Structural Principles in the Zhou Yijing 周易經 Hexagram Sequence

By Larry J. Schulz, Ph.D.

The Zhou Yijing uses 64 binary figures—gua 卦, ―Hexagrams‖—to categorize

information for divination purposes. These figures are displayed in combinations of six single,
or ―solid gang, 剛” Lines (yao爻) and/or bipartite (―weak, rou 柔”) Lines. The 64
Zhou Yijing Hexagrams appear in the following order (shown in four rows here for convenience
of depiction only):

The Zhou Yijing Sequence

The authorship of the Zhou Yijing Hexagram Sequence and the author‘s intent in so
arranging the figures has been obscure to scholars since at least the end of the Han Dynasty. i
Edward L. Shaughnessy, in his translation of the earliest extant manuscript of the Yijing, says of
this arrangement of the Hexagrams that ―there is no discernible logic to their sequence in the
received text, except that hexagrams are grouped by pairs sharing a hexagram picture (either by
inversion of the picture or by conversion of all its lines to their opposites). . . .‖ii

The discussion that follows builds on analysis done by Lai Zhide 來知德 (1525-1604
iii
A.D.) leading to a perspective on the Hexagram Sequence I call the ―Condensed View.‖ From
that perspective eight structural principles in the Hexagram Sequence will be proposed in
addition to the consistent use of pairings by inversion and opposition. Together these ten
principles highlight relationships among the linear figures that resonate with ideas in the Yijing‘s
primary Commentaries, generally attributed to Confucius, iv and associated lore.

Historical Context
The oldest known version of the Yijing was found in a grave dated 193 B.C. in
Mawangdui 馬王堆, in Changsha, Hunan, China. It has some differences from the received text
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in the wording of divination information that to a great extent can be explained by the use of
homophones, though the Names are often significantly divergent in 33 of the 64 Hexagrams.v
However, its order of presentation for the 64 Hexagrams is entirely different Yijing as we now
know it. In the Mawangdui manuscript, the Hexagrams are grouped in eight ranks according to
their top three lines. vi

Although the Mawangdui manuscript presents the Hexagrams in this unique arrangement,
Shaughnessy notes that a commentary called ―Yi zhi yi 易之義” in the Mawangdui manuscript
mentions numerous Hexagrams in an order ―generally that of the received text, rather than that of
the [Mawangdui] manuscript. . . .‖vii In spite of departures from the received text order— e.g.,
Yi, Hexagram 42, is mentioned out of order in the Yi zhi yi, as are Gen, Hexagram 52, and Lin,
Hexagram 19—viiiit is possible that the Zhou Yijing Sequence or parts of it were known to the
author of the Yi zhi yi. However, the mechanical nature of the Trigram ranking in the
Mawangdui arrangement suggests that it resulted from manipulation of the linear figures alone
without reference to the text of the Yijing itself.

The Mawangdui order is one of several Hexagram arrangements that were current in the
early Han. There are records of at least two other divination systems—called Gui Zang 歸藏 and
Lian Shan 連山—based on the universe of 64 Hexagrams. With the Zhouyi, these ―three Yi,
三易” were cited in the Zhouli 周禮 as being used by the Grand Diviner Taibu 太卜. Only
fragments remain, but they appear in part to have been characterized by different ways of
organizing the Hexagrams. The Guizang is said to have begun with the Hexagram Kun坤 , the
Zhou Yijing‘s second Hexagram, and the Lianshan is thought to have had Zhou Yijing Hexagram
52, Gen艮 in its first placeix The Guizang and Lianshan fragments also have divination
information that differs from that in the Zhou Yijing.x

Also from the Han came the ―Eight Palace, Bagong 八宮” Hexagram array associated
with Jing Fang 京房 (d. ca. 80 B.C.). In the Bagong, eight families of Hexagrams are headed by
the Hexagrams that are doubled Trigrams. The other Hexagrams in each family are subjected to
successive line changes from the bottom up and then undergo a reversal that encompasses the
last two Hexagrams in each group. xi Portions of Jing Fang‘s Yijing commentaries are preserved
in Li Dingzuo‘s 李鼎祚 Tang Dynasty compilation Zhouyi Jijie 周易集解, but there is no
indication that Jing Fang arranged his Yijing according to the Bagong chart. The Zhouyi Jijie is
presented in the same order as the received text.

The full Zhou Yijing Sequence is first seen in the Yi Lin 易林, a first century B.C. text
attributed to Jiao Yanshou 焦延壽 (late 2nd-1st cen.? B.C.). The Yilin was used in divination with
reference to what is called the ―Hexagram Energy Chart, Guaqi tu卦氣圖,‖ a sequence keyed to
12 ―Accumulation and Dispersion Hexagrams, xiaoxi gua 消息卦.‖xii The term xiaoxi appears in
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the Tuan 彖 Commentary for Hexagram 23, Bo, 剝, one of the twelve Accumulation and
Dispersion Hexagrams. The Tuan for H24, Fu 復 , another of the 12, says ―the solid [line]
grows, gangchang, 剛長.‖ The Tuan for Hexagram 43, Guai, 夬 , says ―the solid‘s growth
nears its end, gang chang nai zhong 剛長乃終.” The other xiaoxi gua, shown in the discussion
of Principle 7 below, carry forward this sense of Yang growth, or ―accumulation,‖ through its
―dispersion‖ after Yin enters the picture at the bottom of Gou, 姤 , Hexagram 44.

The Guaxi tu is otherwise arranged at least in part with reference to the remaining
Hexagrams‘ counts of solid versus bipartite lines. xiii However, the divination information in the
book, which is almost entirely different from that in the Zhou Yijing, is set forth according to the
same sequence found in the Zhou Yijing. Indeed, each Hexagram in the Yilin is presented with a
citation for each of the other 63 Hexagrams, and these are arranged in each instance in the Zhou
Yijing order.

The earliest complete text of the Zhou Yijing, containing the Hexagram and Line Words
arrayed in the Hexagram Sequence and supplemented by the Confucian Commentaries is
preserved with the secondary commentary of Wang Bi 王弼 (226-249 A.D.). Wang Bi felt that
much of the understanding that linked the linear Hexagrams and their words had been lost;xiv so
he concentrated on elucidating the meaning of the Hexagram and Line words with reference to
the Confucian Commentaries. He left no observations on the Hexagram Sequence per se.
Wang‘s text of the Zhou Yijing was adopted for the first of the ―Five Classic, Wujing 五經‖ the
canon on which the civil service examinations were based from the Tang Dynasty through the
early twentieth century.

