Bahá'í Alchemy

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Wen Wang Gua (X = #h) is a method of interpreting the results of I Ching divination that was first
described in writing by Jing Fang in Han dynasty China ( in and around the time of Christ ). It is based on
assigning trigram values to the Celestial stems and Earthly Branches of the Chinese calendar, and then using
the stem and branch elements to interpret the lines of the trigrams and hexagrams of the I Ching." The
method is popular among professional I-Ching consultants in South East Asia ( Hong Kong and Taiwan ). It
is known by various names: Liu Yao (six lines) refers to the fact that it interprets the meaning of six symbols;
the Najia method, indicates its logic of elemental values derived from the Chinese calendar; Wu Xing Yi
(changes of the five elements); or Wen Wang Ke (lessons of King Wen), which can refer to an actual King
Wen (the author of the I Ching) or since 'Wen' can mean 'man' the meaning can be "lessons of sovereign
man", a more metaphysical connotation

History

The name Wen Wang Gua means King Wen fortune telling hexagrams ( or trigrams, since Gua can mean
either one ). King Wen of Zhou and his son were the supposed authors of the I-Ching as we know it, about a
thousand years before Christ. The elemental qualification of the trigrams was not originally part of the
tradition associated with King Wens' name, but seems to have been devised based on a trigram sequence
described in the Eighth Wing ( one of the Ten Wings, a series of appendixes to the I-Ching which are usually
ascribed to Confucius ). The uncertain origin of this scheme, not to mention the other possible associations of
trigrams with elemental values ( in accordance with the original trigram meanings ), accounts for the
obscurity that surrounds Wen Wang Gua, both in China and abroad, on the Internet and in print. However,
the relevance of the use of element correlation theories at the time can be seen from the extant records, such
as the Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals, a compilation of earlier texts which was attributed
to Dong Zhongshu. As one modern researcher remarks: "Dong Zhongshu is generally remembered as the
author of a detailed system of correspondences in which everything was correlated to one of the five
fundamental forces, so that everything could be shown to be interrelated in an orderly and comprehensible
manner."! Jing Fang and his teacher, the author of the "Forest of Changes by Jiao", were among the first to
apply this form of correlative thinking to I Ching divination. 2}

Trigram values

This is the text from section 5 of the Eighth Wing, an appendix to the I Ching, which relates the trigrams to
the seasons of the year, and indirectly to the elements:

"God comes forth in Kan (to His producing work); He brings (His processes) into full and
equal action in Sun; they are manifested to one another in Li; the greatest service is done
for Him in Khwan; He rejoices in Tui; He struggles in Khien; He is comforted and enters into
restin Khan; and He completes (the work of the year) in Kăn."A

Kan and Sun (== and =) correlate with wood, the first
of the elements in the Chinese calendar, then Li (=)
with fire, Khwan (==) with earth, Tui and Khien (= and
=) with metal, and Khan (=) with water. Thus the
elements appear in their generating sequence, which
correlates with the seasons of the year and the trigrams.
The Kan trigram (==), correlating with earth, has been
placed at the end of the sequence because in it is said
that God has completed His work, and this must appear
to us at the end, even if from the point of view His
relation with creation the work was actually complete
after Khwan, after the greatest service is done for Him
and before He does His own rejoicing and struggling.

Section 2 of the Eighth Wing relates line positions top,
middle and bottom to Heaven, Man and Earth
respectively. Lines are read from the bottom up.

The following diagram shows the trigram sequence
traditionally attributed to Fu Xi. It first appears in the
writings of Shao Yung in the eleventh century A.D, P
and seems to be a sequence of numbers in binary
notation.

King Wen "Later Heaven" bagua arrangement,
related to the Luoshu Square

Fuxi "Earlier Heaven" bagua arrangement, related
to the Yellow River Map

w t mM FR B&B hk R th
Qian Dui Li Zhen Xun Kan Gen Kun

IK 4 -——_ — —

Ke a= ‘Dh KIS
Taiyang Shaoyin Shaoyang Taiyin
m $ — m — —
Sixiang aE — -= —_—
i ja
C Yang =
Jangyi khi
Taiji

Considering yin and yang (-- and —) as binary numbers 0 an 1, the yang lines' corresponding decimal
numbers are: top: 1, middle: 2, and bottom: 4.

Element metal | metal | fire | wood | wood | water | earth | earth

Trigrams =

Binary number | 111 110 101 | 100 011 010 001 000
Decimal number | 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Jing Fang

Larry James Schulz writes in his dissertation Lai Chih-Te, (1525-1604) and the phenomenology of the
“Classic of Change” (Yijing):

"Jing Fang’s is the name associated with the earliest appearance of numerous other
explanatory and integrative devices, among them the systematic application ofa

hexagram’s “nuclear trigrams (hut! B88 or zhOngyao #32)” — lines two through four and
three through five separately considered — to expound the hexagram’s verbal properties; the

“Eight Palaces (ba gong /\'=)” system of arranging hexagrams (...); and incorporation of the
Five Phases (wUxing 4747), the “heavenly stems (tiangan X-F)”, and the “earthly branches
(dizhi 332)” designations to amplify the Change’s linear figures in what is called the “najia
#4 FA” theory." ISl

More about this system can be found in Fung Yu-lan’s A History of Chinese Philosophy, Volume II.!7!

