Correctness and Correspondence*

Dr Andreas Schöter

1. Introduction
Much of the commentary for the individual lines in various versions of the Yi Jing are
concerned with the issues of correctness, holding together and correspondence. For
example, the work of Cheng Yi applies the theories of Inner Design to develop a
detailed commentary of the Yi that reflects the application of these concepts. Cheng
Yi’s work is translated as The Tao of Organization by Cleary [Cle88] and I will have
recourse to make extensive reference to this commentary throughout this paper. I
shall begin, in Section 2 by describing the traditional notions of correctness and
correspondence, as presented by Cleary and Cheng Yi in [Cle88]. This includes a
description of the roles of the individual lines, as this helps to provide a context for
understanding the significance of correctness and correspondence when used in
interpreting the structures of the Yi.

Then, in Section 3, I shall present a method for representing correctness and

correspondence, using the algebraic tools that I discussed in my earlier paper
“Boolean Algebra and the Yi Jing” [Sch98]. I shall use those techniques to develop
formal definitions for these properties and then use those definitions to prove some
interesting characteristics. In particular, in Section 3.5, I shall show that correctness
and correspondence are interconnected properties, rather than two unconnected
notions. As an interesting aside I shall also show how correspondence can be used to
provide a method for classifying the hexagrams into eight classes. I shall not discuss
the property of holding together in this essay.

The reader not familiar with my earlier paper is referred to Section 5 where I present a
brief summary of the notation and formal techniques used throughout this work.
These are presented in more detail in my earlier paper [Sch98].

Because of the extensive use of Cleary’s translation in this paper I have decided to
adopt the names of the hexagrams used there, rather than the more familiar
translations offered by Wilhelm. To make things easier on the reader I therefore also
include the King Wen sequence number and a linear binary representation of the gua
where appropriate.[1]

*
This paper was first published in THE ORACLE: THE JOURNAL OF YIJING STUDIES, Vol 2, No 8,
February 1999, pp25–37. ISSN 1463-6220.

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2. The Traditional Perspective

In the following sections I present a brief overview of the traditional perspective on
the relationships of correctness and correspondence. Given that both of the notions I
shall be investigating are concerned with the properties of, and relationships between,
the lines, it is informative to begin with a brief description of their individual
characteristics.

2.1 The Individual Lines

The following attribution of roles gives one particular analysis of the qualities of the
individual lines:

1st line: unskilled workers.

2nd line: skilled workers.
3rd line: middle management.
4th line: personal assistants.
5th line: senior management.
6th line: external consultants.

This system of attributions is a summary of the Inner Design system used by Cheng Yi
as it would be applied in an organizational context. One way of viewing correctness
and correspondence then, is as a system for considering the attribution of yin and yang
to these various organizational roles and for analyzing the relationships between the
roles once the attributions have been made.

Cleary describes this particular system in more detail in [Cle88, ppxii-xiii & xvii] and
describes a number different line systems (including the one presented above) from
Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian perspectives in [Cle89, pp21-29].

2.2 Correctness
The notion of correctness relates the nature of a line (whether it is a yin or a yang line)
to its place in the overall structure of the hexagram. The idea is that certain places in a
hexagram are yang in nature and therefore it is usually more appropriate (correct) for a
yang line to take that place; similarly, certain places are taken to be yin in nature and it
is generally correct for a yin line to take that place.

In the eighth wing of the Yi, the division of the text that Wilhelm refers to as “The
Discussion of the Trigrams” (the Shuo Gua), we have the statement that “to heaven
they assigned the number three and to earth the number two; from these they
computed the other numbers” [Wil83, p262]. This is spelt out step by step in Chapter
IX, verse 1 of the Dazhuan where the first ten numbers are assigned to heaven and
earth: “Heaven is one, earth is two, heaven is three, earth is four, heaven is five, earth
is six…” and so forth [Wil83, p308]. Following on from this we have that “The

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places are divided into the dark and light. The yielding and the firm occupy these by
turns.” [Wil83, p264]. So, as might be expected from the general numerology
expressed here, odd numbered places in a hexagram are yang in nature and even
numbered places are yin in nature.[2]

According to this system then, hexagram 63 After Completion 101010 has every line
correct: the first, third and fifth lines are yang whilst the second, fourth and sixth lines
are yin. As Wilhelm notes, this is the only hexagram in which all the lines stand in
their proper places [Wil83, p709]. In this context Cleary's translation of the name of
this hexagram as Settled is very apt [Cle88, p209].

