重明繼照，麗乎中正
先看圖像，再讀文字。Read the image before the words.
明兩作，離
(The trigram for) brightness, repeated, forms Li.
大人以繼明照于四方。
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).
兩重明火連續升起，是離卦之象。君子由此體會：以承續不絕的光明，照耀四方。
(The trigram for) brightness, repeated, forms Li. 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).
先讀經文，再讀《彖傳》如何解釋卦辭。The received text, then the Tuan commentary on it.
離：利貞，亨。畜牝牛，吉。
離卦——適合堅守正道，亨通。像養柔順的母牛那樣涵養自己的明，吉。
Li indicates that, (in regard to what it requires), 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.
離，麗也。日月麗乎天，百穀草木麗乎土。重明以麗乎正，乃化成天下。柔麗乎中正，故亨；是以畜牝牛吉也。
離，是「附麗」的意思——日月附麗於天，百穀草木附麗於土。重明（兩重明火）附麗於正道，於是能化成天下。柔爻（六二、六五）附麗於中正之位，所以亨通；因此說「養牝牛吉」。
Li means being attached to. The sun and moon have their place in heaven; all grains, grass, and trees have their place on earth. The double brightness (of this hexagram) cleaves to what is correct, and the result is the transforming and perfecting all under the sky.
六條線各有一句判斷。閱讀次序初→上；卦象由下而上，看左側的卦。One statement per line, read from the first line to the top. The figure is drawn bottom-up — watch the rail.
履錯然，敬之，無咎。
腳步交錯——剛起步時動作雜亂；保持敬慎，便無咎。
The subject of the first NINE, (the lowest line), is wary about his stepping, hither and thither. If he is sincerely careful, there will be no error.
履錯之敬，以辟咎也。
起步雜亂時保持敬慎，是為了避開咎害。
黃離，元吉。
黃色的附麗——以中道附麗於正位，大吉。
The subject of the second SIX, (the next line), is in his place, and in yellow. There will be great good fortune.
黃離元吉，得中道也。
黃離大吉，是因為得到中道。
日昃之離，不鼓缶而歌，則大耋之嗟，凶。
夕陽西下的附麗——日已偏斜。若不能擊缶而歌坦然接受，就會像老人一樣徒然歎息，凶。
In the third NINE, undivided, we have its subject in the position when the sun is declining. Instead of drumming on his instrument of earthenware, and singing to it, he utters the groans of an old man of eighty. There will be evil.
日昃之離，何可久也。
日已偏斜的附麗，怎麼能長久呢？
突如其來如，焚如，死如，棄如。
突然到來，像火焚一樣，像死亡一樣，像被棄一樣——剛猛之火驟起驟滅，無所附麗。
The fourth NINE shows its subject as one whose coming is sudden. He is burnt, dies, is rejected.
突如其來如，無所容也。
突然到來，沒有可以容身之處。
出涕沱若，戚嗟若，吉。
涕淚滂沱，憂戚歎息——能於高位中以柔弱之姿真心憂民，反而吉。
The fifth SIX shows its subject as one with tears flowing in torrents, and groaning in sorrow. There will be good fortune.
六五之吉，離王公也。
六五之吉，因為附麗於王公之位。
王用出征，有嘉折首，獲匪其醜，無咎。
君王用此出征，有嘉美的戰功——只折首惡，不傷其同類，無咎。
The topmost NINE shows its subject employed by the king to march forth and punish (the disorderly). His achievements will be celebrated; he will only behead the chief (rebels). Where his prisoners were not their associates, he will not punish. There will be no error.
王用出征，以正邦也。
君王出征，是為了端正國家。
把象套到你的情境，取一個可行的下一步。Apply the image to your situation; take one practical step.
明·附麗·繼明
Brightness · cleaving · continuing illumination
離卦給的最大功課：你的「明」需要附麗——學問附麗於師承，事業附麗於團隊，個人附麗於日常修養。沒有附麗的明火會自焚（九四）；得中而附的明會大吉（六二「黃離元吉」）。
The lesson of Li: your brightness must cleave to something — scholarship to lineage, work to a team, the self to daily practice. Brightness without anchorage burns itself out (line 4); brightness anchored in the center prospers greatly (line 2's 'yellow cleaving, supreme good fortune').
九四之失：突如其來、焚如、死如、棄如——這是現代人最易犯的「明火失附」之病。社交媒體上突然爆紅、又突然消失的人就是九四之象。
Line 4's failure mode: sudden arrival, burning, death, rejection. The pattern of modern viral fame — sudden rise without anchor, sudden burnout.
王弼釋「離」為「麗」——萬物皆有所附麗，故天下不孤。重明繼照，意味著明火相承不絕；柔附中正，所以亨通。彼以為「畜牝牛」之吉，不在於牛，在於養其柔順之德——明若無柔以涵之，則焚而無容。
Wang Bi reads Li 離 as li 麗, 'to cleave to' — all things have something they adhere to, and so nothing under heaven stands alone. 'Doubled brightness continuing the illumination' means flame succeeding flame without break; the yielding lines cleave to the central and correct positions, hence success. In his view, the good fortune of 'rearing the cow' lies not in the cow but in nourishing its docile virtue — brightness with no softness to contain it burns, and finds nowhere to rest.
