Hanzi Design
Cosmology I Ching
Outer Inner

I Ching

易經
Definition

The 64 Hexagrams map the mutations of the cosmos in a complete 8×8 matrix.

The I Ching stacks the eight trigrams into pairs to produce sixty-four hexagrams — six lines each, every possible combination — and assigns to each a situation, an image, and a movement of change. Cast by chance, it answers questions by locating you within this total space and showing where the lines are tending.

What it unlocks

The I Ching unlocks the idea of a complete combinatorial map of situations: a finite, binary set covering every archetypal condition, with built-in transitions between them. Leibniz saw binary arithmetic in it; we might see the first state machine — sixty-four states and the rules that move between them.

change hexagrams probability
Qian (Heaven) creative
Kun (Earth) receptive
Zhen (Thunder) arousing
Xun (Wind) gentle
Kan (Water) abysmal
Li (Fire) clinging
Gen (Mountain) keeping still
Dui (Lake) joyous
Outer World external · manifestation
Inner World internal · seed