Hexagram (I Ching)

The hexagrams of the I Ching in a diagram belonging to the German mathematician philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz^[1]

The I Ching book consists of 64 hexagrams.^{[2] [3]} A hexagram in this context 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 one while the top line is line six. 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.

The Chinese word for a hexagram is 卦 "guà", although that also means trigram.

Types[]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (July 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Hexagram numbers, in King Wen sequence

Classic and modern I Ching commentaries mention a number of different hexagram types:

• Eight Trigrams
• Original Hexagram
• Future Hexagram
• Contrasting (Reverse) Hexagram (is found by turning a hexagram upside down)^[4]
• Complementary Hexagram (is found by changing all the lines into their opposite)^[4]
• Hexagram of Sequence^[4]
• Nuclear (Mutual) Hexagram (hu gua) (is found by taking the inner lines of a hexagram; given that the original hexagram's lines are labeled 1 through 6 from bottom up, the nuclear hexagram contains the lines 2, 3, 4, 3, 4, 5)^[4]
• Hexagram of Change (bian gua)
• Internal Hexagram (nei gua)
• External Hexagram (wai gua)

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.

Lookup table[]

Upper → Lower ↓	乾 Qián Heaven	坤 Kūn Earth	震 Zhèn Thunder	坎 Kǎn Water	艮 Gèn Mountain	巽 Xùn Wind	離 Lí Flame	兌 Duì Lake
乾 Qián Heaven	01 乾 (qián) Force	11 泰 (tài) Pervading	34 大壯 (dà zhuàng) Great Invigorating	05 Attending	26 Great Accumulating	09 Small Harvest	14 Great Possessing	43 Displacement
坤 Kūn Earth	12 Obstruction	02 Field	16 Providing-For	08 Grouping	23 Stripping	20 Viewing	35 Prospering	45 Clustering
震 Zhèn Thunder	25 Innocence	24 Returning	51 Shake	03 Sprouting	27 Swallowing	42 Augmenting	21 Gnawing Bite	17 Following
坎 Kǎn Water	06 Arguing	07 Leading	40 Deliverance	29 Gorge	04 Enveloping	59 Dispersing	64 Before Completion	47 Confining
艮 Gèn Mountain	33 Retiring	15 Humbling	62 Small Exceeding	39 Limping	52 Bound	53 Infiltrating	56 Sojourning	31 Conjoining
巽 Xùn Wind	44 Coupling	46 Ascending	32 Persevering	48 Welling	18 Correcting	57 Ground	50 Holding	28 Great Exceeding
離 Lí Flame	13 Concording People	36 Intelligence Hidden	55 Abounding	63 Already Fording	22 Adorning	37 Dwelling People	30 Radiance	49 Skinning
兌 Duì Lake	10 Treading	19 Nearing	54 Converting the Maiden	60 Articulating	41 Diminishing	61 Inner Truth	38 Polarising	58 Open

See also[]

• List of hexagrams of the I Ching
• Feng shui
• Tai Yi Shen Shu
• Tie Ban Shen Shu

References[]