Claire writes:
“If a question is asked and there are no changing lines but the overall translation of the main Hexagram is favourable does this mean that the situation will never change? There are a couple websites which host free computer readings and although the answer to my questions may have been favourable in relation to the main Hexagram and, I may add, very relevant to my question, many of these website stipulate that the situation will not change if no changing lines are present. Could you clarify for me please?”
Which is a very good question – thank you, Claire.
No – the absence of changing lines doesn’t mean an absence of change. It means pretty much what you see on the page: that this first hexagram is the only source and kind of change in the situation. You’re not exerting a separate, personal influence to pull things in a new direction: maybe you haven’t made a choice; maybe this is a situation where your choice wouldn’t make a difference; maybe your will is already wholly aligned with the current direction of things.
The fine nuances of meaning around having an unchanging hexagram depend on the particular hexagram in question. I suggest keeping a diary of these so you can build up your own repertory of them, as I don’t know of any book that has adequate commentary. In very, very general terms, you might find that a hexagram that implies slowness or stasis has this meaning emphasised when it’s unchanging, whereas an unchanging hexagram that implies progress and creative energy would raise questions of where you’re going, or how its energy can find expression on a human scale.
When there are no changing lines, as said before it does not mean the situation will not change as that would be against the very nature of change itself. Maybe a deeper look at the hexagram can aid in deciphering the message the initial hexagram provided. Tools such as nuclear hexagram, the related hexagram of the pair, yin to yang or upper to lower movement of the trigrams could be useful.
Hope this helps
Togan
I find that an unchanging hexagram is inviting me to look long and deeply into its meaning within the context of the question asked, and within the larger context of my whole life. I’ve long seen the I Ching as a compendium of natural principles and processes which we can live in harmony with…or not 😀
A “static” hexagram says to me, “LOOK. PAY ATTENTION. CONTEMPLATE ME.”
Togan speaks wisely in his suggestions that we explore the nuclear hexagram…I also consider a “static” (is there a better word?) hexagram in the overall sequence (i.e., if H 37 is the I Ching’s response, I consider its placement between Hs 36 and 38).
I think of a hilarious moment in my own I Ching journey (it’s been 26 years now)…I was having one of those “I’m sick of myself!! What am I MISSING?!” moments, so I tossed my coins in frustration, the question being, “What am I to let go of?!” — The oracle’s response: 59, Dispersion, unchanging! I fell over laughing… 😀
I found you, Mr. Kunst only now, after I saw you cited in Rainald Simon, a new YIJING edition, translated into German and edited just recently in Reclam Bibliothek.
Thank you.
Best
V Bollag
Hi, thanks for commenting! Unfortunately Mr Kunst is not here, only some students of his doctoral thesis.
I didn’t know the Yi was available in Reclam! Do they still make the tiny yellow books with dark green companion volumes of notes? I can imagine the size of the green volume for Yi…