I Ching Elemental Paintings: Principle and Application

I Ching elemental paintings use five colors green, red, reddish brown, white and dark green to represent the five elements wood, fire, earth, metal and water respectively, and further use eight colors of the Eight Trigrams (八卦) green, blue, red, reddish brown, white, yellow, dark green and brown to represent Zhen(震)，Xun(巽)，Li(離)，Kun(坤)，Dui(兌)，Qian(乾)，Kan(坎)，Gen(艮). Each trigram is divided into six levels, forming six horizontal variables (爻). The combination of the fundamental colors of the trigrams constitutes precisely the sixty-four hexagrams of Zhou Yi (周易). Each hexagram is divided into three upper and three lower horizontal variables (爻). The 9 in the Nine and Six horizontal variables is Yang (陽) and the 6 is Yin (陰). Therefore 64 hexagrams form 384 horizontal variables and 384 horizontal variable paintings (爻變畫).

Master Xu Ziping (徐子平), a renowned fortune master in Song Dynasty(宋朝), proposed a very practical theory of destiny analysis based on the mutual “producing” and “controlling” relationship between the five elements. Based on Master Xu’s theory, Mr. Yao induces the Six Rens (六壬) and Ten Gods (十神) into the five colors of Yin and Yang. Then, according to the year, month, day and hour of birth of the person, find the pattern and its best “useful god (用神)”, use the elemental paintings to carry out interconnection and dislocation with the case, to change one’s major fortunes in a given year and even improve his eight characters. Hanging in the order of the acquired Eight Trigrams, Zhen (震) ，Xun (巽) ，Li (離) ，Kun (坤) ，Dui (兌) ，Qian (乾) ，Kan (坎) ，Gen (艮) ??to form a harmonious and orderly geomantic environment (see Fig below), one can adjust his geomantic fortunes and resist all dangers caused by Jupiter in his life. This is especially feasible in which the central axles are pressed, such as for companies and residences, for recreating their supreme ultimate positions (太極位) of the units.

Mr. Yao holds that the Yi philosophy is a unified, complete and comprehensive huge system. Both fate and traditional Chinese medicine take the theory of five elements as basis. The means adopted by them is the golden mean (中庸之道) that advocates neither deficiency nor excess, neither cold nor heat. The practice of “tonifying the material viscus in a deficiency and purging the offspring in an excess” is entirely the same as the balance and smoothness of the five elements, so are pulse feeling and eight characters destiny arrangement, both are for making diagnoses. After a diagnosis is made, the focus and the root cause in the fortune must be solved by medicines: in a febrile symptom, use purging medicines; in a cold symptom, use tonifying medicines. If the body is in excess, loosen the bowels; if weak, replenish the body. While elemental paintings use the five color horizontal variables to adjust inconsistencies and fortunes, indirectly adjusting the eight characters destiny, especially effective for adjusting the obstructions in the fortunes of a given years or a given month. At this point, one can see big scenes in small things, gradually change his major fortunes and make up deficiencies in the eight characters through time.

Life is like music, the year, month, day and time are the motives of the melody of the music score. The major fortune is like the secondary melody and orchestration, while the score and orchestration are closely interconnected. Even if the melody is excellent, it won’t do if the orchestration does not perform in the right way, or the performance level is low. This is like the eight characters, even if the fortune created is excellent, the major fortune is also not too bad, but in a given year when inharmonious dangers occur, they can also cause dreadful destructions. The harmony between the whole and the part is also a peculiar melody of the Yi philosophy.

Mr. Yao holds that the common structure principle of the Yi philosophy and the mutual promotion and restraint of the five elements are the same as the principle of Yin and Yang residence in geomancy. The elemental paintings can change the collisions and evil spirits of geomancy. Its directions have wonderful effects for mankind. In fact, geomancy is a knowledge of good and ill lucks of positions. The sky is a natural sky while man is a natural man. The sky and man are objects, both are moving and circulating with the doctrine of Yin and Yang. When metal, water, wood, fire, and earth turn clockwise, it is smoothness; when they turn anti-clockwise, it is constraint. With the expectation that severe collisions and evil spirits in the external environment of geomancy must be avoided, elemental paintings coordinate with the clockwise turning of the five elements: metal produces water, water produces wood, wood produces fire, fire produces earth, earth produces metal. They turn day and night without cessation, repairing and putting in order all deficiencies of positions, magnetic fields and layouts. Elemental paintings are especially applicable to the adjustments of geomancy for residences which are unable to establish their supreme ultimate positions and companies and shops with completed renovation, enabling them to save a lot of unnecessary troubles.

The hanging of elemental paintings can be decided in accordance with the lying positions of a given year of the owner’s residential fortune. The paintings can also be hung in accordance with the owner’s eight characters of birthday and the useful god of the four pillar fortune. One can also hang elemental paintings reflecting a life in the given year on the lying position of the owner for strengthening and flourishing his fortune in the current year.