sitemap . 1. Relations between hexagrams. King Wen's sequence Multiple moving lines Line-correspondences (jiao yao, fan yao, qian yao) The Big Pattern (The Bagua as lay-out map) The structure of a hexagram page 2 (Why do hexagrams look the way they do?) Mirrors and reflections (The relations and meanings of lines)

The structure of a hexagram

15	14	person or situation	5

  Draw a figure of a man (or woman, whatever you prefer) and draw your hexagram next to it. Connect the bottom line with the feet, the second line with the legs, the third with the belly, the fourth with the arms and back, the fifth with the face (and upper back or neck) and the top line with the brain. Now you have some clue to the realm of each line. This applies not only to people - situations or ideas also have 'feet', 'legs' and so on.

  I did not make this up by myself, there are many clues that hexagrams are built up this way. Most are ideas from later ages, but in the YiJing itself there are many lines with parts of the body, and they usually are used as symbols for certain behavior.
  So the answer can tell you about relations and emotions (2 and 3), or reality, decisions and spirit (1, 4 and 6), and it is not a question of which one is the most important. It is a combination. If you go to the Northpole, you need warm clothes and a ship and a lot more. If you go to the beach, you need lemonade and maybe money and a train ticket, but no warm clothes. Every situation asks for a different set of attributes.

EXAMPLES for the meanings of line-places:
When the top line is yang, one can take a look at hex.23, a hexagram with only the top line yang: leaving or losing outer things, receptive, only the spirit is active. All the other lines or options are receptive. I chose the yang lines for examples, because yang is by its nature more visible than yin.
Line 5 is yang: hex.8: the ability to lead and organize is active, the other abilities are receptive.
Line 4 is yang: hex.16: finding the road is active - motivation, choices, decisions.
Line 3 is yang: hex.15: empathy is active, emotions are strong, but for the rest you follow the situation.
Line 2 is yang: hex.7: conquering the world or defending your territory or interacting with your people.
Bottom line is yang: finding one's own orbit, one's road in life - and walk it in every action.

  The trigram-lines and the hexagram-lines were combined with earth, man and heaven, from the bottom up. For the hexagram lines 1 and 2 belong together (earth), 3 and 4 (man), 5 and 6 (heaven).

Line 6: brains and beyond (heaven). Living with and in heaven (spirit).  Line 5: upper back, neck, lungs, face, eyes, ears, mouth. Organize, lead.  Line 4: spine, shoulders, arms, hands. Motivation, choices, decisions.  Line 3: belly, thigh, sex, stomach, heart. Emotions, influences, empathy, evaluation.  Line 2: legs. Drive and energy to move, to build and defend your life, connect to the world, walking in the world.  Line 1: feet and beyond (earth). To stand on one's feet, go one's own road - or to take another one. To live with and on the earth (reality).

Since the trigram is more abstract than the hexagram, 'man' in the trigram is human, humane, humanity. In the hexagram it is human, personal.

Why do hexagrams look the way they do?

Yang lines are active, yin lines show what it is about or what it will become, its reality. Yang is inspiration, yin is manifestation, yang is action, yin is being.

Contemplate hex.20
Brain and face active and alert; decisions, emotions, contacts and position (moving) receptive

	Family, hex.37
Here the two lines which combine earth and man are receptive: being comes from human reality. The feet - territory - emotions, leadership and spirit are all active.

More about the meanings of line-places

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