The realm of the static, the structural, elements of the I Ching is defined by the Fu Hsi compass relationships, the 'early heaven' arrangement and favours a 2-phase perspective in the form of yin/yang relationships.
The realm of the dynamic, the procedural, elements of the I Ching is defined by the King Wen compass relationships, the 'later heaven' arrangement where the eight trigrams of the King Wen sequence make-up the foundations of what is called 'five phase' theory but is in fact more 'eight' phase where three of the phases contain dual elements and the other two reflect 'balanced' states with qualitative differences. As we shall see, in mapping IC hexagrams it is the consequence of a temporal perspective that blocks some of the possible expressions of relationships.
Traditional texts can be 'confused' regarding the association of trigrams to the five phases (some books have lake with water, others earth is 'stand alone', fire is 'stand alone' etc etc) however the Fu Hsi process, the structures underlying the dynamics, seems to be able to aid us in identifying what is trying to be said.
The Fu Hsi trigrams are formed through the recursion of Yin(0)/Yang(1) thus:
0 : 1
00, 01 : 10, 11
000, 001, 010, 011 : 100, 101, 110, 111
Earth, Mountain, Water, Wind, Thunder, Fire, Lake, Heaven
The Purity of Earth/Heaven is reflected in the North/South positions of those trigrams in the Fu Hsi compass. The MIXING of Earth/Heaven, manifest in the forms of Fire/Water, are reflected in the same North/South positions but now in the King Wen compass. This mixing reflects the 'true' nature of the pure forms - i.e. their mixed expression in a dynamic universe. As such the Fu Hsi focus, that of archetypes, is an exaggeration of the more typal King Wen focus such that the archetypes are derived from a specific perspective of the dynamics of the Universe; from an apparent five comes eight.
Through analysis of the process of recursion and the qualities of the trigrams and five-phase theory we can derive the following associations:
Wood
Hard, young, raw - Thunder
Soft, old, refined - Wind
Fire - Fire
Earth
Hard - Mountain
Soft - Earth
Metal
Soft - Lake (reflective focus doubled = intensity in reflection)
Hard - Heaven (intensive focus = single-mindedness)
Water - Water
This mapping presents Fire and Water as reflect 'balanced' states in the IC (or more so the perfect mix of the
pure nature of yin/yang) and as such there is little identification of differentiation WITHIN these qualities (as
in soft/hard) but there is differentiation between these states in that even in a balanced format there is no 'stasis'
and so balance too has a dynamic. As we see in the page on Kubler-Ross'
categories of Grief, rejection (water) eventually leads to acceptance
(fire) (there is an issue in the order of anger/depression when viewed from a strictly five-phase mapping but the
qualitative elements of the trigrams 'fit' the five categories. Of note is the ability to map-in Plutchik's basic
categories of emotion that we show as having roots in recursion of the fight/flight dichotomy reflecting IDM influence in the
categorisations)
The Dynamics of the King Wen compass is in the focus on rotation and so reflection of a cylic process where in traditional five-phase theory the categorical movement is through the phases of WOOD, FIRE, EARTH, METAL, WATER. This cycle can be represented in other terms that reflect a general dynamic in the I Ching that is generalisable to all specialisations that can be symbolised in the I Ching. For example in economics the focus is on production, distribution, exchange, and consumption as particular steps (from general to particular) within an overall focus on circulation where final consumption leads back to production.:
Wood (prepare, produce)
Fire (express, distribute) [in the realm of emotions this sign maps to acceptance and a 'selling' of an ideology
etc]
Earth (filter, discern - do I 'swallow it' or not?)
Metal (absorb, exchange) [in the realm of emotions this sign maps to a focus on replacement]
Water (process, consume)
Note how in the 'traditional' economic cycle the Earth function is often missed (or more so enfolded the exchange process) in that the cycle is assumed to be 'automatic' and unidirectional. In five-phase theory there is a distinct phase of CHOICE in accepting/rejecting what is being distributed.
The above ordering reflects ICPlus trigram/hexagram properties where the WATER realm deals with consumption that includes such acts as socialisation through education and acts to enclose the loop, to force a loop back to production etc - this reflects the overall focus of the hexagram of water, 29, being interpreted as 'from containment comes control' - the act of consumption develops a dependency and so a source of control. (In IDM the generic nature of water is 'contractive bounding' - to enclose something and focus on within rather than to push the enclosure outwards - as is done in fire (expansive bounding))
As we shall see the dynamics here is not restricted to 'wood to water' and even when this is dominating there can be feedback consequences under certain conditions.
