Tamas — Inertia, Darkness, Dissolution

Tamas is the guna of heaviness, obscurity, resistance — the force that opposes change, that pulls toward sleep and dissolution. Hex 12 (Standstill) is heaven and earth moving apart: communication ceases, stagnation sets in. Hex 36 (Darkening of the Light) is the light driven underground by the earth above: intelligence suppressed, clarity obscured. But tamas is not merely negative — without it, nothing would rest, nothing would hold form, the body would not sleep. It is the gravity that keeps things from flying apart.

Cross-Tradition Resonances