## The six lines

*Numbered from the bottom upward. These line texts are read when that line is changing in a cast.*

### Line 1

> A nine at the beginning means:
> Darkening of the Light in flight.
> He lowers his wings.
> The noble one on their wanderings eats nothing for three days.
> But they have somewhere to go.
> The host has something to say about them.

### Line 2

> A six in the second place means:
> The Darkening of the Light injures him in the left thigh.
> He effects rescue with the strength of a horse. Good fortune.

### Line 3

> A nine in the third place means:
> The Darkening of the Light on the hunt in the south.
> Their great head is caught.
> One must not expect perseverance too hastily.

### Line 4

> A six in the fourth place means:
> He penetrates into the left side of the belly.
> One obtains the heart of the Darkening of the Light
> and leaves gate and court.

### Line 5

> A six in the fifth place means:
> Darkening of the Light as with Prince Chi.
> Perseverance furthers.

### Line 6

> A six at the top means:
> Not light, but darkness.
> First he climbed up to heaven,
> then he plunged down into the depths of the earth.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [40 Deliverance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/40)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [35 Progress](https://thefreeiching.com/library/35)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [6 Conflict](https://thefreeiching.com/library/6)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [15 Modesty](https://thefreeiching.com/library/15) |
| Line 2 | [11 Peace](https://thefreeiching.com/library/11) |
| Line 3 | [24 Return](https://thefreeiching.com/library/24) |
| Line 4 | [55 Abundance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/55) |
| Line 5 | [63 After Completion](https://thefreeiching.com/library/63) |
| Line 6 | [22 Grace](https://thefreeiching.com/library/22) |

Previous: [35 Progress](https://thefreeiching.com/library/35). Next: [37 The Family](https://thefreeiching.com/library/37). [All sixty-four hexagrams](https://thefreeiching.com/library).

*The judgment, image and counsel are original contemporary paraphrases written for The Free I Ching. The line text is the CC0 translation from [jesshewitt/i-ching](https://github.com/jesshewitt/i-ching), derived from Richard Wilhelm's 1924 German edition.*

## Cite this page

The Free I Ching. "Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light." https://thefreeiching.com/library/36 (updated 2026-10-07).

*The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice. Short quotations with a link back are welcome. Please do not republish a page in full. The open data files at [/data](https://thefreeiching.com/data) are licensed CC BY 4.0.*

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Source: The Free I Ching (https://thefreeiching.com/library/36). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.