English / 中文
This glossary gives English explanations of 53 terms used in studying the Zhouyi (I Ching, Book of Changes), from yin and yang to the Ten Wings and line-position theory; each entry keeps the Chinese term and pinyin and is a paraphrase, not a translation of scripture.
阴阳 · yīnyáng
Yin and yang are the most basic pair of relational categories in the Zhouyi. They are relative rather than absolute, rooted in each other rather than opposed, and able to change into one another. A solid line (⚊) stands for yang and a broken line (⚋) for yin.
Source: Xici Commentary, part 1 (《系辞上》)
Chinese entry爻 · yáo
A line is the smallest unit of the hexagram system, either yang (⚊) or yin (⚋). Six lines are stacked from bottom to top to form a hexagram. In casting, old yang (9) and old yin (6) are changing lines, while young yang (7) and young yin (8) are stable lines.
Source: Xici Commentary, part 1 (《系辞上》)
Chinese entry三才 · sāncái
The Three Powers are heaven, earth and humanity. In a three-line trigram the lines stand, from bottom to top, for earth, humanity and heaven; in a six-line hexagram each pair of lines shares one power. It is one of the basic frameworks of the Zhouyi's imagery.
Source: Shuogua Commentary (《说卦传》)
Chinese entry八卦 · bāguà
The eight trigrams are the three-line figures Qian, Dui, Li, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Gen and Kun. Each has an associated image (heaven, lake, fire, thunder, wind, water, mountain, earth) and a characteristic quality. Combining them in pairs gives the 64 hexagrams.
Source: Shuogua Commentary (《说卦传》)
Chinese entry六十四卦 · liùshísì guà
The 64 hexagrams are the complete set of six-line figures made by combining the eight trigrams in pairs (8 x 8), arranged in the received order. Each hexagram has a name, a hexagram statement, a Tuan commentary, a Great Image text and six line statements.
Source: The received text of the Zhouyi (通行本《周易》)
Chinese entry元亨利贞 · yuán hēng lì zhēn
Yuan, heng, li and zhen are the four most common verdict words in the hexagram statements: yuan (great, originating), heng (smooth passage), li (beneficial) and zhen (correct, steadfast). The Wenyan Commentary on the first hexagram, Qian, also reads them as four virtues.
Source: Statement of the first hexagram Qian and its Wenyan Commentary (乾卦卦辞；乾卦《文言》)
Chinese entry吉凶悔吝 · jí xiōng huǐ lìn
Ji, xiong, hui and lin are common verdict words in the line and hexagram statements: ji (favourable), xiong (unfavourable), hui (regret that has not yet become harm) and lin (a hindrance, sitting between "no blame" and xiong). They must be read against the specific situation and are not absolute labels.
Source: Xici Commentary, part 1 (《系辞上》)
Chinese entry太极 · tàijí
Taiji is the starting category in the Xici Commentary's sequence by which the 64 hexagrams are generated. Later commentators mostly read it as the original state before yin and yang divide, and Confucian, Daoist and Neo-Confucian schools each developed it. The familiar taiji diagram appeared later (traditional account).
Source: Xici Commentary, part 1 (《系辞上》)
Chinese entry两仪 · liǎngyí
The Two Modes are the yang line (⚊) and the yin line (⚋) generated from taiji. They are the most basic pair of categories in the Zhouyi's symbol system.
Source: Xici Commentary, part 1 (《系辞上》)
Chinese entry四象 · sìxiàng
The Four Emblems are the four two-line combinations: old yang, young yin, young yang and old yin. Each comes from adding a yin or yang line to each of the Two Modes, and adding one more line gives the eight trigrams. They are an intermediate step in the generation of the hexagrams from yin and yang symbols.
Source: Xici Commentary, part 1 (《系辞上》)
Chinese entry卦辞 · guàcí
The hexagram statement is the short text attached to a hexagram figure that gives a verdict on the situation as a whole. For example, the statement of Qian is the four characters 元亨利贞. It is the first layer of text to read for any hexagram.
