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The change of I Ching

tuckchang

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Hi ! Dear all,

I would like to share my understanding of changes in I Ching. Please kindly give your comment.

Change plays a very important role in I Ching. According to Confucius’s commentary on the text tagging (Xi Ci Zhuan 繫詞傳), rigidity and tenderness jostle each other, and thus creates changes (Volume II, Section 1), signifying the interplay between the masculine and the feminine produces variations. The masculine trigram Chien (perseverance, the sky) and the feminine trigram Kun (submissiveness, the earth) give birth to the other six trigrams, three sons and three daughters; the eight trigrams inter-mating one upon anther form 64 hexagrams; the interaction among the masculine and feminine lines of a hexagram creates variations within the hexagram. (The line) changes and moves instead of staying in a fixed place, circulates along the six vacant positions, goes up and down uncertainly, and changes between the masculine and the feminine. It doesn’t permit a standard rule (i.e. it is not possible to define its changes); it changes in accordance with what is best suited to it (Volume II, Section 8). Thus, according to the significance of a hexagram and what a line encounters, the line will cultivate its virtue and talent, i.e. change its gender and shift its position, in order to pursue fortune and avoid misfortune, as well as to perform its role and accomplish its mission. Thus, the line and the image move internally; fortune and misfortune are displayed externally; the achievement appears amid changes, the sentiment of the saint exhibits in the text (Volume II, Section 1).

The hexagram steps onto the stage of I Ching in accordance with the sequence of 64 hexagrams. Each pair of hexagrams appears in the form of either a revised hexagram or a changed hexagram of the former one. The hexagram pair appearing in the interchangeable form usually possesses the opposite significances, like hexagrams 1 (Chien) and 2 (Kun), hexagrams 10 (Tay) and 11 (Pi), hexagram 17 (Sui) and 18 (Ge), hexagram 29 (Kan) and 30 (Li), hexagram 53 (Jen) and 54 (Gui Mei), as well as hexagram 63 (Chi Chi) and 64 (Wei Chi), except for hexagram 27 (Yi) and 28 (Da Guo), hexagram 61 (Zhoung Fu) and 62 (Hsiao Guo), signifying a reverse after reaching extremity or the end.

The changed hexagram related to the original hexagram possesses a multiple facets. From the side view, the changed hexagram and the original hexagram have access to reach each other laterally, i.e. the masculine and the feminine lines of these two hexagrams at the corresponding positions can mutually responds, signifying they either are the cause or the effect of the other. (Please see the attached)


Hence, usually the changed hexagram of a hexagram suggests its possible tendency or development, or the possible outcome after the action has been taken or has not been taken in accordance with the advice of its text, or the possible result after the task has been accomplished, or the consequence after it reaches extremity and reverses its course like the abovementioned, etc. It is not the positive causal relationship; however it can facilitate a further understanding of a hexagram from tracing and analyzing its cause and effect.

In divining, the moving line will make a change; there are many methods available to read the changed line or the changed hexagram. Following is one of the example
1) Only one line is moving: the text of this line is the advice.
2) 2 moving lines: the texts of these 2 lines are the advice, but the upper one is regarded as the main advice. Usually the upper trigram refers to the future and the bottom trigram, the cause
3) 3 moving lines: if the first line is not a moving line, the text of the original hexagram is the advice. Otherwise, the text of the hexagram after all six lines change is the advice. Remark: The hexagram remains unchanged when the number of the moving line is less than 2. When there are 3 moving lines, either all the lines remains still or change together, depending on whether their foundation, i.e. line 1, change or not.
4) 4 moving lines: all four moving lines change; the texts of the two unchanged lines of the new hexagram are the advice and the lower one is regarded as the main advice since it is imminent.
5) 5 moving lines: all five moving lines change; the text of the unchanged line of the new hexagram is the advice.
6) No moving line: the text of the obtained hexagram is the advice.
7) 6 moving line: all six moving lines change; the text of the new hexagram is the advice. But the extra line should be referred to if the original hexagram is Chien (hexagram 1) or Kun (2).

Some reading method involves a study of the causality between the original and the changed hexagram on the text of the moving line. Such study do facilitates a further understanding of the line’s behavior like studying the changed hexagram of a hexagram. However due to the fact that every hexagram has the possibility to change to any of the other 63 hexagrams, if such link is available, it can or should be regarded as an extra reference for side evidence, since otherwise the massage delivered by I Ching will slip by, and that which left is stray in non result search.

