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Trigram Meanings: Line by Line

merlewine

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Greetings!

This is an offshoot of my question about Former and Later Heaven layouts, so I will dignify it with its own section.

As we all know, there are eight fundamental trigrams, each with three lines. The trigrams are read (of course) from the bottom line upward. Where there is commentary on reading the lines (Nigel Richmond, etc.), the general idea (as I understand it) is the bottom line represents not only the Yin/Yang gender of the trigram, but all the initial conditions – the premise or whatever we might agree to call it.

The second line suggests something about the action or change involved, and the third line the result or what the change in the whole trigram leads to. This is the standard approach, if I understand it correctly.

Next, as I look through dozens of books and even more so when I browse online, there are literally hundreds of definitions of what the eight trigrams mean, and most seem to be in some general agreement, with of course some that differ quite a lot.

My question here is:

I am trying to understand how these commonly-accepted trigram definitions are based on the particular three lines in each trigram. Often there are not definitions given as much as lists of qualities and correspondences.

Correspondences (like this trigram for spring, this for summer, etc.) are pretty easy to follow, but some of the qualities are not. When an author puts the whole trigram into a paragraph, then I seek to understand how to do this, what it is based on. It goes without saying (to me) that it is based on experience, but I am asking: how are these definitions teased out from the three lines?

If it is ok, I am not looking to simply have these definitions listed here, but instead to have definitions given, while pointing out how they relate to the particular lines in the trigram, one, two, and three.

I put together a little image, so that we can see the trigrams easily.

Thanks very much for giving this a look,

Michael Erlewine
 

toganm

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You may want to look at Charles Ponce' book the nature of the I Ching.

But on the other hand I think an earlier post by Jesed quoting Wang Pi is quite important
http://tinyurl.com/2lhmoz

Hope it helps

Togan
 

merlewine

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For: togamn

Thanks for the references. I enjoyed the Wang Pi quote, and luckily I have an old dog-eared copy of the “The Nature of the I-Ching,” by Charles Poncé. It is quite a lot of information to work through, but the author and I both share a love for the works of Mircea Eliade, so that makes the going easier than it otherwise would.

Much appreciated,

Michael Erlewine
 

bradford

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As you must have read, the six ba gua of mixed lines derive their meanings and their gender from the line that is odd or outnumbered. There are likely countless ways to make sense of the three line positions as they relate to the trigram meanings. Recently in an exercise at Midaughter, I tried to boil it down into as few words as possible. This is what I came up with:

The Three Trigram Places:
3. After going (Gen simply stops, Dui will have some satisfaction first)
2. While going (Kan concentrates and integrates, Li appreciates and differentiates)
1. Beginning (Zhen simply goes, Xun is ready to go, given the right opportunity)
 

Sparhawk

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bradford said:
The Three Trigram Places:
3. After going (Gen simply stops, Dui will have some satisfaction first)
2. While going (Kan concentrates and integrates, Li appreciates and differentiates)
1. Beginning (Zhen simply goes, Xun is ready to go, given the right opportunity)

Hmmm, why do I get the nagging feeling that that is somewhat incestuous... :D

L
 

bradford

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sparhawk said:
Hmmm, why do I get the nagging feeling that that is somewhat incestuous... :D L

Oh, Luis
This Ba Gua family is almost unbelievably wholesome, like a Mormon TV ad.
Except maybe Dui's a bit of a slut
 

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