Source: The received text of the Zhouyi (通行本《周易》)
Chinese entry爻辞 · yáocí
Line statements are the verdict texts attached to each individual line, six per hexagram (Qian and Kun each have a seventh, the "use of nines" and "use of sixes"). Each usually has an image part and a verdict part. They are the finest layer of the 64-hexagram text.
Source: The received text of the Zhouyi (通行本《周易》)
Chinese entry彖传 · tuànzhuàn
The Tuan Commentary explains why a hexagram statement says what it says, usually by reasoning from the hexagram's qualities, images and line positions. It is one of the Ten Wings and is traditionally printed after each hexagram statement.
Source: The received text of the Yizhuan (通行本《易传》)
Chinese entry象传 · xiàngzhuàn
The Xiang Commentary has two parts. The Great Image draws on the images of the upper and lower trigrams to state a principle of conduct for the "noble person" (junzi). The Small Image comments line by line on the key words of each line statement. It is one of the Ten Wings.
Source: The received text of the Yizhuan (通行本《易传》)
Chinese entry文言传 · wényánzhuàn
The Wenyan Commentary is a commentary devoted only to the first two hexagrams, Qian and Kun, and elaborates their statements, including the four verdict words yuan, heng, li and zhen. It is one of the Ten Wings.
Source: The received text of the Yizhuan, on Qian and Kun (通行本《易传》乾、坤两卦)
Chinese entry系辞传 · xìcízhuàn
The Xici Commentary (Appended Statements) is the only one of the Ten Wings that discusses the whole book rather than a single hexagram. In two parts, it covers yin and yang, the idea of continual generation, and methods such as the dayan yarrow procedure. Later scholars treat it as a programmatic text of Yi studies.
Source: The received text of the Yizhuan (通行本《易传》)
Chinese entry说卦传 · shuōguàzhuàn
The Shuogua Commentary (Discussion of the Trigrams) sets out the images, directions and characters of the eight trigrams. It lists the natural things, family roles and body parts associated with each trigram. It is one of the Ten Wings.
Source: The received text of the Yizhuan (通行本《易传》)
Chinese entry序卦传 · xùguàzhuàn
The Xugua Commentary (Sequence of the Hexagrams) explains, hexagram by hexagram, why the received order of the 64 hexagrams runs as it does, each hexagram following from the one before it. It is one of the Ten Wings.
Source: The received text of the Yizhuan (通行本《易传》)
Chinese entry杂卦传 · záguàzhuàn
The Zagua Commentary (Miscellaneous Hexagrams) sets the hexagrams in pairs of opposite or related meaning, without following the received order, and characterises each with one or two characters. It is one of the Ten Wings.
Source: The received text of the Yizhuan (通行本《易传》)
Chinese entry十翼 · shíyì
The Ten Wings is the collective name for the ten sections of the Yizhuan: the Tuan Commentary (two), the Xiang Commentary (two), the Wenyan Commentary, the Xici Commentary (two), the Shuogua Commentary, the Xugua Commentary and the Zagua Commentary.
Source: The received text of the Yizhuan (通行本《易传》)
Chinese entry互卦 · hùguà
The nuclear hexagram takes lines 2, 3 and 4 of the original hexagram as its new lower trigram and lines 3, 4 and 5 as its new upper trigram, dropping the first and top lines. It is used to look at a process unfolding inside a situation.
Source: Structural relations among hexagrams in the received Zhouyi (通行本《周易》结构关系)
Chinese entry错卦 · cuòguà
The opposite hexagram is obtained by reversing the yin or yang of all six lines of the original. It represents the opposing or complementary side of a situation; Qian and Kun, for example, are each other's opposite hexagram.
Source: Structural relations among hexagrams in the received Zhouyi (通行本《周易》结构关系)
Chinese entry综卦 · zōngguà
The inverted hexagram is obtained by turning the figure upside down, so the first line becomes the top line. It represents viewing the same situation from the other party's position. Most neighbouring pairs in the received hexagram order are inverted pairs.
