TERMBASES
Each of the eight trigrams consists of three lines and each line is either divided (- -) or undivided (—), representing yin or yang respectively. The eight trigrams are: qian (☰), kun (☷), zhen (☳), xun (☴), kan (☵), li (☲), gen (☶), and dui (☱). According to the ancient Chinese, the eight trigrams symbolized basic things and phenomena of nature or society and represented heaven, earth, thunder, wind, water, fire, mountain, and lake respectively. The ancient Chinese also used the interchanges and transformations of the eight trigrams and what they represented to understand and expound on natural and social changes and to explain why and how they took place.
Taiji (the supreme ultimate) has three different meanings. First, it refers to the origin of the world. The ancient Chinese saw it either as qi (vital force) or yuanqi (primordial vital force) that permeates the chaotic world, or as a universal principle, i.e. Dao or li (理), or as wu (无). Second, it is used as a term of divination, referring to the initial state before divinatory numbers, the odd number one (written as —) and the even number two (written as – –), are applied or before the yarrow stems are divided. Divination is conducted on the basis of taiji. Third, it stands for the highest point or boundary of space.
Things come into being and exist in two modes, which are used to describe how the eight trigrams are formed. As explained in The Book of Changes: “Changes involve taiji (太极 the supreme ultimate), which produces two modes. The two modes generate the four images, and the four images give birth to the eight trigrams.” Taiji divides itself into two mutually complementary but opposite parts, or modes. Ancient Chinese had different views as to what the modes represented. Some believed that from the point of view of the formation of the universe, the two modes could be understood as heaven and earth or as yin and yang. Others thought that as a term in divination, the two modes could refer to two groups formed by randomly dividing up 49 yarrow stalks used in divination, or the two lines, solid or broken, in the hexagrams of The Book of Changes.
This term means the four images, or features of the four images, which are engendered through the division of the two modes in the process of the formation of the eight trigrams. As explained in The Book of Changes, “Changes involve taiji (太极 the supreme ultimate), which produces two modes. The two modes generate the four images, and the four images generate the eight trigrams.” The four images are distinct from one another while also mutually related. There was no agreement among ancient scholars with regard to what the four images represent. From the point of view of the coming into being of all things, the four images might stand for the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter; or four basic elements: metal, wood, water, and fire. Alternatively, as a term in divination, the four images could refer to the four stalks in each group when the divination stalks are divided in a fortune-telling exercise, or to four line images for divination: greater yin, greater yang, lesser yin, and lesser yang.
The primary meaning of yin and yang is the orientation of things in relation to the sun, with yang meaning the sunny side and yin the shady side. There are two extended meanings: 1) two opposite kinds of qi (气) in nature; and 2) two basic contrary forces or qualities that coexist, thus the active, hot, upward, outward, bright, forward, and strong are yang, while the passive, cold, downward, inward, dark, backward, and weak are yin. The interaction between yin and yang, or yin qi and yang qi, determines the formation and existence of all things. The theory of yin and yang later became the basis for ancient Chinese to explain and understand the universe and everything in it, social order, and human relations. For example, heaven is yang and earth is yin, ruler is yang and subordinates are yin, husband is yang and wife is yin, noble is yang and ignoble is yin, leading is yang and following is yin.
Trigrams / Hexagrams and Component Lines
A gua (trigram/hexagram) is a system of symbols consisting of undivided lines (—) and divided lines (- -). The undivided line (—) is a yang line while the divided one (- -) a yin line. Three lines make a trigram, and there are eight such trigrams. When six lines are put together, they together make 64 hexagram combinations. Trigrams / hexagrams and component lines were created partly for the purpose of divination. Ancient Chinese people used yarrow stalks to make hexagrams, calculated the variations they suggested, and consulted them for the purpose of divination. Later on, people used trigrams / hexagrams and component lines symbolically to explain the changes and the laws regulating the changes that occurred in people and everything else, and why and how these changes took place.
This refers to the emblems and numbers used in divination. Emblems are cracks in baked tortoise shells, and numbers are inferred from stalks used in divination. Emblems and numbers are the basis of foretelling the future. In The Book of Changes, emblems are divination symbols and the things they represent, and numbers refer to the odd and even numbers of yin and yang and the numbers secured from the divination stalks. Some interpreters of The Book of Changes advocate using emblems and numbers to deduce the changes in all things in the universe.
The term stands for perpetual change. According to The Book of Changes, shengsheng (生生) can be understood at two levels. First, in regard to the existence of all things, it is the interaction of yin and yang that drives the process of the endless cycle of birth, rebirth, and change of heaven, earth, and all things. This process is a fundamental attribute of the universe, and the source of ethical behavior. Second, as a term in divination, it refers to the alternation of yin and yang lines and the fact that all elements in the symbol system of The Book of Changes are in a perpetual state of change.
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