Changing hexagrams: moving lines, returning support and returning control

Four terms to keep separate

The primary hexagram is the original cast. A moving line is an old yin or old yang line within it. The resulting hexagram is the figure after those lines flip. A changed line is the line at that same position in the resulting figure.

Young yin and young yang stay as they are. With no movement, there is only a static primary hexagram. The everyday phrase “changing one’s mind” is not a technical explanation of these line relationships.

Four steps to build the change

Write the six original lines from bottom to top. Mark the moving positions. Flip yin to yang and yang to yin only at those positions. Read the new lower and upper trigrams to identify the resulting hexagram.

When assigning branches to changed lines, use the resulting trigrams’ Na Jia assignments. When assigning their relationship categories, keep the primary hexagram’s palace element as the reference. Replacing it with the resulting hexagram’s palace would change the comparison being made.

Returning generation and returning control

In the rule described by Zeng Shan Bu Yi, a changed line acts back on its own original moving line. It does not freely generate or control every other line in the chart.

If the changed element generates the original element, this is returning generation or support. If it controls the original, it is returning control. If the original generates the changed line, the direction is the reverse and should not be mislabeled as support coming back.

For example, an original Metal line changing to Fire is controlled by the changed Fire. An original Wood line changing to Water receives generation from Water. The reference table below lists all five elements and the corresponding branch groups.

Advancing and retreating

Traditional advance pairs include Hai→Zi, Yin→Mao, Si→Wu, Shen→You, Chou→Chen, Chen→Wei and Wei→Xu; retreat pairs reverse them. The source gives fourteen directional pairs in total.

These are textual rules. The actual combination of trigrams and moving positions determines which branch changes can occur under the implementation. The reference table distinguishes the source list from structurally possible changes instead of assuming every written pair appears in a cast.

Advance is not automatically good and retreat is not automatically bad. In the traditional interpretation, advancing a helpful role and advancing an obstructive role would be read differently.

Zhu Xi’s separate method for reading texts

This table summarizes the convention attributed to Zhu Xi’s Yi Xue Qi Meng. It is not a replacement for Na Jia line analysis, and the two systems should be named rather than blended without explanation.

A reproducible classical example

The worked example is Shi He, Fire over Thunder, changing to Bi, Water over Earth, from Zeng Shan Bu Yi’s advance/retreat chapter. Lines 1, 4, 5 and 6 move. The article uses 2023-03-08 to reproduce the Mao-month, Yi-Chou-day context while demonstrating the structure; it does not claim this modern date is the historical consultation date.

The full line table below derives the original and changed branches, elements and relationships from the engine. It illustrates the method without importing the book’s outcome as evidence of this product’s predictive ability.

Product boundaries

The result page shows primary assignments, Self/Other, Six Spirits, moving lines and the resulting name and figure. Changed-line branches, returning generation/control and advance/retreat are discussed in interpretation rather than presented as a complete automatic result classification.

This teaching table computes the relevant comparisons for inspection. Do not infer that every table in an educational article is already a separate feature on the result page.