The Zhou Yijing‘s prominence among the Five Classics led to a significant volume of
scholarly research and discussion. From the Tang onward, most of this work followed Wang
Bi‘s lead in attempting to explain the meaning of the book‘s wording. However, there was a
persistent effort to rediscover the ―lost‖ links among the Classic‘s words and its linear figures. A
by-product of that effort was the creation of theories about relationships among the Hexagrams
and new arrangements to illustrate them. Particularly important among these were depictions by
Shao Yong 邵雍 (1011-1077 A.D.) and Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130-1200 A.D.), developed from sources
outside the Zhou Yijing.xv These found their way into the state-sponsored orthodoxy by the Ming
Dynasty.xvi

Lai Zhide’s Observations

After struggling for 40 years to penetrate some of these extraneous layers, the Ming
Dynasty scholar Lai Zhide proposed a perspective from which the organizational principles of
the Hexagram Sequence can be extracted from the order itself.xvii His perspective begins with
the seemingly unequal division of the Sequence into two parts and identifies a basic structure
within them. Lai‘s observations suggest an approach that leads to a complete explanation of the
ordering principles in the Zhou Yijing Hexagram Sequence.

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 The foundation of Lai‘s thinking is the pairing of all 64 Hexagrams with either their
linear Invert or Opposite Hexagram mentioned at the outset. Most important to Lai, 58
Hexagrams, like the Hexagrams 3 and 4 in the Sequence, are placed next to neighbors that are
Inverted in terms of their linear composition.

Hexagram 3, 4

This relationship holds for all but Hexagrams 1 and 2; 27 and 28; 29 and 30; and 61 and
62. These eight, which Lai called ―Right (zheng 正) Hexagrams,‖ have no Inverts: they are the
same whether read top to bottom or bottom to top. Each of these eight is paired in the Sequence
with the Hexagram whose linear composition is Opposite to its own.

Hexagram 1, 2

The Xugua 序卦, the penultimate Confucian Commentary, view the Sequence as a
dynamic series set in motion by Hexagrams 1, Qian 乾, and 2, Kun 坤, synonymous with Heaven
and Earth from which are produced the ―myriad things.‖ Each of the succeeding Hexagrams is
treated as a state or condition that ―evolves‖ from its predecessor.xviii. The Xugua treats the order
of 64 Hexagrams as two subseries that parallel one another in an associative sense. The second
subseries begins with Hexagram 31, and its Hexagrams are said to evolve from man and woman
and the societal relationships arising from their union as husband and wife. xix

The Commentary‘s division into two subseries is also reflected in the presentation of the
Classic itself in Wang Bi‘s text and subsequent editions that followed it. The first 30 Hexagrams
are called the ―Upper Classic (shang jing上經).‖ Hexagrams 31 through 64 are called the
―Lower Classic (xia jing下經).‖

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 The uneven distribution of Hexagrams in the Upper and Lower Classics was Lai Zhide‘s
point of departure. It occurred, he said, because both members of the pair have a linear
configuration that is the same, only in a reciprocal presentation. These Invert pairs were meant
to be treated as a single complex of lines. xx

Lai said that if the Invert Hexagram pairs are taken as individual units and the Right
Hexagrams, which have no Inverts, are also each taken as a unit, the count of figures in the
Upper and Lower Classics evens out. There are 18 units, which we will call ―Stations,‖ in the
Upper Classic and 18 in the Lower. Lai‘s concept can be shown graphically with the upper
numbers denoting the Stations and the lower, the Hexagrams that occupy those stations (for
convenience below, ―Station‖ may be abbreviated ―S‖ and Hexagram, ―H.‖)

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 Lai made three more observations. One was the significant placement of the 8 Right
Hexagrams at the beginning and end of the Upper Classic and end of the Lower. These Right
Hexagrams are shown here as Stations 1, 2, 15, 16, 17, 18, 34, and 35:

Lai noted that these placements referenced the 4 Right Trigrams (the eight three-line Trigrams
are also referred to as gua 卦)—four of the eight three-line figures he and other Confucians
viewed as the raw materials from which Hexagrams were constructed.

乾 坤 坎 離

In the Sequence of 36 Stations, S1 is the Trigram Qian atop Qian, S2 is

Kun doubled. S17 and S18 are Doubled Kan and Doubled Li ,
respectively. The other four Right Stations are placed, according to Lai, by their visual similarity
to Kan and Li. S15 and S34, the first of each Opposite pair, have the ―image, xiang 象‖ of Li,
solid on the outsides and open in the middle. S16 and S35 have the ―image‖ of Kan.

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 Meanwhile, the last Station, S36, which is not a Right Hexagram Station, is the Trigram
Kan atop the Trigram Li. Thus, both the Upper and Lower Classic end with repeated references
to Kan and Li.

Lai was also interested in the first 12 Hexagrams of the Upper Classic and the Lower
Classic. He suggested that these placements were parallel, intended to highlight the Hexagrams
11, 12, 41, and 42. These, he believed were pivotal to the meaning of the Upper and Lower
Classic division.

H1 H2 H3 H4 H5 H6 H7 H8 H9 H10 H11 H12

H31 H32 H33 H34 H35 H36 H37 H38 H39 H40 H41 H42

The first 10 Hexagrams in each of these sets has 30 solid and 30 bipartite lines. To Lai,
this equal count repeated at the beginning of the Upper and Lower Classic represented the
balance of Yang and Yin, and proved, as the Xugua Commentary implied, that the Zhou Yijing‘s
visual structure was an imitation of nature. The Hexagram pairs 11 and 12 and H41 and H42,
were the ―Masters, zhu 主‖ of their respective Classics, and the Hexagrams that followed them in
each case issued from them.

H11, , and H12, are the only Hexagrams composed of the Trigrams Qian, ,
and Kun, , as their top and bottom three lines. They are thereby linked to H1, which is the
doubled Qian Trigram, and H2, doubled Kun. H41 and 42 are composed of the four non-Right
or Invertible, Trigrams, which Lai saw as dominating the meaning of the Lower Classic.

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 震 艮 巽 兌

H41 is Gen, , atop Dui, , H 42 is Xun, ,atop Chen, . . Lai noted that
H41 and H42 are Opposite in linear composition to the first two Hexagrams in the Lower
Classic, H31 and H 32 . These four Hexagrams are the four possible combinations of
the non-Right Trigrams. Thus, to Lai the two Classics begin in parallel arrays that highlight six
of the eight Hexagrams built uniquely from the Right Trigrams in the Upper Classic and in the
Lower Classic from the non-Right Trigrams. The other Hexagram similarly constituted is S36 at
the end of the Sequence, composed of the Trigrams Kan and Li.

