Rén-Yin-Yin-Yang
The yin climbs onto the yang and the yang goes down beneath it.
Everything loses its light.
1
He is in the same dark as everyone.
Alone, he can see, and what he sees is straight.
Something is lit inside him and nowhere else.
2
A blind man setting out on a journey.
No.
The seeing was not the kind that finds a road.
3
The dark moves first and the light goes after it.
He can still work. Nothing bad comes of it.
The business of it has gone outside.
4
He darkens along with his own kind.
The iron chest is gone.
There is nothing left holding the measure.
5
The sun stands at noon, the moon stands full.
He puts his own light out.
He is afraid of what happens to brightness.
6
The swallow is grieving.
The light goes down into the hidden.
The bird that knows the seasons knows this one.
7
In the half-dark he carries a light.
People fall in behind it.
Whatever is lit is what gets walked toward.
8
He looks at something that is not the thing.
The right eye goes.
The house goes and the country with it.
9
Dark, and darker.
There is a straightness in not shining.
Nobody gets to be the only lit thing.
THE COMMENTARY
Light is being obscured. Clarity, recognition, optimism, influence, or the ability to act openly may be declining, and the situation may require you to preserve what is bright without insisting that it be publicly displayed.
Darkening does not mean truth has disappeared. Sometimes the wisest light is carried inwardly or quietly, especially when circumstances punish whatever shines too visibly. There is dignity in refusing both despair and unnecessary exposure.
Adapt to reduced visibility. See what can still be done, what should be concealed for a time, and what small light others may genuinely need from you. Not every dark period is overcome by becoming brighter than everyone around you.
This figure is one of 81 in Taixuanjing for Today, a book by Joe Perez that renders Yang Xiong’s Canon of Supreme Mystery in original verse, with expanded commentary, essays, and full instructions for casting the oracle yourself.