There are two cycles involved in these phases, the Sheng and the Ko.
The Sheng cycle is more 'yang', expansive, oriented with an emphasis on growth and so development that can be exaggerating at times and so excessive. Other associations are: anabolic, creative, nourishing, feeding, producing, strengthening, engendering, reinforcing (more so in self-referencing as in mental reinforces metal; lake reinforces heaven). There is also a reverse Sheng cycle where that which is produced can exhaust the producer.
The Ko cycle is more 'yin', contractive, oriented with an emphasis on control and so restraint. Other associations are: catabolic, destructive, weakening, controlling, disciplining, bringing order to, dominating, restraining. There is also a reverse Ko cycle where that which is destroyed/controlled can injure the destroyer/controller.
Here are the tables of relationships where the natural cycle links the bottom entry of the table back to the top entry of the table:
|
WOOD |
produces, feeds, strengthens, nourishes, engenders |
FIRE |
|
FIRE |
EARTH |
|
|
EARTH |
METAL |
|
|
METAL |
WATER |
|
|
WATER |
WOOD |
|
METAL |
destroys, dominates, controls, restrains, weakens |
WOOD |
|
WOOD |
EARTH |
|
|
EARTH |
WATER |
|
|
WATER |
FIRE |
|
|
FIRE |
METAL |
REVERSE SHENG CYCLE (what is produced exhausts the producer)
METAL
exhausts
EARTH
EARTH
FIRE
FIRE
WOOD
WOOD
WATER
WATER
METAL
REVERSE KO CYCLE (what is destroyed injures the destroyer)
METAL
injures
FIRE
FIRE
WATER
WATER
EARTH
EARTH
WOOD
WOOD
METAL
|
METAL |
reinforces (refines) |
METAL |
|
WATER |
WATER |
|
|
WOOD |
WOOD |
|
|
FIRE |
FIRE |
|
|
EARTH |
EARTH |
The overall focus in five-phase theory is on the maintaining of balance in energy distributions where any excess or stagnation is interpreted as a blockage of the flow of energy and so is in need of 'treatment' - this is the core focus of Acupuncture etc.
In I Ching interpretations the focus is on the TRIGRAMS and their relationship of LOWER trigram to UPPER trigram in a HEXAGRAM.
In the focus on DYNAMICS so we use five-phase processes that contain within them the eight phases of the trigrams where the concept of balance is encoded in the PURE forms of fire and water (from a perspective of 'mixing') as compared to the PURE forms of heaven and earth (from a perspective of 'purity').
In the chinese medicine theory, the Shang cycle is therapeutic when the paths are yin-yin or yang-yang. In the Ko cycle the therapeutic is when the paths are yin-yang or yang-yin. In both cycles the alternative paths are considered 'pathalogic'. Thus organs in the body are 'yin' or 'yang' within a phase and the yang organs link together to form a circuit as do the yin organs link together to form a circuit. An organ with an issue within a phase can be re-balanced through the complementary organ in the same phase or else through an organ in another phase but of the same circuit.
Acupuncture has developed a rich set of perspectives on the flow of energy (Qi, Chi) and reflects the neurocognitive trait of recruiting what you have to refine perspectives. As such the phases have within each a network of 'points' described by analogy to the other phases. This allows for the re-distribution of energy that has been 'blocked' in the flow of things and gives yin/yang perspectives to each phase.
Thus a blockage (be it in lack of, or excess of, energy) WITHIN a phase can occur between the yin/yang elements and so requires a redistribution from the yang to the yin or the yin to the yang with a focus on always 'filling' the deficiency first prior to dealing with an excess.
A blockage BETWEEN phases, due to the cyclic nature, requires action 'up' the line (post action) or 'down' the line (pre action). WITHIN the set of points within a phase these points serve as 'alternative perspectives' of the same phase and as such reflect the changing of a perspective WITHIN a perspective. These sorts of activities favour yang-to-yang or yin-to-yin processes in that these are the only paths that are therapeutic.
