Monday, 19 February 2007
The Yilin in 2007
But recently I see an increased interest in the Yilin. Many people like the use of the Yilin as a tool for finding the common denominator with multiple moving lines in a hexagram. In a typical reading with the Yijing you often have multiple moving lines, and a lot of users find many moving lines confusing to work with, especially when the texts of the lines seem to contradict (there is nothing contradictory about them if you take the position of each line into account, but most users are not aware of this). The Yilin condenses all these moving lines to one cryptic poem with rich imagery. For instance, when hexagram 4 changes into 53, you can read this poem:
烏飛無翼
兔走折足
雖欲會同
未得己惑。
A crow flies without wings
A rabbit walks but breaks its foot
Although the desires are the same
You have not yet finished your own uncertainty.
Or something like that. Translating is difficult because you have to find out what a character or phrase meant during the Han dynasty.
However, the use of the Yilin as a reducer of texts is not the original function of the book, even though in China they also use it for this purpose (see Deng Qiubai 邓球柏; "白话焦氏易林", p. 13). Originally the Yilin uses a calendar which is attributed to Meng Xi 孟喜, in which every Chinese month is connected with five hexagrams (see Fung Yu-lan, A History of Chinese Philosophy, Vol. II, p. 107. Please note that Fung's table contains errors). Four hexagrams are connected with the solstices and equinoxes. If we connect this calendar to the current year 2007, we get the following table:
Start date |
Hexagrams |
|||
| 立春 | Feb | 4 | 62.1, 4, 42.3 | |
| 雨水 | Feb | 19 | 42.4, 53, 11.6 | |
| 啓蟄 (驚蟄) | Mar | 6 | 5.1, 17, 35.3 | |
| 21 Mar: 51 | ||||
| 春分 | Mar | 22 | 35.4, 40, 34.6 | |
| 清明 | Apr | 5 | 16.1, 6, 18.3 | |
| 穀雨 | Apr | 20 | 18.4, 49, 43.6 | |
| 立夏 | May | 6 | 56.1, 7, 8.3 | |
| 小滿 | May | 21 | 8.4, 9, 1.6 | |
| 芒種 | Jun | 6 | 14.1, 37, 48.3 | |
| 22 Jun: 30 | ||||
| 夏至 | Jun | 23 | 48.4, 31, 44.6 | |
| 小暑 | Jul | 7 | 50.1, 55, 59.3 | |
| 大暑 | Jul | 23 | 59.4, 10, 33.6 | |
| 立秋 | Aug | 8 | 32.1, 60, 13.3 | |
| 處暑 | Aug | 23 | 13.4, 41, 12.6 | |
| 白露 | Sep | 8 | 57.1, 45, 26.3 | |
| 23 Sep: 58 |
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| 秋分 | Sep | 24 | 26.4, 22, 20.6 | |
| 寒露 | Oct | 9 | 54.1, 25, 36.3 | |
| 霜降 | Oct | 24 | 36.4, 47, 23.6 | |
| 立冬 | Nov | 8 | 52.1, 63, 21.3 | |
| 小雪 | Nov | 23 | 21.4, 28, 2.6 | |
| 大雪 | Dec | 7 | 64.1, 39, 27.3 | |
| 22 Dec: 29 | ||||
| 冬至 | Dec | 23 | 27.4, 61, 24.6 | |
| 小寒 | Jan | 6 | 3.1, 15, 38.3 | |
| 大寒 | Jan | 20 | 38.4, 46, 19.6 | |
A little explanation will help. The first Chinese month starts with solar term (jieqi 節氣) lichun 立春, which commences on February 4th. On February 4th hexagram 62 begins, with the first line (62.1 means 'the 1st line of 62, 42.3 means 'the 3rd line of 42, etc.) although this is not really important. Every hexagram governs six days. So 5-Feb is 62 (2nd line), 6-Feb is 62 (3rd line etc.), 7-Feb is 62, 8-Feb is 62, 9-Feb is 62, 10-Feb is 4 (1st line), (...), 19-Feb is 42 (4th line), etc. The days which have a solstice or equinox have the appropriate hexagram: March 21st has 51, June 22nd has 30, etc.
[update 20:00: Data gathered from here, here, here, He Shiqiang 何世強; "京房易占術語詳解", p. 2/8-2/10; Deng Qiubai 邓球柏; "白话焦氏易林", p. 11-13. It is possible that in other calenders some starting dates of jieqi differ one day because if the real start of that jieqi is in the afternoon the starting day will be the next day.]
How do you use this calendar? Suppose that today, February 19th, you cast hexagram 49. Then you look in the Yilin for hexagram 49 under hexagram 42 ('益之革'):
雀行求粒
誤入網罭
賴仁君子
復說歸室
The sparrow moves to seek grain
Mistakes enter the nets
Rely on the benevolence of the junzi
Take back the words and return to the room.
Or something like that. If you want to struggle with the Yilin yourself you can find the complete text here.