But by the same reasoning, in hexagram 64 Before Completion 010101 every line is
incorrect: the first, third and fifth lines are yin when they should be yang, whilst the
second, fourth and sixth lines are yang when they should be yin. Again, Cleary's
translation of the name of this gua as Unsettled is quite appropriate when we consider
the correctness of the lines.

Clearly, other hexagrams will have various mixes of correct and incorrect lines. Some
examples from Cheng Yi's commentary will bring out these points. Firstly, we shall
consider some incorrect lines.

For the 3rd yin in hexagram 10 Treading 110111 we have yin in a yang position.
Cheng Yi's commentary for this line is “This is one who wants to be strong but who is
basically weak and cannot be firm in action.” Conversely, for the 4th yang in
hexagram 35 Advance 000101 we have yang in yin place being inauspicious; Cheng
Yi says “Yang in the fourth line is out of place. Remaining where it is out of place, it
represents those who occupy a position out of greed.”

As an example of correctness we can consider the 4th yin in hexagram 37 People in

the Home 101011. This is yin in a yin place and is taken as auspicious. Cheng Yi
says “To be in the proper place means to live securely, at peace.”

Whilst these examples show the typical application of correctness, Wilhelm [Wil83,
p361] notes that being incorrect may not always be a disadvantage. Again, the
following examples from Cheng Yi's commentary make this clear.

We find that for the 2nd line in hexagram 34 Great Power 111100 there is yang in a
yin place. Cheng Yi says “the second line has yang strength dealing with a time of
great power, nevertheless it remains flexible”. So the nature of the line benefits from
the spirit of its place. Similarly, for the 1st yin in hexagram 40 Solution 010100
Cheng Yi says “it has flexibility in a position for strength, responding to yang with
yin. This means being flexible yet able to be firm.”

Equally, correctness may not always be an advantage. Cheng Yi's commentary

contains some examples of these kinds of cases. Considering hexagram 34 Great
Power again, in the 3rd yang we have a correct line, but it is too yang. The comment

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says “The third yang has strength in a yang position, dealing with power... This is like
when people esteem power and use it on whatever they confront, inevitably being
frustrated.” Similarly, in the 4th yin of hexagram 36 Damage to Illumination
101000 we have a yin line in a yin place being too yin. Cheng Yi says that “This
represents dishonest petty people in high positions following the leadership
obediently, being weak and devious.”

Thus, although the property of correctness gives us the basic framework for
interpreting the nature of the lines, the actual determination of whether the result is
auspicious or not depends very much on the overall context of the gua. The algebraic
analysis given in Section 3.2 addresses the formal properties of correctness and not its
contextual interpretation.

2.3 Correspondence
The notion of correspondence relates pairs of lines within a hexagram. However,
correspondence between lines cannot be taken as a given - it usually only occurs when
a line in a certain position has a corresponding complementary line in a related
position.

Which places give rise to correspondences? If we take the upper and lower trigrams
of a hexagram and match them line for line, then the first lines of each trigram may
correspond; similarly, the second lines of each trigram and the top lines of each
trigram are also potential correspondents. Specifically, when the first and fourth lines
are complements, then they correspond; similarly the second and fifth lines may
correspond and the third and sixth lines also. Figure 1 shows these connections
graphically.

Figure 1: Correspondence

Richard Smith translates the Chinese term for this relationship as “correctly resonates”
[Smi98, p41]; this phrase captures the intent behind the idea of correspondence.[3]
Cheng Yi says in the commentary to the third yin in Reduction (hexagram 41,
110001) “when each pair of lines is complementary, then the aim is unified; for each
one this is getting a companion” [Clea88, p134]. Thus, if we consider this remark and
the general nature of Cheng Yi's other comments on the subject, we can see
correspondence as defining a relationship of mutual attraction and helping between
pairs of lines.

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It is interesting to consider hexagram 64, Unsettled, again in the light of both

correctness and correspondence. Wilhelm says of this hexagram that “outwardly
viewed, none of the lines appears in its proper place; but they are all in relationship to
one another” [Wil83, p714]. What is meant by this is that although, as previously
noted, every line is incorrect, each line stands in correspondence with its pair from the
other trigram.