Finally, Lai Zhide noted that there are eight more bipartite than solid lines in the Upper
Classic and vice-versa.

In these ways, Lai built upon the clear preference for pairing Opposites and Inverts in the
Hexagram Sequence and intuited a rational structure in the Zhou Yijing beyond the narrative in
the Xugua Commentary. He identified several elements in that structure: Yang and Yin line
count, Trigram considerations, and parallelism between placements in the Upper and Lower
Classics.

However, he stopped short of discovering further relationships in the Sequence, perhaps

because he continued to try to comprehend all 64 Hexagrams in his explanation. His theory
regarding the 60 Yang and Yin lines in the first ten Hexagrams of both the Upper and Lower
Classic suggests that Hexagrams rather than Stations were still influencing his thinking.

When instead we consider only the Stations in what might be called the ―Condensed
View,‖ we can carry Lai‘s analysis to a more complete picture of Zhou Yijing Hexagram
Sequence.

The Condensed View

The Condensed View comprises the 36 Stations displayed so that the first, or odd-
numbered, members of the Invert pairs is highlighted.

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 The Condensed View in this way assumes Inversion and, as will be seen, facilitates the
visualization of nine other consistent structural motifs. It draws attention to these motifs by its
selectivity in placing the members of the Invert pairs. That is, there are two possible Station
representations for each pair of Hexagrams.

H3 H4 S3 S3

If odd-numbered Hexagrams are used to represent the pairs, deciding how to place the pairs‘
members in the Sequence was a key choice in each instance. Here, the first of the two choices
was made, and the result is that H3 becomes S3 in the Condensed View. Were the order of this
Invert pair‘s members or those of any of its successors reversed, a different condensed view
would result. Visualizing some of the other structural principles discussed below is dependent in
the first instance on the 28 decisions that led to the orientation of the lines in each Station.

The Hexagram Sequence Ordering Principles

Three principles underlying the Hexagram Sequence were thus noted by Lai Zhide;
1) the pairing of Invert figures;
2) the pairing of Right Hexagrams with their Opposites; and
3) significant positioning of Right Hexagrams as bounds for the Hexagram
Sequence.

The Condensed View exposes seven other principles at work in the ordering of the Zhou Yijing
Hexagram Sequence. They are placement according to:

4) Odd-even associations of Yang and Yin;

5) Contrasted pairing of Stations according to line count;
6) Non-Right Station Opposites;
7)Accumulation and Dispersion Hexagrams;
8) Trigram Focus;
9) One-line Resolution; and
10) Parallelism in the Upper and Lower Classic.

Except for the ninth, these organizational principles reflect ideas explicit or implicit in the
Confucian Commentaries. The One-line Resolution relationship would seem to derive from the
kind of divination practice described in the Zuo Zhuan 左轉, a commentary on the Chunqiu
春秋, one of the ―Five Classics.‖xxi Principles one through three have been treated above with
reference to Lai Zhide‘s analysis; the remaining seven will be discussed individually below.

Principle 4: Odd-even associations of Yang and Yin:

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 The Xici 繫辭 Commentary says: ―Yang [Hexa- or Tri-]grams have more Yin; Yin [Hexa-
or Tri-]grams have more Yang.‖xxii That is, Stations with fewer solid than bipartite lines are
―Yang‖; Stations with fewer bipartite than solid lines are ―Yin.‖ The Xici Commentary also says:
―Heaven is one; Earth is two; Heaven is three; Earth is four; . . .Heaven is nine, Earth is ten.xxiii‖
That is, Yang, associated with Heaven, is odd; Yin, Earth, is even.

Applying these rules, we find that in the Condensed View, Yang Invert Pair or Right
Hexagram Stations occur in odd numbered stations; Yin Invert Pair or Right Hexagram Stations
occur in even numbered Stations. Net zeros—Stations with 3 solid and 3 bipartite Lines—are
neutral and appear to be used in either odd or even Stations with an eye toward maintaining the
general rules. S1 is all solid lines and thus assumed positive; S2 is all bipartite, thus, negative.
Otherwise, this principle is enforced in the Zhou Yijing order with only 2 exceptions: S25 and
S26. In the following graphic, Yang Stations are ―+‖; Yin Stations are ―- ‖; Stations with 3 Solid
and 3 Bipartite Lines are ―0.‖

The exception that S25 and S26 pose to this rule will figure in discussions of other
placement principles that follow (net line-count and Accumulation and Dispersion Hexagrams).

Pinciple 5: Contrasted pairing of Stations according to net line-count

One of Lai Zhide‘s intuitions was that relative line count in the opening sets of
Hexagrams in the Upper and Lower Classic was noteworthy. However, when solid lines are
counted as +1 and bipartite lines as -1 and the Net value of a Station is taken, a pattern of pairing
according to offsetting net values emerges across the entire Sequence:

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Possible net totals are +6 (S1 only); -6 (S2 only); +4 (3 Stations); -4 (3 Stations); -2 (9 Stations);
+2 (9 Stations); 0 (10 Stations). In the Condensed View, each net plus Station is paired
immediately with a net negative station with the exception of three sets. These contain S 11 (-2),
13 (-4), and 14 (-2); 25 (+4), 26 (-2), and 28 (+2); and S29 (-2) and S32 (+2). The pairing
principle was made to stand out clearly in the Upper Classic, where 12 of the 18 Stations are in
juxtaposed pairs. This was accomplished by using only three net-zero Stations in the Upper
Classic—one in the midst of four of the six +4 and -4 Stations (S5, S6, S8, and S9), and two in
the asymmetrical set S10 –S14. Seven net-zero Stations were thereby left to be distributed in the
Lower Classic. The Lower Classic compensates by having a net-zero Station at its beginning
and end, an asymmetrical set with two net-zero Stations, and a unique set that contains the only
two paired net-zero Stations, S30 and S31, between a -2 and a +2 Station, S29 and s32.

