 Gang, let's read a few pages from the Tao of the Yicheng, way to definition by Zhou Suang Houwa, brutal pronouncing it, and this was copyrights this is the 6th printing, June 22,000, the first printing was Taiwan March 1983, okay and I got the 6th printing and we're gonna read chapter 1, Raising the Veil of Mystery, starting at page 45, okay starting at page 45, and we'll read until we get a nice break in the read, which will probably be, and I'll show you the pictures as we're going, yeah this thing goes into the human body and everything, I'm not sure how far we're gonna get into this, okay, because there's a fair bit of like thinking about what's being said here I think, okay, page 45, I'm gonna show you this diagram because it's referring to the diagram, the above diagram shows the distribution of the hexagram, oh hold on, the above diagram shows the distribution of the hexagrams in groups that occurred if we think of yin plus yang raised to the sixth power, here's the diagram, so the above diagram diagram shows the distribution of the hexagrams in groups that occurred if we think of yin plus yang raised to the sixth power, the diagram shows that the traditional methods of deriving the order of the 64 hexagrams are not the only ones and that new and modern derivations can be evolved. A student of mathematical statistics might note the similarity of the diagram to the standard curves used in statistics to predict events and find new, find many new things from the study of the hexagram. Those of us who apply it to everyday life can easily find as many things. Suppose for example we take a yin line as being in day when our intelligence and intuition is most dominant and a yang line as a day when our sense of action and effective action is most dominant. Then we can read each hexagram as the six days of week. In this study we'll find less than one week a year when our intelligence is totally dominant and the same for our ability to act. Weeks when all but one day is dominant one way or the other will occur six times a year for each possibility. Finally we have the weeks where the two are evenly balanced or close to it. These will occur 78% of the time or about four weeks in every five. We are now at the core of the yin. It's 64 hexagrams. Each hexagram contains six yos and people always ask the question, quote, a trigram has three yos. Why don't they use four for the next step or for that matter five or seven? Why six? End quote. The question was occasionally a conversation point when in ancient times but it was largely a waste of energy. The equivalent of medieval Christian theologians arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pen. To understand why six yos are used ask yourself the following. Why does a foot have 12 inches? Why does a meter have 100 centimeters? Why does an hour have 60 minutes? Why isn't our week nine days instead of seven? All we can say in reply is that experience shows that a foot is a very convenient way to solve most problems of measurement in daily life. True, if we need to measure the diameter of a hair on the distance between New York and Boston we need a special division of measurements but otherwise a foot will do fine. The same is true of the hexagram using six yos. Six yos can solve most of our daily problems but we are free to use what is useful for us. It is not hard to imagine that we might make up a series of seven lines, line figures, and use them to study our weekly activities. We can see how different numbers of yos are useful by other studies of the moon. We can use yin and yang or filled in circle and open circle or double dash and single dash to talk about the new and full periods. This is one Yao. Then if we begin to talk about the quarters we need to use the four symbols which are built with two yos. If we want still more detail we can use the eight trigrams with their three yos and hexagrams with six yos as shown in figure 1Ae, 1A5e, and 1A-5f. Of course this concept can apply to many things. If we take the circle in the center to be the sun and imagine the outer sphere to be the earth then we are studying the seasons. We can study the career of an individual or a nation and it is clear we can use even more than six lines if we want. For example someone can make up a seven Yao symbol and use it to study the course of the week. So we repeat six lines can show clearly that we need to know about most problems of daily life but we can sometimes use fewer or more lines. Another important matter is the ordering of the 64 hexagrams. We saw how Fu, Xi, He Xi, and others arranged the eight trigrams into a complete circle cycle and use this order in a logical way. How do we arrange the 64 hexagrams in a circle that makes sense? One way is the example of Yin plus Yang, which generates a mathematical sequence. In the Zhou dynasty, mathematicians had not yet developed to this degree of sophistication and algebra. Instead the Chinese used an ingenious visual method. First they arranged the eight trigrams in the Fu, Xi arrangement as shown in