Some examples from Cheng Yi's commentary will help clarify the application of this
relationship. Consider the 1st yin in hexagram 6 Contention 010111; this line has a
correspondent in the 4th yang. This correspondence gives the otherwise incorrect line
a positive angle. Cheng Yi says “It is because there is corresponding assistance from
a higher level that people in this position are able to refrain from persisting forever in
an affair, and are lucky to get by with a little criticism.” The comment for the
corresponding 4th yang says that “the first [line] is in the right cooperative
relationship and is obedient, so it is not a party to contention.” In contrast, compare
the 2nd and 5th yangs; their positions should correspond, but they are not
complements. Cheng Yi says that “...they are both strong, so they contend.”

For the 2nd yin in hexagram 17 Following 100110 the situation is quite complex. It
corresponds with the 5th yang but is drawn to the nearer 1st yang.[4] Cheng Yi says
“if you get involved with the small child you will lose the adult. The first yang below
is the small child; the fifth, the true correspondent above, is the adult. If the second
gets concerned with the first, it will lose its true correspondent, the fifth yang.”

In contrast we can consider the 1st yang in hexagram 13 Association with Others
101111. This line has no correspondent, but Cheng Yi's comment says that “this
signifies absence of personal bias.” Thus, as with correctness, although the abstract
definition of correspondence provides the framework, the actual interpretation based
on the relationship depends on the context of the situation. The most blatant example
of this is in the 1st and 4th yangs in hexagram 38 Disharmony 110101. For Cheng
Yi these lines correspond! He says of the situation “only the first and fourth, though
they are not complementary, have the same qualities and associate together, so they
harmonize.”

Again, the algebraic analysis of correspondence in Section 3.3 is concerned with the
formal aspects of the relationship, rather than its contextually determined
interpretation.

3. The Algebraic Perspective

This section builds on the formal approach that I began to develop in my earlier paper
[Sch98]. In that work I used mathematical techniques to analyse two relationships put
forward by Cleary (specifically the Structural Complement and Primal Correlate

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discussed in [Cle89, pp29–31]). In this section I apply the same tools to explore an
algebraic perspective on the two traditional relationships discussed above.

Technically, correctness can be seen as a relationship between an individual line and

its place in the gua, whilst correspondence is a relationship between two lines
according to their relative positions. Paralleling the representation of the context of a
change by a hexagram in [Sch98, §3.2.3], the formal representations of correctness
and correspondence will be in terms of gua. We shall see that correctness for a
hexagram will be represented by another hexagram, whilst correspondence for a
hexagram will be represented by a trigram.

3.1 Some Auxiliary Notation

In order to offer a formal approach to these notions it is necessary to make some
notation explicit that it was possible, for the sake of simplicity, to leave implicit in my
earlier work. Specifically, I shall need to introduce a notation for talking about the
gua as an ordered sequence of lines. Informally, in the text, I shall continue to write a
hexagram, for example, The Well, as an undifferentiated linear figure 011010.
However, the reader should understand this as shorthand for the more explicit form
[0,1,1,0,1,0] where each line is properly distinguished from the others in an
ordered linear structure.

This is necessary because, in some parts of the following discussion, I need to break a
gua down into smaller units. Where it causes no confusion I will continue to use the
original, simpler form of notation.

3.2 Correctness
I wish to propose the following formal representation of the relation of correctness.
The correctness of the lines in a hexagram G can be represented by another hexagram,
its correctness hexagram C. In the correctness hexagram a line is yang if the
equivalent line in the original hexagram is correct; similarly, a line is yin in the
correctness hexagram if the equivalent line in the original hexagram is not correct.

Consider, as given above, that every line in 101010 is correct and conversely, that
every line in 010101 is incorrect. This leads to the following definition:

Definition 1: Correctness
The correctness hexagram C of a hexagram G is
C = G^010101

One way to view the correctness of a hexagram is to see it as the difference between
that hexagram and absolute incorrectness. This is what Definition 1 captures in a
formal statement. If we apply this definition to the examples given above we get the

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following results. Firstly, consider the hexagram Settled 101010. From Definition 1
we get:

G = 101010
C = 101010^010101
= 111111

This is the required result; every line in Settled is correct so its correctness hexagram
should be composed of all yang lines. Now consider Unsettled 010101. Again,
applying the definition gives:

G = 010101
C = 010101^010101
= 000000

Which is the result that the initial analysis suggested; all the lines in Unsettled are
incorrect so its correctness hexagram should be all yin lines. Finally, consider the
example of hexagram 56 Travel 001101. The definition will give

G = 001101
C = 001101^010101
= 011000

Again, this gives us the desired result. The only correct lines in Travel are the 2nd yin
and the 3rd yang and both of these lines are yang in the correctness hexagram with all
other lines being yin.

