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PART TWO The Eight Trigrams

A TRIGRAM in I-Ching terminology refers to a three-line configuration. The lines are of two kinds, solid ————— and broken — —. The total possible combinations of these lines is eight. The lines when combined to form trigrams take on a broad spectrum of symbolic meaning. In turn, the eight trigrams are combined to form 64 six-line configurations known as hexagrams. For divination purposes the hexagram is all important, but no adequate interpretation of the meaning of the hexagram is possible without an understanding of its component parts.

The order of information about the trigrams is as follows: 1) Wade-Giles system of romanization for pronunciation, the standard romanized name; 2) pronunciation of the Ingram in pinyin, the romanization system selected for national usage by the People's Republic of China; 3) Richard Wilhelm's translation of the trigram; 4) the trigram itself; and 5) the Chinese character for the trigram.

The human and natural affairs and phenomena associated with each of the eight trigrams follow:

1. CHI'EN qian Creative

Made up of three solid lines, this trigram symbolizes heaven and thus it is noble, lofty, and firm. It is light as opposed to dark. It also symbolizes the strong, the expansive, and the masculine. It is creative and active, perpetually moving, never stopping. Opposites confront each other in Chi'en and it is the time for decisive battles to be fought. Chi'en is energy while K'un, the next trigram and virtual opposite, is form.

People: Rulers, presidents, sovereigns, dictators, leaders, sages, founders of a religion, popes, church elders, prime ministers, board chairmen, military commanders, fathers, husbands, and old men.

Parts of the body: The head, face, lungs, pleura.

Sicknesses: Headaches, constipation, pulmonary diseases, broken bones, fevers, and swelling.

Places: Palaces, official halls, offices, temples, shrines, churches, theaters, schools, military encampments, markets, mountains, walls and fortifications, observation platforms, race tracks, stadiums, and athletic fields.

Occupations: Government service, the military, businesses concerned with machinery, sports equipment, precious metals, fruit, and watches or clocks.

Articles: Precious stones and metals, watches and clocks, stamps and chops (an official seal, stamp, or permit in India and China), automobiles, streetcars, bicycles, sewing machines, machine guns, overcoats, hats, umbrellas, mosquito nets, purses, mouth covers, clothing, cloth wrappers, and mail boxes.

Food: Rice, beans, canned goods, and fresh fruits. Animals: Horses, dragons, tigers, and lions.

Plants: The chrysanthemum, fresh fruits, and herbs.

Season: Late autumn or early winter, the time when opposites meet.

Weather: Clear, cold.

Color: Strong red.

Direction: Northwest.

Miscellaneous: Round shapes, abundance or fullness, rapid advancements, charity or donations, happiness or gratification, just before midnight, bravery and boldness, determination, wealth and high position, honor, pride, luxury, cold, ice, the color white, and acrid taste.

2. K'UN kun Receptive

Formed by three broken lines, K'un stands for the earth, a great plain able to grow a myriad of things. Hence it contains the meaning of mother. People trample and spit on the ground, yet it toils without rest. Therefore, it has the meanings of being gentle and yielding, durable, devoted, and toiling. The earth is formed by fine particles collected together and thus the trigram means mass or the majority. The heaven is lofty, solitary, and noble. The earth is lowly, humble, and yielding; hence K'un also means poor, lowly, and inferior. It is passive rather than active and dark as opposed to light. It is the time when peaceful labor is performed.

People: The people, the multitude, groups, mothers, old women, wives, workers, the industrious, handymen, the poverty-stricken, the incapable, and the ignorant.

Parts of the body: The spleen, stomach, and abdomen. Sicknesses: Diseases in the digestive tract.

Places: Fields, farms, empty lands, uncultivated wilds, and slum areas.

Occupations: Obstetrics, doctors treating gastrointestinal disorders, those who work with antiques or curios.

Articles: Cotton cloth, trousers, pants, chair cushions, sheets, mats, mattresses, square-shaped items, chessboards, boxes, suitcases, kettles, and carriages. As the earth is the base for all things, everything belonging to the bottom level is symbolized here.

