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The I Ching, or Book of Changes, is the most
widely read of the five Chinese Classics. The book
was traditionally written by the legendary Chinese
Emperor Fu Hsi (2953-2838 B.C.). It is possible that
the the I Ching originated from a prehistoric
divination technique which dates back as far as 5000
B.C. Thus it may be the oldest text at this site.
Futher commentaries were added by King Wen and the
Duke of Chou in the eleventh century B.C.
An I Ching interpretation is performed by making six
binary decisions (a hexagram). This is called
'casting the I Ching'. These are written down as a
stack of six solid or broken lines. This was
traditionally done either by tossing yarrow stalks
or coins, although there is no reason why the
hexagrams can't be generated by some other means
(such as a computer program).
There are actually four possible values for each of
the lines; the two on/off values, and a line which
changes from on to off or vice versa. Thus one cast
of the I Ching can generate two different hexagrams,
which adds depth to the interpretation. The
sophistication of this method has not escaped modern
interpretation, and the four-valued logic has been
compared to the biochemistry of DNA amino acids. How
a Neolithic shamans' divination technique presaged
the basic logic of the human genome is one of the
ageless mysteries.
I Ching : is taken from the ancient Chinese "Book of
Changes" and it is a form of divinatory practice
involving 64 hexagrams (patterns of 6 broken and
unbroken lines), which are used in a divinatory way
by the throwing of yarrow stalks or coins.
The Sixty-Four Spirits of Time
Below that is a table showing exactly how the 8
Trigrams in row one and column one, come together to
form an individual Hexagram. To find out what each
Hexagram looks like simply click on the number and
you should be able to see using this grid how the
upper and lower Trigrams make that Hexagram. To find
out the divinatory meaning of each symbol or
Hexagram simply click on the symbol or the number in
the grid and you will be taken to its meaning. The
meanings for the 64 hexagrams come from "Sacred
Books of the East, vol. 16 (1899)" translated by
James Legge. The explanation of the entire figure is
by: King Wăn and the explanation of the six
individual lines are by: the Duke of Kâu. |
