Judgment Methods & Applied Divination

Alas, how can the Yijing be spoken of lightly! As a book, the Yijing is supremely subtle and profoundly mysterious. Yet its numerology does not depart from the principles of the Yi. There are distinctions between Prior Heaven and Later Heaven, and discriminations of harmonic tones and sound-selection. It illuminates the dynamics of worry and gain, and takes the responses of mutual and changing hexagrams—whether swift or slow—as its applications. Numbers are predetermined, yet fortune and misfortune are difficult to fathom. The principles of the Yi, however, are brilliantly discernible. I obtained the chapters on Prior Heaven, Mysterious Yellow, and Numinous Response, and additionally drew upon the Yi commentaries, saying: 'The formulas for Observing the Plum Blossoms set forth diagrams clarifying the principles of the Five Phases' generation, overcoming, decline, and flourishing, and present categorized examples pointing out the way to avoid misfortune and pursue good fortune. May later students take careful note.'

Qian is the father; Zhen the eldest son; Kan the middle son; Gen the youngest son. Kun is the mother; Xun the eldest daughter; Li the middle daughter; Dui the youngest daughter.

Hexagram 49, Revolution (Lake over Fire): The body trigram is Metal; the mutual hexagram contains Xun-Wood, changing to Hexagram 31, Influence (Lake over Mountain). The first line of the Li trigram is a yang line that moves and becomes yin, changing to Gen. Dui-Metal represents the youngest daughter; Li-Fire overcomes it. Xun represents the thigh; Qian-Metal overcomes it—hence the judgment: 'Injury to the thigh.' Obtaining Gen-Earth which generates Metal, entering Dui-Metal, the judgment says: 'It will not lead to death.' For the body and function in changed lines, determine them by movement and stillness. What moves is the function; what is still is the body. Hexagram 24, Return (Earth over Thunder): Body is Earth, function is Metal; it changes to Hexagram 19, Approach (Earth over Lake). Wood is the function line—the judgment yields a soft object, something of literary quality. Hexagram 10, Treading (Heaven over Lake): Body is Metal, function is Metal; the mutual hexagram is Wood-Fire, changing to Qian. This hexagram's judgment yields an iron implement. Hexagram 49, Revolution (Lake over Fire): Function is Metal, body is Fire; the mutual hexagram is Metal-Wood, changing to Hexagram 21, Biting Through (Fire over Thunder). This hexagram has Metal as function and Fire as body. In summer, Fire is flourishing and can produce Earth—so it must be an earthen object. Hexagram 54, The Marrying Maiden (Thunder over Lake): Function is Wood, body is Metal; the mutual hexagram is Water-Fire, changing to Hexagram 38, Opposition (Fire over Lake). The function line belongs to Wood and changes to Fire; the body trigram belongs to Metal. The fourth line changes to Gen; Earth generates Metal—the judgment yields iron. Hexagram 43, Breakthrough (Lake over Heaven): Body is Metal, function is Metal; the mutual hexagram is Metal, changing to Dui. This hexagram is not metal but stone—the judgment is a broken porcelain plate. Hexagram 49, Revolution (Lake over Fire): The mutual hexagram is Metal-Wood, changing to Gen. The original hexagram yields Revolution; it represents the youngest daughter. Nearby objects relate to the mouth; distant associations yield sheep. The inner Li represents the middle daughter; nearby it signifies the sun, distant it yields pheasant. The first line changes to Gen, which is Earth; Earth generates Metal, thus supporting the younger sister of Dui-Metal. 'Taking what is near from the body': Qian is the head, Kun the belly, Zhen the feet, Xun the thighs, Kan the ears, Li the eyes, Dui the mouth, Gen the hands—the human body. 'Taking what is far from among things': Qian is the horse, Kun the ox, Zhen the dragon, Xun the chicken, Kan the pig, Li the pheasant, Gen the dog, Dui the sheep—the way of domestic animals. Hexagram 6, Conflict (Heaven over Water): Changes to Dui; the intention is to seek wealth. But the hexagram has the body generating the function, which drains one's own qi—the wealth is an empty hope. Next we obtain the Li trigram, which belongs to Fire and can overcome Metal. At the noon hour of that day, a guest comes, food goes, wine is consumed—all returns to loss and depletion.

