I Ching

The I Ching, or Book of Changes, is a Chinese classic organized around 64 six-line figures called hexagrams. It is used for divination and philosophical reflection on change.

Hexagram: A six-line figure made from stacked solid or broken lines, used as a basic unit in the I Ching. Each of the classic’s 64 figures combines two trigrams into a hexagram.
Yarrow stalk method: A traditional procedure for generating I Ching lines by manipulating bundles of yarrow stalks. It produces a hexagram through a prescribed sequence of counts and divisions.
Zhou dynasty: A Chinese dynasty conventionally dated from about 1046 to 256 BCE. The I Ching’s core is associated with Zhou-era divination and political culture.
Chinese divination: A range of Chinese practices for seeking guidance or knowledge through signs and interpretive procedures. The I Ching is one of China’s enduring systems for consulting signs about a question.
Chinese classic texts: A traditional body of foundational Chinese writings studied in scholarship, ritual, and statecraft. The I Ching became one of the canonical classics alongside works with different purposes and forms.
Bagua: The set of eight trigrams formed from three solid or broken lines in Chinese cosmology. The eight trigrams provide the upper and lower components of the 64 hexagrams.
Three-coin method: A divination procedure that generates I Ching lines by tossing three coins repeatedly. It offers a faster alternative to the traditional yarrow-stalk procedure.
King Wen of Zhou: A Zhou ruler traditionally credited with arranging the hexagrams and composing their judgments. Traditional accounts place the King Wen sequence at the center of the classic’s formation.
Confucianism: A Chinese philosophical and ethical tradition centered on learning, ritual, relationships, and moral cultivation. Confucian scholars made the I Ching a classic for ethical and political reflection.
Oracle bone script: The earliest known Chinese writing, inscribed on bones and shells for royal divination during the Shang dynasty. It provides evidence for earlier divination practices distinct from the I Ching’s hexagram system.

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