Like the previous hexagram, kan (and, for that matter, like the first two hexagrams in the whole book), this is a hexagram made by repeating the same trigram twice -- in this case, double li, the essence of fire.

According to some commentators, li and kan are what everything is made from. While all-yang qian is full, pure energy and all-yin kun is the ultimate in earthy receptivity, to really make changes in the world, you have to be mostly one or mostly the other -- you have to start with a compromise. Li is generally described as being like the sun, a heavenly fire, while kan is the trigram of the moon, the watery light that illuminates the night. Li is also associated with brilliant eyes of the peacock (you can almost see 'em in the lines), and thus the phoenix.

Since this follows after the deep, dark abyss of kan, it seems reasonable to imagine a bright bird flying up out of that ravine and into the light of day.

What's the character mean?
The character for li represents an animal, called a li, next to an ancient yellow bird, called a zhui. (The dictionary at zhongwen.com tells me it's a yak next to a pigeon. Go figure.) Master Huang says the name comes from the yak, the symbolism comes from the bird.

What's on the top & bottom?
The outer and inner trigrams are both li -- rising, burning, solar li.

What's in the guts?
The nuclear trigrams are dui over xun -- the joyful lake rising over the cold, penetrating wind. This seems unstable to me, but I'll accept the idea of happiness rising over the uncomfortable wind.

What's it from far away?
The Judgement and Image verses discuss taking care of a cow (?!), along with ideas of repetition (rising twice) and persevering. Sticking to things -- Wilhelm's big on the "stickiness" of this hexagram.

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 recognizes this limitation and makes himself dependent upon the harmonious and beneficent forces of the cosmos, he achieves success.

Wilhelm says the cow is the symbol of that dependent, docile, stick-to-the-manger attitude.

What's it saying up close?
The Lines verses first describe three different times of day -- footprints in the early morning dew, the shining sun of midday, singing (or lamenting) at day's end. Then, they describe emotional states -- rapidly burning fire, the slow, genuine change of heart, and, finally, the punishment that enforces discipline -- the kind of discipline that relies on slow change rather than rapid burning:

To eradicate evil in political life, it is best to kill the ringleaders and spare the followers. In educating oneself it is best to root out bad habits and tolerate those that are harmless. For asceticism that is too strict, like sentences of undue severity, fails in its purpose.

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_{Curious why this is in a blog about Chinese adoption? Read this explanation. I'm using the Wilhelm/Baynes translation from the comprehensive Wengu collection or the user-friendly Eclectic Energies site, and I'm taking the character translations from Alfred Huang's The Complete I Ching. Feel like going deeper? Check out Hong Kong's Taoist Culture & Information Centre's I Ching page, and the essays & reviews on Ma Xia's Yijing Page.}