Part 1: 2 lines, 4 images, 8 trigrams, 64 hexagrams
Part 0: the tao, i-ching and time
from “the I-Ching or the Book of Changes.”
Book 2 Chapter XI
5. Therefore there is in the Changes the Great and Primal Beginning. This generates the two primary forces. The two primary forces generate the four images. The four images generate the eight trigrams.
“The Great Primal Beginning, t’ai chi, plays an important role in later Chinese natural philosophy. Originally chi is the ridgepole – a simple line symbolizing the positing of oneness (—). This positing of oneness implies also a positing of duality, an above and a below. The conditioning element is further designated as an undivided line, while the conditioned element is represented by means of a divided line (- -). These are the two polar primary forces later designated as yang, the bright principal, and yin, the dark. Then, through doubling, there arise four images.”
“These correspond with the four seasons of the year. Through addition of another line, there arise the eight trigrams.”
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K’un | North | the Receptive | Earth |
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Chen | Northeast | the Arousing | Thunder |
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Li | East | the Clinging | Fire |
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Tui | Southeast | the Joyous | Lake |
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Ch’ien | South | the Creative | Heaven |
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Sun | Southwest | the Gentle | Wind |
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K’an | West | the Abysmal | Water |
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Ken | Northwest | KeepingStill | Mountain |
When one trigram is placed above another, this creates the 64 hexagrams of the I-Ching
Part 2: linear and radial symmetry in light and dark
