The value of hexagrams of the Book of Changes. Decoding hexagrams of the Book of Changes

Recently, renewed interest in extravagant systems of fortune telling and predictions of the future. If you know the meaning of the hexagrams of the Book of Changes, then you have significantly outstripped the majority of those interested. If not, it does not matter. After reading this article, you will be able to understand these Chinese charades with ease. And if you want, also find out whether it's worthwhile to translate into reality the conceived, to decide on one or another step, and so on.

Introduction

The exact meaning of the title of this treatise is difficult to determine, because Chinese characters are many-valued. One of the versions is the Treatise (Canon) of Changes, the second is the Cyclicity of Changes, the third is the Canon of the Age of Zhou (in this period the most complete version of the book was written).

So, we will use the Western variant more familiar to the ear: the Chinese Book of Changes. The hexagram will be explained below. At first, I would like to note that this is primarily a treatise of Confucianism, and only then a tool for divination.

The forerunner of this kind of fun was the tradition of "lanshan", based on divination through the book. Unfortunately, only the name reached us. They are united only by the general use of "scab" - diagrams of six horizontal lines.

Book's contents

"And Jin" was more fortunate. This treatise has survived in several editions, in addition, we know the technique of divination, used in ancient China.
So, let's see a little more.

Decoding hexagrams of the Book of Changes is impossible without the basic concepts of Chinese philosophy.

The treatise consists of sixty-four characters, each of which is two trigrams. In each of them there are six horizontal traits, called "yao". They can be whole (in the European tradition of the "nine", in the Chinese "yang") or interrupted in the middle ("six", or "yin"). The first means the active stage of action, the second - the passive.

Color designation. Jan - white, yin - black stripes. By analogy, light and tension correspond to the first, and darkness and suppleness correspond to the second.
In general, the hexagram is called "gua" and includes six lines.

To each such symbol corresponds a set of aphorisms and sayings of the Chinese sages. These phrases are designed to make clear the way for the fortuneteller and get an answer to the questions of interest.

System

Hexagrams are built on the principle of the Pythagorean summary table for multiplying numbers. There is a vertical row with the values of traditional Chinese materials and forces. It includes thunder, earth, fire, sky, water, mountains, river, wind. The same concepts are arranged horizontally, but slightly in a different sequence.

About the very order of fortune telling, we'll talk a little later. While it is important to remember the following. In the traditional ritual, after the definition of "gua", the questioner contemplates it, delving into the play of an active and passive beginning. Only after that are read the attached aphorisms.

Location:

The decoding of hexagrams of the Book of Changes occupies and occupied the minds of many scientists. First of all, the order of "gua" interested mathematicians.

To date, there are three systems of symbol arrangement in the treatise, that is, three alternations. The Wen Wang method (classical), Fu Xi and a couple of completely unusual options. The main task set by the learned men was to reveal the regularity in the order of the appearance of hexagrams in the book.

Several interesting remarks were made. In the classical system, they are arranged as if in a dance. Each even picture repeats an odd one, but in half a turn (by 180 degrees). If the symbol is symmetrical, for example, six solid lines, then the nines are replaced by sixes. Thus, the above-mentioned "gua" will consist entirely of intermittent bands.

McKenna, an American researcher, has created a whole theory on this. Judging by his hypothesis, the analogue of Mendeleyev's periodic system is the Book of Changes. He studied the interpretation of hexagrams based on the changes of yao in each subsequent symbol.

Gradually studying the book, he created a table, which, he said, helped him calculate some events. For example, he predicted the end of the world for her in 2012. Mistaken, of course, but who among the ordinary mortals was not mistaken?

Critics say that his theory is a numerological adjustment of sketchy predictions from different religions. The I Ching itself has nothing to do with these events, and such statements are just an attempt to become famous.

Philosophy

Variability is the basis that the Chinese "Book of Changes" carries in itself. Hexagrams reflect only the play of light and shadow on the mirror of life.

Whatever a person has a problem, how difficult it would seem to be a way out of the current situation, it was possible to achieve harmony with the help of coins and a treatise. Thus, it turns out that this technique is an analogue of the ring of the Jewish king Solomon, on which it was written: "Everything will pass. This too shall pass".

But, despite everything, "I Ching" has almost a therapeutic effect on people suffering from neuroses. Carl Jung and Alexander Appeniansky repeatedly mention this treatise in their works.

Such a fortune telling can help a person to understand himself, to abstract from the formed problem, "to go beyond". After all, only a creative approach allows you to go through life playfully and overcome difficult situations without extra efforts.

What Confucianism says

"Wu Jing" - Confucian five-book, which includes a volume of divination, hymns, legends, laws and historical records - is compared by researchers with the Bible. Scientists say that this historical source carries not only information about events, but also represents to the modern person the entire ancient Chinese worldview system.

Part of the mentioned work is the Book of Changes. The interpretation of hexagrams, however, is not given anywhere in Confucius. Moreover, the treatise itself is supposedly mentioned only once in "Conversations and judgments." According to one of the versions, this is deliberate falsification or error of a scribe who, in place of the hieroglyph, "also" inserted "changes". These symbols are similar to each other.

According to the first version, Confucius said that if he had time for life, he would have spent it studying the "Changes" in order not to be mistaken. According to another hypothesis, he simply talked about the benefits of learning.

Comments and development

Similar to the "I Ching" system of location of features used by the later philosopher Yang Xiong. He wrote the canon "Tai Xuan Jing", in which he built symbols on the principle of three forces. The man was designated by a solid line, a horizontal line with one space symbolized earthly events, and with two - heavenly.

The significance of hexagrams of the Book of Changes is quite popularly explained in the comments to the treatise. They are known under the name "Shi I", or "Ten Wings".
This collection of interpretations includes the interpretation of images, utterances, aphorisms, an explanation of individual trigrams and hexagrams, as well as the essence of their location.

However, since this text was written in the Han era, when many sources were adjusted to the existing political situation, one should be treated with caution.

Scientists do not exactly take it seriously, fans of the same predictions often rely on him in their interpretations.

How to guess

So, if you are interested in guessing on the Book of Changes, hexagrams can help in this. All that is needed for the western version of the ritual is three coins (preferably silver ones) and the treatise itself.

Before the rite itself, you must take a shower, mentally cleanse yourself and get rid of everyday worries. The meaning of the hexagrams of the Book of Changes opens only to the uncomplicated mind.

Next, take a sheet of paper, a pen and three coins. We decide what the "eagle" will symbolize, and what "the river" is a nine or six.

We ask the question and begin to toss in turns coins. If the three are the same, draw the line that you have defined. If both the obverse and the reverse have fallen, we look, what more.

Last moment. We begin drawing the stripes from the bottom. That is, the process of guessing is 18 coin flips.

Further simply we read the answer to your question under the appropriate symbol. It will be painted in the course of divination.

So, today we introduced you to the main points of ancient fortune telling. It is practically impossible to disclose the meaning of hexagrams of the Book of Changes within the framework of a short article. To do this, you need to get a specific manual with comments.

Good luck, dear readers!