I've made a 80x60 acyl painting based on Yijing and the genetic code:

http://www.mandala.dk/view-post-comments.php4?blogID=2534&postID=6665#Anchor-comments

The overall motif is the local fireworks festival, where a lot of ships with lights on sail into the habour,
while the fireworks is fired from the roof of our music-theater, shown with the yellow and red colours.

The background of the 64 signs symbolize the upper trigrams of the 64 Yijing hexagrams. Light colour
background symbolize a whole yang line, while dark coloured background symbolize a broken yin line.
The Y's and X's of the 64 signs symbolize the lower trigrams of the 64 Yijing hexagrams. Y symbolizes
a whole yang line, while X symbolizes a broken yin line. Here is an example read from left to right:

light dark dark Y X Y is similar to I::I:I the Yijing hexagram 22 Grace

The example is easy to find, because it's highlighted in red and yellow. This hexagram represents the
the START codon Methionine of the genetic code. The three hexagrams highlighted in green colours
58 The Joyous, 60 Limitation, 54 The marrying Maiden represent the STOP codons of the genetic code
Ambre, Ochre and Opal.

The genetic code looks viewed in a microscope like a double spiral, but looks viewed from the pattern
on tortuise shells like four rows of 16 symbols. Each symbol of the four rows is a number from 2 to 65
in a binary scheme. It starts with no 2 in the lower left corner of the painting and ends with no 65 in
the upper right corner of the painting. The START codon Methionine/hexagram 22 Grace is number 12

The vertical order of the genetic code is in the painting numerical.
The horisontal order is astrological viewed from left to right showing the eight phases of the moon:

dark light light = 3th quarter = trigram Lake = viewed from right to left trigram Wind
dark light dark = descending moon = trigram Water = viewed from right to left trigram Water
dark dark light = 4th quarter = trigram Thunder = viewed from right to left trigram Mountain
dark dark dark = new moon = trigram Earth = viewed from right to left trigram Earth
light dark dark = 1th quarter = trigram Mountain = viewed from right to left trigram Thunder
light dark light = ascending moon = trigram Fire = viewed from right to left trigram Fire
light light dark = 2th quarter = trigram Wind = viewed from right to left trigram Lake
light light light = full moon = trigram Heaven = viewed from right to left trigram Heaven

That'll say the Earlier Heaven Trigram Order viewed from right to left ...

lienshan

lienshan said:

I've made a 80x60 acyl painting based on Yijing and the genetic code:

http://www.mandala.dk/view-post-comm...nchor-comments

Click to expand...

It doesn't leave much to the imagination, does it?

No

But I find it rather interesting, that the genetic code can be shown binary by 4 rows of 16 hexagrams,
while it elsewhere is illustrated as a double spiral? The binary hexagram order of the painting is made
of 32 complementary hexagram pairs and this layout is superior to the other binary hexagram orders,
because it too generates the Earlier Heaven trigram order.

But I don't think, that it's superior to the King Wen hexagram order

Maybe the relationship between the two hexagram orders is like the relationship between body and soul?

lienshan

hallo lienshan,

Nice paiting, my wife also made a painting about the yi and dna some years ago.
A paiting with four(!) parts from 50 by 70 cm each.

http://www.artolive.com/showwork.ph...Att=16&lgVal=153670&lgAction=&lgWorkId=153670

frank

lienshan said:

The background of the 64 signs symbolize the upper trigrams of the 64 Yijing hexagrams. Light colour
background symbolize a whole yang line, while dark coloured background symbolize a broken yin line.
The Y's and X's of the 64 signs symbolize the lower trigrams of the 64 Yijing hexagrams. Y symbolizes
a whole yang line, while X symbolizes a broken yin line. Here is an example read from left to right:

light dark dark Y X Y is similar to I::I:I the Yijing hexagram 22 Grace

Click to expand...

I'm not sure I can follow your coding scheme entirely... In your example, if the background color symbolizes the upper trigram, then "light dark dark" would be Thunder in the upper trigram. And if the X's and Y's symbolize the lower trigram, then "Y X Y" would be Fire in the lower trigram. The hexagram would then be Thunder over Fire, or Hex 55, wouldn't it?

Unless you're drawing the hexagram from top to bottom, I guess...

Hi Frank ... I'm still contemplating your wife's painting and will respond later on.

Hi getojack

I have described the trigrams from above and not from below ...
the light dark dark upper trigram is Mountain ...

lienshan

But it could just as easily be Hex 55, right?

BTW, lienshan... i forgot to say that yours is a very nice i ching-inspired painting... frank_r, your wife's dna painting is beautiful... thanks for sharing. This thread has actually inspired me to create my own i ching-inspired artwork... the attached picture shows my interpretation of the Shao Yong arrangement of hexagrams (a.k.a. the binary sequence).

getojack said:

But it could just as easily be Hex 55, right?

Click to expand...

hi getojack

NO ... it's the Yijing hexagram 22 Grace ... but the genetic code fits into the binary sceme in two variations. I lost my calculations, when my old PC crached, but I think, that the other possible position of the START codon Methionine was the light light dark X X Y hexagram 42 Increase ... it was one of the lower ones in the third vertical column.

The difference between the binary sceme of my painting and the painting of Frank's wife is, that her painting is in four parts, like the binary scheme is in four columns, but the binary scheme is too in two parts ... divided horisontal in the middle ... the X's and Y's are like mirrored in the line. This line is invisible in my painting, because I preferred a higher horitsontal line of compositional reasons.