figure 1-5G. Note that in these diagrams the bottom line is the one closest to the circle which stands for the earth. To develop the 64 hexagrams from the eight trigrams they expanded trigrams further out from the center and drew a circle around it. Now all they had to do was put another eight trigrams around each circle. To read a hexagram, we read first the inner trigram and then the series of outer trigrams circling it. We have eight hexagrams, then we go on to the next circle, circle trigram in the diagram and get another eight and so on as shown in figure 1-5H. The final result of this kind of computation by diagram is a wheel like the one shown below. The one shown here is derived using a circular order that follows the pattern of the eight trigrams we derived by branching Yin and Yang as shown in figure 1-5I. The ancient students of the Yi Qing also invented a grid pattern for developing the 64 hexagrams in an orderly manner. If we study the block below we will see that the inner bottom trigrams are always the same in each file going across while the outer upper trigrams are the same in each vertical row as shown in figure 1-5J. If we combine the wheel and the grid we get this frequently reproduced diagram as shown in figure 1-5K. The diagram looks as tightly packed with data as a railroad timetable. Since the hexagrams related to any subject, can hexagrams relate to any subject, they contain much information in them. Yet we can see how they begin with a simple notion of Wu Qi and Tai Chi, Yin and Yang, and expand to more complicated situations in a few steps in a similar way. At times we may be in a mood to see that all human actions begin with the simple relationship on one of one person to another, and at other times marvel at the complexity and richness of other human social world which seems unbounded. The order of yo in a hexagram is read from bottom to top. The image of this is the earth below with things growing out of it to the sky. The simple order of yo, yao, from the bottom is first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and top yao. For each of these yaus in a hexagram they are a text or judgment giving the meaning of the yau. We also use the odd number nine to represent the Yang quality occupying a yau, and even number six to represent the Yin quality occupying it. A sample is shown in figure 1-5L. The first and second, I'm going to show you this. I think I'm supposed to be E. There might have been a typo. Yeah, I'm going to show you this. The first and second yau are the beginning stages, or an omen of an event or phenomena. The first and top yau indicate its conclusion and fulfillment. These are the beginning and end of the six yaus. Also the inner dot trigram represents the past and the outer one, the future. Their combination represents our present. We must keep in mind that notion of past, present, and future are among the most complex and mysterious perceptions we have. We do not perceive the past and future in everyday life and experience, but a kind of continuous present that is perceived without a beginning or end. And yet without notion of past and future we could not organize our lives, and the world in which we live. Further, we can easily imagine how the past affects the future, but how can the future change the past? Consider two men who have separately been working towards some goal for three years to date. Next year the work will be completed, and one man will fail completely, and the other will succeed. Next year one man will say, quote, that three years of work was a waste of time, end quote, end quote, and the other will say, quote, those were the most productive year, three years of my life, end quote. Yet right now the three years do not have meaning for either of the two men. We look at them and see that they are both the same. In this case, the future will give the past its meaning. In the same way, we find ourselves making experiments in living and later saying, quote, that was stupid, end quote, or quote, that was smart, end quote. Yet as we make these experiments in the present, we can only give them our best efforts without always knowing that meaning until some future time. Let's end the reading there, because I think that's a great place to end it, since we were just talking about the past, present, and future. And when I was reading this, I found these two pages extremely interesting 20 years ago. Right? Very cool perspective on life. And that was page, what was that? Page 47. That was page 47 to 51 of the Tao of the Yi Qing, Way to Divination, like Zhou Songhua. Fantastic. I like this allegor says, let's read it. We must keep in mind that the notion of past, present, and future are among the most complex and mysterious perceptions we have. We do not perceive the past and future in everyday life and experience, but a kind of continuous present that is perceived without a beginning or end. And yet without notion of past and future, we could not organize our lives and the world in which we live. Very cool, very cool, very cool.