mick
March 31st, 2002, 09:30 PM
Hello everyone,
I?d like to go through something I've recently discovered about the I Ching. I?m sure that I?m not the first one to have noticed this but I don?t think I?ve seen it in any books.
If you were to take any hexagram, you can transform it by taking the top line and placing it at the bottom, shifting all the other lines up by one. For example, Hx 7. Take the top Yin line and place it at the bottom. All the other lines of Hx 7 move up one, transforming Hx 7 into Hx 15. The Yang line 2 of Hx 7 has become line 3 of Hx 15.
Let?s call this type of transformation a ?click?. Six clicks round and you?re back where you started. Let?s call the six hexagrams formed by these six clicks a group or ?family?.
When I started working through the hexagrams in King Wen?s sequence, very interesting patterns started to emerge. Patterns of lines and patterns of meanings.
Firstly, hexagrams 1 and 2 cannot be transformed in this way. However many times you click them, they stay exactly the same. They are completely self-contained.
Clicking round Hx 3 takes us on this journey:
3, 4, 36, 40, 39, 35
Three pairs that all have something to do with beginnings and endings, problems and solutions.
Hx 4 is part of the Hx 3 ?family?, so next is Hx 5:
5, 50, 49, 6, 37, 38
Again three pairs, but this time they are all to do with conflict and stability, sameness and difference.
The thread of the Hx 7 family doesn?t seem as clear to me:
7, 15, 16, 8, 23, 24
The cycle of the single Yang line seems to bloom with Hx 16 and Hx 8 before fading and re-emerging again.
The Hx 9 family is all about relationships:
9, 14, 43, 44, 13, 10
Three more pairs, to do with seeking and finding harmony with others.
Numerically, I found the next group the most interesting:
11, 32, 31, 12, 42, 41
Three pairs, each pair being the first and second in its group of 10. Wilhelm describes Hx 41 and 42 as being transformations of Hx 11 and 12 but I hadn?t thought of 31 and 32 in this way before. But I can see now that both Hx 31 and 32 also have Heaven within Earth in their own way.
Now we reach Hx 17 and something different happens:
17, 59, 22, 54, 48, 56
This family doesn?t contain any pairs. But it does have the thread of meaning of movement and rest.
Also, the Hx 17 group is complemented by the Hx 18 group:
18, 55, 47, 53, 21, 60
So the Hx 18 family is the twin half of the Hx 17 family. The thread of meaning doesn?t seem that clear to me, maybe it?s to so with sorting out (or not sorting out) situations? Hx 18 is active and Hx 21 is radical. Hx 53 is gentle and Hx 60 is limiting. Hx 47 is mostly about not being able to sort out a situation, not immediately anyway, and Hx 55? Maybe that?s the result of successfully sorting out the situation?
With Hx 19 the family has a different pattern again:
19, 46, 62, 45, 20, 27
2 pairs and 2 odd. But the 2 odd ones are Hx 27 and Hx 62 which stay the same when inverted! This family of 2 Yang lines feels gently positive to me. Something about people working together in the right way without forcing the issue.
The Hx 25 family has the same pattern as the Hx 19 family:
25, 61, 26, 34, 28, 33
2 pairs and 2 odd. Hx 28 and Hx 61 both staying the same when inverted.
But the family of 2 Yin lines is more dramatic with its advance and retreat, and its struggle to balance the 4 over-powering Yang lines.
All that?s left are the doubled Hexagrams formed by Hx 29:
29, 52, 51
Water, Mountain, Thunder. The 3 dramatic sons. Danger, Stopping, Movement. Yang.
And 3 more formed by Hx 30:
30, 58, 57
Fire, Lake, Wind. The 3 subtle daughters. Clarity, Joy, Gentleness. Yin
What now emerges is that once we?ve reached Hx 30 or the end of the Upper Canon, we?ve seen every Hexagram in the Lower Canon? almost:
63, 64
Hx 63 and 64 are the only family of just 2 Hexagrams. They are almost as self-contained as Hx 1 and Hx 2. They just click round each other. Satisfied then hungry.
So then, apart from Hx 63 and 64, the Upper Canon contains the Lower Canon.
Well, thanks for reading, I hope it made sense. I?ve rambled on long enough but if you?ve stayed with it, I?d like to hear what you think. Is this just the result of my being ill and having too much time on my hands?
Why do Hx 17 and 18 form the only families of 6 not to contain the next in sequence? Or any pairs at all for that matter?
Any thoughts?
