The Oracular Book of Three

The Oracular Book of Three

Published by Alexander Goldstein

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2015 Alexander Goldstein

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Contents

Author's Note

Introduction

The Body Text of Oracular Book of Three

SECTION ONE: HEAVEN

PART I: Heaven's Values (from Zhong (1) to Zeng (13))

1. ZHONG (Centeredness Within)

2. ZHOU (Circling)

3. XIAN (Initial Difficulties)

4. XIAN (Barring)

5. SHAO (Germination)

6. LI (Disparateness)

7. SHANG (Rising)

8. GAN (Penetration)

9. SHU (Stealthy Advance)

10. XIAN (Distortion)

11. CHA (Misdoing)

12. TONG (Greenhorn)

13. ZENG (Increase)

PART II: Heaven's Values (from Rui (14) to Shi (27))

14. RUI (Perspicacity

15. DA (Reach)

16. JIAO (Communion)

17. RUAN (Shrinkage)

18. XI (Waiting)

19. CONG (Following)

20. JIN (Promotion)

21. SHI (Release)

22. GE (Delimiting)

23. YI (Smoothing)

24. LE (Joy)

25. ZHENG (Collision)

26. WU (Efforts)

27. SHI (Duties)

SECTION TWO: EARTH

PART III: Earth's Values (from Geng (28) to Ying (41))

28. GENG (Alteration)

29. DUAN (Breakthrough)

30. YI (Persistence)

31. ZHUANG (Outfit)

32. ZHONG (Multitude)

33. MI (Crowding)

34. QIN (Kinship)

35. LIAN (Accumulation)

36. QIANG (Strengthening)

37. CUI (Cleanness)

38. SHENG (Maturing)

39. JU (Accommodation)

40. FA (Law)

41. YING (Responding)

PART IV: Earth's Values (from Ying (42) to Kun (54))

42. YING (Greeting)

43. YU (Encounters)

44. ZAO (Hearth)

45. DA (Greatness)

46. KUO (Expansion)

47. WEN (Ornamentation)

48. LI (Ritual)

49. TAO (Evasion)

50. TANG (Dissipation)

51. CHANG (Continuance)

52. DU (Measuring)

53. YONG (Infinity)

54. KUN (Blending)

SECTION THREE: MAN

PART V: Man's Values (from Jian (55) to Hui (67))

55. JIAN (Diminishing)

56. JIN (Clench)

57. SHOU (Preservation)

58. XI (Conformity)

59. JU (Massing)

60. JI (Clustering)

61. SHI (Decoration)

62. YI (Doubt)

63. SHI (Observing)

64. CHEN (Plunging)

65. NEI (Inside)

66. QU (Parting)

67. HUI (Dimming)

PART VI: Man's Values (from Meng (68) to Yang (81))

68. MENG (Blackout)

69. QIONG (Exhaustion)

70. GE (Separation)

71. ZHI (Stopping)

72. JIAN (Hardening)

73. CHENG (Completeness)

74. ZHI (Locking)

75. SHI (Missing)

76. JU (Straining)

77. XUN (Obedience)

78. JIANG (Reversing)

79. NAN (Hardship)

80. QIN (Diligence)

81. YANG (Feeding)

About the Author

Endnote

Author's Note

This is the newest translation into English of the key work of Han-period China spread out in the land between the four seas in the period from 206 BCE to 220 CE, the epoch which has left its indelible footprint in the entire thousands years old history of the country traditionally named tian-xia, the under heaven, present-day zhong-guo (Central Kingdom) or Great China. The Han dynasty can fairly be considered as the cradle of Chinese philosophical thought when one hundred schools, trends in arts, sciences and religions flourish in full to form the basis for the state ideology of imperial China for mostly two thousand years till the national revolution of 1911. For the most part, my translation of Tai Xuan Jing or Oracular Book of Three (hereinafter is referred to as Oracle) is based on the earliest commentary of Master Fan Wang (4th century CE) and provides unique access to the source of Chinese oracular tradition due to the fact that its sole author, Yang Xiong (53 BCE-18 CE), was a devoted researcher of antique scripts and divinatory scriptures of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (18-5th centuries BCE) who drew upon a variety of pre-Han original sources.