As the reader can imagine this can get 'complicated' although in acupuncture there is the notion that an issue of energy distribution can be delt-with with action to only two or three positions (and so use of needles etc)
How is phase theory used in the I Ching? There are a number of texts covering this, e.g. see Da Liu (1979)"I Ching Numerology" (RKP), or some of the material in Part 1 of Ritsema, R., & Karcher, S., (1994) "I Ching" Element Books, but there seem to be some differences in relationship allocations, thus the IC+ perspective focuses on the eight trigrams in their 'static' form and works from there in that the focus is on the neurocognitive processes behind the categories and what we can derive from that, recognising the dialectical influence where some 'static' forms are considered not acceptable in a dynamic context..
With a focus on TRIGRAMS we can identify the dynamics of a hexagram (or even of a hexagram to another) through analysis of the dynamics of the traditional perspective of Fu Hsi from lower trigram to the upper. Furthermore, due to the use of IDM in the analysis of the properties and methods of recursion, so we can derive sequences of trigrams/hexagrams describing properties WITHIN a hexagram as a whole and so derive 'acupuncture' points in the hexagram that allow us to restore balance to imbalanced situations.
Following the below exposition of the hexagram/five-phase associations from a traditional lower-to-upper, bottom-to-top, reading of the hexagram, you will find the IDM-indicated reversal path from top-to-bottom in that IDM demonstrates that VECTOR concepts (and so a timeline) seem to emerge from reversal/rotation of the original SCALAR concepts derived from first order recursion. In I Ching terms, the hexagrams derived from recursion of yin/yang are expressions of magnitudes, and are so labeled as 'scalars'. IDM shows that a true measure of temporal states reflects the use of vectors and the focus of particular-to-general rather than general-to-particular.
For each trigram we can identify generic expressions of the hexagrams with the particular trigram as base. The temporal bias means that we always move from lower-to-higher where a negative movement is where the only possible relationship is a Sheng or Ko reversal and so a focus on higher-to-lower. For example the process of distillation, hexagram 41, is exhausting of the producer in that the process converts the raw material into a refined material. Thus the category is 'Sheng reversal'. In what follows I have used such terms as 'destroys' for Ko and 'produces' for Sheng etc to minimise the prose. The FULL lists of associations are given in the above tables, thus a reference to 'destroys' also covers the terms of 'dominates', 'controls', 'restrains', 'weakens' etc.
With the exception of WATER, all of the octets that follow reflect 5 positive/3 negative hexagrams per octet. Water seems to reflect a balanced state of 4/4.
To start with a base trigram, let's use that of Fire:
EARTH:
fire + earth = produces (hex is 36 - darkening of the light, being/experiencing uncompromising) Sheng.
fire + mountain = produces- hex is hex 22. Sheng.
WATER:
fire + water = injures (hex 63) - this is a reversal in that the ONLY path from fire to water is where fire injures water and so reflects a Ko reversal.
WOOD:
fire + wind = exhausts (hex 37) - Sheng reversal.
fire + thunder = exhausts (hex 55) - Sheng reversal.
FIRE:
fire + fire = reinforces (hex 30) - Self-referencing [sheng].
METAL:
fire + lake = destroys (hex 49) Ko.
fire + heaven = destroys (hex 13) Ko.
In associating 'fire' as the first entry in a table and looking-up the relationships in each table, so we can identify five 'positive' relationships in fire-based hexagrams where development is bottom-to-top, and three 'negative' relationships where the 'top' seems to 'have the last word' (63, 37, 55). BUT in a strictly temporal sense, these 'negatives' are forbidden and as such we are reduced to five positives. (We can interpret these negatives as 'hex 63 deals with completion - but in dynamics there is none - all is change. In 37 we are dealing with rigid structure but that is not possible in dynamics. In 55 we are dealing with abundance, a level of overflowing, but that is not dynamics where there is no time for that level of abundance to occur!')
For the other hexagrams we have:
heaven + earth = exhausts (hex 11). Sheng reversal.
heaven + mountain = exhausts (hex 26) Sheng reversal.
heaven + water = produces (hex 05) Sheng.
heaven + wind = destroys (hex 09) Ko.
heaven + thunder = destroys (hex 34) Ko.
heaven + fire = injures (hex 14) Ko reversal.
heaven + lake = reinforces (hex 43) Self-referencing [Sheng].
heaven + heaven = reinforces (hex 01) Self-referencing [Sheng].
