இ The I Ching 易經 Yìjīng

The I Ching (Classic of Changes or Book of Changes), also known as the Yi Jing, Yijing, or I Ging. "I" 易 (yì) used as an adjective, means "easy" or "simple", whilst as a verb it indicates "change" or "the exchange or substitution of one thing for another". "Ching" 經 (jīng) here means "classic works". The symbols used are one of the oldest form of divination over 5000 years old. Also known as the Zhou Yi周易, and has certainly come a long way in achieving a dominant influence in Chinese culture inspiring famous thinkers, scientists, mathematicians and philosophers like Lao Zi and Confucius to name a few. Even until this current millennium the I Ching is still maintaining its popularity and the most sought-after among millions through its role in astrology, geomancy, medical theory and fortune-telling .

In the I Ching the most logic Yīn阴 and Yáng阳 would come to mind almost instantaneously, with the common sequence of Eight Trigrams八卦 Bā Guà and Five Elements. Numerology is part and parcel of the I Ching where numbers are used in the Magic Square of Three when with fusion and combination of the Eight Trigrams and 64 Hexagrams, produces an enlightening magical results in a straight forward, objective and with the least psychic of all forms of divination. The basic principle at the root of the I Ching is the alignment of the cosmic order and human nature to be in a balance harmony.

八卦 Bā Guà (Eight Trigrams)

Symbols are used to represent Yīn阴 and Yáng阳 which are called "line". The 'full' line represents Yáng and the 'broken' line represents Yīn. Yáng is associated to masculine, active, creative, bright and hard. Symbols of Yáng阳 are sun, fire, red color, south, the dragon, mercury and all odd numbers. Yīn is the opposite of Yáng which is feminine, passive, receptive, soft and dark. Symbols of Yīn阴 are moon, water, tiger, clouds, turtle, black color, lead, north and all even numbers.

Chart of Life Links and Five Elements 五行wǔxíng

GENERATING  INTERACTION 生 shēng

The common memory jogs :

Wood feeds Fire;

Fire creates Earth ;

Earth bears Metal;

Metal carries Water (as in a bucket or tap);

Water nourishes Wood.

OVERCOMING INTERACTION 剋 kè:   

Wood parts Earth (such as roots; or, Trees can prevent soil erosion);

Earth absorbs (or muddies) Water;

Water quenches Fire;

Fire melts Metal;

Metal chops Wood.

The Zhou Yi encompasses the way of heaven, earth and man hence the six lines form a Hexagram

Leibniz was inpsired by the Eight Trigrams who invented at least two things that are essential for the modern world: calculus, and binary arithmetics based on bits in modern computers. He noted with fascination how the I Ching hexagrams correspond to the binary numbers from 0 to 111111.

The Magic Square of Three arranges numbers in an all round harmony when they are added up horizontally, vertically or diagonally the total would be 15. Interesting and amazing right? Anyway Bananaz is merely scrapping superficially on the tip of the iceberg and just cannot figure out the formation of the full and broken lines as in the Trigrams and even more so blur blur in the 64 Hexagrams (guà) to correspond exactly into the 64 codons of the universal genetic code of the DNA.

Posted in: I Ching