Advanced Five-Phase I Ching

(Copyright © 2003 C. J. Lofting)

Two fundamental properties of ICPlus research on the I Ching has been the concept of a 'context' hexagram as well as the concept of the 'Quality' Matrix. These properties stemmed from analysis of change processes within the I Ching and the use of recursion to derive the I Ching.

The original context hexagram material stemmed from an observation that swapping the top and bottom trigrams of a hexagram, and so creating another hexagram, elicited a qualitative sense of this new hexagram identifying where the original hexagram 'came from' - in other words the new hexagram manifest qualities fitting a context out of which a hexagram came.

Further work on this led to the 'discovery' of a unique sequence of 64 hexagrams that seemed to serve as analogies for describing qualitative differences in a hexagram from its base, and so 'raw' state, to its top, and so 'refined' state. For example, using this method, the base line of hexagram 01 is describable by the under-exaggerated qualities of hexagram 28 - the focus is on excess, on too much 'yang'. The base line of hexagram 02 is describable by the under-exaggerated qualities of hexagram 27 - a focus on needing filling, on not enough 'yang'.

The work led to developing the 'Quality' Matrix for all hexagrams and the format of these matrices reflects the same pattern as in the trigram swapping. To reveal this, working through a hexagram from bottom-to-top, using recursion, which here means stepping through the hexagram's 64 possible line combinations and 'flipping' each line in the combinations from yang-to-yin or yin-to-yang, gives us a sequence of hexagrams reflecting all possible line changes. Thus for hexagram 02 we have, from bottom-right to top-left:

Thus hexagram 02 with no changing lines is at bottom-right. Change the bottom line gives us hexagram 24. Change the second line gives us hexagram 07. Change BOTH lines 1 and 2 gives us hexagram 19 and so on. Change ALL lines and we move to top-left to give us hexagram 01.

If we then swap the top HALF of this sequence (top four lines in their existing order) with the bottom HALF we get:

This sequence is the ICPlus-identified QUALITY matrix and appears to order things from 'raw' (bottom-right) to 'refined' (top-left) where the overall raw state of hexagram 02 is describable by analogy to the under-exaggerated qualities of hexagram 23 - what we could call 'housekeeping' (bottom-right). Move to the base line of 02 and the quality reflected is that of 'in need of filling', hungering - the under-exaggerated qualities of hexagram 27.

Move to the middle, line five (from bottom), far right, and we find hexagram 02 in its own context, as hexagram 02, its pure, un-exaggerated form. Move to the right and we seem to see qualities that 'transcend' the basic static qualities of 02, we seem to move into context-sensitive, dynamic, categories of qualities of 02.

If we move to the 'top' position, top-left, the hexagram 43 seems to list the 'best expression' of hexagram 02, reflecting a state of being a disciple, a follower of a faith (static expression), 'spreading the word' of that faith (dynamic expression) - a true act of someone devoted and totally trusting in others.

At both the trigram level and at the hexagram sequence level we have found a pattern dealing with qualities reflecting 'birth' and 'rawness' and so where something has come from, out of. Hold on to these thoughts for a moment as we go back to the origins of the I Ching - the recursion of the concepts of yin (0) and yang (1) - here is a section from the original Five-Phase I Ching:

"In the basic derivation of a set of qualities to be used to describe 'reality' we use the concept of recursion, self-referencing. Here we apply recursion to the abstract concepts of 0 [yin] and 1 [yang] to give us:

(level 0) : 0 (a potential)
(level 1) : 0/1 (distinction within the potential)
(level 2) : 00, 01 / 10, 11 (further distinctions)
(level 3) : 000, 001, 010, 011 / 100, 101, 110, 111 (eight symbols for measuring qualities)

This process of recursion has given us a set of scalars, magnitudes, that we can use as representing expressions of energy etc. e.g. 'COLD (000)' to 'HOT (111)'. What determines the qualifying terms (COLD - HOT) is the context. The ONE method of deriving a set of qualities to use as measurement is universal. The linking of the universals to a context gives us 'meaning' in the form of specific concepts rather than generals.

The universals themselves are just markers of differences in energy expression, from conserving (000) to expending (111), from WHERE (000) to WHAT (111) from integrating (000) to differentiating (111). This ordering is 'natural' - see for example psychologist Clare Graves' attempts to order mental states - the ordering of his categories from top of page (mapped to 000) to bottom of page (mapped to 111) reflects the above sequence at work unconsciously, see http://www.clarewgraves.com/theory_content/CG_FuturistTable.htm

This SAME sequence is used in the I Ching to derive the trigrams, ordered:

earth (000), mountain, water, wind, thunder, fire, lake, heaven (111).

