I Ching 101 - Lesson 13
The Sixty-Four Hexagrams
When one trigram is place on top of another, a hexagram is formed. Since there are eight different trigrams, the total number of hexagrams that can be
formed is 8 x 8 = 64.
A yang yao in a hexagram is called a "nine" while a yin yao is called a "six".
For example, In the following hexagram formed by placing the trigram Water on top of the trigram Wind, we count the yaos from bottom to top. The trigram Water is called the Upper Gua while the trigram Wind is called the Lower Gua.
There are different ways of arranging the order of the 64 hexagrams. In the original I Ching they are divided into an Upper Text and a Lower Text. The names of the hexagrams are indicative in Chinese. If we translate the names into English by the pronunciation of the words the meaning is already lost. Therefore, we shall omit the names of the hexagram altogether.
| Upper Text |
| 1) Heaven on Heaven |
(2) Earth on Earth |
| (3) Water on Thunder |
(4) Mountain on Water |
| (5) Water on Heaven |
(6) Heaven on Water |
| (7) Water on Earth |
(8) Earth on Water |
| (9) Wind on Heaven |
(10) Heaven on Marsh |
| (11) Earth on Heaven |
(12) Heaven on Earth |
| (13) Heaven on Fire |
(14) Fire on Heaven |
| (15) Earth on Mountain |
(16) Thunder on Earth |
| (17) Marsh on Thunder |
(18) Mountain on Wind |
| (19) Earth on Marsh |
(20) Wind on Earth |
| (21) Fire on Thunder |
(22) Mountain on Fire |
| (23) Mountain on Earth |
(24) Earth on Thunder |
| (25) Heaven on Thunder |
(26) Mountain on Heaven |
| (27) Mountain on Thunder |
(28) Marsh on Wind |
| (29) Water on Water |
(30) Fire on Fire |
|
| Lower Text |
| (31) Marsh on Mountain |
(32) Thunder on Wind |
| (33) Heaven on Mountain |
(34) Thunder on Heaven |
| (35) Fire on Earth |
(36) Earth on Fire |
| (37) Wind on Fire |
(38) Fire on Marsh |
| (39) Water on Mountain |
(40) Thunder on Water |
| (41) Mountain on Marsh |
(42) Wind on Thunder |
| (43) Marsh on Heaven |
(44) Heaven on Wind |
| (45) Marsh on Earth |
(46) Earth on Wind |
| (47) Marsh on Water |
(48) Water on Wind |
| (49) Marsh on Fire |
(50) Fire on Wind |
| (51) Thunder on Thunder |
(52) Mountain on Mountain |
| (53) Wind on Mountain |
(54) Thunder on Marsh |
| (55) Thunder on Fire |
(56) Fire on Mountain |
| (57) Wind on Wind |
(58) Marsh on Marsh |
| (59) Wind on Water |
(60) Water on Marsh |
| (61) Wind on Marsh |
(62) Thunder on Mountain |
| (63) Water on Fire |
(64) Fire on Water |
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