Line values

Jing Fang assigns stem and branch elements to the lines of the trigramsH ( the trigrams as a whole already
had their own element correspondences ). The correspondences of the trigrams for the Celestial stems and
Earthly Branches below indicate the elements for each line of the trigrams, as opposed to the trigrams as a
whole.

Celestial stem | Trigram | Element

Jia Ħ =
wood

Yi Z ==

Bing A =

fire

Ding J =

Wu JÈ =
earth

Jig Z

Geng Æ =e
metal

Xin 3 =

Ren £ =
water

Gui 2 ==

For the Earthly Branches the elements correspond to lines of the trigrams doubled over ( hexagrams ). The
trigram ascription branch is used as a starting point for elements in yang or yin sequence, depending on the
yin or yang value of the trigram. For example == is a yang trigram, so the lines of the hexagram made by
doubling it ( no. 51 ) have elements of water, wood, earth, fire, metal, earth, corresponding to the yang
sequence of branches beginning with Rat. According to the Celestial stems, each line of the hexagram has
also has an element value of metal. Whenever a hexagram has a == trigram, if it is a bottom one, the values of
the bottom trigram of the 51 hexagram are used, if it is a top one, the values of the top one are used. The
values of the yin trigrams are determined in the same way, except that the yin value sequence is inverted (
instead of going forward one goes backward ). Therefore the values of the no. 2 hexagram, made by
doubling the == trigram, for example, are earth, fire, wood, earth, water, metal. In the case of the = and ==
trigrams, since they appear twice in the Celestial stems, if they are a bottom trigram they have the value of its
first appearance, and if they are a top one that of the next appearance. So the lines of the bottom trigram of
the no. 2 hexagram are wood and the lines of the top trigram are water.

Earthly | Mandarin | Chinese Trigram | Element

Branch name zodiac

1 Z zí Rat == water
2 È chou Ox = earth
3 Ez yín Tiger = wood
4 op mao Rabbit = wood
5 oR chén Dragon == earth
6 = sì Snake = fire

7 a wu Horse yang fire

8 k wei Goat == earth
9 FA shén Monkey yang metal
10 A you Rooster yin metal
11 È xd Dog yang earth
12 EA hài Pig yin water

Eight houses

Eight houses is a way of assigning the elements to the hexagrams. This is used to identify the line which
contains the same element as the hexagram as a whole and establish an order and importance of relationships
among the hexagrams lines. There are different ways of arranging the houses in relation to each other.

Each house begins with a hexagram made by a double trigram. Then lines 1 thru 5 are changed to produce
the first 6 hexagrams, then the fourth line of hexagram 6 is changed to produce hexagram 7, and changing
the first three lines of hexagram 7 produces hexagram 8. These eight hexagrams are of the same element as
the original hexagram that was made by doubling a trigram.

For example, this is the house of the first hexagram:

Mei Hua Yi

Associated with the name of Shao Yung, the Mei Hua Yi (Plum Flower Changes) system uses actual Chinese
calendar date numbers to obtain hexagrams. The interpretation of them however relies on the Wen Wang
Gua trigram values rather than the line values.

Ho Lo Li Shu

Also said to originate with Shao Yung, the Ho Lo Li Shu (Ho Map Li Writing) system is in a sense the
opposite of Mei Hua, in that it is the Wen Wang Gua calendar correspondences of trigrams that are used to
obtain the hexagrams. It is a complex numerical system, with its own unique way of interpreting the

results, !8!

References

1. Wang Mó Š; Jing Fang Yi Chuan Rs; Woolin Publishing Company Taipei,
ISBN 957-35-0561-4

2. Russell Kirkland, "Tung Chung-shu." Copyright: lan P. McGreal, ed., Great Thinkers of the
Eastern World (New York: HarperCollins, 1995), 67-70. (https://faculty.franklin.uga.edu/kirklan
d/sites/faculty.franklin.uga.edu.kirkland/files/DONG.pdf)

3. Loewe, Michael; A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han & Xin Periods (221 BC —
AD 24); p. 199-200

4. Legge, James; The | Ching; Clarendon Press, 1899; p. 425 (http:/AWwww.sacred-texts.com/ich/i
cap5.htm#fr_290)

5. Wang, Robin R.;Yinyang (Yin-yang); Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http:/Avww.iep.utm.
edu/yinyang/)

6. Schulz, Larry James; Lai Chih-Te, (1525-1604) and the phenomenology of the “Classic of
Change’(I Ching); p.16

7. Fung, Yu-lan; A History of Chinese Philosophy; Princeton University Press

8. W.A. Sherrill and W.K. Chu; The Astrology of | Ching; Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987

Publications

= W.A. Sherrill and W.K. Chu; An Anthology of | Ching; Routledge & Kegan Paul

= Shao wéi-hua Abt; Zhouyi yu yucexué A SAFARIS; Ming Bao Chūbănshè ASR ARAL,
Hong Kong

External links

= Curlie page for ernobe (https://curlie.org/public/page?user=ernobe).

Category: I Ching (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:I_Ching)

Category: Chinese thought (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Chinese_thought)

Category: Early scientific cosmologies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Early_scientific_cosmologies)
Category: Taoist cosmology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Taoist_cosmology)

en:Wen Wang Gua (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wen_Wang_Gua)
es:Wen Wang Gua (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wen_Wang_Gua)
zh:X =i (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/ X EIR)

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