Essentials of Boc Dich (Tinh Yeu)

Essentials of Boc Dich: the Eight Trigrams are 8 trigrams: Qian, Dui, Li, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Gen, Kun. There are 64 hexagrams of the Yi, because 2 trigrams (repeats included) laid one on the other make 1 hexagram, 8x8 = 64. Six Lines is a separate discipline that predicts on the basis of the hexagram of the Yi.

The roles of the lines in a hexagram

• Taken on a narrow view, the outcome and the time are the 2 chief factors making up the result; only after them comes information
• The Target line stands for the matter, or for a person (according to the question)
• The Self line points to oneself, one's own tendency, one's present direction in the question, and one's own safety (incidentally including character within the matter asked, noting only the chief traits)
• Questions about the health or the safety of another, or a separate matter not involving oneself — do not read the Self line
• The 5 factors in 1 hexagram are: the Target line, the Source line, the Hostile line, the Opposing line, the Draining line. Because all 5 are named, there is no such thing as an accidental movement: once something moves, it is certainly one of the 5

Line positions and the scope of a reading

• Can misfortune be escaped? Yes: if the Opposing line moves in the outer trigram, stay home, and the other way round. If the Opposing line does not move but the Self line is Weak and rootless: with the Self line in the outer trigram, stay home; in the inner, go out and escape
• For illness, take lines 1 to 6 as positions, 1 being from the knee down to the foot and 6 the head. But do not make light of Western medicine: at the level of the cell, even the father of the Five Elements loses
• Likewise, 1 is the floor of the house and 6 the roof — do not take over the architect's job.
• Whether 1 line or 6 lines move, the outcome is of the same nature: it all reduces to 1 (in most cases), and only then is it weighed together with the Target line, and together with the Self line
• Child, father, wife, elder brother — if there is a matter, all can be read, career included; and then one reads only the Target line, which is the seat of the person, without also reading the seat of the matter (in relation to the querent; if that person asks in person, read as usual)
• Rain today is harmful, but for tomorrow today's rain is good. The one who reads the hexagram is a person, the one who asks the hexagram is a person, each does their own work — do not pass judgement; if it feels against you, do not read it
• What do people need? There is no common answer, but many knots and many wants; whatever is asked is answered — there is no common answer

Moving lines, hidden movement, combination and clash

• A moving line (except the Opposing line) is usable from Resting upward; the Opposing line must be compared with the Target line, and must be at least of equal rank to control it
• Hidden movement is just like movement as to role. The difference is in the timing (within the day for hidden movement), and there is no changed line
• A line clashed by the Day and Prosperous is a hidden-moving line; it can still be combined with the Day or Month, but is not combined by another moving line. One further special point: it is not lost to a clash by another line
• A line clashing a line divides into 2 kinds: clashing the Target line, or the Self line, means temporarily lost (nearly like the Void), and when it is on its own branch, Target or Self, that is the timing and it becomes usable; whereas clashing the Source line counts as lost outright (the matter is spoilt unless it is a line that needs the Peak)
• A line combining a line, the line standing still: when one of the two is clashed it becomes usable, except the Source line
• A Source line combined and not clashed is spoilt (in the case where Self and Target are not at the Peak). Besides, a Source line changing into control, or entering the Tomb, also spoils the matter, likewise
• The Target line can also hold the Self line, the Target line can also move; in short, anything can happen, it is only a matter of having met it or not yet

The frame of mind of the reader

• Everyone has an initial reason for coming to the Yi: it is the lighthouse in the hour of despair along the road. There is no right or wrong, only the personal road. Do not keep the first intention, then find another. If there is no intention, this life is the same as any other
• The Hostile line moving: in illness, death; in a matter, the distant one will be spoilt
• The Opposing line is not necessarily a person, it can be the weather. Water moving, rain spoils the matter
• Do it long enough and a person gets a vein of their own
• Is the Yi all-powerful? If it were, the writer would have vanished into the heavens by now. In the end, everyone is only a person