Since the main purpose of this book is to disclose the contents of Yang Xiong's masterwork from the point of practical forecasting and divining outcome interpretation as in the course of self-discovery and cultivation of sagehood, this is not the place to analyze in details the historical and philosophical background of the Oracle's writing. To this effect, it is not matter whether Yang Xiong restated the Confucian doctrine that had addressed the crucial objections posed by many other rival schools or not. Instead, I have tried to reconstruct the original structure and multivalent meanings of the oracular text in relation to the other three oracles, among which the Book of Circular Changes (Zhou Yi), also known as Yi Jing, has come down to nowadays in various interpretations. It occurs to me that one primary flaw lies at the root of every so rare and fragmentary translation, which has been published hitherto is that each one seems to be based solely on commentaries furnished by members of the posterior Confucian School. Here, I think, an injustice has been done to Yang Xiong and his imitation of the Zhou Yi, which is a great deal that stands too far from merely an identical imitation. To a Confucian scholar the Daoist system, in every sense of the word, is a source of the universe, as the Daoist element enters largely into all, and a commentator or interpreter who holds this belief is certainly the best expositor. (All those who need to see the Dao-Deist material with more granularities, I would refer to my book entitled "Decoding of the Lao-zi (Dao-De Jing): Numerological Resonance of the Canon's Structure.") As a matter of fact, the Book of Three or the Ultimate Triplet represents a divinatory guidebook rather than a scholarly treatise, which suggests a multilevel communion with subtle constituents of the past and future, unfolding in the twenty-four seasons and nine milestones of a yearly cycle by virtue of casting-out thirty-six sacred yarrow stalks. The Oracle is also one of the epoch-making masterpieces of intellectual poetry, the imagery of which is unrivalled in its multifaceted meanings of the Chinese archaic script, the beauty and complexity of which the translator of the following pages has tried to draw to the devoted reader's attention. To facilitate the Oracle's study, supplementary comments are added to some fragments where it seems to be necessary to reveal the oracular text in the light of practical wisdom of the ancients, the usage of which has never dried out.

On the Oracle's Style and its Translation

Among the sources of Yang Xiong's inspiration definitely were such striking examples of Chinese ancient poetry as the Shi Jing (The Book of Odes dated as early as the sixth century BCE), which had been compiled from earlier materials, and the Chu Ci (Songs of Chu) completed in the second century BCE. At the same time, his poetic style was affected by elegant brevity of the previous oracles he used in his creation of his book, whose style once came to be dramatically different from his earlier poems written for imperial court and abundant with lush metaphors, extreme exaggerations and mythological descriptions to artistic effect. Still, Yang Xiong's style of the Oracle is quite uneasy to read. First of all, it concerns the lost meanings of old scripts. Very often the full significance of one graph or combination of them has been lost in depths of centuries, leaving the reader be lost in guesses. (For this reason, the earlier commentator's literature can hardly be overestimated.) Secondly, the Chinese archaic language gu-wen attains tremendous power and expressiveness through its lapidary style. It tends to omit all redundancies lest the brief lines seem withheld, in which each graph calls up several different associations depending on its nearest environment and relying on the knowledge of established usage. This makes the translation be detailed to the degree of the author's thoughts, not written words. Therefore, any endeavours to make a word-by-word translation, at best, cannot be treated as proficiently accurate. In most cases, thanks to the thorough commentator's literature, I try to recreate Yang Xiong's multilayer meanings that had been influenced by the preceding oracles generalized under the joint name of San-yi (Three Books of Changes). As is well-known, Yang Xiong was a recognized authority in Chinese antique writings and inscriptions on the oracular bones, so he rhymed and inserted into the Oracle's body text that many-valuedness of the noteworthy yet unexpected associations that went beyond usual allusions. Overall, there is not so much an interpretation of the archaic graphs employed by Yang Xiong as participation of his thoughts; there is the seeing of mind to mind in the divine form of oracle. The Oracle thus derived for the translator is not one of the licenses. It will be his intention to convey the meaning of the original as accurately and eloquently as possible to do it in English. But it will be required for him to introduce a word or two, even phrases and sentences, to indicate what the author's mind supplied for itself. What have been done in this position will generally be seen enclosed in the following chapters with a hope that I have been effective in this way to make the translation comprehensible first of all to diligent practitioners rather than merely idle intellectuals.

Included in the following introduction are short passages dedicated to the book's structure and its oracular usage. Admittedly, no translation can ever express in full the intricate beauty of the original text written by the renowned scholar and outstanding poet who completed his oracular book at the turn of millenniums in the hope that it would attract attention of those who carried on the oracular tradition. This edition is the practical guidance for mastering the tool of sages, by means of which one will be able to disclose his or her true nature and great insight not only on the result of one's divination but the whole process consisted of mainly three parts: opening, development and closing on the arduous way of self-discovery through running the worldly affairs.