Source: Structural relations among hexagrams in the received Zhouyi (通行本《周易》结构关系)
Chinese entry变卦 · biànguà
The resulting hexagram is obtained by flipping the changing lines of the original hexagram. It indicates the direction in which a situation develops. A casting read as "hexagram X changing to hexagram Y" refers to this relation.
Source: Structural relations among hexagrams in the received Zhouyi (通行本《周易》结构关系)
Chinese entry本卦 · běnguà
The primary hexagram is the whole present situation obtained from a casting. It is read first, through its statement and Great Image, and the nuclear hexagram, changing lines and resulting hexagram are then derived from it.
Source: Conventions for reading a casting (占筮解卦通例)
Chinese entry动爻 · dòngyáo
A changing line is a line cast as old yang (9) or old yin (6). It is about to become its opposite, it is the point where the primary hexagram turns into the resulting hexagram, and it is the focus when reading a casting.
Source: Conventions for reading a casting (占筮解卦通例)
Chinese entry内卦与外卦 · nèiwài guà
The inner and outer trigrams are the lower and upper halves of a six-line hexagram. The lower three lines form the inner (lower) trigram, often read as the inner, the self or the beginning; the upper three lines form the outer (upper) trigram, often read as the outer, the environment or the outcome.
Source: Structure of hexagram figures in the received Zhouyi (通行本《周易》卦画结构)
Chinese entry八纯卦 · bāchúnguà
The eight pure hexagrams are the eight six-line figures whose upper and lower trigrams are the same: Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen and Dui. Each leads one of the eight palaces in Jing Fang's arrangement.
Source: Hexagram names in the received Zhouyi; Jing Fang's eight palaces (通行本《周易》卦名；京房八宫)
Chinese entry当位 · dāngwèi
A line is in proper position when a yang line sits in place 1, 3 or 5 (yang places) or a yin line sits in place 2, 4 or the top (yin places); otherwise it is in improper position. It is one mechanical criterion for whether a line holds its place.
Source: Line-position theory in the received Zhouyi tradition (通行本《周易》爻位理论)
Chinese entry得中 · dézhōng
A line has centrality when it is the second line, in the middle of the lower trigram, or the fifth line, in the middle of the upper trigram. Traditional Yi studies often weigh centrality more heavily than proper position as a mark of a line's standing.
Source: Line-position theory in the received Zhouyi tradition (通行本《周易》爻位理论)
Chinese entry有应 · yǒuyìng
Three pairs of lines correspond with one another: lines 1 and 4, 2 and 5, and 3 and the top. A pair corresponds when one line is yin and the other yang; two lines of the same kind have no correspondence. It is used to judge whether lines answer one another.
Source: Line-position theory in the received Zhouyi tradition (通行本《周易》爻位理论)
Chinese entry承乘 · chéng chéng
A yin line directly below a yang line "bears" (承) it, a compliant relation; a yin line directly above a yang line "rides" (乘) it, a contrary relation. The pair of terms is used to judge whether two adjacent lines are in harmony.
Source: Line-position theory in the received Zhouyi tradition (通行本《周易》爻位理论)
Chinese entry卦主 · guàzhǔ
The hexagram ruler is the line that best represents the main point of a hexagram. Two kinds are distinguished: the ruler by formation (the line that makes the hexagram come about) and the ruler by governing (the line of best virtue). It is judged from received commentaries, with reasons given.
Source: Line-position theory in traditional commentaries (传统注本爻位理论)
Chinese entry时位 · shíwèi
Time and place express the idea that the hexagram is the time and the line is the place. How a line statement should be read depends on the hexagram it belongs to (time) and the position it occupies (place); a good position does not by itself mean a good outcome.
Source: Line-position theory in the received Zhouyi tradition (通行本《周易》爻位理论)
Chinese entry中正 · zhōngzhèng
Zhongzheng combines centrality and proper position: a line in place 2 or 5 that is also yang in a yang place or yin in a yin place. Tradition counts it among the better line conditions, but it does not by itself mean a good outcome and must still be read against the time of the whole hexagram.
