Blog post - Ancient kings and their trigrams

[hilary]

Ancient kings and their trigrams



I’ve been working on a post on the trigram kun, earth, as inner trigram. That one will come soon – this is just something I wondered about along the way.

I started going through the sequence of hexagrams, looking at the Image texts for the ones with earth inside…

‘Above earth is the stream. Seeking Union.
The ancient kings founded countless cities for relationships with all the feudal lords.’

‘Thunder bursts forth from the earth. Enthusiasm
The ancient kings composed music to honour virtue,
They celebrated and worshipped the supreme lord,
Joining with their ancestors.’

‘Wind moves over the earth. Seeing.
The ancient kings studied the regions,
Saw the people,
And established their teachings.’

I’d got about this far when I was distracted by the ancient kings: there seemed to be a great many of them about. Was this a pattern, or a coincidence?

Well… there are seven hexagrams that mention the ancient kings in their Image text: 8, 16, 20, 21, 24, 25 and 59. Of these, three have kun as their inner trigram, and then there’s also 24 with kun as outer trigram. If the distribution were random, I don’t think you’d expect to see it more than a couple of times overall, and once as inner trigram.

So are the ancient kings especially like earth? Mothers to their people?

Perhaps. But this is only half the picture: the trigram zhen, thunder, also appears three times as inner trigram and once as outer trigram in ‘their’ hexagrams. The ancient kings are also innovators, the inner impulse that set civilisation in motion.

The arrangement of earth and thunder through these seven hexagrams is oddly symmetrical, look:

​

Here they all are, ignoring the actual distances between them in the sequence. (What is Hexagram 59 doing out there on a limb?)

And here’s the character wang, king:

王​

It’s been written much like this since early times: three horizontal strokes joined by a single vertical one through the centre.

(Not for the first time, I feel as though I’m catching on v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y…)

 

[Trojina]

So are the ancient kings especially like earth? Mothers to their people?

I'd see it as not so much that they are like earth but that earth is their realm of influence, the earth is what they lord over. They are not kings over the sky or the heavens. A king can only be a king on a certain patch of earth, nowhere else. Thinking of 18.6 here too.

The ancient kings are also innovators, the inner impulse that set civilisation in motion.

...or the enactors of the legal system ? I mean I didn't know they were innovators especially I thought they were rulers. I suppose the word 'innovators' makes me think of inventors, experimenters, whereas I'd always seen them as rather earthbound creatures in service to rule and ritual ? The way I've seen them is not based on historical research of course just existing assumptions....and 18.6 where well they rule what goes on down here they have no say in heaven although they may be in charge of ritual to ancestors and so on.

Clever stuff with the patterns. Don't know why

(What is Hexagram 59 doing out there on a limb?)

Umm I don't know. Well it is the hexagram the king disperses his granaries and lets it all go in line 5.

And here’s the character wang, king:

王

It’s been written much like this since early times: three horizontal strokes joined by a single vertical one through the centre.

(Not for the first time, I feel as though I’m catching on v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y…)

What have you caught slowly because I haven't caught on yet ?

 

[hilary]

...or the enactors of the legal system ?

Yes, good thought.

I mean I didn't know they were innovators especially

These are not just any kings; these are the ancient kings, the ones from the golden age who set all the right precedents. I think they pretty much invented civilisation, set the wheels turning.

What have you caught slowly because I haven't caught on yet ?

Three identical inner trigrams - three horizontal lines in the character.
One outer trigram in the centre of the three - one vertical line through the centre of the character.
As if they were 'drawing' the character with the trigrams.

That may be a bit of a stretch, and there may be other and much better reasons for the arrangement, of course. But it does look intentional, doesn't it?

 

[Trojina]

These are not just any kings; these are the ancient kings, the ones from the golden age who set all the right precedents. I think they pretty much invented civilisation, set the wheels turning.

Oh yes, of course, these are kings in the Image texts not the kings in the lines like 18.6 and 59.5 and 17.6, they are a different variety of kings ?

王​

It’s been written much like this since early times: three horizontal strokes joined by a single vertical one through the centre.

Three identical inner trigrams - three horizontal lines in the character.
One outer trigram in the centre of the three - one vertical line through the centre of the character.
As if they were 'drawing' the character with the trigrams.

That may be a bit of a stretch, and there may be other and much better reasons for the arrangement, of course. But it does look intentional, doesn't it?

Well now you have pointed it out, yes.

This is one of your unique pattern findings isn't it? No one has described it before.

I struggled to grasp the pattern somewhat, possibly diagram would have benefited from stronger colours, for some reason couldn't see the green and yellow together easily.

But what about he 59 then ? What is that doing there ?

Perhaps the clue is in the Image text

'Wind moves above the stream. Dispersing.
The ancient kings made offerings to the Highest to establish the temples.'

I don't know what the clue is but where there is a pattern you always seem to find that the text 'plays ball' with/connects with the pattern. Like with the counting 10 pairs from 41/42, where it both says '10 pairs of tortoise shells' in the text and if you count 10 pairs of hexagrams on you get to 61/62 except I can't recall how 61 was connected text wise.

Do you have any inkling what 59 is doing there ?

 

[hilary]

they are a different variety of kings ?

Yes - ancient ones. Hence, I think, sage kings, extra-wise.

This is one of your unique pattern findings isn't it? No one has described it before.

I don't remember reading about it anywhere, which is not the same thing.

Do you have any inkling what 59 is doing there ?

Not really, no. Er... Dispersing? (Also translatable as 'scattering'.) I do notice that it's made of the outer trigrams of 8 and 20, the first two in the series, for whatever that's worth.

 

[Cometta]

When we look at the movement of any trigram through any other, ie. fire moving through wood, thunder through earth, etc. there is some correlation that emerges in the text too (or specifically the advice of the image). The same applies also in its movement through the other ones (gradually with respect to the natural cycle of the elements).
I tried to organise them through one trigram: horizontally, and through all the trigrams: Vertically.

I hope I am not messing the thread. Just thought to share as there is a correlation..



Li on a walk


Earth moving


Water flow

 

[hilary]

This looks like fun. Do you see any patterns if you arrange the hexagrams in Sequence order?

 

[Cometta]

Doesn't it all boil down to yin/yang and its place in the change? I mean danger is the heart of the trigram water and the great man is the supporting line in the mountain trigram and the old kings are special because they didn't operate without heaven and earth. The global image of all trigrams is necessary to understand the glossary.
When we locate them in the overall hexes we see that fire and earth are the sides of the same coin (and that barbarians come from the south east ), that thunder is periodical and comes before wood, that earth ends at 46 and heaven at 50.

 

[hilary]

When we locate them in the overall hexes we see that fire and earth are the sides of the same coin (and that barbarians come from the south east ), that thunder is periodical and comes before wood, that earth ends at 46 and heaven at 50.

You've lost me. (Not hard to do, of course.) Could you explain?

 

[Cometta]

I am sorry, it happened the other day with Liselle too. They are just drawings, not sure I can explain. Sorry again I shouldn't have posted here.

When we locate them in the overall hexes...

 

[Cometta]

Thank you for this space :x

 

[hilary]

Thank you! I haven't looked at the distribution of nuclear trigrams before - has anyone? I don't know - and this makes it beautifully easy to see.