From this perspective, S 10-S14 and S24-S28 form the two asymmetrical sets of {0, -2, 0,
-4, +2} in the Upper Classic and {0, +4, -2, 0, +2} in the Lower Classic. In the Upper Classic,
two net-two Stations, S11 and S14, surround a net-four Station, S13. In the Lower Classic, the
net +4 Station, S25, does not come between the -2 and +2 Stations, S26 and S28. However, S25
and S26 are the only exceptions from the odd-even placement principle. S13 and S25 also
appear to be arranged with reference to Principle 7, the Accumulation and Dispersion motif, and
along with the Opposition of six of the ten members of these asymmetrical sets discussed in
Principle 6, it is reasonable to see S10-S14 and S24-S28 as analogous structures.

As for S29 and S32, they would seem to be paired in net line-count around the two net-
zero Stations in a correspondence involving S11 and S13, which are also separated by a net-zero
Station. S11 and S13 are directly across the Classic from S29 and S32 and are related to each
other as well from an Accumulation and Dispersion perspective (see Principle 7).

Principle 6: Non-Right Station Opposites; Parallel Placement in Upper and Lower Classics:
The eight Right Hexagram Stations are all paired with their linear Opposites and, as Lai
Zhide pointed out, positioned in the Sequence in a deliberate manner. In many cases, though, the
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28 non-Right Stations also appear to be organized with reference to their Opposites. S5 through
S9 is a set of five Stations that includes four of the six Stations comprised of 5 solid or 5 bipartite
lines. (S6 and S9 are not Opposites with matching orientation in the Condensed View; S9:H16,
the Invert member, is the matching Opposite of S6.):

S5 S6 S8 S9

These four are arranged around S7, one of the 4 self-Opposite Stations (i.e., an Invert pair whose
members are linear Opposites: here, S7:H11 , and S7:H12 .

In the Lower Classic, self-Opposite S30 (S30:H53 is Opposite S30:H54 ) plays

the same role as S7 in another set of 5 Stations, S29-33, whose other members are Opposite
pairs:

S29 S30 S31 S32 S33

S29-S33 does not have the symmetry of S5-S9 because S30 is not at the mid-point of the set.
However, were the positions of S30 and S31 exchanged, the odd-even placement rule would be
violated. Nonetheless, the intention that the two series be taken as parallel motifs is underscored
by their alignment as if to mirror one another across the two Classics. Each occupies positions
oriented to the central Stations of their respective ―Classic,‖ S10 in the Upper and S28 in the
Lower:

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 The same sort of mirroring has been seen in the Upper Classic and Lower Classic Net
Line-count sets S10-S14 and S24-S28. These two sets of five Stations are each also oriented to
S10 and S28, in this case by including them at their beginning, in the Upper, and end, in the
Lower Classic. Moreover, six of these 10 Stations are Opposite pairings: S13, S14, and S15 are
Opposite S25, S27, and S26, respectively (only S13 and S25 are matching Opposites in the
Condensed View):

When the Upper and Lower Classic Five Opposite and Net Line-count sets are shown
together, they occupy ten consecutive stations that abut the Right Hexagram Stations at the end
of both series:

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 Together, the Opposite pairings in these 20 Stations account for 9 of the 20 pairs) of non-
Right Opposites in the Hexagram Sequence and 2 of the 4 self-Opposite Stations. S36 is self-
Opposite, and the remaining self-Opposite is S10, at the midpoint of the Upper Classic. Thus,
including the specialized usage of S7 and S30 as anchors of the Five Opposite sets, all four of the
self-Opposite Stations are in significant positions.

Of the remaining Opposite pairs, S19 and S24 are the boundaries of Lai Zhide‘s Lower
Classic initial series of 10 Hexagrams. S22 and S23, while not matching Opposites in the
Condensed View, is the only adjacent pair of non-Right Opposite Stations. This pair is placed
between S19 and S24, and might in this way reflect the nestling of the self-Opposites S7 and S30
in the Opposites sets S5-S9 and S29-S33.

The Opposite pair S11 and S20 will figure in the discussion of Accumulation and
Dispersion Hexagrams. S4 and S22 (unmatched Opposites) are placed in directly parallel
positions across the Classic. S3 and S28 (unmatched Opposites) appear to fit into none of the 10
principles. However, S3 is the first of the non-Right Stations in the Sequence, and S28 is at the
midpoint of the Lower Classic.

Principle 7: “Accumulation and Dispersion” Hexagrams

In the Guaqi tu chart used with the Yi Lin twelve Hexagrams are assigned to the twelve
months of the year based on linear composition.

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Seven Stations in the Condensed View encompass the 12 A&D Hexagrams: S1, S2, S7, S11,
S13, S20, and S25. 4 of the 7 are directly parallel in placement in their respective Classics: S2
with S20 and S7 with S25.

It is also noteworthy that S11 and S20, S13 and S25 are oriented to display their
matching Opposition in the Condensed View, and members of the two pairs are shown in the
same sequential order in the Upper and Lower Classic.

S11 and S25 are the key figures in the Upper and Lower Classic net line-count sets and, if they
are thereby restricted as to placement, these four Stations are presented in a way that of various
possible combinations displays the greatest range of significant associations in the Hexagram
Sequence.

Integration of Accumulation and Dispersion Hexagrams and the two non-Right Doubled
Trigrams:
S11 is positioned directly across from S29 and S13 is across from S32. In the latter case,
there is a one Station displacement dictated by the odd-even rule because S13 is a Yang Station
and S32 is a Yin Station.

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S29 and S32 are the two Stations comprising doubled non-Right Hexagrams. In the Condensed
View, they are doubled Chen and doubled Xun . This placement of the two
doubled Trigrams across from S11 and S13 brings together two structural motifs: A&D
Hexagrams and the Trigram focus of Principle 8. The latter, particularly the non-Right
Trigrams, are a prominent theme in the Lower Classic that will be discussed next.

Furthering the parallel relationship, S11 has the ―image‖ of the Trigram Chen, solid on
the bottom and bipartite on top. Chen is associated with spring in the Shuogua Commentary,
ch.5.xxiv S11 is the first of the three A&D Hexagrams associated with spring.

Principle 8: Trigram Focus:

In the Condensed view, the distribution of Trigrams among the 72 top and bottom three-
line positions in all 36 Stations favors Qian and Kun in Upper Classic, Dui, Xun, and Gen in the
Lower, and Dui overall:

Dui Placements
The concentration of the Dui Trigram in the Lower Classic is focused on S 24-28, where
5 of its 10 appearances occur. In S25-S28, the lower trigrams are Qian, Kun, Kan, Li. This is the
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order in which those four, in their Doubled Right Hexagrams, appear in the Upper Classic as S1,
S2, S17, and S18.