Best regards
Tuck :bows:
www.iching123.com
 

fkegan

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Change in Yi? Flux Tome perspective yields much more...

Hi Tuck,

"Change" is a rather nebulous English term for the Chinese Yi. I prefer Flux as in Flux Tome for Yi Jing...

The perspective you seem to mention is all about Yang/Yin dyad perspective that apparently arose in Confucius time or later. The notion of the King Wen Sequence as pairs of hexagrams, each even number some inverse of the prior odd number is basic structure. However, like speaking of classic poetry in terms of its rhyme scheme rather than the meaning of the lines, it is of only limited utility.

I have many pages on all this on my web site. Basically, my Flux Tome page and from there more than you could possibly ever be interested in. The explanation of the sequence with its deep, sophisticated philosophy are on my monad, dyad, triad, tetrad and overall Tetraktys pages all text links from Flux Tome.

Welcome to the Flux and such :)

Frank
 

tuckchang

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Hi ! Frank,

Thanks for your comment.

I have visited your website several times and I admire very much your aspects. Very seldom I have read such penetrating and systematical interpretation.

Indeed up to now I have been just focusing on the traditional way of studying I Ching; it means to interpret and paraphrase Yi according to Ten Wings. My purpose is to introduce to the western world how the text of Yi is understood by Chinese, from Confucian perspective and based on the conventional analysis and deduction of the image and the line. Strictly speaking, the studies of Yi (Chow Yi) and I Ching are somewhat different in China; in my opinion, I Ching is Confucian Yi. Yang (masculinity, rigidity, goodness, etc) and Yin (femininity, tenderness, evil, etc) are two fundamental elements, and the change between Yin and Yang give life to I Ching.

Regards
Tuck
 

lienshan

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I would like to share my understanding of changes in I Ching. Please kindly give your comment.

The hexagram steps onto the stage of I Ching in accordance with the sequence of 64 hexagrams. Each pair of hexagrams appears in the form of either a revised hexagram or a changed hexagram of the former one. The hexagram pair appearing in the interchangeable form usually possesses the opposite significances, like hexagrams 1 (Chien) and 2 (Kun), hexagrams 10 (Tay) and 11 (Pi), hexagram 17 (Sui) and 18 (Ge), hexagram 29 (Kan) and 30 (Li), hexagram 53 (Jen) and 54 (Gui Mei), as well as hexagram 63 (Chi Chi) and 64 (Wei Chi), except for hexagram 27 (Yi) and 28 (Da Guo), hexagram 61 (Zhoung Fu) and 62 (Hsiao Guo), signifying a reverse after reaching extremity or the end.
Your classification of the hexagrampairs is not in accordance with the layout of the sequence.

The hexagrampairs 1-2, 27-28, 29-30 and 61-62 are of same (reverse) kind.

The hexagrampairs 11-12, 17-18, 53-54 and 63-64 are of same (opposite) kind.

lienshan :bows:
 

tuckchang

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Hi ! Lienshan,

Thank you for correction.

Hex 1 (Chien) is annotated as creativeness like the sky, heaven, creates the whole of creation, and perseverance like a gentleman exert himself strongly and untiringly; Hex 2 (Kun), receptiveness like the earth accommodating the whole of creation, submissiveness like the fidelity of the female horse (femininity) in following the male horse (masculinity). In my opinion, they are opposite.
Hex 29 (Repeated Kan) is annotated as multiple perils as Kan is the abyss, and water which flows downward; hex 30 (Li), clinging, according to the coupled hexagram, in the abyss something must be available to cling to, and fire which blazes upward. They are opposite.

Please comment.

Regards
Tuck :bows:
 

lienshan

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Hex 29 (Repeated Kan) is annotated as multiple perils as Kan is the abyss, and water which flows downward; hex 30 (Li), clinging, according to the coupled hexagram, in the abyss something must be available to cling to, and fire which blazes upward. They are opposite.

Please comment.
Water and Fire do not harm each other, according to the received version of Shuo Gua,
but Water and Fire do harm each other, according to the Mawangdui version of Shuo Gua.

Water (hex 29) and Fire (hex 30) are at the end of chapter one of the sequence.
Water-Fire (hex 63) and Fire-Water (hex 64) are at the end of chapter two.

