Hexagram (I Ching)
Encyclopedia
The I Ching
I Ching
The I Ching or "Yì Jīng" , also known as the Classic of Changes, Book of Changes and Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts...

 book consists of 64 hexagrams.
A hexagram is a figure composed of six stacked horizontal lines (爻 yáo), where each line is either Yang
Yin and yang
In Asian philosophy, the concept of yin yang , which is often referred to in the West as "yin and yang", is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Opposites thus only...

 (an unbroken, or solid line), or Yin
Yin and yang
In Asian philosophy, the concept of yin yang , which is often referred to in the West as "yin and yang", is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Opposites thus only...

 (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
King Wen sequence
The King Wen sequence is an arrangement of the sixty-four divination figures in 易經 Yì Jīng, the I Ching or Book of Changes. They are called hexagrams in English because each figure is composed of six 爻 yáo—broken or unbroken lines, that represent 陰 yin or 陽 yang respectively.The King Wen sequence...

. A totally different sequence was found in the Mawangdui Silk Texts
Mawangdui Silk Texts
The Mawangdui Silk Texts are texts of Chinese philosophical and medical works written on silk and found at Mawangdui in China in 1973. They include some of the earliest attested manuscripts of existing texts such as the I Ching, two copies of the Tao Te Ching, one similar copy of Strategies of the...

. The hexagrams are also found in the Binary sequence, also known as Fu Xi sequence or Shao Yong
Shao Yong
Shao Yong , courtesy name Yaofu , named Shào Kāngjié after death, was a Song Dynasty Chinese philosopher, cosmologist, poet and historian who greatly influenced the development of Neo-Confucianism in China....

 sequence.

See also

  • List of hexagrams of the I Ching
  • Feng shui
    Feng shui
    Feng shui ' is a Chinese system of geomancy believed to use the laws of both Heaven and Earth to help one improve life by receiving positive qi. The original designation for the discipline is Kan Yu ....

  • Tai Yi Shen Shu
    Tai Yi Shen Shu
    Tai Yi Shen Shu is one of the three 三式 predictive arts from China, the others being Da Liu Ren and Qi Men Dun Jia.These arts are basically involved in divination and to a certain extent astrology...

  • Tie Ban Shen Shu
    Tie ban shen shu
    Tie Ban Shen Shu is an ancient form of divination from China, which is still in use in China, Taiwan, Singapore and the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia. Tie ban shen shu is regarded as among the most accurate and most difficult methods of personal fortune divination...

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