I-Ching 易经
Background
“I-Ching”, pronounces as “yi-jing” is also known as “The Book of Changes”. It is the oldest known text referring to prediction, universal energy and the balance between positive and negative forces.
“Yi Jing” (I-Ching) has been derived into a set of symbols that classify different level of changes. From basic environment to characteristic of living things, to atmospheric weather and characteristic motion of living things etc… The combinations of different I-Ching symbols became a method of accurate prediction. I-Ching survived for over 3500 years in Chinese culture it even influence some of the major religions such as Buddhism, Christian, Hinduism etc…
I-Ching uses two main symbols consists of a continuous line known as the “Yang Stoke __ ” or “Positive Stoke” and a broken line known as the “Yin Stroke - -” or the “Negative Stroke”. This is similar to the I and O binary in modern day computer language.
Yin & Yang of Life 易经与人
In Prof Lei Xu’s Bayesian Yin Yang and Harmony Learning Paper. It sparked a thought of the relation of Yin Yang and mankind. Under this study, it shows that a person is born with innate abilities and emotions that has some form of energy related to the environment. This controls a person’s experiences in all form of changes in a life time. The following displays the various contents of basic I-Ching symbols.
I-Ching, it begins with 2 strokes, then develops into the 4 climatic forces, further develops into the 8-trigrams that becomes the fundamental energy of all living forces.
易经: 太极生两仪，两仪生四象，四象生八卦，八卦演万物。
两仪: 阴爻、阳爻 2 strokes are the positive and negative strokes.
四象: 太阳、太阴、少阳、少阴 The 4 climatic forces are the major and minor positives and the major and minor negatives.
They develop into the 8-trigrams or in Chinese term known as The Ba-Gua consists of Qian, Kan, Gen, Zheng, Xun, li, Kun, Dui as the Earthy Ba-Gua 乾，兑，离，震，巽，坎，艮，坤（后天八卦）and the second combination consists of Qian, Dui, Li, Zheng, Xun, Kan, Gen, Kun as the Heavenly Ba-Gua. 八卦: 乾，坎，艮，震，巽，离，坤，兑（先天八卦）
The 8-Trigrams that relate to the atmospheric and earth forms.
- 乾 Qian2 – 天 Tian (Heaven)
- 兑 Dui4 – 泽 Zhe (Lake)
- 离 Li2 – 火 Huo (Fire)
- 震 Zhen4 – 雷 Lei (Thunder)
- 巽 Xun4 – 风 Feng (Wind)
- 坎 Kan3 – 水 Shui (Water)
- 艮 Gen4 – 山 Shan (Mountain/Hill)
- 坤 Kun1 – 地 Di (Earth)
The 8-trigrams further develop into 64 with 384 strokes.
Wu Ji 无极 and Tai-Ji 太极
It all begins from “Total Emptiness” known as “Wu-ji 无极” and derived to “Tai ji 太极” which is the basis of positive (Yang 阳) represented by the white shade area and the negative (Yin 阴) is a solid black area. Ancient scholars believed that everything is formed by positive and negative forces or some form of energy. This is the basis of the ON and OFF, darkness and brightness, the Sun and Moon, Day and Night, Male and Female etc… The co-existence of the polarities to form balance within the Tai-Ji theory.
Yin and Yang are basically the changes within the 64 Gua or referred to as the “Trigrams”. In the 64 Gua 卦, each Gua is made up of 6 lines making it a Hexagram. The lines in a Gua is known as a yao 爻. The yao 爻 consists of both yin 阴 strokes and yang 阳 strokes.
The 64 gua shown below has each its own term of reference and each with its own combination with different meanings. For detail explanations of each gua can be found in my book ” The Feng Shui Story”.
Combination of 64 Guas 六十四卦
第1卦 乾为天 乾上乾下 Tian
第2卦 天风姤 乾上巽下 Gou
第3卦 天山遯 乾上艮下 Dun
第4卦 天地否 乾上坤下 Bi
第5卦 风地观 巽上坤下 Guan
第6卦 山地剥 艮上坤下 Bo
第7卦 火地晋 离上坤下 Jin
第8卦 火天大有 离上乾下 Da-You
第9卦 坎为水 坎上坎下 Shui
第10卦 水泽节 坎上兑下 Jie
第11卦 水雷屯 坎上震下 Jun
第12卦 水火即济 坎上离下 Ji Ji
第13卦 泽火革 兑上离下 Ke
第14卦 雷火丰 震上离下 Feng
第15卦 地火明夷 坤上离下 Ming-yi
第16卦 地水师 坤下坎上 Shi
第17卦 艮为山 艮上艮下 Shan
第18卦 火山贲 离上艮下 Bi
第19卦 山天大畜 艮上乾下 Da-Chu
第20卦 山泽损 艮上兑下 Sun
第21卦 火泽睽 离上兑下 Kui
第22卦 天泽履 乾上兑下 lv
第23卦 风泽中孚 巽上兑下 Zhong-fu
第24卦 风山渐 巽上艮下 Jian
第25卦 震为雷 震上震下 Zheng
第26卦 雷地豫 震上坤下 Yu
第27卦 雷水解 震上坎下 Xie
第28卦 雷风恒 震上巽下 Heng
第29卦 地风升 坤上巽下 Sheng
第30卦 水风井 坎上巽下 Jing
第31卦 泽风大过 兑上巽下 Da Guo
第32卦 泽雷随 兑上震下 Sui
第33卦 巽为风 巽上巽下 Feng
第34卦 风天小畜 巽上乾下 Xiao-chu
第35卦 风火家人 巽上离下 Jia-ren
第36卦 风雷益 巽上震下 Yi
第37卦 天雷无妄 乾上震下 Wu-wang
第38卦 火雷噬嗑 离上震下 Shi-he
第39卦 山雷颐 艮上震下 Yu
第40卦 山风蛊 艮上巽下 Gu
第41卦 离为火 离上离下 Li
第42卦 火山旅 离上艮下 Lv
第43卦 火风鼎 离上巽下 Ding
第44卦 火水未济 离上坎下 Wei-ji
第45卦 山水蒙 艮上坎下 Meng
第46卦 风水涣 巽上坎下 Huang
第47卦 天水讼 乾上巽下 Song
第48卦 天火同人 乾上离下 Tong-ren
第49卦 坤为地 坤上坤下 Di
第50卦 地雷復 坤上震下 Fu
第51卦 地泽临 坤上兑下 Lin
第52卦 地天泰 坤上乾下 Tai
第53卦 雷天大壮 震上乾下 Da-zhuang
第54卦 泽天夬 兑上乾下 Guai
第55卦 水天需 坎上乾下 Xu
第56卦 水地比 坎上坤下 Bi
第57卦 兑为泽 兑上兑下 Ze
第58卦 泽水困 兑上坎下 Kun
第59卦 泽地萃 兑上坤下 Cui
第60卦 泽山咸 兑上艮下 Xian
第61卦 水山蹇 坎上艮下 Jian
第62卦 地山谦 坤上艮下 Qian
第63卦 雷山小过 震上艮下 Xiao-guo
第64卦 雷泽归妹 震上兑下 Gui-mei
Other I-Ching related studies & References
by CPLim, MGLim