Both are preceeded by 'reversed' hexagrampairs (hex 27-28 and hex 61-62). These are used to separate the 'reversed' pair 29-30 and the 'opposite' pair 63-64 from the other hexagrampairs. The 'reversed' pair 1-2 is used to begin the sequence. The three 'opposite' pairs 11-12, 17-18 and 53-54 have no spectacular positions in the sequence and are thus of less importance, like Thunder (hex 51), Mountain (hex 52), Wind (hex 57) and Lake (hex 58) are of less importance in the sequence.

The hexagram sequence is in my reading a discussion of the relationship between Water and Fire:

Why 'the Abysmal' (Water hex 29) is ahead of 'the Clinging' (Fire hex 30) in the sequence?
Why 'Already across' (Water-Fire hex 63) is ahead of 'Not yet across' (Fire-Water hex 64)?

The first pair is a 'reversed' pair and the latter an 'opposite' pair. The two hexagrams of a 'reversed' pair do not change position in the sequence when turned upside down, while the hexagrams of an 'opposite' pair do change position in the sequence when turned upside down. It's like the Former Heaven trigram sequence. Try draw the eight trigrams in a row instead of in a circle on a paper and then turn the paper upside down: Water and Fire change positions :bows:
 

fkegan

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The novel perspective of Flux Tome and the traditional Confucian view

Hi ! Frank,

Thanks for your comment.

I have visited your website several times and I admire very much your aspects. Very seldom I have read such penetrating and systematical interpretation.

Indeed up to now I have been just focusing on the traditional way of studying I Ching; it means to interpret and paraphrase Yi according to Ten Wings. My purpose is to introduce to the western world how the text of Yi is understood by Chinese, from Confucian perspective and based on the conventional analysis and deduction of the image and the line. Strictly speaking, the studies of Yi (Chow Yi) and I Ching are somewhat different in China; in my opinion, I Ching is Confucian Yi. Yang (masculinity, rigidity, goodness, etc) and Yin (femininity, tenderness, evil, etc) are two fundamental elements, and the change between Yin and Yang give life to I Ching.

Regards
Tuck

Hi Tuck,
I appreciate your kind words. There are many folks in the world of the Yi and they each have their own perspective and needs for knowledgeable remarks.
I enjoy your summary of the traditional dualistic Confucian commentary of the 10 wings.


Now I am in the midst of writing a general overview and explanation of my Flux Tome perspective. Quite a challenge. I asked advice from the Yi Oracle which responded with
hex28.1 >> hex 44 ( High Over Head >> Lady Luck or overall Keep Your Eyes on the Prize--Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds)
which is only a deeply insightful expression of the Yi Oracle Spirit in my Flux Tome web page interpretation. In other traditional perspectives it is pretty much just: "Too Bad, So Sad. Shouldn't fall in love with the likes of her."

Looking at the hexagrams from their line pairs tends to be tedious exercise. The first 2 and last 4 of the first half and the first two of the final four are all symmetrical about their midpoint between line place 3 and 4, so tumbling them makes no change. So What, I wonder?

But only with the "magic key" of Context provided by the context of 1+2+3+4 =10 which seems trivially true, but actually notes that to understand the King Wen Sequence it must be viewed in 4 sets: hexagrams ending in 1, those ending in 2 &3, those ending in 4,5,& 6, and finally those ending in 7&8 combined with those ending in 9& 10 or zero.

Like watching a cloud pass between the sun and a sole high peak which is first illuminated by bright sunshine and finally illuminated in hazy sunlight and only as the shadow of the cloud falls across the bulk of the mountain with only the very peak still bathed in sunshine can one see the ultimate Yang upon Yin, the peak glistens brilliant like a diamond while the rest of the mountain looks dark as night.

You have to see things in context to move beyond the Wilhelm text.

Best regards,
Frank
 

tuckchang

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Water and Fire do not harm each other, according to the received version of Shuo Gua,
but Water and Fire do harm each other, according to the Mawangdui version of Shuo Gua.............................


The hexagram sequence is in my reading a discussion of the relationship between Water and Fire:

Why 'the Abysmal' (Water hex 29) is ahead of 'the Clinging' (Fire hex 30) in the sequence?
Why 'Already across' (Water-Fire hex 63) is ahead of 'Not yet across' (Fire-Water hex 64)?