For example, when casting a hexagram to inquire about an auspicious matter, look for trigrams in the hexagram that generate the body trigram—if present, the auspicious event will manifest quickly. Then examine the generating trigram and use the Eight Trigrams' seasonal correspondences to determine the day and hour. If the generating trigram is the function trigram, the matter will succeed immediately. If it is the mutual hexagram, it will gradually come to fruition. If it is the changing hexagram, it will be somewhat delayed. If there is both a trigram that generates the body and one that overcomes the body, then the matter will face obstacles—good fortune with shortcomings. Examine how many days the overcoming trigram's energy creates obstruction: if Qian overcomes the body, one day of obstruction; if Dui overcomes the body, two days—and so on by analogy. When divining an auspicious matter, if there is no trigram generating the body but there is one overcoming it, the matter will not succeed. If there is no overcoming trigram, the auspicious matter will certainly be accomplished. Likewise, when divining about an inauspicious matter, if the hexagram contains a trigram that generates the body, there will be rescue and no harm. If there is no generating trigram, the matter will certainly be unfortunate. Regarding timing: if the hexagram contains a body-generating trigram, the matter will manifest on the day corresponding to that trigram's phase-energy. If it contains a body-overcoming trigram, the matter will fail on the day of that trigram's phase-energy. The key lies in flexible application.

In general, when divining, the body trigram is the principal; the function, mutual, and changing hexagrams are all responses. The function hexagram is most immediate, the mutual hexagram is next, and the changing hexagram comes after that. Therefore it is said: the function is the immediate response of the divination, the mutual is the intermediate response, and the changing hexagram is the final response of the matter. However, the mutual hexagram is further divided into the body's mutual and the function's mutual. If the body is in the upper position, then the upper mutual is the body's mutual and the lower mutual is the function's mutual. If the body trigram is below, then the lower mutual is the body's mutual and the upper mutual is the function's mutual. The body's mutual is most critical; the function's mutual is secondary. For example, in the Plum Blossom divination yielding Hexagram 32 (Duration), the mutual trigrams are Dui and Qian. With Dui as the body's mutual, one sees a girl picking flowers. If Qian were the body's mutual, it would be an old man picking flowers. Although both Dui and Qian overcome the body, we take Dui rather than Qian—this is the distinction between body-mutual and function-mutual. In general, if the changing hexagram overcomes the body, the matter will turn inauspicious in the end. If the changing hexagram generates the body or is in a harmonious relationship, everything will turn auspicious at the conclusion. This is the formula for function, mutual, and changing hexagrams.

When interpreting a hexagram, once body, function, mutual, and changing are distinguished, use the principles of the Five Phases to judge fortune and misfortune. The principles of generation and overcoming within the internal hexagram—body, function, mutual, and changing—follow fixed patterns. But for external trigrams, one must discern true generation and true overcoming of the Five Phases, distinguishing between heavy and light, and fortune or misfortune will respond accordingly. Why is this so? Suppose Qian or Dui Metal is the body, and it encounters Fire, which overcomes it. Yet there is true Fire in substance and Fire merely in form and color. True Fire can overcome Metal; mere form and color cannot. What can truly overcome brings misfortune; what cannot truly overcome merely causes minor difficulty. Fire in a furnace, fire in a kiln or stove—these are true Fire. Raging flames and great torches—these are true Fire. With Qian or Dui as body, encountering these is inauspicious. But reddish-purple colors, hollow forms, the Li trigram of dried wood, the fire of sunlight—these are the form and color of fire, not true Fire. For a Qian or Dui body, they are not deeply threatening. Furthermore, a single lamp or a single candle, though called true fire, is faint and slight—only a small disadvantage. Again, if Zhen or Xun Wood is the body and encounters Metal, which overcomes it, consider: hairpins, gold leaf, silver ingots, silver cups and plates, tin utensils, and small pieces of steel and iron are all Metal. But can such metals truly overcome Wood? What Wood truly fears are sharp knives, keen blades, great axes, and large saws. A Zhen or Xun body encountering these will certainly suffer misfortune. If Li Fire is the body, true Water can overcome it. But merely seeing black colors, encountering damp substances, or things like blood—these all belong to Kan, and while they are inauspicious, they do not deeply harm. For other trigrams as body, external responses that overcome should all be judged by their weight. As for trigrams that generate the body, distinctions must also be drawn. Soil and earthenware are both Kun-Earth; when Metal encounters them, earth can generate metal, but an earthen pot cannot. Living trees and firewood are both Wood. When Li Fire encounters them, firewood generates fire swiftly, while an unfelled tree generates flame slowly. With Wood as body, true Water generates Wood with great benefit, but a pig or blood, though belonging to Kan, generates Wood only lightly. All remaining Five Phase generation and overcoming should be inferred by analogy.