Thus, we have a formal relation that gives us a representation of correctness in the

following terms. The correctness of a hexagram is defined as another hexagram: for
each correct line in the initial hexagram we have a yang line in the result, and for each
incorrect line we have a yin line.

I shall now present some properties of correctness that can be verified using the
formal tools of Boolean algebra.

Theorem 1: Unique Correctness

Each hexagram has a unique correctness hexagram.

The proof of this is simple. It is a theorem of general Boolean algebra that if A≠B then
A^X≠B^X for any values of A, B and X. For our purposes X is fixed as 010101 in
Definition 1, and A and B are allowed to vary freely. Thus, we can see that if A and B
are distinct hexagrams, then their correctness hexagrams will also be different.

The next theorem relates the correctness of a hexagram with the correctness of its
complement.

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Theorem 2: Complementary Correctness

If the correctness hexagram of G is given by C, then the correctness hexagram
of ~G will be ~C.

That is, in English, if a line is correct in G then it will be incorrect in ~G.

The proof of this is simple. As a general rule of Boolean algebra we have:

(~X)^Y = ~(X^Y)

Which, in words, says that the difference between the complement of X and Y is the
same as the complement of the difference between X and Y. In the definition of
correctness Y is fixed as 010101 and X is the gua we are interested in finding the
correctness of. Theorem 2 now follows directly:

if C = G^010101, then for ~G we have

~G^010101
= ~(G^010101)
= ~C

Theorem 3 involves the correctness of a hexagram composed of a single trigram

doubled.

Theorem 3: Correctness for Doubled Trigrams

If G = [a, b, c, a, b, c], then its correctness hexagram C will have
the form [d, e, f, ~d, ~e, ~f].

In English this means: if a hexagram has the same trigram repeated, then its
correctness hexagram will have complementary trigrams. The implication of this
theorem for correctness is that in a hexagram composed from a repeated trigram, at
most half of the lines can be correct. Further, preempting some of the results from
Section 3.5, if a line is correct in the lower trigram, then its corresponding line in the
upper trigram will be incorrect and vice versa.

The proof of this theorem is straightforward. If a hexagram has the same trigram
repeated it will have a line configuration in the form

G = [a, b, c, a, b, c]

Now, the correctness difference hexagram 010101 has the form

[d, e, f, ~d, ~e, ~f]

Thus, from Definition 1, the correctness hexagram C = G^010101 will be:

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[a, b, c, a, b, c] ^ [d, e, f, ~d, ~e, ~f]

Taking this expression line by line, this expands to:

[a^d, b^e, c^f, a^~d, b^~e, c^~f]

And then, using the same rule of Boolean algebra that we used in the proof of
Theorem 2, we can transform this to:

[a^d, b^e, c^f, ~(a^d), ~(b^e), ~(c^f)]

Which has the required form for the conclusion of the proof.

The next theorem presents the correctness property for hexagrams composed from a
pair of complementary trigrams.

Theorem 4: Correctness for Paired Complements

If G = [a, b, c, ~a, ~b, ~c], then its correctness hexagram C will
have the form [d, e, f, d, e, f].

Or, in English, if a hexagram has complementary trigrams, then its correctness

hexagram will have the same trigram repeated. This is the converse of Theorem 3: for
a hexagram composed of complementary trigrams, if a line in the lower trigram is
correct, then its corresponding line in the upper trigram will also be correct.

The proof of this theorem follows the same pattern as the proof for Theorem 3 and I
omit its detailed presentation here.

3.3 Correspondence
Let us now turn to correspondence. This notion can be seen as a comparison of the
lines from the two primary trigrams of a hexagram. Consider the following definition:

Definition 2: Correspondence
For hexagram G = [a, b, c, d, e, f],
the correspondence trigram R = [a^d, b^e, c^f]

This definition represents the correspondence of a hexagram as a trigram. This is

strictly correct, correspondence relates pairs of lines in a hexagram and there are three
pairs of lines. In this case a yang line in the first position in the correspondence
trigram indicates that the first and fourth lines of the hexagram correspond, a yang line
in the second place in the trigram indicates correspondence between the second and
fifth lines of the hexagram, and a yang line in the top place in the trigram indicates

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correspondence between the third and sixth lines of the hexagram. The following
examples will show how this definition works.