There are 3 'negatives' here and they are the reversals of: 11 - harmony/balance is a more static state. 26 - holding firm is a more static state. 14 - being the center is a more static state.
lake + earth = exhausts (hex 19) Sheng reversal.
lake + mountain = exhausts (hex 41) Sheng reversal.
lake + water = produces (hex 60) Sheng.
lake + wind = destroys (hex 61) Ko.
lake + thunder = destroys (hex 54) Ko.
lake + fire = injures (hex 38) Ko reversal.
lake + lake = reinforces (hex 58) Self-referencing [Sheng].
lake + heaven = reinforces (hex 10) Self-referencing [Sheng].
The 3 'negatives' here are the reversals of 19, 41, and 38. 19 deals with a balancing scenario that would stop 'high-low' dynamics. 41 deals with distillation and so 'purity' over 'mixed', static over dynamic. 38 deals with being stopped/opposed.
thunder + earth = destroys (hex 24) Ko.
thunder + mountain = destroys (hex 27) Ko.
thunder + water = exhausts (hex 03) Sheng reversal.
thunder + wind = reinforces (hex 42) Self-referencing [Sheng].
thunder + thunder = reinforces (hex 51) Self-referencing [Sheng].
thunder + fire = produces (hex 21) Sheng.
thunder + lake = injures (hex 17) Ko Reversal.
thunder + heaven = injures (hex 25) Ko Reversal.
The 3 'negatives' are the reversals of 03, 17, and 25. 03 deals with difficult beginnings, 17 deals with adopting a belief (and so 'stopping') and 25 is an excessive state of assertion of a position.
wind + earth = destroys (hex 46) Ko.
wind + mountain = destroys (hex 18) Ko.
wind + water = exhausts (hex 48) Sheng Reversal.
wind + wind = reinforces (hex 57) Self-referencing [Sheng].
wind + thunder = reinforces (hex 32) Self-referencing [Sheng].
wind + fire = produces (hex 50) Sheng.
wind + lake = injures (hex 28) Ko reversal.
wind + heaven = injures (hex 44) Ko reversal.
The 3 'negatives' are the reversals of 48, 28, and 44. 48 deals with setting-down foundations, a well. 28 deals with excess. 44 deals with crossing over as path. (seduction, etc)
water + earth = injures (hex 07) Ko Reversal.
water + mountain = injures (hex 04) Ko reversal.
water + water = reinforces (hex 29) Self-Referencing [Sheng].
water + wind = produces (hex 59) Sheng.
water + thunder = produces (hex 40) Sheng.
water + fire = destroys (hex 64) Ko.
water + lake = exhausts (hex 47) Sheng Reversal.
water + heaven = exhausts (hex 06) Sheng Reversal.
There are FOUR 'negatives' here in the reversals of 07, 04, 47, and 06. This reflects water as being strongly 'balanced', 4/4, as compared to the other octets that all reflect a 5/3 relationship of positive/negative associations.
mountain + earth = reinforces (hex 15) Self-referencing [Sheng].
mountain + mountain = reinforces (hex 52) Self-referencing [Sheng].
mountain + water = destroys (hex 39) Ko.
mountain + wind = injures (hex 53) Ko reversal.
mountain + thunder = injures (hex 62) Ko reversal.
mountain + fire = exhausts (hex 56) Sheng reversal.
mountain + lake = produces (hex 31) Sheng.
mountain + heaven = produces (hex 33) Sheng.
The 3 'negatives' in the reversals of 53, 62, and 56.
earth + earth = reinforcing (hex 02) Self-referencing [Sheng].
earth + mountain = reinforcing (hex 23) Self-referencing [Sheng].
earth + water = destroys (hex 08) Ko.
earth + wind = injures (hex 20) Ko reversal.
earth + thunder = injures (hex 16) Ko reversal.
earth + fire = exhausts (hex 35) Sheng reversal.
earth + lake = produces (hex 45) Sheng.
earth + heaven = produces (hex 12) Sheng.
The 3 'negatives' are the reversal of 20, 16, and 35.
From these mappings it is possible to create new tables reflecting the mapping of HEXAGRAMS in the same formats
of 'producing, destroying, exhausting, injuring, etc' where, for example, the extended Sheng table would contain
all of the hexagrams linked to 'producing' in the left column and all of the 'exhausts' hexagrams in the right
column. A reversed Shang swaps the columns.