The difference between the binary scheme of my painting and your Shao Young artwork is, that each hexagrampair is complementary in my painting, while no hexagrampairs are complementary in your Shao Young artwork. And of course the 16x4 layout versus the 8x8 layout ... and of course the way a hexagram is transformed into a number:

Both ways let the 6th line (the topline) decide, wether the number is even (broken line) or odd (whole line).

6th line: either 0 or 1
5th line: either 0 or 2
4th line: either 0 or 4
3th line: either 0 or 8
2th line: either 0 or 16
1th line: either 0 or 32

The Shao Young way of transforming has these two counting rules regarding the lower five lines:

Even numbers: Each line has value 0 if equal to the topline or the line-value if different to the topline.
Odd numbers : Each line has value 0 if different to the topline or the line-value if egual to the topline.

6th line: either 2 or 1
5th line: either 0 or 2
4th line: either 0 or 4
3th line: either 0 or 8
2th line: either 0 or 16
1th line: either 0 or 32

The way of transforming in my painting has this single rule regarding the lower five lines:

Each line has value 0 if different to the topline or the line-value if egual to the topline.

There are more ways to generate binary hexagram orders depending of the counting rules. I choose the one starting with trigram Mountain (the background trigram light dark dark) and with eight YXX Mountain trigrams standing together in the middle ... because Mountains Standing Together in chinese is named ... Lien Shan

lienshan

lienshan said:

The difference between the binary scheme of my painting and your Shao Young artwork is, that each hexagrampair is complementary in my painting, while no hexagrampairs are complementary in your Shao Young artwork.

Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean here... the way I see it, in my artwork, every hexagram is complementary with the hexagram in it's corresponding place in the opposite quadrant. It has radial symmetry, whereas your painting doesn't.

lienshan said:

The Shao Young way of transforming has these two counting rules regarding the lower five lines:

Even numbers: Each line has value 0 if equal to the topline or the line-value if different to the topline.
Odd numbers : Each line has value 0 if different to the topline or the line-value if egual to the topline.

6th line: either 2 or 1
5th line: either 0 or 2
4th line: either 0 or 4
3th line: either 0 or 8
2th line: either 0 or 16
1th line: either 0 or 32

Click to expand...

Calling the Shao Yong arrangement binary is a bit of a misnomer anyway... However, it has the advantage of having inspired Liebniz to develop the binary number system in the first place.

Odd numbers : Each line has value 0 if equal to the topline or the line-value if different to the topline.
Even numbers: Each line has value 0 if different to the topline or the line-value if equal to the topline.

6th line: either 2 (broken) or 1 (whole)
5th line: either 0 or 2
4th line: either 0 or 4
3th line: either 0 or 8
2th line: either 0 or 16
1th line: either 0 or 32

The above rules reverse the Shao Young sequence in an numerical order from 1 to 64

IIIIII 1 _ :IIIII 2 _ I:IIII 3 _ ::IIII 4 _ II:III 5 _ :I:III 6 _ etc etc _ :I: 62 _ I:: 63 _ 64

lienshan

I see the Shao Yong arrangement less as a sequence and more as an amorphous blob, but that might be because I'm of the BGS or Blob Gua School.

I see the Shao Yong arrangement less as an amorphous blob and more as a sequence, but that might be because I'm of the NIS or Number Image School.

My approach to the binary hexagram sequences is this ancient quote from Shuo Gua (8th wing):

"In ancient times the holy sages made the Book of Changes thus: They invented the yarrow-stalk oracle in order to lend aid in a mysterious way to the light of the gods. To Heaven they assigned the number three and to Earth the number two; from these they computed the other numbers."

The Shuo Gua quote indicates, that Shao Yong wasn't the first to invent the binary hexagram sequence, but the ancient binary hexagram sequence was made of complementary hexagrampairs and following these counting rules:

Each line has value 0 if equal to the topline or the line-value if different to the topline.

6th line: either 2 (broken/Earth) or 3 (whole/Heaven)
5th line: either 0 or 2
4th line: either 0 or 4
3th line: either 0 or 8
2th line: either 0 or 16
1th line: either 0 or 32

2 _ IIIIII 3 _ :I: 4 _ I:IIII 5 _ ::I 6 _ II:III 7 _ etc etc _ :IIII: 62 _ I:I 63 _ :IIIII 64 _ I:: 65

Each hexagram of this binary sequence is in fact two numbers, because of the alternative way of counting:
Each line has value 0 if different to the topline or the line-value if equal to the topline.
Earth is this way both the number 2 and 64, Heaven is both the number 3 and 65, etc. etc.
The two-way structure of the binary hexagram sequence is expressed in this Shuo Gua quote:

"Counting that which is going into the past depends on the forward movement. Knowing that which is to come depends on the backward movement. This is why the Book of Changes has backward moving numbers."

lienshan

No amorphous blob... I didn't wish to participate in this discussion but I couldn't let it pass and then be forgotten in the message pool. I'd like to point that under a certain way to visualize the hexagrams, the so called "Shao Yong sequence" is perfectly symmetrical. It is also what I call-- emphasis on "I"-- a closed system as there are no paths from the bottom up between the hexagrams. I can't show you at this moment, or discuss further, because I'm still writing about it and working on the graphics but I'll be able to back it up as soon as I finish them.

So Luis, just curious if you can post something about the "perfectly symmetrical" (if you look at it a certain way) nature of the Shao Yong sequence. By the way, my "amorphous blob" comment was an inside joke, in case you didn't catch it... the drawing I put up here looks pretty darn symmetrical to me anyways.

Not ready for Prime Time yet... It is part of a book I'm writing that takes a completely different way of seeing the Yijing. Please be patient. Sorry for the vagueness, and trust me on the perfect symmetry.