Consider hexagram 63, Settled, 101010. In addition to being completely correct this
hexagram also has every line standing in correspondence. If we apply Definition 2 to
101010 we get

R = [1^0, 0^1, 1^0]

= [1, 1, 1]

Thus we see that the correspondence for Settled is 111 indicating that every pair of
lines is in correspondence. Similarly consider hexagram 64, Unsettled, 010101. As
previously noted, although every line is incorrect, every line is actually in proper
correspondence with its pair. Again, applying the definition we get:

R = [0^1, 1^0, 0^1]

= [1, 1, 1]

So, the correspondence for Unsettled is also 111 indicating that every pair of lines is
in correspondence. Now let us consider hexagram 56, Travel 001101. In this
hexagram only the first line has a correspondent: the first yin and the fourth yang are
complements and in the correct relative position. If we apply Definition 2 we get the
following result:

R = [0^1, 0^0, 1^1]

= [1, 0, 0]

As for correctness, there are some interesting theorems that can be proven for the
property of correspondence. Theorem 5 for correspondence parallels Theorem 1 for
correctness.

Theorem 5: Correspondence Classes

Every hexagram falls into one of eight correspondence classes.

This theorem follows directly from Definition 2. If the correspondence of a hexagram

is represented by a trigram then, as there are eight trigrams, every hexagram must fall
into a correspondence group matching one of the trigrams. The implications of this
idea are explored a little in Section 3.4 below.

The next theorem for correspondence parallels Theorem 3 for correctness.

Theorem 6: Correspondence for Doubled Trigrams

For a hexagram G = [a, b, c, a, b, c], R = [0, 0, 0].

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In English, this simply says that any hexagram composed of a trigram doubled has no
corresponding lines. The proof of this is direct. If

G = [a, b, c, a, b, c]

then from Definition 2 we know that

R = [a^a, b^b, c^c]

And as it is a rule of Boolean algebra that X^X = 0 for any X, we can see that

R = [0, 0, 0]

Theorem 7 for correspondence parallels Theorem 4 for correctness. It is the converse

of Theorem 6 above.

Theorem 7: Correspondence for Complementary Trigrams

For a hexagram G = [a, b, c, ~a, ~b, ~c], R = [1, 1, 1].

This says that any hexagram composed of a pair of complementary trigrams has every
pair of lines in correspondence. Again, the proof is direct. If

G = [a, b, c, ~a, ~b, ~c]

Then from the definition we know that

R = [a^~a, b^~b, c^~c]

And as it is a rule of Boolean algebra that X^~X = 1 for any X, we can see that

R = [1, 1, 1]

3.4 Correspondence Classes

Before considering the relationship between the two properties it is interesting to
briefly look at an intriguing result of Theorem 5. This theorem identified the fact that
every hexagram falls into one of eight possible patterns of correspondence, where
those patterns of correspondence can be related to the eight trigrams. Table 1 shows
this classification. Now we can see that, in addition to each hexagram falling into one
of the eight classes, each of the classes contains exactly eight hexagrams. Thus,
correspondence gives us a new way of dividing the hexagrams of the Yi into families.

The left-most column, headed by the trigram 000, contains those hexagrams which
have no corresponding lines. As we would expect from Theorem 6 these are those
hexagrams that are composed of a single trigram doubled. Similarly, the right-most

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column, headed by 111, contains that hexagrams for which every pair of lines is in
correspondence. Again, as Theorem 7 stipulates, these are those hexagrams
composed from complementary trigrams.

000 100 010 110 001 101 011 111

000000 000100 000010 000110 000001 000101 000011 000111
001001 001101 001011 001111 001000 001100 001010 001110
010010 010110 010000 010100 010011 010111 010001 010101
011011 011111 011001 011101 011010 011110 011000 011100
100100 100000 100110 100010 100101 100001 100111 100011
101101 101001 101111 101011 101100 101000 101110 101010
110110 110010 110100 110000 110111 110011 110101 110001
111111 111011 111101 111001 111110 111010 111100 111000
Table 1: The Correspondence Classes
The remaining columns contain the hexagrams with intermediate degrees of
correspondence. For example, the fourth column, headed by the trigram The Joyous
110, contains those hexagrams in which the first and fourth lines correspond, the
second and fifth lines correspond, but the third and sixth lines do not. An example of
this is hexagram 40 Solution, 010100.

