The I Ching or Yijing (Chinese: 易經, Mandarin: [î tɕíŋ] ⓘ), usually translated Book of Changes or Classic of Changes, is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The I Ching was originally a divination manual in the Western Zhou period (1000–750 BC). Over the course of the Warring States and early imperial periods (500–200 BC), it transformed into a cosmological text with a series of philosophical commentaries known as the Ten Wings.[1] After becoming part of the Chinese Five Classics in the 2nd century BC, the I Ching was the basis for divination practice for centuries across the Far East and was the subject of scholarly commentary. Between the 18th and 20th centuries, it took on an influential role in Western understanding of East Asian philosophical thought.[2]
As a divination text, the I Ching is used for a Chinese form of cleromancy known as I Ching divination in which bundles of yarrow stalks are manipulated to produce sets of six apparently random numbers ranging from 6 to 9. Each of the 64 possible sets corresponds to a hexagram, which can be looked up in the I Ching. The hexagrams are arranged in an order known as the King Wen sequence. The interpretation of the readings found in the I Ching has been discussed and debated over the centuries. Many commentators have used the book symbolically, often to provide guidance for moral decision-making, as informed by Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. The hexagrams themselves have often acquired cosmological significance and been paralleled with many other traditional names for the processes of change such as yin and yang and Wu Xing.
Eight hexagrams of the Yijing are formed from doubled trigrams (chong gua 重卦) – the same trigram above and below.
- Qian, Creative Force, Hexagram 1
- Kun, Earth, Hexagram 2
- Xi Kan, Repeating Chasms, Hexagram 29. (For some reason, this hexagram alone mentions ‘repeating’ in its name.)
- Li, Clarity, Hexagram 30
- Zhen, Shock, Hexagram 51
- Gen, Stilling, Hexagram 52
- Xun, Gently Penetrating, Hexagram 57
- Dui, Opening, Hexagram 58
These hexagrams give us the names of the trigrams. They also – as Bradford Hatcher explained – provide some of the best evidence that the original authors of the oldest layers of the text thought of hexagrams as divided into trigrams.
But for this post I’m concentrating on the Image Wing of the Yi, the Daxiang, which is specifically about the trigrams. Looking at how two identical trigrams work together should show us something about how any two trigrams work together. Is there a consistent ‘doubling’ meaning or pattern that carries through these eight hexagrams, or are they all different? After all – and from the department of ‘so obvious it’s embarrassing’ – an expanse of sky isn’t the same as an expanse of earth, and adjoining mountains don’t behave like adjoining lakes.
Hexagram 1
‘The heavens move ceaselessly.A noble one in his own strength does not pause.’
Uniquely, this Image doesn’t include the name of the hexagram. I can’t think why not, except that it makes for a simpler, more streamlined statement (perhaps imitating the minimal, five-word Oracle text?).
The heavens move ceaselessly, jian 健 – or ‘strongly’, with health and vigour. The noble one, filled with this vigour, will not pause or rest.
The six yang lines of Hexagram 1 look less like ‘two heavens’ than a single, wide expanse of sky. It’s continuous, of course, uninterrupted, indivisible – and, whether you’re watching clouds or stars, it never stops moving. So there is not much sense in the Image text of a division between inner and outer worlds: the noble one has internalised this sense of uninterrupted power and motion, and needs no rest.
Hexagram 2
Again, it’s more natural to see six yin lines as a single broad expanse of land, rather than two distinct fields. Open land – open yin lines – stretch out to the horizon. A horse released into this field might gallop across it just because it’s there…
‘Mares and the earth are of one kind,they range abroad and have no bound.’
Tuanzhuan, translated by Richard Rutt
Small humans may do the same.
But I wonder whether the Image authors might not have been looking down instead of out and across, and thinking of the depth of soil beneath their feet:
‘Power of the land: Earth.A noble one, with generous character, carries all the beings.’