Food: Powdered or ground food, sweet potatoes, taro, wheat, sugar, desserts or snacks.

Animals: Cows, mares, calves, and ants.

Plants: Flowering plants.

Season: Late summer, early autumn, the ripening season. Weather: Cloudy.

Color: Deep black.

Direction: Southwest.

Miscellaneous: Warmth, afternoon, yellow, sweet flavors, square or flat shapes, miserliness, caution, loads, tranquility, respect or reverence, and modesty.

3. CHEN zhen Arousing

Chen symbolizes the launching of energy and movement. It is the arousing, the initiator of life. And it is speed. Of the directions, Chen represents the east. When the sun rises in the east, a sense of vitality and vigor appears throughout the earth. Thus it is the time of blossoming, of expansion, and of the beginning of new things. New ventures and occupations are suggested. Chen also stands for thunder and earthquakes, and thus has the meaning of shocking or startling.

The bottom line is a yang line, a light rather than dark line. Its position there makes this one of the three light trigrams symbolizing the three sons.

People: Princes, famous people, eldest sons, youths, the nouveaux riches, newly risen people.

Parts of the body: Feet, liver, throat.

Sicknesses: Hysteria, spasms, convulsions and the like, phobias, liver and foot ailments, and disorders of the nervous system.

Places: Forests, houses or buildings being remodeled or repaired, music or concert halls, telecommunications offices, broadcast stations, lecture halls, auditoriums, power stations, electric companies, and gunpowder factories.

Occupations: Switchboard operators, telephone and telegraph operators, technicians, engineers, musicians, broadcast personnel or announcers, those working in record shops and music stores, and those engaged in businesses involving arms and munitions.

Articles: Firecrackers, fireworks, guns, rifles, rockets, gunpowder, pianos, organs, trumpets, records, clarinets, record players, stringed musical instruments, flutes, drums, guitars, bells, gongs, harmonicas, telephones.

Food: Green vegetables, bean sprouts, pomelos, grapefruits, lemons, bamboo shoots, and plums.

Animals: Eagles, swallows, canaries, larks, cicadas, bees, crickets, centipedes, spiders, and frogs.

Plants: Trees, green vegetables, bamboo, freshly sprouting or blossoming plants.

Season: Spring.

Weather: Clear, thunder, storms.

Color: Green or the color of something young or new. Direction: East.

Miscellaneous: Decision, struggle and determination, frivolousness, sourness, sunrise, flying, freshness, lectures, and satellite launching.

4. K'AN kan Abysmal

The second light trigram, the yang line coming in the middle, K'an symbolizes water. Rain falls from the sky, striking against rocks and cliffs. Sometimes it falls on trees and grass. Drop by drop it comes together forming a trickle, then a stream, then a river, and finally pours into an ocean. Therefore, K'an connotes trouble, danger, toil, sadness, and floods. It also means to accumulate or gather together, starting from the small and achieving the large.

Water descends from a higher elevation to a lower one. Thus K'an suggests the abysmal, lowness, the underground, and the low-lying. In everyday life it means poverty, want, worries, and sickness. It is the piercing and the penetrating. Yet there is a positive side—perseverance when confronted with danger and endurance in the face of toil will lead to success.

People: Middle sons or second sons, middle-aged men, bandits, thieves, "bad guys," evildoers, the sick, the blind, those with cares and woes, toilers, adulteresses, paramours, nymphomaniacs or sex maniacs, the dead.

Parts of the body: Ears, the anus, nostrils, the reproductive organs, the blood, the kidneys, sweat, and tears.

Sicknesses: Kidney ailments, earaches, venereal disease, hemorrhoids, and alcoholism.

Places: Large rivers, banquet or meeting halls, funeral parlors, hospitals, convalescent homes, wells, baths, brothels, caves, cold places, waterworks installations, aquariums, firehouses, waterfalls, hot springs.