Source: Line-position theory in the received Zhouyi tradition (通行本《周易》爻位理论)
Chinese entry大衍筮法 · dàyǎn shìfǎ
The Dayan method is the casting procedure recorded in the Xici Commentary. It uses 49 yarrow stalks and four operations (divide in two, hang one, count by fours, set aside the remainder). Three rounds yield one line, and eighteen rounds yield a hexagram.
Source: Xici Commentary, part 1 (《系辞上》)
Chinese entry金钱卦 · jīnqián guà
The coin method is traditionally associated with the Han-dynasty Jing Fang school. It uses three coins in place of yarrow stalks: one toss gives one line (the obverse side, zheng 正, counts 3 and the reverse, bei 背, counts 2; the three values sum to 6, 7, 8 or 9) and six tosses give a hexagram. It is simple to perform and widely used.
Source: Traditional casting method (传统占筮法)
Chinese entry梅花易数 · méihuā yìshù
Plum Blossom Numerology is attributed to Shao Yong of the Northern Song, though the circulating text is thought to date from around the Ming. It turns any countable phenomenon (time, direction, number of characters) into numbers and then into a hexagram, representing the image-and-number school's idea that all things can be expressed in number.
Source: Plum Blossom Numerology (托名邵雍《梅花易数》)
Chinese entry纳甲 · nàjiǎ
Najia assigns the heavenly stems (and the earthly branches) to each line of the 64 hexagrams. It is traditionally credited to Jing Fang of the Han dynasty and is one explanatory construct linking the calendar with hexagram images.
Source: Jing Fang school of Yi studies (京房易学)
Chinese entry卦气 · guàqì
Hexagram-qi theory assigns four cardinal hexagrams to the four seasons and 60 hexagrams to the "six days and seven parts" scheme, matching hexagrams with the five phases and the calendar of solar terms. It originated with the Han-dynasty Meng Xi and Jing Fang lineage.
Source: Hexagram-qi theory of Meng Xi and Jing Fang (孟喜、京房卦气说)
Chinese entry十二消息卦 · shí'èr xiāoxī guà
The twelve hexagrams Fu, Lin, Tai, Da Zhuang, Guai, Qian, Gou, Dun, Pi, Guan, Bo and Kun show yang lines growing from the bottom and then retreating. Together they form a calendar model of yin-yang change through the twelve months of a year.
Source: Han-dynasty image-and-number Yi studies (汉代象数易学)
Chinese entry天干地支 · tiāngān dìzhī
The ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches combine into the sixty-term sexagenary cycle, a tool for counting years and days. A complete sixty-term table already appears in the Shang-dynasty oracle-bone inscriptions.
Source: Shang oracle-bone inscriptions (殷商甲骨文献)
Chinese entry五行 · wǔxíng
The five phases are the categories metal, wood, water, fire and earth, together with their generating and overcoming relations. Their assignments to the trigrams and to the stems and branches developed independently. They are a foundational framework in the history of Chinese thought and traditional numerology.
Source: Traditional sources such as the Shangshu "Hong Fan" chapter (《尚书·洪范》等传统文献)
Chinese entry八宫 · bāgōng
The eight palaces is a Han-dynasty grouping of the 64 hexagrams proposed by Jing Fang. Each palace is headed by a pure hexagram; the changes then run from the first line up to the fifth, back to the fourth to give the "wandering soul" hexagram, and with the whole lower trigram changed the "returning soul" hexagram, eight hexagrams per palace (traditional account).
Source: Jing Fang, Jingshi Yizhuan (京房《京氏易传》)
Chinese entry世应 · shìyìng
Shi and ying is a method of the Jing Fang school for marking a "self" line (shi) and a "responding" line (ying) within a hexagram. The shi line stands for one's own position and the ying line for the corresponding counterpart. It is described here as a historical method of the image-and-number school and makes no promise about outcomes (traditional account).
Source: Jing Fang school of Yi studies (京房易学)
Chinese entry义理派 · yìlǐ pài
The school of meaning and principle reads the Yi by elaborating the principles in the hexagram and line statements and the commentaries. Wang Bi, who set aside image-reading in favour of principle, Cheng Yi's Yichuan Yizhuan and Zhu Xi's Zhouyi Benyi are leading examples. It complements the image-and-number school.
