On The "Book Of Changes" Gua Yao As The Number Of Origin

With the advent of unearthed literature, the historical materials of Yi-ology,which were in pre-I Ching period, become more abundant. Therefore, the origin ofthe hexagrams and lines of The Book of Changes will be more fully understood. Thispaper will divide the discussion about the origin of hexagrams and lines in historicand contemporary into two directions--the hexagrams and lines were invented byobserving image or by counting achillea. Zhouyi Zhengyi and Zhouyi Benyi were therepresentatives in ancient times, the theory of procreation worship and the figurehexagrams are the representatives in modern period. There exist such differencesbecause the hexagrams and lines own the character of image and number itself.Because both of them can find their inherent foundations, we need to separate thetwo directions to do in-depth study to prove its reasonability.The theory of the hexagrams and lines was invented by counting achillea,supposing that the hexagrams were generated by divinatory number. There aremainly two main points. One is the learning of the River Map and Luo Chart, anotheris the theory of the figure hexagrams. The former theory did a lot of work betweenYin-Yang and number, which explains that the hexagrams’generation process is notonly logical in philosophy, but also accord with the history of divination in time.However, the River Map and Luo Chart are questionable literatures. And the line ofYin-Yang or odd-even is not in accord with trigrams, in other word, it can not explainthe necessity of hexagrams and trigrams. The figure hexagrams were divinationrecords, and was a earlier representation of the hexagrams, and was a matureproduct development after evolution of the divination, which in the literatureconfirmed that there exist a direct relationship between the Yin-Yang and divinatorynumber. But its shortcomings cant prove why the hexagrams were no less than sixlines as the learning of the River Map and Luo Chart.The theory of the hexagrams and lines was invented by observing image, supposing that the hexagrams come into being by observing nature. It presupposes aself-evident Conception of Saint Tao. This leads to that later scholars often do notdistinguish the image of observing image and the image of hexagrams, and results inconfusing cause and effect about the origin of the hexagrams and lines. By analysingthe view of the origin of the hexagrams in Yi Wei, Zhouyi Zhengyi and modernscholars’works, we found that the images of observing image are all things inuniverse, including heaven, earth and human. Observing nature is an overall dynamicvisual, and observing hexagrams is a specific static association or analogy. Based onobserving image, it solves logically the hexagrams structure problem, but the originof the Yin-Yang line is based on a self-evident and unproven object.As was mentioned above, we found that the former theory is more reasonableto solve the problem of the origin of Yin-Yang lines, and the latter theory makes theYin-Yang lines, trigrams and hexagrams form a precise system. Whether countingachillea or observing image, they are based on a premise, which suppose that Yi is abook of divination. After further study of counting achillea, we found that theYin-Yang’s feature of the hexagrams and lines is produced by the method ofdivination, i.e., the evolution of the divinatory number, and the Yin-Yang lines isestablished with the more developmental of the divinatory method. After furtherstudy of observing image, we found that the "book of changes" or "Yi" as thedivination book which associate the individual with the universe, and hexagrams asthe basis for judging the good and bad, the inventor will receive a world outlookaccepted the wizard which including heaven, earth and human. The author thinks, Yiis a heaven-earth theory in the form of divination. In image aspect, Yi inherited theSancai concept which is from the ancient tradition and is applied to the hexagrams.In number aspect, Yi reformed the ancient divination method and invented theYin-Yang lines to as the basic factors of hexagrams and trigrams.