Occupations: Bartender, bathhouse attendant, those working in a dye shop, brothel, or milkstand, prostitutes, and fishermen.

Articles: Waistbands, ink, oil, coal tar, varnish or lacquer, and medicine.

Food: Wine, soup, drinks, salt, soy sauce, seaweed, lotus roots, and sashimi (raw fish).

Animals: The fox, rats, bats, boars.

Plants: Plums, daffodils, narcissus, algae, hard wood.

Season: Winter.

Weather: Rainy, floods, heavy rains or downpours, cold, cloudy and dark.

Color: Blood red and black.

Direction: North.

Miscellaneous: Risks, dangers, cunning, trickery, salty, wisdom and intelligence, worries, thoughts, hidden crime and unrevealed guilt, social and sexual intercourse, theft, the moon, midnight, the melancholic and sick in spirit.

5. KEN gen Keeping still

The third of the light trigrams, the yang line being on top, Ken symbolizes mountains. As mountains do not move and are stationary, Ken connotes motionlessness, quietude, stopping, resting, being static, and cessation. As mountains are formed by piling up small particles of earth, Ken also means accumulation. The idea of completion has come to be attached to this trigram because Ken in plants is the fruit, meaning the completion of the plant.

People: Youngest sons, youths, the overweight, the hunch-backed (those with abnormal curvature of the spine), the greedy, the lazy, those who hoard wealth, and prisoners or convicts.

Parts of the body: The back, waist, nose, hands, fingers, joints, and fleshy tumors.

Sicknesses: Side aches, arthritis, illnesses caused by fatigue, and nasal inflammations.

Places: Buildings, doors, gates, paths, walls, graves, hotels, garages, dikes, stairs, high stages or platforms.

Occupations: Monks, Taoist practitioners, the clergy (priests, ministers, rabbis, etc.), and the restaurant business.

Articles: Things stored up or piled together, screens, tables, and building blocks.

Food: Preserved foods, sweets.

Animals: Dogs, rats, bulls, oxen, tigers.

Plants: Fruits (grown on trees).

Season: Late winter to early spring.

Weather: Cloudy, weather as if about to change.

Color: Dark yellow.

Direction: Northeast.

Miscellaneous: Sweetness, the twilight (night turning into day), tardiness, slowness, stubbornness, sincerity or candor, independence, loftiness, frugality, and saving.

6. SUN sun Gentle

The preceding three trigrams were the light and the three sons. The remaining three trigrams are the dark and the three daughters. The dark line (the yin or broken line) is on the bottom in Sun, in the middle in the seventh, and on top in the eighth and final trigram.

The eldest daughter, Sun symbolizes the wind. As the wind blows in from afar, it connotes distance, remoteness, and distant places. The wind reaches everywhere, hence its attribute is penetration. The wind stirs the air and keeps it flowing; thus Sun also means interflow or an intermediary role. Interflow and interaction easily suggest marriage (interaction between men and women), commerce and trade (interflow of goods), and credit. Sun is also the tall tree and wood.

It characterizes persevering labor and also vehemence. In general it suggests purity, completeness, and quiet contemplation. But it also can mean indecision.

People: Businessmen, travelers, eldest daughters, and sisters.

Parts of the body: Buttocks, thighs, elbows, the intestines, nerves, digestive tract, eyes.

Sicknesses: Colds, digestive ailments, an upset stomach, and diseases of the stomach and bowels.

Occupations: Those engaged in moving and transport, shipping, the construction industry and carpentry, as well as guides, plasterers, and bricklayers.

Articles: String, thread, wire, rope, tables, lumber, railroads, pencils, matches, drawers, swings, postal items, electric fans, and bellows.

Food: Noodles (wheat), onions, leeks, garlic, greens.

Animals: The cock, chickens, cranes, snakes, earthworms, and the chi-lin (in Chinese mythology, a supernatural animal resembling a deer; also known as the unicorn).

