I-CHING Basics

An Approach to the 'I-CHING'

by Frank C. Fung ( 1st published in December, 2004. )

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Section 2 : 'I-CHING' Basics

Topic I	The { 'YIN Line' } and the { 'YANG Line' }
Topic II	Trigrams
Topic III	Hexagrams
Topic IV	Brief History of the 'I-CHING'
Topic V	Trigram Positioning according to FU XI
Topic VI	Trigram Positioning according to WEN WANG

Topic I - The { 'YIN Line' } and the { 'YANG Line' } :

Before you can detect a { CHANGE } , you must first recognize a [ difference ] .

In the 'I-CHING', the [ difference ] is expressed via the a pair of 'opposite' symbols --- the { 'YIN Line' } vs. the { 'YANG Line' } :

The { 'YIN Line' } is simply a 'broken line' :
The { 'YANG Line' } is simply a 'solid line' :

In general,

or { 'YIN' } , represents 'Darkness', 'Coldness', the 'Negative', the 'Passive', etc.,
or { 'YANG' } , represents 'Brightness', 'Warmth' , the 'Positive', the 'Active', etc..

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Topic II - Trigrams :

A Trigram is simply a set of three (3) { 'YIN' or 'YANG' Lines } , arranged in a vertical order.

The eight (8) Trigrams, are as follows :

	Name of Trigram	Assigned Meaning	the 'ICG' designation
1	- qian	- heaven	T1
2	- dui	- lake	T2
3	- li	- fire	T3
4	- zhen	- thunder	T4
5	- xun	- wind	T5
6	- kan	- water	T6
7	- gen	- mountain	T7
8	- kun	- earth	T8

And a Trigram is always read from the bottom-line upwards, as per this example below :

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Topic III - Hexagrams :

A Hexagram is simply a set of six (6) { 'YIN' or 'YANG' Lines } , arranged in a vertical order.

And a Hexagram is often viewed as [ one Trigram stacked on-top-of another Trigram ] :

the Trigram on-the-top is known as the [ Upper Trigram ] , or the [ Outer Trigram ] ,

/
the Trigram on-the-bottom is known as the [ Lower Trigram ] , or the [ Inner Trigram ] ,

/

We then have a listing of the 64 Hexagrams as per the table below :

		Upper Trigram

		T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6	T7	T8
L o w e r T r i g r a m	T1
	T2
	T3
	T4
	T5
	T6
	T7
	T8

And the names of the 64 Hexagrams in Chinese ( Traditional Chinese Characters ) , are as per the table below :

		Upper Trigram

		T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6	T7	T8
L o w e r T r i g r a m	T1
	T2
	T3
	T4
	T5
	T6
	T7
	T8

And the name-pronunciations of the 64 Hexagrams in Chinese phonetics ( Putonghua Phonetics ) , are as per the table below :

		Upper Trigram

		T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6	T7	T8
L o w e r T r i g r a m	T1	qian	guai	da you	da zhuang	xiao xu	xu	da xu	tai
	T2	lu	dui	kui	gui mei	zhong fu	jie	sun	lin
	T3	tong ren	ge	li	feng	jia ren	gei ji	bi	ming yi
	T4	wu wang	sui	shi	zhen	yi	tun	yi	fu
	T5	gou	da guo	ding	heng	xun	jing	gu	sheng
	T6	song	kun	wei ji	jie	huan	kan	meng	shi
	T7	dun	xian	lu	xiao guo	jian	jian	gen	qian
	T8	fou	cui	jin	yu	guan	bi	bo	kun

We have marked in this table, ( in darker-colors and in pairs ) , the Hexagrams whose pronunciations are very similar in Chinese ( Putonghua / Mandarin ) .

Thus, identifying the 64 Hexagrams via [ citing their names only ] may often lack the precisions required.

In the [ ICG Approach ] , we shall identify each Hexagram :

EITHER :

via listing the { full image } of the Hexagram,

OR :

via identifying, firstly, the [ Upper Trigram ] , and secondly, the [ Lower Trigram ] for the Hexagram.

e.g. : the Hexagram { HEAVEN } , , will be designated as [ T1-T1 ] .

We note here that a Hexagram is also always read from the bottom upwards, as per this example below :

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Topic IV - Brief History of the 'I-CHING' :

The 'I-CHING' was created early in Chinese history and the three (3) relevent periods are :

1.	XIA Dynasty	- circa [ 21th Century B.C. ] to [ 16th Century B.C. ]
2.	SHANG Dynasty	- circa [ 16th Century B.C. ] to [ 1066 B.C. ]
3.	ZHOU Dynasty	- circa 1066 B.C. to 256 B.C.

, or FU XI , the legendary author of the 8 Trigrams, lived in the times before the [ XIA Dynasty ] .

The origins of the 'I-CHING' therefore dates back to more than 4,000 years ago.

And there are three (3) versions of the 'I-CHING' :

: The 1st version was the { Connedcted-Hill-I } in the [ XIA Dynasty ] .
: The 2nd version was the { Return-Hidden/Treasure-I } in the [ SHANG Dynasty ] .
: The 3rd version was the { ZHOU-I } in the [ ZHOU Dynasty ] .

, or WEN WANG ( King Wan ) , the author of the { ZHOU-I } , is the father of the founding king of the [ ZHOU Dynasty ] ,

i.e. living circa 1066 B.C..

Several things to note here :

The written Chinese language was in its early stage of development, from the Chinese Oracle Symbols to Chinese Characters .
- FU XI's sayings are passed-on, in all likely-hood, via words-of-mouth.
  
  Authenticity & interpretation may always be problems here.
Only bits-and-pieces of the [ Connected-Hill-I ] and the [ Return-Hidden/Treasure-I ] remain, but we do understand that :
- - MOUNTAIN was the first-listed Trigram in the [ Connected-Hill-I ] ,
- - EARTH was the first-listed Trigram in the [ Return-Hidden/Treasure-I ] ,
- - HEAVEN is the first-listed Trigram in the [ ZHOU-I ] .
Each version of the 'I-CHING' therefore took on a slightly different emphasis.
The three (3) Dynasties always had a COURT OFFICAL in charge of the ceremony for the [ Consultations with the Lords Above ] ( ) and the readings therefrom are interpreted thru the 'I-CHING' .

The 'I-CHING' is therefore an integral part of early Chinese Life, Culture & History.
, or Confucius ( circa 511 B.C. - 479 B.C. ) have added his thoughts on the 'I-CHING' in his writings, the [ Ten Wings ] ( ) .

And these are usually included as part of the 'I-CHING' .
And many others have also added their sayings to the original [ ZHOU-I ] and extra care should always be taken when sorting-out the different schools-of-thoughts.