The real foundation of the Yijing
(Note: I corrected the list of inverse and opposite hexagrams in the previous post. I will also note: I created a thread about the trigram images primarily from Wilhelm's translation:
Click here to view the thread: Yijing Trigrams and Trigram Arrangements )
The
real foundation of the I Ching is the Zhouyi text. (The Chinese and pinyin text can be viewed here:
http://www.biroco.com/yijing/zhouyi.htm) The Zhouyi is essentially like a
very good book of Tarot card definitions. However, it is the only (complete) collection of definitions available. (Although there are others, such as the Mawangdui silk text:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawangdui) Almost everything written about the Yijing is based mostly, if not entirely, on the Zhouyi text.
The Zhouyi text consists of one line of text on the hexagram, and one line of text for each of the lines of the hexagram, 7 lines total (with the exception of hexagrams 1 & 2, which have 8). Next there is the Primal arrangement attributed to Fû-hsî, which consists of the trigrams grouped into
complementary opposites. Fû-hsî also ordered the hexagrams into a "natural sequence". Then Ken Wen wrote the judgements, and his son, the Duke of Chou, wrote the explanations for the lines. King Wen also arranged the hexagrams into the sequence in which they are most commonly ordered in Yijing translations today, the King Wen sequence. Finally, there are the 10 Wings. These are written by the "Confucian school" and thus it has been proposed, I believe correctly, that the interpretation of the Zhouyi text in the 10 Wings has a Confucian bias. The "facts" stated primarily came from the Wilhelm and Legge I Ching translations, as well as being corroborated in a few others.
Since I, along with most people, am not able to read and understand ancient Chinese, I must rely on translations and other people's analysis and commentary. It is a photocopy, of a photocopy, of a photocopy... Thus I believe the only way to really learn the Yijing is to get a basic system, one that works, and start
using it, quite similar to learning Tarot cards. However, scenic images are much easier to
read into than simple six line diagrams. So, even before learning the system, I must learn how to see the images in the hexagrams, which is what most of my previous posts were focused on. However, to learn the hexagrams, I am focusing more on the text as well as the hexagrams themselves, and trying to develop an effective system to approach learning them. I am not trying to learn the system presented in the Zhouyi text, because I believe that is impossible, even for someone who reads Chinese. And even if it could be learned, that is just one person's interpretation. It is said that Rulers used this book to govern, thus the "
core system" of the Yijing
must be more expansive than a single interpretation presented in one text. The text simply provides a guideline.
So my goal (with these posts) has not been to present anything especially new, but rather to try to segregate (and aggregate) what I believe is actually
meaningful, from the mass of diverse and sometimes
seemingly conflicting information. So I will finish this post with a list of what I think is the foundation of the Yijing and the Yijing hexagrams. These are just the initial conclusions of someone learning the Yijing that is just now beginning to study the hexagrams in depth. (I have been reading about them and using them, but never really "studied" them.) Creating this list and making it presentable to others, forces me to focus and organize my thoughts and approach.
Before presenting the list, however, I should briefly mention
my foundation for studying the Yijing. I have been
using the Yijing and have seen its
value, especially as a complement to my Tarot reading. Additionally, I believe by studying the Yijing many things may be learned about the Tarot. At the very least, I have the impression of the Yijing as a puzzle cube, as I mentioned previously, like the puzzle cube in Clive Barker's Hellraiser movie. And just like that puzzle cube, the Yijing is a
magical, intuitive puzzle. Thus, like all puzzles, it is a "mental exercise" meant to strengthen and expand the mind. However, being an intuitive puzzle, the Yijing strengthens and expands intuition.
I just explained the tao of man and earth, now heaven, or
meaning. I believe the Tarot
may (just my theory) be the next (modern) incarnation of the Yijing. Was the Yijing, Tarot 1.0?
It has been proposed that the hexagrams (the images) came first. If that is the case, that is a situation that is not difficult to imagine, that is where the Tarot is at today. That period was in the Yijing's ascendancy, the book we are now studying was written at the Yijing's height, or during its decline. If the two paths are related, it is not hard to imagine what the Yijing hexagrams were like and how they were read and interpreted before The Book of Change, as we now know it, was written. Thus I believe by learning the historical and intuitive path of the Yijing, insights
may be gleaned about the path of the Tarot, and how to (more) effectively use it as well. At one point in the Yijing's history, Rulers of nations used the Yijing to govern. It appears they certainly found an effective use for it.
However, was that before or after the Yijing had a philosophy embedded in it? The Tarot doesn't have a philosophy embedded in it yet. (Or does it?) If the Tarot and the Yijing are tools, then their function is to express meaning, not contain it.
I will start the list with what I think are the most basic or fundamental aspects. Thus the first, most basic aspect is how the hexagram changes:
Multiple changing lines
Some systems for casting hexagrams only produce one changing line, and they always produce a changing line, never a "static" hexagram with no changing lines. I think the process of change is too dynamic to restrict it to one changing line. I currently use the 3 coins method, but would like to try some yarrow stalks. (The probabilities are slightly different.
)
Trigram images
Upper/inner and lower/outer trigrams, as well as upper/inner and lower/outer nuclear trigrams. I believe producing images is important to using the hexagrams. Since I believe
intuition to be a fundamental part of the Yijing, I also believe the images the trigrams present within the hexagrams to be a fundamental part of interpreting and expressing the meaning of a hexagram.
Concepts
These are really the fundamental concepts upon which I think the Yijing hexagrams (and the systems for reading them) are based, and thus are my focus of study:
1 - The foundation, background, or (a view of) the archetype of the hexagrams: the Zhouyi text.
2 - The Creative and The Receptive, Yin and Yang, duality.
3 - The trigrams, the tao of heaven, the tao of earth, and the tao of man, the trinity.