The first pair is a 'reversed' pair and the latter an 'opposite' pair. The two hexagrams of a 'reversed' pair do not change position in the sequence when turned upside down, while the hexagrams of an 'opposite' pair do change position in the sequence when turned upside down. It's like the Former Heaven trigram sequence. Try draw the eight trigrams in a row instead of in a circle on a paper and then turn the paper upside down: Water and Fire change positions :bows:

Hi Lienshan,

Thanks for your comment.

Most likely our discrepancies come from the different comprehension of words: reverse, opposite, etc. The opposite that which I meant is the opposite significances of the paired hexagrams, like Hex 29 (water) & 30 (fire); the reverse is: when a hexagram reaches extremity or the end, a reverse must occur, like Hex 27 & 28, signifying after being nourished in Hex 27 (Yi), it becomes obese, i.e. the hexagram Da Guo: large excess (28), wherein counterbalance between masculinity and femininity is the subject.
Of course, water flows downward and flames blaze upward; they can be reverse as well. Hex 63 (completion) reaches the end of 64 hexagrams, it must reverse and become ‘not completed’ as Hex 64.

In my opinion, Shuo Gua is a commentary on the trigram; fire and water do not harm each other when they equally coexist in a hexagram and because the water of Kan is fluid.
Exclusiveness appears when a hexagram is formed. Hex 29 is composed of two Kans and is pure water, and Hex 30, two Lis and pure fire.
Change occurs in Hex 49 (revolution) is due to the water of Duei (joy, the marsh) is still.
Line 3 of Hex 37 (the household) and line 4 of Hex 38 (alienation) are both in a stern & cruel state (厲) because of one water within two fires.

Best regards
Tuck
 

tuckchang

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But only with the "magic key" of Context provided by the context of 1+2+3+4 =10 which seems trivially true, but actually notes that to understand the King Wen Sequence it must be viewed in 4 sets: hexagrams ending in 1, those ending in 2 &3, those ending in 4,5,& 6, and finally those ending in 7&8 combined with those ending in 9& 10 or zero.

Hi Frank,

In my opinion, the hexagram should be created in following the sequence of its evolvement, like the one of Jing fang Gua (京房卦), i.e. eight pure hexagrams (Chien, Kun,……) are the basic hexagram, and the line changes systematically and in a regular pattern amid each group, and then 64 hexagrams are formed. Independent from the above, Yi named the hexagram and gave it a text according to its features, for instant, its presenting images and the status of the master line, etc; 64 hexagrams were somehow arrayed in sequence according to the natural law, the life philosophy and the moral teaching, etc. The sequence is not always consecutive, like what you said: in set; the fact is that the hexagram is not nominated according to a preset sequence. However, the segmental sequence doesn't contains lots of philosophy, for instant, up and down like human life, a colossal change, i.e. the mutual reverse and interchangeable hexagrams in pair, like Hex 29 & 30, 63 &64 shortly before the ending, and like Hex 11 & 12, afterward peoples over the world become one family in Hex 13 and society becomes Hex 14 wherein wealth is evenly distributed, etc.

Best regards
Tuck
 

tuckchang

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............However, the segmental sequence doesn't contains lots of philosophy, for instant, up and down like human life, a colossal change, ..............

Correction: It should be read ' However, the segmental sequence do contants lots of philosophy,...........'

Best regards
Tuck :bows:
 

lienshan

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Line 3 of Hex 37 (the household) and line 4 of Hex 38 (alienation) are both in a stern & cruel state (厲) because of one water within two fires.
Are line 3 of Hex 63 (already across) and line 4 of Hex 64 (not yet across) both in a stern & cruel state (厲) because of one water within two fires?

lienshan :)
 

tuckchang

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Are line 3 of Hex 63 (already across) and line 4 of Hex 64 (not yet across) both in a stern & cruel state (厲) because of one water within two fires?

lienshan :)

Hi, Lienshan,

Both Hex 63 and Hex 64 have two waters and two fires, signifying the environment of Hex 63 or 63 is not that crucial.
Line 4 of Hex 39 and line 3 of Hex 40 are one fire staying between two waters; thus line 4 of Hex 39 must move backward to seek alliance instead of moving forth toward the upper trigram Kan, water, and line 3 of Hex 40 will be resented if it persists in staying where it is, i.e. doing what it is doing.

Best regards
Tuck :)
 

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