A page from "YiJing (I Ching), Oracle of the Sun". Translated from Chinese by LiSe , my second woman Lotti, with her own creative interpretation. She worked and meditated daily on it for 35 years. It was and is her life. For the whole book, click HERE
Click here for Lotti

The structure of a hexagram

 
15 14 person or situation

5

  Draw a figure of a man (or woman, whatever you prefer) and draw your hexagram next to it. Connect the bottom line with the feet, the second line with the legs, the third with the belly, the fourth with the arms and back, the fifth with the face (and upper back or neck) and the top line with the brain. Now you have some clue to the realm of each line. This applies not only to people - situations or ideas also have 'feet', 'legs' and so on.

  The top line has to do with spirit. Religion, tao,
  The fifth line with organizing, leading, ideals, giving structure to things.
  The fourth line with decisions, finding the road, choices.
  The third line with emotions and evaluation.
  The second line with reactions, 'walking in the world', connections with other beings.
  The bottom line with reality, action, matter. Tangible things, the way one stands on the earth.

  I did not make this up by myself, there are many clues that hexagrams are built up this way. Most are ideas from later ages, but in the YiJing itself there are many lines with parts of the body, and they usually are used as symbols for certain behavior.
  So the answer can tell you about relations and emotions (2 and 3), or reality, decisions and spirit (1, 4 and 6), and it is not a question of which one is the most important. It is a combination. If you go to the Northpole, you need warm clothes and a ship and a lot more. If you go to the beach, you need lemonade and maybe money and a train ticket, but no warm clothes. Every situation asks for a different set of attributes.

EXAMPLES for the meanings of line-places:
When the top line is yang, one can take a look at hex.23, a hexagram with only the top line yang: leaving or losing outer things, receptive, only the spirit is active. All the other lines or options are receptive. I chose the yang lines for examples, because yang is by its nature more visible than yin.
Line 5 is yang: hex.8: the ability to lead and organize is active, the other abilities are receptive.
Line 4 is yang: hex.16: finding the road is active - motivation, choices, decisions.
Line 3 is yang: hex.15: empathy is active (listens to heaven), but for the rest you do what is asked by the situation.
Line 2 is yang: hex.7: conquering the world or defending one's territory.
Bottom line is yang: finding one's own orbit, one's tao, one's road in life.

  In later times the trigram-lines and the hexagram-lines were combined with earth, man and heaven, from the bottom up. For the hexagram lines 1 and 2 belong together (earth), 3 and 4 (man), 5 and 6 (heaven).

 Line 6: brains and beyond (heaven). Living with and in heaven (spirit).
 Line 5: upper back, neck, lungs, face, eyes, ears, mouth. Organize, lead.
 
Line 4: spine, shoulders, arms, hands. Motivation, choices, decisions.
 Line 3: belly, thigh, sex, stomach, heart. Emotions, influences, empathy, evaluation.
 Line 2: legs. Drive and energy to move, to build and defend your life, connect to the world, walking in the world.
 Line 1: feet and beyond (earth). To stand on one's feet, go one's own road - or to take another one. To live with and on the earth (reality).

The combinations of the trigram- and hexagram-attributes give related meanings:

heaven heaven

 Top line heaven-heaven: pure spirit.
Line 5 heaven-man: human side of spirit.
Line 4 man earth: reality of man.
Line 3 man heaven: spirit of man. Spirit is not only what we today call spirit, but all intangible things, in contrast to the matter of earth. So spirit of man is human emotions, thoughts and so on.
Line 2 earth man: human reality.
Bottom line earth earth: pure reality.

heaven man
man earth
man heaven
earth man
earth earth
trigram hexagram

Since the trigram is more abstract than the hexagram, 'man' in the trigram is human, humane, humanity. In the hexagram it is human, personal.

Why do hexagrams look the way they do?

 

Contemplate
hex.20

Brain and face active and alert; decisions, emotions, contacts and position (moving) receptive

 

Withdraw, 33

Receptive in one's moving, but all senses active.

 

Family, hex.37

Here the two lines which combine earth and man are receptive: the energy comes from human reality. The feet - territory - emotions, leadership and spirit are all active.

 

Token of man, hex.43

The spirit is receptive, all the rest is active.

 

Marrying maiden, hex.54

Moving and decisions are active, but everything 'heaven' is receptive.

TOP

Anton HeyboerŪ 1924-2005    SITEMAPPLATTEGROND