The possible importance of this method of classifying the gua remains to be explored.

3.5 Relating Correctness and Correspondence

Correctness and correspondence are not independent concepts. In this section I shall
take the definitions offered in Sections 3.2 and 3.3 and show how these can be used to
make the interconnections between the two notions explicit. These interconnections
are spelt out formally by means of a number of statements which are gathered together
as Theorem 8.

I shall provide a formal proof of Theorem 8a and Theorem 8c. The proofs for the
remaining parts of the theorem follow the same pattern and are left as an exercise for
the reader.

Theorem 8: Correctness and Correspondence.

a) If a line is correct and has a correspondent, then that line is correct too.
b) If a line is incorrect and has a correspondent, then that line is incorrect too.
c) If a line is correct and has no correspondent, then the relevant line is
incorrect.
d) If a line is incorrect and has no correspondent, then the relevant line is
correct.

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The proof of Theorem 8a proceeds as follows. We are interested in the situation

where a line is correct and has a correspondent, we then show that the corresponding
line is also correct. Suppose the hexagram under consideration is:

G = [a, b, c, d, e, f]

Then we know from Definition 1 that the correctness hexagram will be:

C = [a^0, b^1, c^0, d^1, e^0, f^1]

We further know from Definition 2 that the correspondence trigram will be:

R = [a^d, b^e, c^f]

Now suppose that line 1 is correct and it has a correspondent. Then we can determine
from the preceeding expressions that:

a^0 = 1 (line 1 is correct) and a^d = 1 (lines 1 and 4 correspond)

What we now need to show is that line 4 is correct. This would be represented as

d^1 = 1

Now, given that a^0 = 1, looking at the table for the difference operator (see Table 6
in Section 5) we can conclude that a = 1. Now, we can substitute this value into the
expression a^d = 1 to give 1^d = 1 which is what we needed to prove. The other
two pairs of lines have the same pattern of proof. Thus, we have shown the property
holds for each related pairs of lines in a hexagram, therefore Theorem 8a is true.

The proof of Theorem 8c is similar. We are interested in the situation when a line is
correct and has no correspondent, we then show that the relevant line is incorrect. We
can use the expressions for G, C and R from above. Now, suppose that line 1 is
correct but has no correspondent. Then we can determine that:

a^0 = 1 (line 1 is correct) and a^d = 0 (lines 1 and 4 do not correspond)

Now we need to show that line 4 is incorrect. This would be represented as

d^1 = 0

Now, given that a^0 = 1 as before we know that a = 1. Now we can substitute this
value for a into a^d = 0 to give 1^d = 0 which is what we needed to prove. Again,
the other two pairs of lines follow the same pattern of proof. Thus, given that the
property holds for each of the related pairs of lines in a hexagram, we have shown that
the theorem holds in general.

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The proofs for Theorem 8b and Theorem 8d are essentially the same and the details
are omitted here.

4. Conclusions
In “Boolean Algebra and the Yi Jing” [Sch98] I introduced a mathematical analysis of
some of the structural aspects of the gua. In that paper I then apply the formal
techniques to provide a description of a number of phenomena. In particular I
describe how Cleary’s relations of the Structural Complement and the Primal
Correlate [Cle89, pp29–31] can be given a precise formal description. I also show
how the relationship that holds between the initial gua in a reading and the gua
resulting from its changing lines can be given a mathematical analysis within the same
framework.

In this paper I take the same formal tools from [Sch98] and apply them to provide a
detailed analysis of the traditional notions of correspondence and correctness. In
particular I have shown that correctness and correspondence are not independent
notions. Rather they fit together in a precise and well defined way as is brought out by
the theorems in Section 3.5. Further, as a side effect of Theorem 5, we find a new
way of classifying the hexagrams into eight families, although the significance of this
result needs to be explored in more depth.

The tools have proven capable of providing a detailed description of notions

introduced by Cleary, of providing an analysis of the process of change within a
reading and, in this paper, of analyzing two traditional notions. I believe that the
broad success of the formal analyses that I have been able to provide using these tools
is indicative of their general applicability to the structures in the Yi.

5. Technical Summary
The formal techniques used in this paper rely on Boolean algebra. In this section I
shall present a brief summary of the notation used. For a fuller description of the
mathematics, the reader is referred to my earlier paper [Sch98], especially Section 2,
from which this summary draws heavily. Table 2 below shows the logical operators
that we shall have cause to use in this essay.