E.g. :
producing = 12 hexagrams: 12, 45, 33, 31, 40, 59, 50, 21, 60, 05, 36, 22
exhausting = 12 hexagrams: 35, 56, 47, 06, 48, 03, 19, 41, 11, 26, 37, 55
These are then mapped to their 'phase' assocations and so on.
In this format, for each trigram we can identify generic expressions of the hexagrams still with the particular trigram as base but now reading the hexagram's trigram order as top-to-bottom.. The temporal bias means that we always interpret from top-to-bottom where a negative movement is where the only possible relationship is a Sheng or Ko reversal and so a focus on bottom-to-top. In what follows I have used such terms as 'destroys' for Ko and 'produces' for Sheng etc to minimise the prose. The FULL lists of associations are given in the above tables, thus a reference to 'destroys' also covers the terms of 'dominates', 'controls', 'restrains', 'weakens' etc.
The 'issue' in these interpretations is that, ideally, the focus on particular-to-general, where the top trigram is the particular and the bottom the general, so the reading of the hexagram should be totally reversed, or more so the whole hexagram is ROTATED (see the IDM material for details on the properties of recursion etc). In 50% of situations there is no perceivable change in the nature of the particular trigrams (i.e. fire remains fire when rotated, whereas mountain becomes thunder). To cover this aspect of interpretation I have identified rotations as {hex No. - cycle}.
We start with Fire as the base trigram and identify the hexagrams. I have kept the bottom-to-top formats of hexagrams such that in the following the realm of fire is expressed as FIRE + X but read in reverse. Thus FIRE + EARTH is not a Sheng relationship (producing - fire to earth) but now becomes a Sheng reversal (exhausts earth to fire). What we see here is the pairings of hexagrams we see in the traditional sequence where the hexagrams given in the bottom-to-top relationships are simply rotated but kept WITHIN the phase categories:
FIRE PHASE:
EARTH:
fire + earth = hex 36. {Rotation means the relationship is interpreted as that described by Hex 35, exhausts, Reverse Sheng}
fire + mountain = hex 22. {becomes interpreted as wood -> fire, and so expresses qualities of hex 21, produces; Sheng}
Thus the dynamic 'earth' properties WITHIN the FIRE PHASE are interpreted using the qualities expressed in hexs 35 and 21; the Earth property WITHIN the fire phase is described by both 35 (progress by bringing something into the light) and 21 (problem solving, chewing it over). The 'rigid' forms of interpretations are in the uncompromising of 36 (darkening of light and so regressing vs bringing something into the light and so progressing) and the 'looking beautiful' of 22. (these in turn, in their place, have temporal elements, e.g. 22 has a focus on glossing things over and so a focus on maintaining an illusion).
The recursion process of yin/yang allows for TWO concepts, a static and a dynamic, to share the same space. The qualities of that space are derived from the rotation of a hexagram. The 'root' hexagram form being that derived from general-to-particular and the temporal interpretation derived from rotation of that hexagram to give the hexagram related to the temporal description of the space and so particular-to-general perspective. IN hexagrams that seem to not change in rotation (e.g. hex 01) it is a matter of re-interpreting the characteristics. e.g. for hex 01 the 'scalar' interpretation is of a charismatic persona, of a shinning star, an intense light. The temporal interpretation is of perseverance and single-mindedness in actions.
In spaces that change we have, for example, hex 03 deals with a focus on birth, on sprouting and issues of initial difficulties. Rotate that and you get hex 4 that describes the education of the youth. From the root position of hex 04 we have a degree of rebelliousness in youth that we then rotate to derive issues of coming forth into the world (hex 03).
Due to the encoding of the properties of 'yin/yang' in all symbols, so all symbols have dual interpretations - one scalar, one vector, and the whole reflects the properties of a tensor where 'how' you interpret is the force and what you see is the re-configuration of the system in response to the force (see IDM material for more on this).