The level 3 sequence as such serves as a PASSIVE form of description, being scalars so we can move 'up' or 'down' and so the sequence is both repeatable as well as reversible. BUT nature is not like that. In nature we have 'flow', 'hot to cold', production to consumption etc etc

The properties and methods of the dynamics of Qi and the dynamics of Money/Capital [as covered in the original Five-Phase page] reflect an overall set of properties and methods within the species' method of deriving meaning, of processing 'value'. Thus the Chinese extension of yin/yang into five-phase is also reflected in the socioeconomic extension of supply/demand into five socioeconomic phases. The difference seems to be in that Acupuncture aims to 'keep things moving' by defusing exaggerations and so maintaining balance and ensuring 'flow' whereas Capitalism favours accumulating 'Qi' at certain points to use it as leverage to 'make' more Qi, or more so to exaggerate, to form an asymmetry out of the symmetry. As such Capitalism can be 'unhealthy' if not managed correctly!

Comparative analysis between Five-Phase Theory and Economics shows that:

PRODUCTION reflects the meanings of WOOD
DISTRIBUTION reflects the meanings of FIRE
FILTRATION (QA processes) reflects the meanings of EARTH
EXCHANGE reflects the meanings of METAL
CONSUMPTION reflects the meanings of WATER

Chinese medicine focuses on the management of 'Qi'. Western economics focuses on the management of money/capital. Both reflect a general 'quality' of a 'life-force of 'value'. Both focus on the circulation of this 'force', both cover the accumulation of, release of, this 'force'. IOW both categorise the local concepts of Qi/money-capital that reflects a general concept that is part of our species' perspective on reality.

When we zoom-in on the qualities WITHIN the Chinese distinctions we find:

WOOD is split into two:

production through something original, new, raw
production through something cultivated, reproduced, cooked

EARTH is spilt into two:

filtration through something given, a book of rules, standing orders etc (no personal 'say')
filtration through something derived, as in one's learnt set of qualities, personal discernment

METAL is split into two:

exchange through cooperation
exchange through opposition/competition

Thus in five-phase the eight have become five where the five 'nature' reflects the influences of dynamics, of context, on the ideal eight, note that the eight of five-phase can be identified in the phases in economics theory. Now lets look again at that level of 8 categories of 'energy' levels:

(level 3) : 000, 001, 010, 011 / 100, 101, 110, 111

The eights of five-phase/economics are reflected in fives here as:

000 - filtration through given means (instincts, standing orders) EARTH (soft)
001 - filtration through derived means (personal experience) EARTH (hard)

010 - consumption WATER

011 - production through reproduction, raw-into-cooked WOOD
----------
100 - production through creation of something new, raw, 'enlightening' WOOD

101 - distribution FIRE

110 - exchange through cooperation METAL (soft)
111 - exchange through competition/opposition METAL2 (hard)

What does all of this mean? the focus is on energy expenditure. Filtration is one of the most primitive forms of food processing and here (000) it reflects the energy expenditure when the process is 'mindless' - controlled by instincts. (000)

The next level of energy is where there is personal discernment applied (001)
The next level of energy is on the focus of active consumption. I have to do more than just 'filter'. (010)
The next level of energy is in the processing of food etc but food already existing as 'raw' (011)

We now cross over into a PROACTIVE level. Here the level of energy for production of something 'new' is more than production through cooking etc. (100)
The next level of energy is where products get distributed to others. (101)
The next level of energy is where we move into 'sales' - the active promotion of something, to sell it. Here this process is through cooperation. (110)
The 'final' level of energy is where we sell in competition with others. (111)

Thus - the 'lowest' level of energy expenditure is in QA (filtering). The 'highest' level of energy expenditure is in Sales (exchange).

What this 'ordering' says is that PROACTIVE processes require a level of energy in excess of REACTIVE, and so of filtering, consuming, and reproducing etc.

Lets go back to the sequence:

(level 3) : 000, 001, 010, 011 / 100, 101, 110, 111

The dynamic for 'new' products, and for 'transcendence' in general requires one to be at the energy level of 100, in the I Ching the realm of Thunder. The implication here is that this is also the level out of which consciousness etc will emerge. The CYCLE process loops out of this 100 level (or from the middle of 011/100) but to get it going, to get it to 'take off' on its own requires a buildup of energy levels as a foundation. That is what the basic recursion process does - gives you the level 3 from which more can develop. Overall the reording of level 3 gives us:

100, 011, 101, 000, 001, 110, 111, 010. The 'flow' of energy in the development process."