— AG

Written on the twenty-third day of the ninth lunar month of the cyclical year Yi-wei

Introduction

In the history of ancient China, there was a collection of three antique oracular systems entitled San Yi (Three Books of Changes), including Lian Shan, Gui Cang and Zhou Yi. All the three represented quite independent methods of forecasting utilized in different historical and ideological periods of great antiquity. By analogy with the San Yi and their diagrams, the Oracle suggests significant patterns of the universe manifested through different combinations of three type lines: undivided, divided once and divided twice organized in a set of 81 four-line figures termed 'tetragrams.' Each tetragram consists of heading and nine explanations called 'Postulates' (zan) resumed with nine 'Resolutions' (ce). By analogy with the Ten Wings of Confucius, Yang Xiong provides his body text with nine chapters of his own commentaries as equivalent to the Ten Wings. It seems he has been under a strong influence of all the three oracles (hereinafter is referred to as Changes), the multi-structural and image-bearing features of which could be richly reflected in the Oracle's constitution. The Lian Shan, for example, with its four-line diagrams, underlain the framework of canonical scripture; the cold breath of the Gui Cang, the second original source, we can detect in the image of the first tetragram Zhong (Centeredness Within). The Changes had been created by the sage kings and legendary emperors as substantiation for implementing a particular governing policy, the cardinal factors of which were determined by Heaven at the crucial moments of historical turns and zigzags. For one of the Changes the crucial role at that time played the image of Mountain, for another Earth, for the third it was Heaven that defined a course of development for an individual and community. In the sense, it is quite intriguing to contemplate an archaic graph used in the culture of Dawenkou tribe inhabited in the territory of present-day Shandong province, the parts of which consist of all the three images: the five-peak mountain with the sickle moon above it, symbol of Earth and the Yin forces, and the sun, symbol of Heaven and all that correlate with the Yang power.

The reason for writing an imitation of Changes, most probably, was that those who discussed the Changes in Han-period China had been totally vague in regard to the system of imagery and numbers termed xiang-shu. Owing to the trend of discrimination between ethics and applications of the Changes, it was so fragmented that they could not delve into it to make the whole picture. As a result, Yang Xiong just extended the numerological section of discussion regarding the images and numbers to assume intentions of the sages. He considered this to be sufficient in terms of philosophy to examine their original referent in creating the Changes and, in terms of application, to enhance the practical usefulness of men's observation of changes and pondering of predictions. This terminology appears to be unique to divinatory tradition and is difficult to express clearly in this semi-poetic imagery. 'Image,' as a manifestation of a graphic notion, is 'a real expression' of the word, which is prior itself to that expression and is always unreal or virtual. Actions, too, are real manifestations of objects. The word used for 'manifestation of object,' or 'shi' can be likened to 'bi' (ratio, proportion, comparison), which is used, in extended sense, of its meaning 'a counterpart.' A counterpart is a real equivalent of the idea of a worldly event in whatever, probably virtual existence.

As an instance of such a tight intertwining of the numbers and images, he accounts the tetragram parity or imparity according to the five phase element system termed wu-xing. The earlier methods of divination were boiled down to return of all things to the numbers behind them. The numbers of the universe reflect the changes of the world through their odd and even numbers as the Yin and Yang manifestations, which can be divided into the generated and accomplished figures. As Lao-zi states, Dao begets one, one begets two, two begets three, three begets the myriad (literally, 'ten thousand') things (Verse 42). For this reason the 'three' represents change. This 'three' is not the sequence number, but a living figure able to operate in the domain of Three, which is actually Oneness and conversely. Upon seeking the origin of beginnings, we can see their final outcome. The three components of Oneness share the same principle, according to which thick and turbid Yin interacts with thin and clean Yang, intersecting in the myriad things and different phenomenal forms. This is the basic platform on which the overall framework of Chinese cosmology is grown up. Yes, from the beginning of time the ancients multiplied everything by three and took the number three very seriously as a code of dynamic evolution and qualitative leap from one grade to another. (For example, the most ancient game called 'tug-of-war' starts for a count of three.) The ancients believed that multiplying by three or employing the number three was mostly peculiar and singular figure appropriate in various situations. But why is this so? It's because the number three is good enough to produce changing, also known as the term 'Tai Yi' (Ultimate Change). 'Tai Yi' means 'following the magic line of the number three.' Tai Yi's 'Nine Celestial Palaces' were considered to correspondences to the nine provinces of China. That worship did not survive the period of disunity which followed the fall of the Han dynasty, the second peak in the national history of China after the Zhou, although the magic line of three did. Therefore it is said, The number one divides into two to assert the principle of unity of opposites, returning then to the number three represented by the term 'xuan,' which, unfoundedly, translated as 'mystery.' More simply, according to the mentioned earlier 'tug-of-war' game, there are three components that make it truly playable: direction, position and action. One is Yang, two is Yin while three is changing of all things embodied in the image of 'Tai Yi.' Therefore, three represent changes, not a serial number, as the number three is not fixed, but continually changeable. In a word, it can be considered as the Grand Code of Chinese thinking (also termed ancient wisdom) for the last five thousand years.