S25-S28 are four of the five Stations in the Lower Classic‘s Net Line-count Set. S24, the
first of that set, has Dui as its lower trigram; so all 5 members of the set share that element.

In other placements of the Dui Trigram, it sits atop the first Station of Lower Classic,
S19. S19 is one of two Stations that combine the non-Right Trigrams top and bottom. In the
Condensed View, it is Gen on the bottom and Dui on top .

Across the Classic from S28, last of the Lower Classic Dui Trigram set, S10 also has Dui
on top. These two mark the midpoints of the Upper and Lower Classics. S10‘s neighbor, S11,
has Dui as its lower Trigram. This gives two of the Upper Classic Net Line-count set a Dui
component.

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 The two remaining appearances of Dui are in the Right Hexagram Stations S16 and S34;
these are Right Hexagram Stations and placed according to their own rule.

Xun Placements
The Xun Trigram is the Invert of the Dui Trigram. Five of the 9 appearances of Xun are
in S30-S34, where S32 is the Doubled Trigram Xun. As with the Dui Trigram in S25-S28, 4 of
these are in the top Trigram position. (S29, which we have linked across the Classic to the A&D
Station S11, does not contain Xun, nor does S31.)

Sets of 3 Stations Xun, Kan, and Qian Trigrams

S32–S34 are three adjacent Stations with the Trigram Xun as their upper three lines.
These three are two from the end of the Sequence of 36 Stations. There are two other sets of
three Stations containing a shared Trigram: S3-S5, two from the beginning of the Sequence of
36 Stations, have the Right Trigram Kan as their lower, upper, and upper trigrams respectively.
This set mirrors S32-S34 across the two Classics.

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 The next three Stations after S3-S5, S6-S8 all contain the Trigram Qian. Aside from the
Dui set, S24-S28, there are no other instances of Trigram sharing by three contiguous Stations.

Principle 9: One-line Resolution:

The way in which Zhou Yijing divination information was originally accessed is another
aspect of its history that has not been clearly transmitted. The Xici describes what appears to be
a multi-step manipulation of yarrow stalks to derive the Lines that add up to a Hexagram and
determine which ones ―Resolve bian 變.‖ By ―Resolve‖ is meant a resolution of a solid line into
a bipartite line or vice-versa. These Resolving line or lines are believed to carry the divination
information relevant to the user‘s question. But the meaning of this section of the Xici
Commentary was unclear and continually debated.

However the yarrow stalks were used, later scholars accepted that multiple lines could
Resolve a Hexagram into all 63 of the remaining ones.xxv The coin method that replaced the
yarrow stalks for the most partxxvi similarly leads to the probability of multiple line changes.

In the Zuo Zhuan, there are numerous examples of Zhou Yijing divination, and in none of
them does more than one line Resolve. Perhaps a different method of determining what
divination information would be accessed than that later associated with yarrow stalks or coins.
At any rate, a Hexagram offers only one bit of information per divination and points to only six
other Hexagrams. In the Zuo Zhuan this relationship between Hexagrams is indicated by the
phrase ―Resolves to, zhi 之,‖ as in Hexagram A ―Resolves to‖ Hexagram B. The words
associated with the single ―resolving line‖ are then cited and interpreted, usually with reference
to the two Hexagrams‘ component Trigrams.

The Hexagram Sequence in the Condensed View has one piece of its puzzle that we have
not yet accounted for, and the One-Line Resolution relationship offers a convincing prospect for
addressing it.

19
 S3 and S4 and S21-S23 come near the beginning of their respective ―Classics.‖ These
sets are in parallel positions across the Classics; they end at the Upper Classic Five Opposite (in
Principle 6) and Lower Classic net line-count sets (Principle 5) proposed above. What these
Stations share in common is that they are 5 of the 6 Stations that result from one of the lines of
S36 resolving from solid to bipartite or vice-versa. All but one of them are oriented to make this
relationship visible in the Condensed View.

S36, , ―Resolving‖ in the third place becomes , S3; ―Resolving‘ in the second place
becomes , S4; ―Resolving‖ in the 5th place becomes , S21 (the only Station among S36
one-line resolution Stations where it is necessary to look at the Invert, S21:H36 );
th
―Resolving‖ in the 6 place becomes S22, ; and ―Resolving‖ in the first place becomes S23,
.

The remaining one-line resolution of S36 is S28, , the midpoint of the Lower Classic
and the last of the set S24-S28 in the Dui Trigram and net line-count sets.

The parallel placement of these Stations may also be reinforced by Opposition, as mentioned
above.

20
S36 is self-Opposite. S4 is Opposite S21 and parallel across Upper and Lower Classic with a
one Station displacement in keeping with Principle 4. S4 is a Yin Hexagram and in an even-
numbered place; S21 is Yang and in an odd place. S22 and S23 are the only adjacent pair of
non-Right Opposite Stations. S3, the first of the non-Right Stations in the Sequence, is Opposite
S28, the midpoint of the Lower Classic.

Principle 10: Parallelism in Upper and Lower Classic

Instances of parallel placement have been noted above as integral to Principle 3), Lai
Zhide‘s Right Hexagram framework for the Upper and Lower Classic. Parallelism has also been
seen in Principles 5) Contrasted pairing of Stations according to line count; 6) Non-Right Station
Opposites; 7) ―Accumulation and Dispersion Hexagrams; 8) Trigram Focus; and 9) One-line
Resolution.

Grammatical and imagistic parallelism are standard features of diction in the classical
Chinese used in the Yizhing‘s Confucian Commentaries. The division of the Xugua Commentary
into a first section that speaks of ―Heaven and Earth‖ and a second that corresponds with
references to ―male and female‖ may reflect the same preference visible in the linear structure of
the Hexagram Sequence.

Summary:
Ten structural Principles have been identified in the Zhou Yijing Hexagram Sequence
with reference to a Condensed View in which the 64 Hexagrams are seen as 36 Stations. A
Station is an individual Right Hexagram, such as the first two Hexagrams, or a pair of
Hexagrams whose linear configurations are inverted, such as Hexagrams 3 and 4. The ten
Principles are:

1) Pairing of Invert figures;

2) Pairing of Right Hexagrams with their Opposites;
3) Right Hexagrams as bounds for the Hexagram Sequence;
4) Odd-even associations of Yang and Yin;
5) Contrasted pairing of Stations according to line count;
6) Non-Right Station Opposites;
7) Accumulation and Dispersion Hexagrams;
8) Trigram Focus;
9) One-line Resolution; and
10) Parallelism in the Upper and Lower Classic.

