Chapter Twenty-Two: Mountain Fire Bi, Murong Zhen Plays Chess
There must be a reason why one snoops in the dark.
Who knew there were wiser people above them.
The enlightened path before the Buddha leads to heaven.
Why foolishly obsess and invite your own death?
Hexagram interpretation:
"Ben" means decoration or colorful. The upper trigram, Kan, represents the mountain; the lower trigram, Li, represents fire. So, together, it means fire under the mountain. We know that if there is fire under the mountain, the flowers, grass, and leaves are illuminated and glitter, emitting various peculiar colors, which means decoration. Furthermore, the lower trigram, Li, represents "beauty"; the upper trigram, Kan, represents "stopping." Combined, they mean "unceasing beauty," which is the meaning of decoration. Look at the trigram form: Li is two yang lines enclosing one yin line; Kan is one yang line covering two yin lines. Yin usually represents ugliness; yang represents beauty. Therefore, combined, it means "enveloping and concealing ugliness with beauty," which aligns with the meaning of "Ben." Thus, it is named the "Ben" hexagram.