This kind of reversal turns up frequently in the I Ching..[Newborn, 1986]
The I Ching is based on the principle of a broken line, representing yin, and an unbroken line, representing yang. There are eight trigrams: The I Ching [Y" Jing1] uses the trigrams by combining pairs of them into 64 hexagrams. The hexagrams reuse the trigrams by combining pairs of them into 64 hexagrams. The hexagrams represent states of affairs, and the I Ching is consulted through the construction of a hexagram to answer one's question. The construction is carried out either through a complicated process of throwing and counting yarrow stalks, or by throwing three coins. The obverse (head) of each coin is worth 3 points (odd numbers are yang), while the reverse (tail) is worth 2 (even numbers are yin). Toss three coins six times and record the results. The first coin is the bottom of the trigram, the second is the middle, and the third coin is the top. Three coins will therefore add up to either 6, 7, 8, or 9. The numbers 7 and 8 represent "young" yang and yin, respectively. Starting from the bottom up, these add a plain yang, or a plain yin, line. The numbers 6 and 9, in turn, represent "old" yin and yang, respectively, and are called "changing lines." This illustrates an important aspect of the theory of yin and yang: Because the "Way of the Tao is Return," yin and yang, when they reach their extremes, actually become their opposites. The "old" lines therefore change into their opposites, giving us two hexagrams if any changing lines are involved: the first hexagram, representing the current state of affairs; and the second hexagram, after the changes have been made, representing the future state of affairs. Changing lines are usually denoted by writing for a 9 and for a 6. The text of the I Ching describes the significance of each hexagram. Many interpretations have been written since the time of Confucius. I have chosen to represent only one of them. The subject of interpreting the I Ching is very complex and scholars of Chinese philosophy study it for years..[Newborn, 1986]
The answers one finds in the I Ching give the relations between people, within a family, or in a state. Though quaint images may be used, the center of concern in the I Ching is always ethics and morality, the behavior of human beings. For this reason, Confucius greatly favored its use as a great humanist document. No matter what "fortune" one may find in it, one learns something essential about the human condition, and, like the answers of the Delphic Oracle in Greece, the answers may have to wait a long time for the right questions to be asked. [Newborn, 1986]
The following table is an explanation of the trigrams.Information compiled from Newborn, 1986.
CH'IEN (chee en) the Creative
Heaven, God, strong, male, light giving, virtuous, good, the father, the leader or ruler, direct, aggressive, forceful, rigid, unyielding. [the motion of the trigram is upward.]
K'UN (kwen)* the Receptive
Earth, mother, female, yielding, receptive,...
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