Li, the clinging, fire is over
Li, the clinging, fire.
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This hexagram is another double sign. The trigram Li means \"to cling to something,\" and also \"brightness.\" A dark line clings to two light lines, one above and one below - the image of an empty space between two strong lines, whereby the two strong lines are made bright. The trigram represents the middle daughter. The Creative (1) has incorporated the central line of the Receptive (2), and thus Li develops. As an image, it is fire. Fire has no definite form but clings to the burning object and thus is bright. As water pours down from heaven, so fire flames up from the earth. While Kan means the soul shut within the body, Li stands for nature in its radiance [glow].
The judgement
THE CLINGING. Perseverance furthers.
It brings success.
Care of the cow brings good fortune.
What is dark clings to what is light and so enhances the brightness of the latter. A luminous thing giving out light must have within itself something that perseveres; otherwise it will in time burn itself out. Everything that gives light is dependent on something to which it clings, in order that it may continue to shine.
Thus the sun and moon cling to heaven, and grain, grass, and trees cling to the earth. So too the twofold clarity of the dedicated man clings to what is right and thereby can shape the world. Human life on earth is conditioned and unfree, and when man recognises this limitation and makes himself dependent on the harmonious and beneficent forces of the cosmos, he achieves success. The cow is the symbol of extreme docility. By cultivating in himself an attitude of compliance and voluntary dependence, man acquires clarity without sharpness and finds his place in the world.
The image
That which is bright rises twice:
The image of FIRE.
Thus the great man, by perpetuating this brightness,
Illumines the four quarters of the world.