程子強調離卦是「明」的學問。明者見於外，須由內德涵養，否則明過則焚（九四之象）。他以六二為全卦之主——黃離元吉，因其得中而有節制；學者觀此，知「明」之可貴在於有「中」涵之。
Cheng Yi stresses that Li is the study of brightness (ming 明). Brightness shows outwardly, but it must be nourished by inner virtue — otherwise brightness in excess burns (the image of line 4). He takes line 2 as the master of the whole hexagram: 'yellow cleaving, supremely auspicious,' because it holds the center and keeps measure. The student learns from this that what makes brightness precious is having centrality to contain it.
朱子直言：離為火，火必有所附而後燃。利貞而亨，是說只有附麗於正道才能持久；畜牝牛吉，是說涵養柔順之德可保此明。兩柔（六二、六五）居中正，是離卦能亨的關鍵。
Zhu Xi puts it plainly: Li is fire, and fire must attach to something before it can burn. 'Advantageous to be correct, and success' means only brightness that cleaves to the right path can last; 'rearing the cow is auspicious' means cultivating docile virtue is what preserves this brightness. The two yielding lines (2 and 5) occupying the central positions are the key to Li's success.
離是火，火自己站不住，必得附在什麼東西上纔燒得起來。明與附麗一體兩面：越亮，越需要棲身之處。九四「突如其來如，焚如，死如，棄如」寫的就是沒有附麗的孤明——燒得快，也燒完得快。所以讀離先別問怎麼更亮，先問你的亮附在哪裡。學問、名聲、事業，凡是耀眼的，都得有自己的土壤。全卦的定盤星是六二「黃離，元吉」：黃是中色，明而不烈，附得正，纔久。
Li is fire, and fire can't stand on its own — it has to attach to something before it will burn. Brightness and attachment are two faces of one thing: the brighter you are, the more you need a place to live. Line 4 — 'sudden it comes, burning, dying, cast away' — is the portrait of solitary brightness with nothing to cleave to: it catches fast and burns out just as fast. So when reading Li, don't first ask how to get brighter; ask where your brightness is attached. Learning, reputation, career — anything that shines needs soil of its own. The hexagram's anchor is line 2, 'yellow cleaving, supremely auspicious': yellow is the color of the center — bright without being fierce, attached in the right place, and therefore lasting.
To cleave to, adhere; also fire, and brightness. The hexagram's name carries all three at once.
To attach to, lean upon (the old sense — not 'beautiful').
A cow — image of docility, something that can be reared and nourished.
The sun declining toward the west; past its noon.
An earthenware vessel, beaten as a simple instrument to keep time while singing.
An old person of seventy or eighty.
Streaming — of tears flowing in torrents.
One's kind, associates, fellows (the old sense — not 'ugly').
離為火重火，與坎為水重水（第 29 卦）相對，同屬「八純卦」（乾、坤、震、巽、坎、離、艮、兌）。八純卦每卦上下相同，所以沒有綜卦——倒過來看仍是同一個卦。
Li is fire over fire, paired with Hex 29 Kan (water over water). Both belong to the Eight Pure Hexagrams (ba chun gua) — hexagrams whose upper and lower trigrams are identical, hence they have no inverse (read upside-down they are themselves).
離（火）與坎（水）互為錯卦——每一爻陰陽相反。古人並列此二卦：坎險而離明，坎陷而離附麗。學易者讀此二卦如讀一對眼睛——一陰一陽，一向內一向外，一陷下一升上。
Li (fire) and Kan (water) are each other's opposite (cuo gua) — every line reversed. The ancients set the two side by side: Kan is peril where Li is brightness; Kan sinks in where Li cleaves to. Students of the Yi read these two hexagrams like a pair of eyes — one yin, one yang; one turned inward, one outward; one falling into the deep, one rising above it.
傳統象學中，離卦對應於外象「日」「火」，於人身「心」「目」，於性情「明」「附」。讀爻時若涉及「看見」「被照亮」「依附他人」「被人依附」的場景，往往可由離卦切入。
In traditional image-study (xiangshu), Li corresponds outwardly to the sun and fire, in the body to the heart and the eye, in temperament to brightness and attachment. When a line reading involves seeing, being illuminated, depending on another, or being depended upon, Li is often the point of entry.
大象「大人以繼明照于四方」——古代政治以離為「明君之象」。所謂「繼明」，指的是一代又一代不熄的賢明；非僅指一人之亮，而是制度與承傳之亮。此句後來成為漢唐稱頌明君的常用語。
The Da Xiang says 'the great man continues the brightness to illuminate the four quarters' — in ancient politics, Li was the image of the enlightened ruler. 'Continuing the brightness' means wisdom that does not go out from one generation to the next: not the brilliance of a single person, but the brilliance of institutions and transmission. The phrase later became a standard formula for praising enlightened rulers in Han and Tang times.
「離」字的本義是？選對的：(a) 分離 (b) 附著 (c) 離別
What does 離 (lí) mean as used here?
為何六二「黃離元吉」？
Why is line 2 the auspicious peak of this hexagram?
用九四「突如其來如、焚如、死如、棄如」描述當代一個你見過的「驟起驟滅」的事或人。
Use line 4 to describe a modern case of sudden rise and burnout.