The Oracle was intended to be the practical guidance of divination used by those who were learning the ways of sage leaders of old. The ultimate goal of producing divination, like everything else in the system of sages, is to contribute to self-cultivation. Traditionally, the Chinese discern three sorts of men: those who are involved in gambling, those who make plans and generate strategies, and those who are named 'sage leaders' and who are above all in the world. The latter two sorts of men are used to prosper while the former perish in the end. This is the natural pace of developments. Why is this so? It's because the sage leaders are able to create advantages and favourable conditions by themselves to win the world in spite of circumstances. As we shall see below, the oracular power of the Oracle is considered to be a spiritual (shen) part of the entirely open mind of a sage to see with what he or she will encounter in the period ahead. This is what makes the difference in principle with the divination by Zhou Yi, which was used to clear up the nature of change (yi). To know that the diviner should put together even- (Yin) and odd-numbered (Yang) positions, day and night of time, warp and weft of each tetragram's texture to make a mixture of three in one, also known as xuan, an exact equivalent of the Oracle. On the other hand, each chapter consists of four-line diagram, nine postulates arranged according to the five phases of activity, through which the subject of chapter goes diligently to glean the progress or regress, generation or destruction behind each tetragram's formula 4+9+5=18/2=9. Thus, the tetragram Distortion (10) should be considered as the odd-numbered (1+0=1) as it pertains to the Yang house of Water (1) while the tetragram Misdoing (11) as the even-numbered (1+1=2) as it allocates to the Yin house of Fire and so forth until the nine-part cycle comes to its close to start again as a new coil. This means that the tetragram's house determines the Yin or Yang nature of anyone phase element (out of five), to which it pertains in a particular period of the year.

The transcendent clarity of mind could be cultivated by those who strived to upgrade themselves as sages with efficient tool of practical wisdom in hand. In fact, such wisdom intimates 'the art of divination,' whereas the 'numbers' are associated with a calculation. There are various methods of calculation based on the Yin-Yang alternation and 'wu-xing,' the five elemental phases of operation, built upon two opposite activities of generation (sheng) and destruction (cheng). The first is associated with the heavenly ways of Dao while the second with the earthly De. The methods of calculation may vary from what is known as 'fang-shu' (necromancy) and 'fang-ji' (fortune-telling) to 'shu-shu' (alchemy) or a combination of all the three methods. If we integrate the three powers (Heaven, Earth and Man) with the five phases of activity (wu-xing), we will get the system styled 'san-wu' (3:5) consisted of astronomy and annals (correlated with Heaven), various systems of divination (correlated with Man) and geography (corresponded to Earth). The 'san-wu' system provides interaction between the three powers by means of two conjunctions: the heavenly Dao and earthly De. So, what is the mechanism of mutual integration of the heavenly and earthly, the Dao and De? It works through destruction which occurs as soon as three paces of activity have been taken. When the act of destruction takes place, the whole process of development runs forward in accordance with formulation derived from the mentioned earlier Verse 42 of Lao-zi. In other words, it means that the Dao produces unity; unity produces duality; duality produces triplicity, while triplicity produces all existing forms. The myriad forms leave shadows behind them to face the sunlight, being thus harmonized by the vital substance (qi). The presence of three paces of activity produces an action in the opposite to the mainstream direction performed as ultimate contradiction. It is said, When wanting a thing to be contracted, first be sure to expand it; when wanting a thing to be weakened, first be sure to strengthen it (Verse 36). As a priori conclusion, it should be said that it is enough to have three actions out of five activities to produce an act of destruction, the opposite to generation, and, at the same time, the integral segment of the creative progress of all the worldly things. In the sense, once a factor of destruction is fully realised, the progress starts to run properly and on a regular basis. Therefore, it is said, there is no birth without death and that death is in birth, but birth is the commencement of death. The ancient graph for 'destruction' pictures a tomb—a span of transition to the next world. This sounds as the law of dialectics, according to which people act daily yet having no knowledge of this. It is that the course of things, as it seen by the sages, is seen by the few.

