離
“Radiance” — King Wen #30
Radiance and clarity. Cling to what is right and light the way for others — brightly but briefly.
The Judgment 卦辞
利貞，亨。畜牝牛，吉。
Li indicates that, (in regard to what it denotes), it will be advantageous to be firm and correct, and that thus there will be free course and success. Let (its subject) also nourish (a docility like that of) the cow, and there will be good fortune.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
履錯然，敬之，無咎。
The first NINE, undivided, shows one ready to move with confused steps. But he treads at the same time reverently, and there will be no mistake.
黃離，元吉。
The second SIX, divided, shows its subject in his place in yellow. There will be great good fortune.
日昃之離，不鼓缶而歌，則大耋之嗟，凶。
The third NINE, undivided, 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.
突如其來如，焚如，死如，棄如。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows the manner of its subject's coming. How abrupt it is, as with fire, with death, to be rejected (by all)!
出涕沱若，戚嗟若，吉。
The fifth SIX, divided, shows its subject as one with tears flowing in torrents, and groaning in sorrow. There will be good fortune.
王用出征，有嘉折首，獲匪其醜，無咎。
The topmost NINE, undivided, shows the king employing its 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.
Reading the Picture
Hexagram 30 places fire (离) beneath fire (离) —light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates below, light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Radiance”:radiance and clarity. Cling to what is right and light the way for others — brightly but briefly Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
Questions About Hexagram 30
What does 離 (lí) mean?
Hexagram 30 of the I Ching is named 離 (lí), usually rendered "Radiance" in English editions. Its figure pairs fire (离) below with fire (离) above.
Which trigrams form hexagram 30?
离 (Fire) sits above and 离 (Fire) sits below — the classical picture is light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates beneath light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates.
How is hexagram 30 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 30 gives hexagram 29 — 坎 (Gorge). Turned upside down, the figure is itself — one of the four symmetrical hexagrams. Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 28 — 大過 (Great Exceeding).
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1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.