Principles one and two are applied in all cases. Principle four and five seem applied with
one exception that in both cases involves Station 25. These four appear ―axiomatic‖ in their
usage. Principle three provides an overarching organizational framework by grouping six of the
eight Right Hexagrams at the ends of the two Classics and arranging four of them—S15, S16,
S34, and S35—so that S15 and S34 correspond by sharing the ―image‖ of the Trigram Li, and
S16 and S34 share the ―image‖ of Kan. Principles six through ten are motifs distributed within
that Right Hexagram framework and generally subservient to the four ―axioms.‖

21
 The table below displays how each Station (1-36 in the left column) reflects in its
placement structural Principles 3 through 10 (indicated across the top row) proposed for the
Hexagram Sequence:

22
Princ. 3:Right 4:Yang/ 4:Odd/ 5:Net 6:Non 6:Other 7: A&D 8: 8:Other 9:S36
Hex/Sta: Yin Even Line- Right Opp (P)arallel Trigm Trigram 1 ln
Sta 2xTrgrm, count Opp: Dui Res.,
‗image‘ Sets #=Δ
1 2xQian Yang (Yang) +6 (No P)
2 2xKun Yin (Yin) -6 P:S20
3 Yang Odd -2 S28i KanT L3
4 Yin Even +2 S21i KanT L2
5 Yang Odd -4 S8 KanB
6 Yin Even +4 S9i QianB
7 Neutral 0 Self P:S25 Qian+Kun
8 Yin Even +4 S5 QianT
9 Yang Odd -4 S6i
10 Neutral 0 Self Top
11 Yang Odd -2 S20 i ‗P‘:S29 Bot
12 Neutral 0 S27i
13 Yang Odd -4 S25 ‗P‘:S32!
14 Yin Even +2 S26i
15 ‗Kan‘ Yang Odd -2 Top
16 ‗Li‘ Yin Even +2
17 2xKan Yang Odd -2
18 2xLi Yin Even +2
19 Neutral 0 S24 Top Gen+Dui
20 Yin Even +2 S11 i P:S2
21 Yang Odd -2 S4 i L5i
22 Yin Even +2 S23 i L6
23 Yang Odd -2 S22 i L1
24 Neutral 0 S19 Bot Dui+Gen
25 Yin Odd* +4 S13 P:S7 Top
26 Yang Even* -2 S14i Top
27 Neutral 0 S12i Top
28 Yin Even +2 S3 i Top L4
29 Yang Odd -2 S32 2xChen
30 Neutral 0 Self Xun Top
31 Neutral 0 S33
32 Yin Even +2 S29 2xXun
33 Neutral 0 S31 Xun Top
34 ‗Kan‘ Yin Even +2 Bot Xun Top
35 ‗Li‘ Yang Odd -2
36 Neutral 0 Self Li + Kan
*exception to Yang/Yin, odd/even rule
i requires Invert to see in Condensed View
!parallel at one Station displacement
‗P‘ A&D parallel to Doubled non-Right Trigram
Gray shading indicates the major parallel sets within Principle 5, 6, and 9.

Invert pairs are represented in the Condensed View by their first member in the
Hexagram Sequence—i.e., Hexagram 3 is the Station comprising the first Invert pair. The
choice for the first member of each Invert pair creates an orientation in each Station that
facilitates comparison with other Stations in the Condensed View and makes Principles six
through ten stand out.

23
 For example, the visualization of Principle 7, Accumulation and Dispersion, is sharpened
by the matching orientation of the Opposite pairs S11 and S20 and S13 and S25. Because all
four of these Stations are non-Right figures, their integration into the A&D structural motif
would not be as obvious if their linear orientation as a Station were reversed. Similarly,
consistent orientation is essential to exposing the Dui Trigram cluster S25-28 and the Xun focus
of S30-S34. Finally, five of the six one-line resolutions of S36 in Principle 9 share a matching
orientation.

The Upper and Lower Classic parallelism posed by Principle 10 further reinforces by
repetition the identification of structural motifs. The Right Hexagram framework that is
Principle 3 is an example of direct parallelism, in which Stations or groupings of Stations are
immediately across the Classic from one another. In the seven Accumulation and Dispersion
Hexagram Stations, S2 and S7 are directly parallel across the Classic to S20 and S25. S11 and
S13 occupy parallel positions to the two doubled non-Right Trigrams Chen S29 and Gen S32 in
the Lower Classic. In terms of Trigram focus, both S28, last of the cluster S25-S28 having Dui
as their upper Trigram, is directly across the Classic from S10, which also has Dui as its top three
lines and is the first of the corresponding net line-count group in the Upper Classic.

There are also examples of mirroring, in which sets would be parallel (with a one Station
displacement discussed below) if the sequence were folded over on itself. The Upper and Lower
net line-count groups, S10-S14 and S24-S28, are in mirroring positions, as are the two sets of
five non-Right Opposites, S5-S9 and S29-S33.

Principles four through ten are subject to exceptions that have been noted. S25 and S26
are the lone exceptions to the rule of odd-even Yang-Yin placement, and they also figure into the
only exception to offsetting net line-count pairings. In the latter, S25 and S26 are members of
the group S24-S28, which balances the set S10-S14 in net-line count. S13 and S25 are also the
reason for the disparity in Yang-Yin line count between the Upper and Lower Classics noted by
Lai Zhide. The differential in line count they create makes the twofold division of the Sequence
conform to the Xici Commentary definition that informs Principle 4: with more Yin lines, the
Upper Classic is Yang, and it is in the first, odd-numbered place. Together, these dynamics
suggest that S13 and S25 are exceptions that ―prove rules,‖ standing out by design to highlight
the patterns in which they figure.

Another apparent exception is the one-Station displacement toward to end of the Lower
Classic of the net line-count and non-Right Opposite sets vis-à-vis their partners in the Upper
Classic. However, this choice appears to have been made with reference to the framework of
Right Hexagram Stations that end both series and give rise to the disparate number of
Hexagrams in the two subseries. In both Classics, the sets defined by net line-count and non-
Right Opposition constitute 10 consecutive Stations that end when the Right Hexagrams begin.
Because the Lower Classic culminates with the Invert pair S36:H63 and S36:H64, there are four
Hexagrams at each Classic‘s end but only three Stations in the Lower Classic compared to four
in the Upper. As a result, the Lower Classic is left with five places at its beginning while the
Upper Classic has four. The latter three of the five remaining places in the Lower and the third
and fourth in the Upper make room for the one-line resolution split set of S3 and 4 in the Upper

24
Classic and, across from them in the Lower, S21-S23. Thus the three types of sets are arrayed
one after the other through the course of the Upper and Lower Classics, and the seeming
anomaly contributes to neatly filling out the two parallel subseries.