So, the question remains open: Where does the primary significance of the Oracle lie in? There are generally two views: one holds it lies in the particular divinatory structure and numerological methods; the other insists on its residing in the image thinking, which, to my knowledge, are two ends of the comprehensive whole, also known as ancient wisdom. If we look at pictograph xuan written in archaic script (gu-wen), we make out an image of silk linen tied with three knots in preparation for dyeing. The chief significance of this pictograph may be expressed by a quotation from Er Ya, which says, hei zhong dai hong, meaning the red colour (attribute of Fire) contained within the black (attribute of Water). This phrase resembles the basic principle of reasoning that consists of the dialectical process known as wu zhong sheng you (literally, the tangible is born within intangible), which means the known comes out from unknown. Thus, the term xuan carries a range of meaning from reddish black, the colour of Heaven, to darkness and hidden within as the traits of Earth. It also means the unity of opposites, while the unity of opposites means xuan. The number one divides into two to assert the principle of unity of opposites, returning then to the number three represented by xuan (namely, the silk knot of three, or a blend of three, three in one considered as Triad of Heaven, Earth and Man to make three threes (3x3) and then nine nines (9x9) to return eventually to Oneness. In early Chinese thought, such a three-pace notion indicates the depth of experience that can be known only through quiet and deep contemplation, or by illumination known as final realization. It can be defined in terms of three phases of mind: silence, stimulation and penetration, responding in accordance with things as they come, which means stimulating and then penetrating into all possible situations. If it were not the most sacred thing in the world, how could it be ever-present? Yang Xiong acknowledges that this passage refers not to the human mind but to the Oracle, which represents the method of integration called san-wu (literally, 3:5), adding, though, that the human mind, in its activity and stillness, is also ever-present. The system of integration 3:5 supposes that the number 3 may be interpreted as three paces until the process of generation turns back to destruction, meaning that Wood begets Fire, Fire begets Earth and Earth begets Metal, which then destroys Wood. Since the hub number 5 occupies the central position among the simple numbers up to 9, it unites and controls them all by dividing them into what is before and after it. Thus, the systematic numbers 3 and 5 are the key figures of divination by the Oracle.

Part of Chinese mysticism also suggests that all that exists is associated with the term Tai-ji, which can be translated as Grand Extreme, or Oneness, and which roots in the notion of Wu-ji (Ultimate Nothingness, literally No Extremes), meaning each and all. Tai-ji, therefore, symbolizes both activity and stillness, i.e., the static form and dynamic process; it is ideal both in its form and essence, and all its manifestations accentuate from the many embodied by Wu-ji. Traditionally, Tai-ji breaks down into its two entities and, therefore, pure opposites on the level of eternal and deeply integrated partnership, Yin and Yang. Yin-Yang symbolizes the process which has two aspects: contraction (Yin) and expansion (Yang) of substance-qi. Since these two represent the most fundamental and cross states, return to the whole requires essential blend of Yin-Yang's substances. In a literal sense, if Tai-ji symbolizes Oneness, then Yin-Yang can be likened to the process of breathing in and breathing out, making up the overall concept of breathing. In a more sophisticated point, there is an analogy here with processing of building the third derivative entity known as the human consciousness intimated as Man.

As mentioned above, the practical method xuan represents the general relationship of Heaven, Earth and Man as the third principle of Oracle. Invisible connection between Heaven and Man may be regarded as the upper xuan (heavenly man), the link which correlates with metaphysical and intangible nature of the Absolute. Relationship between Man and Earth may be regarded as the lower xuan (earthly man) associated with physical and tangible manifestations. This is the reason why the essence is always within to announce xuan as consisted of the other two xuan, correspondences to the heavenly and earthly relationship of Man. (This can be likened to the Tai-ji diagram which consists of three parts: Yin, Yang and S-shape line of their unity. Maybe the best parallel to this is pronounced in Confucius's definition of the Dao, which is: One Yin and one Yang's interaction is what is called Dao (Oneness) (yi yin yi yang zhi wei dao) where 1+1+1=3.) Truly, when we look up at Heaven we observe its earthly manifestations; when we talk about Earth we denote its heavenly signs. This is because both links concern Man with his relations to Heaven above and Earth below.

