ChiDragon

The three solid line trigram is the symbol for Heaven(天), the most Yang or the yangest of the eight trigrams. Therefore, it goes to the most yang position which is the top of the Ba Gua(八卦). The top position is the most yang is because of the following: 1. It is the top which where Heaven belongs. 2. It is in the south direction. 3. The sun is the brightest and hottest at high noon which made it the yangest position. 4. It is the summer position.

Now, we have drawn the trigrams. The next thing is to find out why they were configured the way as shown in the early version(pre-heaven) Ba Gua.

The result is able to Sink Chi to the dan tian.

Tao manifested itself as One. Tao is the One. Tao is You(有) at the beginning of all things.

The folks are getting the results from just a deep abdominal focus.

That means it doesn't matter how one thinks but it's free for all.

Let's follow the Yi Jing. Wu Ji => Tai JI Invisible(Tao) => Visible(Tao) Wu(無) => You(有) 0 => 1 Tao => One

震 is a name designated for Thunder. It also means vibration. The two top broken lines symbolize lightning striking the ground(the solid line). Thus we have the symbol as Thunder. 震, Thunder ___ ___ ___ ___ _______

巽 is a name designated for Wind. The two solid lines at the top symbolize Heaven. The broken line symbolize something soft beneath the surface of Heaven. The wind can be easily seen by the moving tree top. 巽, Wind _______ _______ ___ ___

坎 is name designated for Water. The two broken lines symbolize the river beds. The solid line symbolize the flowing motion of water in a river. Thus was have a symbol for water. 坎, Water ___ ___ _______ ___ ___ The Water symbol also represents the Moon.

Yes, still is Yin and motion is Yang.

離: is a name designed for Fire. To set a camp fire, our ancestors are the experts. They set the sticks vertically, so the air goes through them and burns better with more heat. The two solid lines symbolize the sticks and the broken line symbolize the fire burning inside. The symbol had been turned horizontally for simplicity. Another way of looking at it is that the fire is burning in a wood burning stove. The solid lines are the bricks of the stove and the broken line is the fire burning inside. 離, Fire _______ ___ ___ _______ The Fire symbol also represents the Sun.

艮 is a name designated for mountain. Two broken lines at the bottom symbolizing water and lower lands. The solid line symbolize highrise which is mountain. 艮, Mountain _______ ___ ___ ___ ___

澤, Marsh ___ ___ Soft water _______ Higher(lands) _______ Solid(ground) It was the attributions of higher and solid which are contributed to the lines to be Yang.

I am sorry, that was a bad start. Let me rephrase that. This is only to establish the attribute to the lines, so we can draw the symbol. Please do not apply any theory to confuse ourselves at this point. A broken line represents an indentation. A solid line represents "tall"or highrise.

Zanshin and all others.... Thank you for you patience. The reason I have created the thread was to go over the basic fundamentals of the Yi Jing. Most People who study the Yi Jing probably don't know why are the trigrams had drawn that way; and start making interpretation of the Yi Jing. I was a little bit upset about that. I was just wondering how can people do not have a thorough understanding about the Yin-line and the Yang-line and the trigram symbols; then start talking about the heart of the Yi Jing. Sorry to say, some of the things that you read were written by the people who do not know what the symbols mean in more refine details. They probably did not have the information available to them at the time. I have found that there were more books, written by knowledgeable native scholars, about the Yi Jing in the last two decades. IMO Those who know about the Yi Jing should be able to draw the trigrams at any instance or by heart. If you want to ask somebody about the Yi Jing, the first thing you should ask is "do you know what are the meanings of the trigrams?" Most importantly, why are they had drawn that way? To study the symbols of the trigrams, we need to learn it from scratch and disregard what we had read in the past. Indeed, it will save us alot of time and confusion. We need to know what the symbols actually mean rather than following some misguided information. With all respect and no offense.

Great..... Okay! It says a lot with great understanding, but what is "just that"....??? What have you done in the Chi Kung practice...???

This is close enough in your mind, as long your breath has reached deep down to the abdomen and have a good deep feeling that it(breath) is there. All this talk about the location of the lower dan tian is only a thought. You can do away with the numbers, just think that your abdomen is the lower dan tian. The LDT is only an imaginary location inside the abdomen.

I see how much you understand about Yin-Yang. In your example, the gun should be yang(active) and the bullet is yin(passive). The bullet cannot be fired without the gun. When the bullet is not in motion, it is Yin; and in motion is Yang. I don't follow your mountain idea at all. Btw I haven't got to the symbol for "Mountain" yet. I was only talking about the Yang line. What I was saying is that a Yang line represents something tall like a highrise building or a mountain rather than a building or a mountain.

Okay! Can you tell me how do both Richard John Lynn and Huang translate Dui as Lake with what justification? I think I have given all my reasons why the symbols had drawn that way but seems to be ignored by everyone.

Taomeow..... I can't keep up with this, if you are kept on jumping the gun. I am not arguing with other translations. I am just try to present how the symbols came about and why they are that way. If you have made up your mind without knowing how the symbols came about and don't care. That is fine. I can quit now.

The character 澤 means "wet land" in Chinese as I had indicated. It is not a matter of translation but a matter of understanding the symbols. Don't you see water flow on the earth surface, like a marsh rather than "mountain lake"....??? A lake on the mountain, water will flow only when the lake is overflow. The symbol show water flowing on the earth surface all the time which what a marsh does.

澤 is representing the wet land or marsh. A broken line on top of two solid lines. 澤, Marsh ___ ___ _______ _______ The bottom two solid lines represents the solid ground and higher lands. The broken line on top representing something that is soft like water. Thus we have water flowing on top a soiled surface which symbolized a marsh.

坤 is the Yin-est of the eight trigrams. Therefore, three broken lines were used for its soft, passive, yielding, and receptive attributes. 坤, Earth ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

You are absolutely right. Indeed, "soft" is a much better word to use and it will be used for the Yin attribute as we move along.