Together the structural Principles are manifest in the positioning of each Station with at
least four Principles applying in the cases of some of the Right Hexagram Stations (Principles 2,
3 ,4 , and 5 in Station 1, for example). As many as seven Principles are invoked in the placement
of Stations like S3 and S4 (Principles 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10). The result is a matrix of
relationships that offers a multi-layered logic for the placement of each Station.

Conclusion
Echoing Wang Bi, Lai Zhihde lamented that ―the Yi‘s images have lost their
transmission.‖xxvii One of the ―images‖ that he sought to retrieve was the significance of the
division of the Zhou Yijing into two ―Classics.‖ He inferred that there was more to the
Hexagram Sequence than was immediately apparent, and his analysis pointed in the direction of
the Condensed View of 36 Stations derived from the choices made in ordering the members of
Invert Hexagram pairs. From that perspective, the Hexagram Sequence displays a tightly
contrived network of relationships within the Upper and Lower Classics and corresponding
across them through parallel placement of Stations in groupings that share structural motifs.
These structural motifs reflect ten principles that illustrate the Confucian Commentaries ideas of
Yin-Yang as well as calendrical considerations further refined in the Guaqi tu arrangement used
in the Yilin. One motif is also associated with divination practice ascribed to the Yijing in
another canonical work, the Zuo Zhuan.

Lai‘s overall objective was to link the words associated with the Hexagrams and Lines
with the linear figures, and, as did Wang Bi, Cheng Yi, Zhu Xi and other commentators, he
employed a variety of strategies in his explanations. He alluded extensively to Opposite and
Invert relationships in particular, the latter being supported by several instances in which Line
words are the same in corresponding positions of Invert pairs. Both H41, Line 5 and H42, Line 2
say, ―Huo yi zhi shipeng gui 或益之十朋龜 ,‖ for example. Thus, the Invert relationship appears
somehow to bear on the word choices for those Lines.

Whether the additional relationships proposed from the Condensed View might be
reflected in the Yijing‘s wording is a subject for further research. The Zhou Yijing Sequence may
be independent of the Yijing‘s wording like the Mawangdui and Bagong orders—it may simply
have resulted from an exercise in deploying the 64 figures in a manner that proved aesthetically
satisfying.

However, it would seem from language attributed to the Yijing in the Zuo Zhuanxxviii,
differences in the Mawangdui text noted above, and an apparent citation in the Shiji 史記,xxix that
the Yijing‘s phrasing had not stabilized into the second century B.C. Perhaps a final round of
editing that resulted in the text passed along through Wang Bi was done in concert with the
alignment of the Hexagram Sequence. Unique correspondences in some Hexagram and Line
wording might then be matched to individual linear relationships among the Sequence‘s

25
structural motifs. The probability that those correspondences were better than random in
occurrence could be evaluated to consider whether the Yijing’s Words might be linked to any of
the other proposed Principles as they are at times to Inversion.

Another possibility is that the Hexagram Sequence was developed by the same scholar(s)
who joined the Confucian Commentaries to the Zhou Yijing. The discursive material appended
to the Mawangdui manuscript contains much of what became the Xici Commentary. However,
the chapter on divination cited above does not appear. There is no Tuan Commentary, which is
the origin of the xiaoxi concept. There is no Shuogua Commentary, which with the Tuan and
Xiang (also not present in the Mawangdui ms.) Commentaries draw attention to Trigram
influences in the Hexagram and Line Words. And there is no Xugua Commentary, which maps
out the Hexagram Sequence as it appears in the Zhou Yijing in two subseries.xxx

In addition, while the Mawangdui text‘s Yi zhi yi section mentions some of the
Hexagrams in their Xugua Commentary order, it does not do so in all cases or deal with the
majority of the Hexagrams. Perhaps segments of what became the Hexagram Sequence existed
in ideas about the Hexagrams like those contained in the Yi zhi yi, and the remaining decisions
that resulted in the received Hexagram order came closer to the time of the Yilin, when the
Sequence is first seen. Be that as it may, the Mawangdui manuscript‘s missing treatises appear
in the received Yijing text with the Hexagram Sequence. Those treatises show interests in the
themes indentified in the structural motifs of the Hexagram Sequence, and these coinciding
factors suggest a shared origin.

Thus, the text that Wang Bi inherited may have coalesced around a new edition of the
Zhou Yijing produced some time in the first century B.C.xxxi That text, which became the
primary Yijing configuration, finalizes the wording of the Hexagrams and Lines, presents revised
and expanded Confucian Commentaries, and arranges the Hexagrams with reference to
principles found in the Commentaries and related lore. However, the rationale behind the
Hexagram Sequence, which is difficult to perceive without the Condensed View abstracted
above, was not recorded therein. Its ―transmission‖ was seemingly ―lost‖ by the time of Wang
Bi three centuries later.

i
The question of who put the Hexagrams in their Zhou Yijing order seems to have been subsumed in discussion of
who might first have produced the six-line figures or who wrote the ―Xu Gua序卦” Commentary. Wen Wang

文王, founder of the Zhou 周 Dynasty was the earliest candidate for building the three-line gua, ―Trigrams,‖ into
Hexagrams. Authorship of the Xugua has usually been ascribed to Confucius. See Wang Qiongshan王瓊珊, Yixue

Tonglun 易學通論, (Taibei: Guangwen shuju, 1962), 15-27 for the various theories on the matter.
ii
Edward L. Shaughnessy, I Ching The Classic of Changes (New York: Ballantine Books, 1996), 17.
iii
Lai‘s life and thought is treated in Larry J. Schulz, ―Lai Chih-te (1525-1604) and the Phenomenology of the
‗Classic of Change‘ (I Ching),‖ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Princeton, 1982).
The Tuan 彖, (Da)xiang大象, (Xiao)xiang, 小象, Wenyan 文言, Xici 繫辭, Shuogua 說卦, Xugua 序卦, and
iv

Zagua 雜卦. The first three of these are interspersed among the Words of the 64 Hexagrams and Lines; the

26
Wenyan is in two sections attached to Hexagrams one and two. The last four Commentaries are appended to the text
of the Classic.
v
Shaughnessy, 16.
vi
Shaughnessy, 17 and 28-29.
vii
Shaughnessy, 23
viii
Shaughnessy, 214-217.
See Pi Xijui 皮錫瑞, Jingxue Tonglun經學通論 (Taibei: Taiwan Sahngju Shuju, 1969), 7 and also note xix
ix

below.
Ma Guohan 馬國翰, collected the fragments and other pertinent materials in Yuhanshanfang Ji Yishu
x

玉函山房輯佚書 (1853), ch. 1-41.