Another reason why Yang Xiong includes xuan in the Oracle's name consists in attempt to reflect the profound structure of the classical text and emphasise the geometrical aspect of his work based on the intersection of horizontals and verticals, weft and warp, cross and lengthwise threads of canonical texture, also known as celestial net, all-embracing matrix and at last the system of axes in the field of Man's activities. Once we keep an eye on the archaic (gu-wen) graph xuan, it is not difficult to discern three levels integrated into the classic structure and correlated with the upper, middle and lower parts denoted as Heaven, Earth and Man respectively. Besides, it is interesting to note that each level is shaped as triangle. In principle, this gives us the whole idea of the guidebook's interpretation according to its formula 3x3. Hence, the number 3 (a series of three, threes, triplet, ternary, trinity or triad) is the built-up element of the structure offered by Yang Xiong (unlike the circular changes of Zhou Yi constructed on the base of dichotomies). To establish Yang Xiong's Oracle we need to start with the magic square of three (3x3) of the Luo-shu diagram, the hub number 5 of which is also the central in the linear sequence of 1-2-3-4-(5)-6-7-8-9 or Water-Fire-Wood-Metal-(Earth)-Water-Fire-Wood-Metal. As opposed to the Book of Circular Changes with its hexagrams based on binary lines (undivided and divided) represented the three powers for the whole of 2x2x2x2x2x2=8x8=64 six-line combinations, the Oracle relies on tetragrams of ternary lines (undivided, divided once and divided twice) for the whole of 3x3x3x3=9x9=81 four-line figures. Traditionally, the progression from the Circular Changes to the Yang Xiong's Oracle, by analogy, is similar to the eight trigrams and references to nine moving stars of the Big Dipper (seven visible plus two invisible or implicit stars), or the eight immortals plus Lao-zi to whose 81 verses of the Dao-De Jing match the 9x9 system applied by Yang Xiong in his creation of the Oracle. In fact, it was more than simply a new Classic but the most significant qualitative leap in the new millennium with its combination of ideas for establishing brand new ideology of parity based on all previously developed oracles under the joint title San Yi. The diviner in practice, whose goal was the sagehood, concretely embodied the excellent traits of three constituent parts of divination: the yarrow stalks, dumb tetragrams and their interpretations in the form of Postulates and their Resolutions realised in the most objective way; when nothing was happening then the mind was still and no one could see its content; when something was happening, then the performance of one's wisdom responded to the outer stimulation. Being always spiritually martial and yet non-violent, the sage apprehended a pattern without recourse to things. This refers to the basis, on which the sages of great antiquity created the Three Changes (san-yi) with complete oracle tool consisted of the mentioned three components, among which the tortoise shells and yarrow stalks were involved, diagrams (gua) were still but judgements (Postulates and Resolutions) fluctuated without limits. Before drawing the diagrams, such a model was already contained in the attention of sages who understood good fortune and misfortune without resorting to divination. Therefore, Yang Xiong's masterwork on the Oracle was an attempt to make available, not only to the ruling and literary elite but to community at large, the wisdom and transformative authority of the sages who had created the system of Changes and their tradition carried on down the ages. That was the primary means, by use of which an access to the mighty power of the heavenly Dao could be attained through obtaining the earthly De.

Further Delving into the Oracle's Structure

The structure and content of the Oracle not only imitates but also amends the symmetry and coherence found in the previous Changes. In the Oracle's body text there is a set of volumetric three-dimensional complexes of four-line diagrams, which, in contrast to the Zhou Yi where lines (yao) are categorized either as divided (Yin) or undivided (Yang), yield three possibilities for each line of a tetragram: (1) an undivided line, correlation of Heaven; (2) a once divided line, representation of Earth; and (3) a twice divided line, symbol of Man. The tetragram's four-line components should be read from up to bottom, i.e. in the opposite than in the Zhou Yi order, to be associated with a hierarchical system of pyramidal divisions that at once geopolitical and social:

3 Countries (fang)

9 Provinces (zhou)

27 Districts (bu)

81 Farmhouses (jia)

There is nothing above the three Countries (fang) but only Triplet (xuan) alone styled 'Oneness.' Therefore, one begets three, three begets nine, nine twenty-seven, twenty-seven eighty-one to return then to one (8+1=9; 9/3=3; 3/3=1). The cosmogonic Three, like the supreme ruler in all under heaven, is said to employ both realms: the cosmic and socio-political, in which all the three entities (Heaven, Earth and Man) come together to make Oneness (Heaven-Earth-Man), or Triplet. Each Country is divided into Provinces, which correspond to the nine provinces of the land between the four seas. Each Province is subdivided then into three Districts to make 27 bodies apt to the Han sub-provincial level. The latter division is subdivided by three into eighty-one Farmhouses symbolized numerous local units that manage the myriad phenomena (in Chinese term, wan-wu, ten thousand or the myriad things) of community and in the universe.