Plants: Grass, willows, reeds and rushes, the lily, the calamus.

Season: Between late spring and early summer.

Weather: Windy and cloudy.

Color: White.

Direction: Southeast.

Miscellaneous: Clouds, forenoon (from 7 A.M. to11A.M., the time of hard work), green, orderly or neat appearance, length and height, obedience, adjustments, marriage arrangements, travel, dismissal or disbanding, distant or remote places, and hesitation.

7. LI li Clinging

The second dark trigram, the second or middle daughter, symbolizes the sun and fire. From this a host of associations is created—brightness, brilliance, beauty, ferocity, disasters such as fires, dryness, and separation. Li also means dangerous weapons and fighting. This light-giving trigram also means perception.

People: Middle daughters, middle-aged women, beauties, wise and intelligent people.

Parts of the body: Eyes, heart, the spirit (energy), breasts, blood.

Sicknesses: Eye diseases, mental illness, high fevers, heart ailments, headaches.

Places: Police stations, lighthouses, fire departments, department stores, theaters, schools, courthouses, downtown, battlefields, scenes of fires.

Occupations: Writers, artists, artisans, eye doctors, the police, war correspondents, soldiers, and those in the munitions, department store, barber shop, beauty parlor, and bookstore businesses.

Articles: Paintings, works of calligraphy, books, ornaments and decorations, electric lights, candles, lamps, pots, kettles, stocks, checks, bonds, armor, weapons.

Food: Dry foods, turtles, oysters, shelled seafood (clams and the like), crabs, beautifully arranged or colored foods.

Animals: Pheasants, chicks, goldfish, fireflies, crabs, lobsters, turtles, snails, mussels, tortoises, and mollusks.

Plants: The crepe myrtle, maples, the beefsteak plant (Perilla nankinensis), watermelons, and red colored plants.

Season: Summer.

Weather: Clear, warm, hot day; droughts.

Color: Red and purple.

Direction: South.

Miscellaneous: Noon, brightness, lightning, radicalness, violence, nervousness, impulsiveness, intelligence, passion, enthusiasm, electricity, rainbows, bitter taste.

8. TUI dui Joyous

The last dark trigram is the youngest daughter, the symbol of young girls, of joy, delight, and gaiety. Tui is the marsh, a low-lying place that connotes insufficiency, incompleteness, inadequacy, defectiveness, and things that are concave or indented. Associated with the trigram are reflection, enticement, and destruction or ruin. As Tui means the pleasurable and the happy (food, drink, and money), the opposite idea is suggested. Danger can result from an excess of pleasure.

People: Youngest daughters, young girls, young ladies, girl friends, female stars or celebrities, female vocalists, bar girls, hostesses, prostitutes, concubines, sorceresses, witches, the incompetent or feeble.

Articles: Knives, blades, money, and musical instruments.

Parts of the body: Mouth, lungs, respiratory organs, the chest, and teeth.

Sicknesses: Afflictions of the mouth cavity and illnesses in the chest and breast region.

Places: Valleys, ponds, marshes, low-lying ground, hollows, ditches, riversides, places where water is accumulated or deep lakes, bars, taverns, beverage shops, brothel or prostitution districts.

Occupations: Lawyers, lecturers, and those involved in monetary concerns or drinking establishments.

Food: Coffee, tea, wine, alcohol, mutton, bird meat.

Animals: Sheep, birds, monkeys.

Plants: Autumn plants, Chinese bellflowers, magnolias, plants with a peppery, spicy, or hot taste such as ginger and red pepper, and plants growing beside marshes, swamps, and lakes.

Season: Autumn.

Weather: Rainy.

Color: White and golden color.

Direction: West.

Miscellaneous: Hot, spicy, or peppery taste, evening or twilight, singing and songs, arguments, damage or destruction, setbacks or failures, dew, snow, gentleness, happiness, a consuming interest or hobby, laughter, a "big mouth," lawsuits or litigation, sexual passion or lust, speech.