Best wishes,
Mick
http://www.north-node.com/
I?d like to go through something I've recently discovered about the I Ching. I?m sure that I?m not the first one to have noticed this but I don?t think I?ve seen it in any books.
If you were to take any hexagram, you can transform it by taking the top line and placing it at the bottom, shifting all the other lines up by one. For example, Hx 7. Take the top Yin line and place it at the bottom. All the other lines of Hx 7 move up one, transforming Hx 7 into Hx 15. The Yang line 2 of Hx 7 has become line 3 of Hx 15.
Let?s call this type of transformation a ?click?. Six clicks round and you?re back where you started. Let?s call the six hexagrams formed by these six clicks a group or ?family?.
When I started working through the hexagrams in King Wen?s sequence, very interesting patterns started to emerge. Patterns of lines and patterns of meanings.
Firstly, hexagrams 1 and 2 cannot be transformed in this way. However many times you click them, they stay exactly the same. They are completely self-contained.
Clicking round Hx 3 takes us on this journey:
3, 4, 36, 40, 39, 35
Three pairs that all have something to do with beginnings and endings, problems and solutions.
Hx 4 is part of the Hx 3 ?family?, so next is Hx 5:
5, 50, 49, 6, 37, 38
Again three pairs, but this time they are all to do with conflict and stability, sameness and difference.
The thread of the Hx 7 family doesn?t seem as clear to me:
7, 15, 16, 8, 23, 24
The cycle of the single Yang line seems to bloom with Hx 16 and Hx 8 before fading and re-emerging again.
The Hx 9 family is all about relationships:
9, 14, 43, 44, 13, 10
Three more pairs, to do with seeking and finding harmony with others.
Numerically, I found the next group the most interesting:
11, 32, 31, 12, 42, 41
Three pairs, each pair being the first and second in its group of 10. Wilhelm describes Hx 41 and 42 as being transformations of Hx 11 and 12 but I hadn?t thought of 31 and 32 in this way before. But I can see now that both Hx 31 and 32 also have Heaven within Earth in their own way.
Now we reach Hx 17 and something different happens:
17, 59, 22, 54, 48, 56
This family doesn?t contain any pairs. But it does have the thread of meaning of movement and rest.
Also, the Hx 17 group is complemented by the Hx 18 group:
18, 55, 47, 53, 21, 60
So the Hx 18 family is the twin half of the Hx 17 family. The thread of meaning doesn?t seem that clear to me, maybe it?s to so with sorting out (or not sorting out) situations? Hx 18 is active and Hx 21 is radical. Hx 53 is gentle and Hx 60 is limiting. Hx 47 is mostly about not being able to sort out a situation, not immediately anyway, and Hx 55? Maybe that?s the result of successfully sorting out the situation?
With Hx 19 the family has a different pattern again:
19, 46, 62, 45, 20, 27
2 pairs and 2 odd. But the 2 odd ones are Hx 27 and Hx 62 which stay the same when inverted! This family of 2 Yang lines feels gently positive to me. Something about people working together in the right way without forcing the issue.
The Hx 25 family has the same pattern as the Hx 19 family:
25, 61, 26, 34, 28, 33
2 pairs and 2 odd. Hx 28 and Hx 61 both staying the same when inverted.
But the family of 2 Yin lines is more dramatic with its advance and retreat, and its struggle to balance the 4 over-powering Yang lines.
All that?s left are the doubled Hexagrams formed by Hx 29:
29, 52, 51
Water, Mountain, Thunder. The 3 dramatic sons. Danger, Stopping, Movement. Yang.
And 3 more formed by Hx 30:
30, 58, 57
Fire, Lake, Wind. The 3 subtle daughters. Clarity, Joy, Gentleness. Yin
What now emerges is that once we?ve reached Hx 30 or the end of the Upper Canon, we?ve seen every Hexagram in the Lower Canon? almost:
63, 64
Hx 63 and 64 are the only family of just 2 Hexagrams. They are almost as self-contained as Hx 1 and Hx 2. They just click round each other. Satisfied then hungry.
So then, apart from Hx 63 and 64, the Upper Canon contains the Lower Canon.
Well, thanks for reading, I hope it made sense. I?ve rambled on long enough but if you?ve stayed with it, I?d like to hear what you think. Is this just the result of my being ill and having too much time on my hands?
Why do Hx 17 and 18 form the only families of 6 not to contain the next in sequence? Or any pairs at all for that matter?
Any thoughts?
Best wishes,
Mick
http://www.north-node.com/