Each tetragram is associated with a chapter heading (shou) consisted of three parts: a title, a metaphor that refers to the Yin or Yang substance-qi associated with a tetragram's positioning in the nine divisions called Nine Houses of the Three with nine tetragrams in each; as well as a second image related to the Zhou Yi's hexagrams and assigned all things' imagery though their total number 64 or 128 combined trigrams. Each tetragram's title consists of a single graph naming one aspect of the comprehensive Oracle, to which diviners correspond for good fortune or misfortune. The followed then a short verse describes the evolution of vivid Yang or dull Yin's substance-qi during a certain phase in the line of a whole year. Each tetragram (the Oracle's chapter) corresponds to a stretch of 4.5 days in the annual cycle to total 364.5 days (4.5x81=364.5). The first 41 chapters (40.5 to be precise) lied between the winter and summer solstices, covering a distance from Water to Fire respectively, speak exclusively of the ascendant substance-qi of vivid Yang while the succeeding 40 chapters (also 40.5 of them) retail the process, by which Yin's substance-qi waxes then back from the summertime (Fire) to winter (Water). Read in succession, they provide a circular plan of the finely graded phases of cyclic change. What's more, each of the 81 tetragrams is also linked, with some duplication indeed, to one of the 64 hexagrams of the Book of Circular Changes to arouse the orthodox meanings and generally adopted associations. As far as the interpretation of each tetragram is concerned, the most important of Yang Xiong's explanations are the nine Postulates with their Resolutions, which follow each of the eighty-one chapter headings. The Postulates, like the tetragrams, are correlated with the annual cycle, with the Yin-Yang's substances and with the five phases of activity. Each Postulate, as one-ninth of a chapter, represents half a day (12 hours or conventional 6 double-hours also known as watches) so that alternating odd- and even-numbered Postulates denote either day or night. Through their associations with night and day, Postulates come to be considered as Yin (usually inauspicious) or Yang (usually auspicious) related to the odd- and even-numbered chapters. Besides, each Postulate is also assigned a direction that aligns it with one of the five phases of activity arranged in the enumeration of the following phase elements: Water (1), Fire (2), Wood (3), Metal (4), Earth (5), Water (6), Fire (7), Wood (8) and Metal (9) to reflect the designed algorithm two levels of two forms of the unity of opposites. Two additional Postulates in the end of the body text are not assigned to any specific tetragram or time of the day. They exist solely to make up the deficiency of 3/4 (0.75 (0.5+0.25) of a day between 364.5 days of Yang Xiong's basic structure and 365.25 days in the solar year. To construct the Oracle, the magic square's sequence should be considered as a linear arrangement: 3–8–4–9–(5)–1–6–2–7 with its hub number 5 at the centre and equally distant opposite pairs. If we try to multiple it, spreading to the magic square of 9x9 whose central number is 41 (4+1=5) when 9x9=81 (40+1+40), we will fail, because 41 is not a multiple of five. However, since 365 (5x73) is the central number of 729 (364+1+364), we can make the magic cube of 9x9x9 with 729 entries, each square of which is the magic square of nine (9x9=81). The magic cube of the Oracle gives the same sum for all lines parallel to an edge and for all diagonals containing the central entry. Since 729 (which is both a cubic and square number) is the smallest odd number greater than 1, these 729 entries of the magic cube (9x9x9) with the central entry 365 can be rearranged to form a magic square of 27x27 with 729 entries and the central entry 365. These 729 entries or Postulates (81x9=729+2 intercalary=731) are loosely patterned after the line texts of the Book of Circular Changes. However, the Postulates differ from the Zhou Yi's line texts in ways that increase accuracy and, at the same time, expand the scope of interpretation. While each line text of the Circular Changes refers to a single line of a hexagram, by contrast, the Postulates are designed to explain something more than only significance of individual lines in each tetragram; instead, due to the system of Indicators (biao), they provide a series of shifting literary images suggesting the multivalent nature (no less than three-valued) and three-step process of the main cosmological theme (which operates back and forth along the generation cycle and destruction) presented throughout all the 81 chapters of the Oracle. By tripling the Postulates and thus freeing them from fixation to the individual positions of each tetragram, Yang Xiong directs the diviner's attention to a larger perspective concerning the effect of eternal cosmic patterns upon the three phased changing process that originally designed-in any procedure. Thus, fastened together in threes, the Postulates play their transcendent part of a metaphorical bridge to span the oracle (with its three main attributes mentioned earlier) with the cyclic dominion of personal destiny, the field of diviner's proper choice and potential attainment. In other words, resorting to the Oracle, one can get the answer to one's question consisted of three parts: its initial state, development and final condition. To accomplish this task, Yang Xiong sorts the Postulates according to the following four indications. First of all, the initial three Postulates (1-3) describe the commencement in the objective situation inquired about by the diviner; the mid Postulates (4-6) describe its maturity and the ending (7-9), also termed 'decline.' Second, all nine positions correlate their subject's present and future in accordance with the hierarchy of social rank. As in Han commentaries to the Circular Changes, Postulate 5 is reserved for the supreme ruler; positions 4 and 6, which flank the ruler, carry implications for his minister and spiritual adviser represented by the Ancestral Temple respectively. Positions 1 and 9, the furthest from the central place of the sovereign pertain to the lowest stratum in social terms and represent the lesser man in moral aspect. This distribution ensures a wide variety of possible social interactions and career promotions. Third, the three sets of nine Postulates mark three successive phases in the diviner's subjective response to the dynamically changeable situation. Accordingly, the first set of three Postulates (triplet) is categorized as conception (si), the initial period of inner reflection that precedes outer-directed action. The second triplet detail good fortune (fu), the period marked by effective action and accompanied by a good luck; and the last triplet speaks to disaster, or misfortune (huo), the failure that tends to follow success because of careless, immoral or untimely action. All the three stages can be summarized in the following trends of development: Conception (1-3) comes out from the initial comprehension of Postulate 1 to go through the advanced treatment at P-2 in reaching the final consideration at P-3; Good Fortune (4-6) moves ahead from a small good fortune at P-4, crossing a harmonized good fortune at P-5 to reach a great one at P-6; and Misfortune (7-9) starts from a calamitous beginning at P-7 to rise up to a medium-scale trouble at P-8 in order to face then an extreme misfortune at P-9. Fourth, unlike the line texts of the Zhou Yi, the Postulates are read according to the time of day when the divinatory ritual is carried out. As a rule, daytime aligns with Yang forces while night with that of Yin. The result is also determined by odd- or even-numbered tetragram with its Yin or Yang house of correlative phase element out of the five. To each time of day the three Postulates are assigned so that the diviner can know the prospect for a query at its initial, middle and final stage of the matter's development. If the act of divination is carried out in the morning, Postulates 1, 5 and 7 of the issued tetragram are read and considered; if in the evening, Postulates 3, 4 and 8; if at the median times (the periods centred about noontime and midnight) Postulates 2, 6 and 9 are submitted for consideration. Thus, each Indicator (biao), or a set of three determinative Postulates out of nine positions, includes representatives of all the three levels of Oracle: Heaven, Earth and Man.