WATER:
fire + water = hex 63 {Hex 64, destroys, Ko}
WOOD:
fire + wind = hex 37 {38, destroys, Ko}
fire + thunder = hex 55 {56, produces, Sheng}
FIRE:
fire + fire = hex 30 {hex 30}
METAL:
fire + lake = hex 49 {hex 50}
fire + heaven = hex 13 {hex 14}
For the other hexagrams we have:
METAL PHASE (Heaven):
EARTH
heaven + earth = hex 11. {hex 12}
heaven + mountain = hex 26. {hex 25}
WATER
heaven + water = hex 05 {hex 06}.
WOOD
heaven + wind = hex 09 {hex 10}.
heaven + thunder = hex 34. {hex 33}
FIRE
heaven + fire = hex 14 {hex 13}
METAL
heaven + lake = hex 43 {hex 44}
heaven + heaven = hex 01 {hex 01}
METAL PHASE (Lake):
EARTH
lake + earth = hex 19 {hex 20}
lake + mountain = hex 41 {hex 42}
WATER
lake + water = hex 60 {hex 59}
WOOD
lake + wind = hex 61 {hex 62}
lake + thunder = hex 54 {hex 53}
FIRE
lake + fire = hex 38 {hex 37}
METAL
lake + lake = hex 58 {hex 57}
lake + heaven = hex 10 {hex 09}
WOOD PHASE (Thunder)
EARTH
thunder + earth = hex 24 {hex 23}
thunder + mountain = hex 27 {hex 27}
WATER
thunder + water = hex 03 {hex 04}
WOOD
thunder + wind = hex 42 {hex 41}
thunder + thunder = hex 51 {hex 52}
FIRE
thunder + fire = hex 21 {hex 22}
EARTH
thunder + lake = hex 17 {hex 18}
thunder + heaven = hex 25 {hex 26}
WOOD PHASE (Wind)
EARTH
wind + earth = hex 46 {hex 45}
wind + mountain = hex 18 {hex 17}
WATER
wind + water = hex 48 {hex 47}
WOOD
wind + wind = hex 57 {hex 58}
wind + thunder = hex 32 {hex 31}
FIRE
wind + fire = hex 50 {hex 49}
METAL
wind + lake = hex 28 {hex 28}
wind + heaven = hex 44 {hex 43}
WATER PHASE
EARTH
water + earth = hex 07 {hex 08}
water + mountain = hex 04 {hex 03}
WATER
water + water = hex 29 {hex 29}
WOOD
water + wind = hex 59 {hex 60}
water + thunder = hex 40 {hex 39}
FIRE
water + fire = hex 64 {hex 63}
METAL
water + lake = hex 47 {hex 48}
water + heaven = hex 06 {hex 05}
EARTH PHASE (Mountain)
EARTH
mountain + earth = hex 15 {hex 16}
mountain + mountain = hex 52 {hex 51}
WATER
mountain + water = hex 39 {hex 40}
WOOD
mountain + wind = hex 53 {hex 54}
mountain + thunder = hex 62 {hex 62}
FIRE
mountain + fire = hex 56 {hex 55}
METAL
mountain + lake = hex 31 {hex 32}
mountain + heaven = hex 33 {hex 34}
EARTH PHASE (Earth)
EARTH
earth + earth = hex 02 {hex 02}
earth + mountain = hex 23 {hex 24}
WATER
earth + water = hex 08 {hex 07}
WOOD
earth + wind = hex 20 {hex 19}
earth + thunder = hex 16 {hex 15}
FIRE
earth + fire = hex 35 {hex 36}
METAL
earth + lake = hex 45 {hex 46}
earth + heaven = hex 12 {hex 11}
As identified in IDM, we can derive paths through a trigram and identify that path through analogy to the other trigrams. Thus by deriving the set of trigrams serving as analogy WITHIN a trigram we can apply five(eight) phase theory to draw-out dynamic processes in 5 steps other than with water which seems to be limited to 4 steps.
In the above mappings of hexagrams to five(eight) phase associations we have taken basic cycles of the theory and derived the associations of phase to trigrams through analysis of the IC+ binary orderings (Fu Hsi derivation process of recursion of yin/yang). As such we seem to be 'different' in associations where, for example there will be association differences when compared to Da Liu's "I Ching Numerology" etc but the literature seems to 'lack' precision in associations and does not recruit such tools as IDM as aids in analysis. Furthermore the mapping of Grief processes suggests another sequence of events not identified in the cycles (or almost, with a difference in anger/depression ordering). Thus the 'success' or 'value' of the above associations will be only validated by trying them out!