Source: History of Yi studies (易学史)
Chinese entry象数派 · xiàngshù pài
The school of image and number reads the Yi by deriving meaning from hexagram images, line positions and numbers. Examples are the hexagram-qi and najia systems of Meng Xi and Jing Fang in the Han dynasty, and Shao Yong's Earlier Heaven diagram and doubling method in the Song. It complements the school of meaning and principle.
Source: History of Yi studies (易学史)
Chinese entry通行本 · tōngxíngběn
The received text is the version of the Zhouyi in common circulation today. This site cites scripture only from the received text, character for character from its own data files, and does not adopt variant readings from excavated manuscripts.
Source: Editorial convention of this site (站内经文体例)
Chinese entry帛书《周易》 · bóshū Zhōuyì
The Silk Manuscript Zhouyi is a copy of the Zhouyi excavated in 1973 from a Han-dynasty tomb at Mawangdui, Changsha. Its hexagram order differs completely from the received text (it follows a mechanical pairing of trigrams), and it carries additional commentary texts that had been lost.
Source: Excavated manuscripts from Mawangdui, 1973 (马王堆汉墓出土文献)
Chinese entry河图洛书 · Hétú Luòshū
The River Diagram and Luo Writing are the core diagrams of the Song-dynasty "diagram and writing" studies. Tradition says they were transmitted by Chen Tuan and developed by Liu Mu, Zhou Dunyi and Shao Yong into a numerical model of the cosmos. Qing-dynasty textual scholarship argued that many of them derive from Daoist sources and Song creations.
Source: Song-dynasty diagram studies; Hu Wei, Yitu Mingbian, Qing dynasty (宋代图书之学；清代胡渭《易图明辨》)
Chinese entry先天八卦 · xiāntiān bāguà
The Earlier Heaven arrangement places the eight trigrams with Qian in the south, Kun in the north, Li in the east and Kan in the west, so that yin and yang pairs face each other. Tradition ascribes it to Fuxi; the diagram appears in the Song-dynasty circle of Shao Yong and Zhu Xi (traditional account; scholars differ on its origin).
Source: Shuogua Commentary; Song-dynasty diagrams of Shao Yong and Zhu Xi (《说卦传》；邵雍、朱熹一系图式)
Chinese entry后天八卦 · hòutiān bāguà
The Later Heaven arrangement places Li in the south, Kan in the north, Zhen in the east and Dui in the west, following the flow of the seasons. Tradition ascribes it to King Wen, and its order is drawn from a chapter of the Shuogua Commentary (traditional account).
Source: Shuogua Commentary; Zhouyi Benyi frontispiece diagrams (《说卦传》；《周易本义》卷首图式)
Chinese entry卦变 · guàbiàn
Hexagram-transformation theory is the body of Han-dynasty and later theories explaining how hexagrams are generated from one another; Yu Fan of the Three Kingdoms, for example, held that certain hexagrams derive from Qian, Kun and others. Schemes differ among scholars, and the term is distinct from the "resulting hexagram" used in casting.
Source: Theories of Yu Fan and other Han-era Yi scholars (虞翻等汉易学者的卦变说)
Chinese entryYin and yang are the most basic pair of relational categories in the Zhouyi. They are relative rather than absolute, rooted in each other rather than opposed, and able to change into one another. A solid line (⚊) stands for yang and a broken line (⚋) for yin.
A trigram is a three-line figure and there are eight of them (bagua). A hexagram is a six-line figure; there are 64, made by combining the eight trigrams in pairs (8 x 8). Each hexagram has an inner (lower) and an outer (upper) trigram.
The Ten Wings is the collective name for the ten sections of the Yizhuan: the Tuan Commentary (two), the Xiang Commentary (two), the Wenyan Commentary, the Xici Commentary (two), the Shuogua Commentary, the Xugua Commentary and the Zagua Commentary.
No. The glossary of Yijing Academy (易经学院) explains concepts in English paraphrase and keeps the Chinese term and pinyin. Scripture is cited only in Chinese from the received text of the Zhouyi.