Anatomy of a I Ching Entry

[celtic]

Hi all.

I'm hoping the collective wisdom here will clarify this for me.
I've known about the I Ching for decades, but never really did anything with it.
And it never occurred to me that there might be a community such as this. So I have recently joined as a friend.

I would like to begin a systematic approach to expanding my knowledge of the I Ching since what I know is not very well organized in my head. In this thread, I would like to clarify the terms used by various authors for the "Anatomy of a I Ching Entry".

So, I know for sure (I think):
There is the hexagram number (typically in King Wen's order)
There is the hexagram symbol (the one made of yin/yang lines)
There is the hexagram name (attributed to King Wen?).

What I would like clarified as to what they are (and where they actually refer to the same thing (and perhaps other synonyms I may come across)) is stuff like:

the image
the great image
the lesser image
the judgment
the decision
the oracle
'the main text of the hexagram'
the commentary on the decision
etc.

It would also be great if I could find out where each of the various parts came from. That is, are they attributed to Confucius, King Wen, Duke of Chou, etc.

Thanks so much.

--Mike

 

[bradford]

You should make a more systematic approach, but in the order of your question:

the image - Da Xiang,, half of two of the Ten Wings, explores the Trigram pairs. Very insightful.

the great image - Da Xiang, Same as the Image

the lesser image - The Xiao Xiang, commentaries on the text on the Yao Ci, the original individual line texts. Same Wings as the Da Xiang but very different authors and not as much insight

the judgment - AKA the Gua Ci, or Tuan, the Original text of the Hexagram as a whole.

the decision - Same as judgment

the oracle - Usually the original parts, The Gua Ci and Yao Ci, the judgement and line texts. The original book before the Wings were added, known as the Zhouyi. After the Wings and Canonization it is referred to as the Yijing.

the commentary on the (judgement or) decision - Tuan Zhuan - Two more Wings, tries to explain the Gua Ci text. Same school of thought as the Xiao Xiang.

If you're going to be a serious student you should probably start using Pinyin instead of Wade Giles (Yijing instead of I Ching)



My book is a free download at hermetica.info
There's a more orderly list in volume one, page 50.

 

[celtic]

Thank you very much Bradford

I will be sure to download your book

--Mike