Initial analysis of level 3, where that sequence is extended into 64 hexagrams, forming into the 'binary' sequence of the I Ching, shows that to swap the 'top' with the 'bottom' is to move the last four states to the front:

(level 3, pre re-ordering) 000, 001, 010, 011 / 100, 101, 110, 111

(level 3, post re-ordering) 100, 101, 110, 111 / 000, 001, 010, 011

In five-phase terms we see the ordering by basic energy:

earth, earth, water, wood, wood, fire, metal, metal

becomes

wood, fire, metal, metal, earth, earth, water, wood

The first 'wood' is that of the nature of Thunder, and reflects the 'raw' or 'new'. The last 'wood' is that of the nature of Wind, and reflects the 'refined', the 'cooked'. When we swap the trigram or hexagram or hexagram lists so we impose on the result this range from 'raw' to 'refined'. It makes no difference what scale this is done at, be it trigram to 64, or even 4096, hexagrams/symbols.

When we just swap the top with the bottom so we move the blocks of meaning associated with the ROWS of the matrix into an order that appears to reflect 'raw' to 'refined'. In fact there is more here than meets the eye.

What is happening is that, given ANY recursively-derived sequence, the ENERGY levels are invarient and as such reflect the levels required to FILTER, CONSUME, PRODUCE, DISTRIBUTE, or EXCHANGE.

Apply this recursion WITHIN a context, as in WITHIN the context of hexagram 02, and what you get are the energy levels described by analogies for hexagram 02. So, working of the changing-line matrix (the vertical binary sequence) for hexagram 02 gives us NOT a FULL sequence from 'raw' to 'refined' but eight rows of sequences describing development WITHIN that energy level WITHIN the context. Thus the Vertical binary, now with five-phase identifications ordered from low energy to high (bottom-to-top and right-to-left in each row), gives us:

When we SWAP top half with bottom we get:

You can see here the consequences re interpretations in that, without awareness of the five-phase patterns as a property of recursion and of mind, so we can pickup on the 'raw-to-refined', in that the base row is 'raw' and the top row is 'refined' and assuming the middle sections will all 'fit'. They can 'fit' BUT in general. When we move to five-phase analysis so the generals get replaced by particulars, the basic swap of a trigram excludes the details of the middle. As we go for more details so out pops the middle. Given this development we could, for example, flesh out the row of Wood - production(raw) by generating 'symbols' reflecting the 8 hexagrams applied to themselves to give us 64 hexagrams-with-changing-lines reflecting the SCALAR mappings of quality - all 64 of them, for Wood - Production (raw). (and so our 8 x 8 would become 64 x 8)

Thus for the above eight rows, each row describes in scalar form, right-left, from 'low' energy to 'high' energy, qualities of what the row is about. Thus hexagram 02, viewed from a context of refined production (Top row) gives us hexagram 45 (base level) to hexagram 43 (peak level). Thus the base-level of hexagram 02 in a context of expressing 'refined' production is described by analogy to the qualities of hexagram 45 - a focus on gathering with others to celebrate that faith. In its 'highest energy' form of expressing 'refined' production it does so by actively 'spreading the word' (hex 43).

To then take things further and focus on dynamics we re-order the hexagrams in a row into a five-phase sequence. Thus the scalar mapping of energy levels of:

111, 110, 101, 100, 011, 010, 001, 000 becomes 100, 011, 101, 000, 001, 110, 111, 010 (and so the order at the top row of:

43, 28, 49, 31, 58, 47, 17, 45 becomes 47, 43, 28, 17, 45, 49, 58, 31 (both read right-to-left) - here the dynamic starts in 31 and ends in 47 that in turn flows back to 31. (note that 47 reflects being forced/requested to integrate with a context. 47 thus contains an element of cooperative 'confinement')

We can also re-order the vertical binary into five-phase order but keeping the scalar orderings right-to-left - in other words within the last phase of five-phase, the WATER phase, so the SCALAR ordering of energy is 08 to 05 giving you basic energy associations of hexagram 02 in a context of consumpition where the 'base' level is expressed by analogy to hexagram 08, the 'peak' level by analogy to hexagram 05:

Finally, we can order the whole matrix into five phase format (read right-to-left) such that hexagram 02 as a DYNAMIC in the context of Consumption follows the development path described by analogy from hexagram 39 to hexagram 29 and then repeats:

These tables are demonstrations of the five-phase encoding WITHIN the scalar values derived from basic recursion. In the IC Plus Matrices for each hexagram, the binary sequences are ordered in scalar values, the Quality and Balance matrices are basic 'swapped'. BUT knowing the ROWS so one can derive the properties for each five-phase section without resorting the matrices. The matrices are created as 'mirrors' such that one matrix reflects TWO perspectives. Thus for hexagrams 01 and 02, reading from TOP LEFT to BOTTOM RIGHT (hexagram 01) the five-phase order is that of the left column below, reading from BOTTOM right to TOP left (hexagram 02) the order is that of the right colum below:

Energy level ordering is low-to-high, read right-to-left when reading bottom-up, left-to-right when reading top-down. To order the hexagrams in each row in five-phase requires work and the splitting of the 'dual' encoding we see above in that the ordering is not just a 'reflection' process (as in 4:4), the five-phase works 5:3 and as such reflects a unidirectional focus such that the five phases are NOT reflections. For example, in hexagram 01, the Earth-Filtration row (top above) in five-phase ordering becomes 10 33 06 01 44 25 12 13 reading left-to-right. Developing the hexagram 02 focus on the top row - METAL, competitive exchange, the five-phase order is 33 10 13 12 25 44 01 06. VERY different, no 'mirror'.

From the above we can see that, trigram swapping in a hexagram will be 'acceptable' in that it is rough. As we get more detailed so the five-phase distinctions start to emerge, resolution gets higher and swapping will no longer bring out the nitty gritty.

An aside given reflections on dynamics - note that, in the traditional sequence of the I Ching it is distorted as 30 : 34 (two books) and also reflects pairing in the form of immediate/delayed, reflecting the Chinese methods of day/month representations and so timeless/timeful in general, the immediate cycle of the SUN (24 hour day) and the delayed of the MOON (28+ day month) is reflected in the qualities expressed in the pairings of 1,2 3,4 5,6 .... 61,62 63,64. This pairing reflects the recursion of a root 'question' (see the 'Cracked Page') where the question seems to have been focused upon this SUN/MOON relationship such that all SUN hexagrams (odd numbers) reflect 'immediate' whereas all MOON hexagrams (even numbers) reflect delayed gratifications, time periods over the immediacy of the Sun (as in day, 24 hours vs month, 28+ days)

Finally, lets here focus on the single lines in a hexagram in light of the tables we have discussed. Note in the above table I have coloured the six hexagrams that map to the six lines of hexagram 02 (read bottom-up). What becomes obvious here is that these lines are limited to:

lines 1, 2, & 3 - EARTH - Filtration (earth) [hexes 24, 17, 15]

line 4 - EARTH - filtration (mountain) [hex 16]

line 5 - WATER - consumption (water) [hex 08]

line 6 - WOOD - production (thunder, also associates with enlightenment and so the 'sage') [hex 23]

Implicit here is that the fire, metal, and wood-(re-production) needs require multiple line patterns.

Apply five-phase orderings and:

lines 1, 2, & 3 - WOOD - Production (thunder, raw)

line 4 - WOOD - re-production (wind, refined)

line 5 - FIRE - distribution (fire)

line 6 - EARTH - Filtration (earth - also associates with the 'spiritual' and so the 'sage')

In conclusion it is necessary to emphasise that the Five-Phase I Ching reflects the properties and methods identified in IDM as products of the brain. The brain in turn is an adaptation to the Universe and as such reflects the Universe. The properties and methods identified as belonging to recursion are applicable to ANY discipline such that five-phase dynamics etc are inherent properties in any discipline.

Notes on Swapping

In the I Ching a hexagram is considered to be a symbol ordered from 'raw' to 'refined', from bottom to top, from worker to sage and as such reflects a scale of qualities from low to high.

A hexagram is made-up of six lines, each of yin or yang in expression, and so contains 64 possible expressions where each expression highlights a combination of changing lines, or a focus on a line position grouping etc. (i.e. 1&2, 2&5&6 etc)

Thus a hexagram manifests a sequence of scalars, magnitudes of energy levels, spanning 64 possible states reflecting 'raw' to 'refined', low to high.

This sequence of 64 possible expressions is identical to a set of qualities derived from recursion of yin/yang through 6 levels (2^6 = 64). Thus a hexagram reflects a folded-up, a compressed, sequence of 64 qualities.

