Hexagram 30: Radiance
離Lí
A light that needs something to hold.
The passages below are historical language. Their references to fortune, danger, and the exemplary person belong to the text’s world. Our modern explanation is an invitation to reflect on your situation.
The Judgment
Classical Chinese
離。 利貞，亨。畜牝牛，吉。
Our English rendering
Radiance. Steadfast uprightness is favorable. Success. Raising a cow brings good fortune.
The Image
Classical Chinese
象曰：明兩作，離。大人以繼明照四方。
Our English rendering
Two lights shine forth: Radiance. A person of great standing carries brightness onward to illuminate the four quarters.
Translation note: The classical name also carries the sense of attaching or depending on something. 'Cow' preserves the specifically female animal in the Judgment; the agricultural omen is part of the source, rather than a modern instruction to acquire livestock.
A modern reading
Brightness appears in two places, giving Radiance an image of light continued and renewed. Light makes things visible, yet a flame depends on the material that sustains it. The Judgment's cow brings attention back to patient care and a living source of support. In reflection, consider what keeps your understanding clear: reliable information, enough rest, or a practice that lets you return to the subject without having to invent certainty.
The Image extends brightness toward the four quarters. Clear understanding has a social use when someone explains a decision, makes an overlooked fact visible, or helps others see their situation more accurately. That work needs continuity; one impressive display may leave people confused the following day. Think about how knowledge is maintained and passed on, including who can access it. The light in this hexagram becomes useful through the people and materials that keep it going.
A question to sit with
What sustains your clarity, and how could you make that clarity useful to someone else?
Source and method
The Judgment and Image are classical passages from the Book of Changes. The English rendering and modern explanation are Meow Ching’s editorial work. This page covers these two passages; it does not translate the six individual line texts.
Read the classical text on Wikisource · Our sources and method