The body trigram should ideally be flourishing, while the trigram that overcomes the body should ideally be in decline. When the body trigram's energy is in season—Wood in spring, Fire in summer, Metal in autumn, Water in winter, Earth in the four inter-seasonal months—this is a trigram that has obtained its mandate and rides flourishing energy. Even if other trigrams overcome it, there will be no great harm. When the function, mutual, and changing trigrams are all flourishing, this is auspicious—provided the trigram that overcomes the body is not the one that is flourishing. If the body trigram's energy is declining, the divination is inauspicious. In such a case, if one asks about illness, the patient will die; if about litigation, the case will be lost. If the inquiry is neither about litigation nor illness but an ordinary divination, then beware of official trouble or illness. The critical period arrives at the month and day corresponding to the overcoming trigram's energy. If the body trigram is flourishing and additionally there is a trigram generating the body, the arrival of good fortune can be predicted to the exact time. If both inner and outer hexagrams contain body-generating trigrams, then even if the body trigram is in decline, there will be no great harm. Yet if both inner and outer generate the body but all of the body's allied trigrams are in decline, it will ultimately be inauspicious. Therefore, the flourishing and declining of the body and function trigrams must be examined in detail.

Once body, function, mutual, and changing hexagrams are distinguished, one must examine whether the inner and outer trigrams are moving or still. What does not move is not divined, nor is it interpreted. Fortune, misfortune, regret, and distress arise from movement. The body trigram is still; the mutual trigram is still; the function and changing trigrams are in motion—this is the movement and stillness of the inner hexagram. Regarding the outer hexagram: directional responses, heaven-and-earth responses, and geographical responses are all still. But human affairs and objects and implements may be in motion. Objects are inherently still, but when a person carries an object forward, it becomes moving. Qian's horse and Kun's ox are both moving things. Water in wells and ponds, earth in mountains, rocks, and cliffs—these are all still. But when a person draws water and carries it forward, the water is in motion. When a person lifts stone or carries earth forward, the earth is in motion. In the responses of the outer hexagram, observe movement and stillness to assess fortune and misfortune: when the moving response is auspicious, good fortune comes swiftly; when the moving response is inauspicious, misfortune comes swiftly; when the response is not in motion, good and ill fortune are not yet apparent. This is the movement and stillness of the outer hexagram's body and function. As for movement and stillness in initiating a hexagram, one observes from a state of inner stillness and divines from what is in motion. Sparrows fighting and falling, an ox or chicken lowing feebly, dead wood dropping—these are all things in motion, and I divine them from stillness. Furthermore, if I am sitting, the response to the matter will be slow; if I am walking, the response will be swift; if I am standing, it will be half slow and half swift. These are all principles of movement and stillness.

