Overview
Fire clings to what it burns and gives light only by relationship. Attach to what is worthy, clarify what you see, and let brightness serve others.
The Judgment
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 Image
(The trigram for) brightness, repeated, forms Lî. 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).
The Lines
- Line 1
The first line, undivided, shows one ready to move with confused steps. But he treads at the same time reverently, and there will be no mistake. - Line 2
The second line, divided, shows its subject in his place in yellow. There will be great good fortune. - Line 3
The third line, 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. - Line 4
The fourth line, undivided, shows the manner of its subject's coming. How abrupt it is, as with fire, with death, to be rejected (by all)! - Line 5
The fifth line, divided, shows its subject as one with tears flowing in torrents, and groaning in sorrow. There will be good fortune. - Line 6
The topmost line, 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.