Logical name Interpretation Notation

not complement ~x
or union x|y
and intersection x&y
xor difference x^y
Table 2: The Combinatory Operations

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Correctness and Correspondence Dr Andreas Schöter

The first of these is a unary operation in that it applies to a single gua to generate
another. This is defined by Table 2 from [Sch98, §2.1.1] repeated below as Table 3.
The complement of a yin line is a yang line and the complement of a yang line is a yin
line.

x ~x
0 1
1 0
Table 3: complement operation
That is, for individual lines, ~0 = 1 and ~1 = 0. The effect on structures is the
same, taken line by line. For example, consider Water, it is transformed into Fire:
~010 = 101. Similarly, the Arousing is transformed into the Gentle: ~100 = 011.

The remaining operators are binary: that is, they take two gua and generate a third.
The first of these is union. Where x|y = z, then z is the result of taking the union
of the yang energies in x with the yang energies in y. This is summarized in the
following table:

x y x|y
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1
Table 4: The or operation
Again, the extension to structures is done line by line. For example, in trigrams, the
result of combining the Arousing with Stillness gives Fire: 100|001 = 101.

The next operator is intersection. Where x&y = z, then z is the result of taking the
intersection of the yang energy in x with the yang energy in y. Again, it is best to
represent this in a tabular form:

x y x&y
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1
Table 5: The and operation
As with the other operations, this is ready extended to structures by taking them line
by line. For example, combining the energies of the Joyous with the energies of Fire
through the and operation gives the Arousing: 110&101 = 100.

The final Boolean operator that we shall use is the difference operator. That is, where
x^y = z, z is the difference between x and y. As before, this is best represented in
a tabular format:

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x y x^y
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0
Table 6: The xor operation

This is perhaps the most interesting of the structural operations. Considering its action
on trigrams, the Abyss would represent the difference between the Arousing and the
Joyous: 100^110 = 010.

The final two symbols that I use are = for equality and ≠ for inequality. For example,
A=B simply means A and B are equal, whilst A≠B means that A and B are not equal.

6. Notes
[1]
The reader is reminded that it is this author’s preference to write the linear
representation of gua as left-to-right for bottom-to-top. Thus the trigram Zhen is
written as 100. There is no real consensus around this issue and the decision is
essentially arbitrary. Cleary [Cle89] and Hacker [Hac93] both opt for the left-to-right
is bottom-to-top representation, but others prefer the left-to-right is top-to-bottom
representation. I use the former representation as many of the formal definitions in
this and my earlier paper use recursive definitions which are naturally expressed left-
to-right in a programming context.
[2]
A more detailed description of the property of correctness is given by Wilhelm in
Section 5 of “The Structure of the Hexagrams” [Wil83, pp360-361].
[3]
Wilhelm discusses this relationship in detail in Section 6 of “The Structure of the
Hexagrams” [Wil83, pp361-362].
[4]
In fact, this is the relationship of holding together. Two lines may hold together
when they are adjacent in a hexagram. This relationship does not concern me in this
paper, but the interested reader is referred again to Wilhelm’s “The Structure of the
Hexagrams” [Wil83, pp362–364].

7. References
[Cle88] Thomas Cleary
The Tao of Organization: the I Ching for Group Dynamics. Boston:
Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1988. ISBN 1 57062 086 5.

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[Cle89] Thomas Cleary

I Ching Mandalas: a Program of Study for the Book of Changes. Boston:
Shambhala Publications, Inc. 1989. ISBN 0 87773 418 6.
[Hac93] Edward A Hacker
The I Ching Handbook. Brookline, Massachusetts: Paradigm Publications,
1993. ISBN 0 912111 36 4.
[Sch98] Dr Andreas Schöter
“Boolean Algebra and the Yi Jing” in The Oracle: the Journal of Yijing
Studies, Volume 2, Number 7, Summer 1998, pp19–34. ISSN 1463-6220.
[Smi98] Richard J Smith
“The Languages of the Yi Jing and the Representation of Reality” in The
Oracle: the Journal of Yijing Studies, Volume 2, Number 7, Summer 1998,
pp35–50. ISSN 1463-6220.
[Wil83] Richard Wilhelm
I Ching or Book of Changes. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983.
ISBN 0 7100 9527 9

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