If we move back to a level of 2^3, eight qualities, we are dealing with I Ching trigrams, where these trigrams reflect 8 possible states, from raw to refined, low to high. Thus the eight states are 'curled-up' into symbols of three lines. The eight states derived recursively develop as:

1st level - 0 / 1
2nd level - 00, 01 / 10, 11
3rd level - 000, 001, 010, 011 / 100, 101, 110, 111

The states at level 3 reflect expressions of, a focus upon:

000 - line 0 (general form, no particulars) - lowest energy
001 - line 1
010 - line 2
011 - line 1 & 2
100 - line 3
101 - line 1 & 3
110 - line 2 & 3
111 - line 1 & 2 & 3 - highest energy

Note that if we move back a level, to two lines I have:

00 - lowest energy
01
10
11 - highest energy

I have thus *compressed* the eight level 3 states into these four level 2 states.

If I identify each of the eight states in level 3 with expressions of energy, using five-phase theory, I have the following associations:

000 - Earth EARTH (lowest energy)
001 - Mountain EARTH

010 - Water WATER
011 - Wind WOOD

100 - Wind WOOD
101 - Fire FIRE

110 - Lake METAL
111 - Heaven METAL (highest energy)

If I fold these back I get:

00 EARTH {earth+mountain}
01 WATER+WOOD {water+wind}
10 WOOD+FIRE {fire+thunder}
11 METAL {lake+heaven}

Fold *these* back then all I have is:

0 EARTH {earth+mountain+water+wind}
1 METAL {lake+heaven+fire+thunder}

This enfolding process does not remove fire, water, wood it encodes them WITHIN the EARTH/METAL distinctions such that we in fact have:

0 explicit : EARTH, implicit : WATER+WOOD[wind form]
1 explicit : METAL, implicit : FIRE+WOOD[thunder form]

Thus a focus on '0' will reflect properties of EARTH, WATER, WOOD[wind] as a focus on '1' will reflect properties of METAL, FIRE, WOOD[thunder].

Working with PAIRS will automatically associate one set of the above properties with one element of the pair and the other set of properties with the other element of the pair.

If I have a pair in the order of 01 and 'read' that order as a sequence then I am in a fact 'reading' the FULL sequence of:

000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, 111

but compressed into a sequence of 0 (for 000, 001, 010, 011) and 1 (for 100, 101, 110, 111) - my intuition will 'feel' these mappings.

If I swap the order from 01 to 10 then I swap all implicit meanings giving an order that is no longer 'low to high' but nore is it 'high to low' - the order is:

1 (for 100, 101, 110, 111) and 0 (for 000, 001, 010, 011)

I will 'see' in this order properties of 100 associated with the initial position in '1' and properties of 011 associated with the last position in '0'. Why? since this sequence is 100, 101, 110, 111, 000, 001, 010, 011 it will fold back into a pair of explicit qualities expressed as 100 vs 011 just as folding back 111, 110, 101, 100, 011, 010, 001, 000 will give us explicit qualities expressed in 111 vs 000. IOW all of the other expression become IMPLICIT, hidden.

Since a hexagram is made-up of a PAIR of trigrams, in an order from a base of 'low' to a top of 'high' so we have:








Qualitatively this reflects an ordering of 01. The base is 'low', 0, and the top is 'high', 1.

When, in thinking in the context of the above hexagram, we swap the trigrams to give us:








so that swap changes thinking. If we focus attention on the first hexagram, where the order is interpreted as low TRIGRAM to high TRIGRAM, (worker to sage) and so compressed into 0 to 1, this reflects the compression of 000 to 111. Swapping the trigrams gives us the second trigram but that is now, when considered in relation to the first hexagram, in an order of 1 and 0 and that order is NOT extended into 111 to 000 but from 100 to 011.

When I view the hexagrams as two trigrams so I reduce the scope of interpretations to the level of a PAIR and so 0 and 1. Thus the act of swapping automatically introduces the QUALITIES in 1 as primary and in particular the qualities of 100 in that that is the dominating quality when I reduce 100, 101, 110, 111, 000, 001, 010, 011 to a pair (this sequence developing from the swap process).

This is how the I Ching PLUS trigram and hexagram patterns of 'meaning' re context developed in that the focus on a PAIR, regardless of scale, will be (a) 0 to 1 and (b) 1 to 0 where the latter DONE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE FORMER will NOT reverse the processes but will restructure the intepretations such that the (a) will reflect 'low energy to high' and the (b) will reflect 'begin' to 'end', 'raw' to 'refined', 'context' to 'text'.

Comparing the second with the first imposes 10 in the comparison such that one can sense the first hexagram has having 'emerged' from the second, as if the second has something to do with context etc. This seems to be a 'natural' process and is reflected in the ICPlus questions where the first deals with 'fact/values' reflecting a '111/000' perspective, and the second reflects time issues and a more 100/011 issue.

More Speculations on Five-Phase