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Revision as of 19:39, 5 June 2011
The I Ching book consists of 64 hexagrams.
A hexagram is a figure composed of six stacked horizontal lines (爻 yáo), where each line is either Yang (an unbroken, or solid line), or Yin (broken, an open line with a gap in the center). The hexagram lines are traditionally counted from the bottom up, so the lowest line is considered line 1 while the top line is line 6. Hexagrams are formed by combining the original eight trigrams in different combinations. Each hexagram is accompanied with a description, often cryptic, akin to parables. Each line in every hexagram is also given a similar description.
Hexagram types
Classic and modern I Ching commentaries mention a number of different hexagram types:
- Eight trigrams
- Original hexagram
- Future hexagram
- Nuclear hexagram
- Reverse hexagram (is found by turning a hexagram upside down)
- Complementary hexagram (is found by changing all the lines into their opposite)
- Hexagram of Change (bian gua)
- Internal Hexagram (nei gua)
- External Hexagram (wai gua)
- Mutual Hexagram (hu gua)
Hexagram sequences
The most commonly known sequence is the King Wen sequence. A totally different sequence was found in the Mawangdui Silk Texts. The hexagrams are also found in the Binary sequence, also known as Fu Xi sequence or Shao Yong sequence.
References
- Wilhelm, Richard (1950). The I Ching or Book of Changes.
- Legge, James (1964). I Ching: Book of Changes.