Shuo Gua

Ancient Commentary / Explanation of the Trigrams <br /> <br />

The Origin of the solid and broken "Yao" lines

summary so far ..

Yi-Jing was written by ancient sages who were inspired to use yarrow sticks as a method of divination. They counted yarrow sticks. 3 meant heaven, and 2 meant earth. (I assume they took a handful, and systematically discarded them in groups until they ended up with either 2 or 3 remaining sticks) Heaven/Earth being the original two "gua" (gua = answers they could get by consulting yarrow sticks).

The gua were "drawn" using lines called "yao". A solid line was used to draw a yao that was "solid" or "yang" (a property of heaven). A broken line was used to draw a yao that was "broken" or "yin" (a property of earth).

After divining the situation, the sages could live in accordance with the Dao of the moment. They used this insight to manage thier lives in Virtue("De"), In harmony with the Way("Dao") they emptied themselves until they reached life's fullness (died). <br /> <br />

Three domains ... for yin and yang expression

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summary so far...

The sages built on their original observation
(that things alternate between solid and broken: yang/yin, heaven/earth.
They realized that the heavens cycle between solid and broken: yang/yin, light/dark, day/night.
And, the earth is also both solid and broken which manifest as hard and soft, stone/dirt, ice/water.
And, that man also alternates between solid and broken. (solidness of character, and broken to selflessness) Justice/Mercy, righteousness/compassion, strictness/leniency, integrity/loyalty

Since the energies of the heaven, earth, and man, can alternate independently of each other, they can be combined together into "Trigrams" that together represent the yin-yang balance of the universe at a moment.
Ok, it doesn't say that, it just says that they combined them into trigrams (images with 3 lines).

The "Jump" from 3 line trigrams to 6 line hexagrams isn't described here other than that they "doubled" them (I translated it as "paired" them up).\

The Yi-Jing text describes them in multiple relationships, such as Above/Below Outside/Inside.
There is a new-agey philosophy that there are 2 universes, one outside of us, and one inside of us.
The Macro and the Micro.
The Above, and the Below.
I believe the 6 line hexagrams are representing this dual-universe concept.
If Heaven + Earth + Man = the Universe
and there is an inner universe and an outer universe,
that would explain the jump to 6 line hexagrams.

But this text doesn't say any of that. It only says that they 2'ed the trigrams together.
The resulting hexagrams can have change in any of thier six lines, or none of them.
After all changing lines finish their change, the current moment/image is completed and this phase is over (the "change cylce is complete"). <br /> <br />

The Ba-gua (8 Trigrams)

My take on what that just said

This appears to explain how each pair of opposite gua interact. They are paired up by switching all 3 yao in each trigram to the yao of the opposite type.

heaven(☰) / earth(☷) 's positions are fixed relative to each other.

mountain(☶) / marsh(☱)

thunder(☳) / wind(☴) often show up together in the same storm.

water(☵) / fire(☲) dont really work together, or follow one another, or anything. its interesting, the description of thier relationship is that they dont.

"the numbers" are positions, or line numbers. the yao lines are numbered from 1 to 6, starting at the bottom.

"numbers which agreed with thier previous" are yao lines that are the same kind of line as what they were previously. Meaning, whichever energy they are (be it yin or yang), they have been that way long enough to have become full.

"know that those will next be their opposite" means that those lines which have reached that fullness of energy, be it yin or yang, ... you know that those are about to transition to the opposite energy.

So, if line 2 has been yang for some time,
then it has built up to a fullness of yang energy.
it is a "moving" line, or a changing line.
Its the line where the Change(Yi) is.
The Yi-Jing is the Book about those changes.

the idea here being that any (or all, or none) of the lines might be "old" lines, ready for change.

the way that the "The 8("Ba") Trigram("Gua") mutually interchanging" happens is by means of changing lines. for instance if you start with earth (all three yin) but the middle line is changing, then you will soon have water (a yang line surrounded by 2 yin). <br /> <br />

About each of the Ba-gua

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My thoughts on that

I think the intention here is to identify the primary function or effect of each of the 8 trigrams.

I find it interesting that some of these use the name of the trigram and some dont.
For instance, "rain" and "sun" are NOT the same characters as the ones used in other places as the names of the fire and water trigrams. <br /> <br />

The Gods ... Trigrams

<br /> I think the "words" 言 mentioned in Gen and Dui are actually "ideas". I would have translated it as such, but it really does say words, and idea is not exactly the same thing. ... similar, yes.

actually, I think this entire block is about the ideas of the soverign.

he announces his idea with thunder,
spreads it out with wind,
watches how others accept it via fire,
uses earth to fund the effort,
marsh to promote or advertise the idea,
the heavens to call the shots, issue commands to make the idea happen,
water to do whatever manual labor has to be done,
and then at the mountain the idea reaches completion.

The many-diverse-creatures ... Trigrams

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Some notes on the directions.

In ancient China, maps were oriented with south at the top. so if you draw these out on a page and want to visualize the placement, fire is at the top of the page, not the bottom.

Also, the placement of the symbols in these directions is attributed to King Wen, but before King Wen, there was a another layout of the trigrams attributed to Fu Xi, which (in my mind) is more balanced (and accurate). <br />

undoing them

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what?

that makes no sense at all to me. why leave out heaven and earth? why "undo eachother" and "dont fight with each other". and how is that related at all to "interacting through the qi". and in what way does any of that make the trigam able to change-ization. and in what way does that then complete the many-diverse-creatures? <br /> <br />

in a word

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animals

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Body

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Family

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A Quick table summarizing all of that

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Qián(Heavens)

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Kūn(Earth)

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Zhèn(Thunder)

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Xùn(Wind)

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Kǎn(Water)

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Lí(Fire)

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Gèn(Mountain)

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Duì(Marsh)