The formula for sitting orientation takes my seated position as the center, with the eight positions arranged in the eight directions, from which the hexagram is interpreted and judgment rendered. One must wait with an empty mind for a response, sitting upright, observing the signs and omens of the Eight Trigrams in the eight directions, using them as the response for the matter being divined. According to whichever directional trigram shows generation or overcoming, determine the fortune or misfortune for the household in question. If Earth generates in the Qian direction, or there are auspicious signs in the Qian palace, then elders and old people will experience joyous and significant events. If Fire overcomes in the Qian direction, or there are inauspicious signs, then a senior elder will have worries. If Fire generates in the Kun direction, or there are auspicious signs above Kun, then the mother's side or a yin-natured person will have joyful good fortune. If the Kun palace encounters overcoming, or there are inauspicious signs, then the old mother or a yin-natured person will face calamity. If Water generates in the Zhen palace, and there are auspicious signs in the eastern Zhen palace, then joy comes to the eldest son or eldest grandson. If overcoming is seen or inauspicious signs appear, the eldest son or grandson faces disadvantage. The Kan palace should ideally see Metal and auspicious omens—then joy belongs to the middle son. If Earth overcomes, or inauspicious signs appear, then worry falls upon the middle son. The Li palace rejoices when Wood generates there, or when favorable responses appear—then the middle daughter has joy. If overcoming is encountered or inauspicious signs appear, the middle daughter faces hardship. Gen is the position of the youngest son; it is fitting for Fire to generate there. Auspicious signs mean the youngest son's joy; if overcoming is encountered or inauspicious signs appear, calamity reaches the youngest son. If asking about childbirth, the child will not survive. Dui is the youngest daughter; Earth should generate there. Auspicious signs mean the youngest daughter has joy, or there will be an occasion for delight. If asking about illness: if the Qian trigram is overcome, the illness is in the head; if the Kun palace is overcome, the illness is in the belly. By extension, Zhen governs the feet, Xun the thighs, Li the eyes, Kan the ears and blood, Gen the fingers, Dui the mouth and teeth—wherever overcoming occurs, there the illness is diagnosed. As for the marvels and clever divinations that emerge from these eight orientations, they depend upon the practitioner. This serves merely as an introductory example.

Timing of responses refers to determining the exact period when a divination will be verified. Without this formula, the way of divination cannot know when matters of fortune, misfortune, success, or failure will manifest. Therefore, timing is of crucial importance in hexagram interpretation. Yet timing is the most difficult aspect: some determine it by number, others by principle—both are essential methods. To set timing by number, one must thoroughly examine the principles. For calculating the initial construction of a house, the commencement of a marriage, a recent burial, or the acquisition of a new object, one takes the year, month, day, and hour and adds the numerical value of the matter to generate a hexagram. Once the hexagram is formed, examine the total number of the hexagram within the body, function, mutual, and changing framework to establish the approximate period, assessing whether the matter is swift or slow. For permanent things like houses and tombs, use the total hexagram number as the period. For houses, use the total hexagram number to set the period—this concerns the eventual deterioration of the house, since all houses have their time of decay. Tombs also deteriorate, but tomb divination only assesses fortune and misfortune, not success and failure. For marriages between men and women, even distant outcomes do not exceed several years. For matters within the year, the total hexagram number can determine the outcome, which is not as enduring as houses. Yet marriage divination only needs to assess fortune and misfortune, not necessarily set an exact period. For the timing of fortune and misfortune, simply take the year and month that generate the body or are in harmony as the auspicious period, and the year and month that overcome the body as the inauspicious period. For divining about objects, those made of metal and stone endure long, while those of grass and wood do not last. For the distant, take the total hexagram number as years; for the near, as months; for the very near, as days. For example, purchasing an inkstone: the total hexagram number counts as years. Brushes and ink can also be counted by the total hexagram number as years. For small writing implements, the daily hexagram number suffices. This is the method of timing for objects. For the Prior Heaven divinations of plum blossoms and peonies, these concern matters of the immediate day, so one reasons from hexagram principles without needing to determine distant dates. For Later Heaven divinations involving an old person, a youth, a chicken, or an ox, combine the numbers of the directional trigram and the object trigram. Divinations about the old and young, chickens and oxen, can only be counted in days. For matters of permanent duration, convert days to months and months to years. For the diviner examining auspicious outcomes and the timing of ordinary divination matters, carefully observe within the full hexagram which trigram generates the body for auspicious responses and which overcomes the body for inauspicious timing. If the response period is distant, count by years; if near, by months; if very near, by days. For example, when asking about seeking rank with Qian as body, if Kun or Gen appear in the hexagram, then determine the Earth months and days of Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei—since Qian and Dui have Metal bodies, this is the auspicious response of Earth generating the body. If asking about illness with Qian as body, and Li appears in the hexagram without Kun or Gen, and there are inauspicious influences, then the body will perish on the Fire days of Si or Wu—this is the timing for the inauspicious overcoming of the body. If asking about a traveler, take the day that generates the body as the return date; if there is no day that generates or harmonizes with the body, the return will certainly be delayed. Examples like these are too numerous to fully record; students should examine them carefully.