4 - The structure of the hexagrams representing Change or Yi, the process of Yi, and the innumerable results of Yi.
Zhi Gua and Fan Yao
The Zhi Gua and Fan Yao are contained within the first concept, above. Bradford Hatcher discusses these aspects in his translation of the Yijing, and also conveniently lists the Zhi Gua as well as the Fan Yao within the hexagram translation as well. As mentioned previously, The Zhouyi text has one line for the hexagram, and one line for each changing line. Since there is obviously much more information about the hexagram within the text on the lines, than on the hexagram itself, I believe that the Zhouyi indicates, and quite appropriately, that the way to learn the hexagrams in The Book of Change is by studying the changes. Richard Wilhelm and his son, Hellmut also suggest this approach. The Zhi Gua is the hexagram that the current hexagram would change into if the single line, referred to by the line text, changed. The Fan Yao is the reciprocal line text in the Zhi Gua. Although I think the Zhi Gua and Fan Yao to be important, I want to minimize that importance to some extent, because I think they give the impression of the hexagrams as a collection of "interlocking changes", which I do not believe is accurate.
Inverse and opposite hexagrams
King Wen grouped his sequence in inverse pairs so I believe that indicates their relevance, however, not the extent of their relevance. Additionally, he began and ended his sequence with opposite pairs. Within King Wen's sequence, the 8 hexagrams that double a trigram, are paired. Hexagrams 1 & 2, The Creative and The Receptive, as well as hexagrams 29 & 30, The Abysmal, Water and The Clinging, Fire, are opposite hexagrams, but not inverse hexagrams. They are symmetrical, so they are the inverse hexagrams of themselves. The other two pairs, hexagrams 51 & 52, The Arousing (Shock, Thunder) and Keeping Still, Mountain as well as hexagrams 57 & 58, The Gentle (The Penetrating, Wind) and The Joyous, Lake, are inverse hexagrams, but not opposite hexagrams. However, hexagrams 51 & 57 and hexagrams 52 & 58 are opposite hexagrams. This correlates with the Primal arrangement. (This also correlates with the tao of man within the Primal arrangement, in the link in a post above.)
Yijing patterns
I do think Yijing patterns and relationships are very important and useful. However, I also think that making it the focus of learning the Yijing is equally detrimental. Many people speculate about finding "the sequence", maybe they want to be the next King Wen.
I think the only
good use of that research is to prove the uselessness of that approach to the Yijing.
However, looking for patterns is certainly not useless; for example, Richard Wilhelm's inclusion of the "houses" in his translation could be quite interesting, although I don't know how useful it is.
The Change Operator
I think this is an interesting approach that is worth reading and
could potentially be useful, although it is certainly not
fundamental. The site in the link has a lot of research on boolean algebra, that information is not necessary to understand the change operator. Here is a link (click on Intro, at the top of the page, and then scroll down and click on The Symbolic Language of the Yijing):
http://www.yijing.co.uk
The 5 elements
I think the concept of the 5 elements and their associated energies may be applicable to The Book of Change, the hexagrams, and the trigram images. However, I do not intend to use the elements as they are
typically presented with their generating and destroying cycles. Even Richard Wilhelm said the label "elements" is incorrect, they should not be considered to be elements. I believe the 5 elements
could be a valid aspect, although it is certainly not an essential one, at least not as they are now presented. Here is a link to a general overview of the 5 elements from different perspectives:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing
The structure of the hexagram
And last, but certainly not least is the actual structure of the hexagram itself. The reason I put this last is that although the structure of the hexagram is quite fundamental, the metrics with which to express the structure are extremely varied and often quite subjective. There are varied line definitions, a hexagram may contain a "ruling line" or multiple "ruling lines", the lines may have "correspondence", or may "hold together", trigrams may rise and fall... Here is a link to Wilhelm's presentation of many of these ideas:
http://shapeless.org/chou_i/structure_hex.html
It is useful to remember, just as in life, there is no set formula that will "work" in all situations and under all circumstances. I believe the structural dimensions become apparent as the
nature of the hexagrams is understood. So I also tried to reduce this aspect to its basic, core, essential components. And since there is no set formula I will present them more as a list of concepts, which I think at least merit some consideration.
Change occurs from the bottom of hexagram to the top
I believe the relevant aspect of this structural component is that the bottom line of the hexagram often represents the beginning, or a time before the beginning of the hexagram situation, and the top line represents the end, or a time beyond the end of the hexagram situation, possibly letting things go too far, or taking things too far. This view is also reinforced by the positioning of the trigrams within the hexagram. All four trigrams are expressed using the 4 middle lines of the hexagram. The top line is only the top line of the upper trigram, and the bottom line is only the bottom line of the lower trigram.
Ruling lines
The ruling lines are simply the lines that are designated as best expressing the
character of the hexagram overall. The "constituting ruler or rulers" of the hexagram simply express the overall
character of the hexagram. The "governing ruler or rulers" not only express the overall character but are also the focus, or governing aspect of the hexagram.
Central
This refers to 2nd and 5th lines of the hexagram, the middle line or central line of the upper trigram, and the middle line or central line of the lower trigram. The term central means to be in the center, central, or at the
core. The 5th line is often the "governing ruler", or among the "governing rulers" the hexagram as well.
Correspondence and holding together
I think it may be worthwhile to consider these aspects, although they are quite subjective and I do not think they are fundamental. The concepts are more useful than their implementation, although this could be said of all the structural aspects to some extent.
The Tao of Heaven, the Tao of Earth, and the Tao of Man
I believe these concepts should certainly be applied, but only conceptually within the other structural components.
I think that pretty much summarizes my approach to learning the Yijing, although quite broadly. Now I just need to actually start studying and learning the hexagrams.