Three Indicators of Heaven, Earth and Man

Yang Xiong outlines his understanding of divination and its relevance to self-cultivation. The chapter headings and Postulates are originally meant for diviners to recognize good fortune and misfortune to issue counsels (Resolutions) and admonitions. Whenever the oracle reads an issued tetragram and its Indicator, the diviner empties or pacifies the mind to check out what the meaning of Postulates refers to and considers it as a good fortune or bad, to take or not to take steps in this or that direction to succeed, or merely to be on the safe side. One examines then the forerunner of the image, seeking out the reason for the pattern and extending them to one's affairs. This enables everyone from kings and dukes to the advanced men to use it for their self-cultivation (xiu-shen), setting the individual state and that of the country in proper order (zhi-guo).

Yang Xiong arranges his device so that the auspicious or inauspicious nature of these prospects is decided by obedience or disobedience between the Yin-Yang values assigned to the tetragram's subject and that of each Postulate's. If the Yin-Yang value for the chapter heading and that of the relevant Indicator are the same, the divination, by rule, is considered as auspicious. If they do not agree (different), the divination is usually considered as inauspicious to remind us the proper and improper places of the hexagram's lines in the Zhou Yi (Circular Changes). Let us see how his stipulations affect the outcome of divination. Consider a divination carried out in the morning; if the casting-out issues a four-line diagram the subject of which stays in the odd-numbered (Yang) house of one of the phase elements, the first Indicator 1-5-7 (correlated to Heaven) shows the outcome as a great good fortune. Bringing together for considering all the three factors: (1) time of a day, (2) Yin/Yang nature of a tetragram and corresponded to it house, as well as (3) Indicator's character, which concurs here with the pure Yang, we get the most beautiful outcome. When a divination is carried out in the evening time and a tetragram's subject stays in the odd-numbered (Yang) house, in such case the second Indicator 3-4-8 (correlated to Earth) would be read when only odd-numbered Postulate