The state of a line by Day and Month

• Whichever line the Month clashes is Month Break; whether that line appears in the hexagram is a later matter. There are 2 kinds, still and moving: still, and not combined with or on the branch of the Day, counts as rootless; moving, before it is on its own branch or combined, is counted in reverse (against the final result)
• The Void is the gap of the 2 surplus branches when the Heavenly Stems are matched with the Earthly Branches of the Day. Whichever 2 branches are left over, counting from Jia, those 2 branches are the Void. Still and moving differ on 2 points: as to timing, moving determines even the Hour, while still is at least from the Day; as to people, if a still line is Void the person is not genuine, and the result is certainly spoilt by that falseness. Take the nearest point of timing as the standard: before that point the result is counted in reverse, and from that point on it is counted forward. If the Day clashes it, count it as an ordinary line. A clash by the Month counts as both Break and Void, and the timing is taken by the Void. Clashed by the Day and Prosperous, it still counts as hidden movement. Void changing into Void takes the nearest point. Void changing into Void and clashed by the Day still counts as Void with the remaining branch. The Void cannot combine with another line; another moving line clashing a moving Void line removes the Void, but that does not count as temporarily lost
• Having breath but not held by Day or Month and being drained counts as Resting; Prosperous and drained is still Prosperous
• The Life cycle uses 4 branches: Birth, Peak, Tomb, Extinction. Resting with Birth counts as Prosperous; Weak or rootless with Birth still counts as Prosperous, but far off. The Peak is Prosperous by default. Metal Resting with Birth counts as control — the information is good at first, and that is a mirage. The Tomb divides at a point, the point being the clashing of the Tomb, before and after as with the Void. Void with the Tomb is spoilt even when moving. Prosperous with 2 Tombs is still spoilt. Prosperous with Extinction becomes usable at Birth; Break with Extinction is spoilt even when moving, compared against the Day as well
• A triple combination with all its branches, even with Void, Break, Tomb or control on any branch, still forms the triple combination. A missing branch counts only when the 2 branches are 2 moving lines; if one of the two is Void or Break it still does not count as a triple combination. The representing branch of the triple combination counts as Prosperous and acts as one Prosperous line, the other branches are set aside. If it is the Self or the Target line, the final result is still weighed against the changed line
• Prosperous and punished still passes, but with misfortune; Resting and punished is spoilt. Three Punishments is spoilt anywhere. 2 branches punishing 1 branch does not count as a punishment

Timing, order and several moving lines

• Moving takes the combination on its own branch, still takes the clash on its own branch; a moving Break takes the combination on its branch, the Void takes the clash on its branch, paired with the Day; the Tomb takes the clashing of the Tomb; a full triple combination takes the clash of the Prosperous branch; a triple combination holding a Void or a Break takes that as the timing; a triple combination missing a branch takes the missing one as the standard. Resting waits for Birth. For control with a weak Opposing line take the clash of the Opposing line. Moving and combined takes the clash of the combination; with 2 lines combined, the clash of either will do; with 2 lines clashing, take the clash of the clashing line. Reversed repetition takes the combination of the moving branch, stagnant repetition takes the clash of the moving branch. Three Punishments takes the clash
• The order is Target — Self — Moving
• Several moving lines still follow the order above. The chain of movement must be settled to a result, then substituted in as “Moving”. The formula: compare the lower with the upper
• Changing into control at a distance is certainly spoilt; near, it is compared with the Day and Month — if it is strong or equal it is spoilt at once, and if weaker, only the distant matter is spoilt. If there is Void or Break, the near point counts too, with the timing counted in reverse
• Reversed repetition is the matter repeating, inner meaning in the house or in the mind, and the reverse. Stagnant repetition is worry with no rest — wherever it is, the worry is there

See also

• Principles of reading a hexagram
• Strength (Wang Shuai)
• Several moving lines
• Combination and clash of lines
• Tomb (Mu)

— Bốc Dịch Đại Toàn, Vi Nhật Sơn · bocdichvotranh.com