See Huang Zongxi 黃宗羲 Yixue Xiangshu Lun 易學象數論 (Taibei: Guangwen Shuju: 1974), ch. 2, 27a-29b.
xi

xii
Wang Qiongshan discusses theories of Guaqi tu authorship, op. cit., 33.
xiii
See Larry J. Schulz and Thomas J. Cunningham, ―The Seasonal Structure Underlying the Arrangement of
Hexagrams in the Yijing,‖ Journal of Chinese Philosophy 17 (1990), 289-291.).
xiv
Wang says that the Yijing‘s images had ―altogether lost their origins, yi shi qi zhuan 一失其傳‖ in the

Mingxiang 明象 chapter of his Zhouyi Lueli 周易略例 in Zhouyi Wang Han zhu 周易王韓注, (Taibei: Taiwan
Zhonghua Shuju, 1969), 10.10a
e.g., Shao Yong‘s ―Fuxi 64 Hexagram Order,‖ Fuxi liushisi gua cixu 伏羲六十四卦次序, included in the
xv

prefatory material of Zhu Xi‘s Yi Benyi 易本義 (Taibei: Shijie Shuju, 1972), 7; and Zhu Xi‘s own ―Hexagram

Transformation Chart,‖ Guabian tu 卦變圖, ibid., 9. Zhu Xi‘s book, along with Cheng Yi‘s 程頤 Yizhuan 易傳,

became the most influential work on the Zhou Yijing. Hu Wei胡渭 discusses the provenance of these charts in

Yitu Mingbian易圖明辨 Taibei: Guangwen Shuju, 1971), ch. 7 and 9.

Through the Zhouyi Dachuan 周易大全 , edited by Hu Guang胡廣 and published in 1415. This required text
xvi

included Cheng Yi‘s and Zhu Xi‘s texts in their entireties along with selections from other scholars.
xvii
See Larry J. Schulz, ―Structural Motifs in the Arrangement of the 64 Gua in the Zhouyi,‖ Journal of Chinese
Philosophy 17 (1990), 345-355.
xviii
For example, the Xugua begins: ―There being Heaven and Earth, thereafter the myriad things were born. What
fills the midst of Heaven and Earth are only the myriad things. Thus they evolve into Zhun 屯 [Hexagram 3]. Zhun
means ―filling.‖ Zhun means the first birth of things. When things are born, they must be naïve; thus it evolves into
Meng 蒙 [Hexagram 4]. Meng means ―naivete.‖
有天地然後萬物生焉盈天地之間者唯萬物故受之以屯屯者盈也屯者物之始生也物生必蒙故
受之以蒙”
xix
―There being Heaven and Earth, thereafter there were the myriad things. There being the myriad things, thereafter
there were man and woman. . . , 有天地然後有萬物有萬物然後有男女. . . .”
xx
Lai‘s ideas on the Hexagram Sequence are found in ―Shangxiajing Pianyi 上下經篇義,” zhuan shou shang, 1a-

3a, in Lai Zhide, Qinding Siku Quanshu Zhouyi Jizhu 欽定四庫全書周易集註 (Taibei: Shangwu Shuju, 1973).

27
 The editors of the Siku Quanshu Zongmu 四庫全書總目, ch.1, 2b, in Yixue Lunzong 易學論叢 (Taibei:
xxi

Guangwen Shuju, 1971) noted that ―The oracles recorded in the Zuo Zhuan are seemingly the remnants of the
method of the Grand Diviner, 左轉所記註占蓋猶太卜之遺法,‖ the Grand Diviner being the chief of the

divination bureau as described in the Zhouli 周禮 , ch. 17, 5b in 周禮鄭注 (Taibei: Xinxing Shuju, 1972).
xxii
楊卦多陰陰卦多陽 , Xici xia, ch. 4.
xxiii
天一地二天三地四. . .天九地十Xici shang, ch. 9.
Where Chen is placed in the east, and Dui, in the west, is called ―mid autumn, zheng qiu 正秋.”
xxiv

xxv
This idea underlay Zhu Xi‘s guabian theory depicted in the chart mentioned in note vii and alluded to in Zhu‘s
commentary on the Hexagrams passim.
xxvi
Familiar to readers of the Richard Wilhelm, Cary F. Baynes translation The I Ching (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1969, 725-726.
xxvii
象失其傳, Lai, zixu, 2a.
xxviii
Yan Lingfeng 嚴靈峰 lists these in Yixue Xinlun 易學新論 (Taibei: Zhengzhong Shuju, 1971), 131-133.

In his preface to the Shiji, Sima Qian 司馬遷 quotes the ―Yi‖ as saying, ―失之毫厘差以千里, Miss by a
xxix

hair‘s breadth, off by a thousand miles.‖ (In Guwen Guanzhi 古文觀止 [Taibei: Zhonghua Shuju, 1970], ch. 5,
41.) He follows immediately with a line that is contained in the Wenyan Commentary for Kun, Hexagram 2 and
associated with that Hexagram‘s Line 1: 古曰臣殺君子弒父非一旦一夕之故也其漸久矣. Thus it says,
‗An official assassinating his lord, a son killing his father are not the results of a single morning and a single
evening; they come on gradually over a long time.‘‖ This juxtaposition raises the question of whether the first quote
might have been the first line of Kun in the Yijing known to Sima Qian, who died in 86 B.C.
xxx
Shaughnessy, p.20-21.
Pi Xijui, p. 23, sees Fei Zhi 費直 who was prominent in the last 30 years of the first century, B.C., as the first
xxxi

Yijing interpreter to use the Confucian Commentaries as we have since known them in his teaching. Pi also links
Wang Bi in a line of master-disciple succession back to Fei Zhi. One of Fei‘s only surviving written works is a
preface to the Yilin (in the Sibu Beiyao edition, Taibei: Zhonghua Shuju, 1970). So in terms of place and time as
well as inclinations harmonious with the Hexagram Sequence‘s structural principles, Fei might be a candidate for
chief editor of the Zhou Yijing.

28