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Bushi Zhengzong · The Orthodox Tradition of Divination
Essentials for Beginners · Five Phases, Six Relations, and Trigrams
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Penalty; Clash; Break; Piercing; Combination.
Combined Configurations; Six Clashes; Six Breaks; Six Piercings; Six Penalties.
Reading note: The following source records run across flattened table columns. Their surviving branch pairs and sequence are retained without supplying a reconstructed column arrangement.
Shen-Zi-Chen: Water configuration; Zi-Wu; Chou-Wei; Yin-Shen.
Mao-You; Chen-Xu; Si-Hai. Zi-You; Chou-Chen; Yin-Hai.
Wu-Mao; Wei-Xu; Si-Shen. Zi-Wei; Chou-Wu; Yin-Si.
Mao-Chen; Shen-Hai; You-Xu. Zi-Mao; Yin-Si; Si-Shen; Shen-Yin.
Chou-Wei; Wei-Xu; Xu-Chou.
Generation and Control of the Six Relations:
What generates me is Parents. What I generate is Descendants. What controls me is Officer and Ghost. What I control is Wife and Wealth. What shares my phase in harmony is Brothers.
Order of the Five Phases: Water one; Fire two; Wood three; Metal four; Earth five.
Order of the Eight Trigrams: Qian one; Dui two; Li three; Zhen four; Xun five; Kan six; Gen seven; Kun eight.
Examples of Trigram Images: Qian has three joined strokes; Kun six broken segments; Zhen an upturned bowl; Gen an overturned bowl; Li is empty in the middle; Kan full in the middle; Dui has a gap at the top; Xun is broken at the bottom.
Affiliations of the Eight Palaces: Qian belongs to Metal; Kan to Water; Gen to Earth; Zhen and Xun to Wood; Li to Fire; Kun to Earth; Dui to Metal.
Replacing Yarrow Stalks with Coins:
Hold three coins over the incense burner, offer reverence, and pray: “What does Heaven say? Knock, and it responds. Numinous indeed is the spirit, affected
and thereupon penetrating. Now someone of such-and-such a surname has an affair at heart, does not know its good or ill, and cannot resolve the doubt. Spirit and numinous power, whether
the matter is acceptable or not, I hope you will graciously reveal the answer.”
After the prayer, cast the coins. One reverse is called single: draw one line, “”. Two reverses are called split: draw one line, “”. Three reverses are called heavy:
Draw the mark “0”; three inscribed faces are called crossing: draw “X”.
Reading note: The source leaves the single/split quotation marks blank and has an odd graphic before 0. The surviving 0 and X are retained; absent line diagrams are not invented.
Build from the bottom upward. Three casts complete the inner trigram. Pray again: “The three images of this palace have not yet determined good or ill. I seek again the three outer
lines to complete one hexagram and resolve anxiety and doubt.” After the prayer, cast again by the same method, combine them into one hexagram, and judge good and ill. With utmost
reverence and sincerity, nothing fails to respond. The formula says: “Two reverses are split; two inscribed faces are single; all inscribed faces fix crossing;
all reverses are placed as heavy.”
Three single lines are Qian; three split lines are Kun; single-split-single is Li; split-single-split is Kan. Infer the other trigrams by analogy.
Three reverses are heavy; three inscribed faces are crossing. Heavy and crossing lines are called moving. Heavy counts as single and belongs to yang; crossing counts as split and belongs to
yin. Every moving line changes: heavy changes to split, and crossing changes to single. Infer the remaining lines by analogy.
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