The Method of Drawing Images from Hexagrams: How to Read Concrete Images from the Hexagram Figure • TIMEACTOR

The Method of Drawing Images from Hexagrams — Reading Concrete Images from the Hexagram Figure

Drawing Images from Hexagrams — The Figure Is Just a Few Lines; Where Do the Images Come From?

Draw Qian and you see six solid lines; Kun, six broken lines. By what right do they stand for Heaven and Earth? Tai has Qian below and Kun above — why is it read as 'Heaven and Earth meet and the ten thousand things connect'? Ji Ji has Kan and Li as its two trigrams — why read it as 'water over fire,' and Wei Ji as 'fire over water'? These are not later inventions. They come from a way of reading that has sources and method, called drawing images. The root of drawing images is that line in the Xici Xia: the ancient sages looked up at the sky's images and down at the earth's patterns, watched the markings of birds and beasts, took nearby from their own bodies and far off from things, and so drew the eight trigrams. In other words, the eight trigrams were a currency of 'images' from the start — behind every hexagram and every line runs a string of concrete things. Learn to draw images and you can read from a few lines all the way to water, fire, mountain, marsh, and on to people, events, and objects. Without it, the figure is just a few lines. With it, the figure is a shorthand for the whole world.

Drawing images = reading outward from the figure. It has layers: the eight trigrams' basic images (Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, Dui matching Heaven, Earth, thunder, wind, water, fire, mountain, marsh), the broad and classed images in the Shuogua (Qian is ruler, father, horse; Kun is mother, ox ...), the combined image of upper and lower trigrams (Kan above, Li below = water over fire = Ji Ji), the image from trigram virtue (vigor, yielding, movement, entering, entrapment, brightness, stopping, joy), and the image from line position (the central line as the middle way). The textual basis is the Xici's 'nearby from the body, far off from things' and the Shuogua's list of classes.

The Textual Basis of Drawing Images — Looking Up and Down, Taking Nearby from the Body

Drawing images is not free association. Its method is written at the start of the Xici Xia. The Xici Xia says: in ancient times, when Bao Xi ruled the world, he looked up and observed images in the sky, looked down and observed patterns on the earth, watched the markings of birds and beasts and what the earth yielded, took nearby from his own body and far off from things, and so first made the eight trigrams, to reach the virtue of the spirits and to classify the feelings of the ten thousand things. In plain English: when Fuxi ruled the world, he looked up at the sky's images, down at the earth's patterns, at the markings of birds and beasts and the produce of the land. Nearby he drew images from his own body; far off he drew from things. So he made the eight trigrams, to run through the virtue of the spirits and to sort the states of the ten thousand things. This passage lays out two roads of drawing images: one upward and outward — sky images, earth patterns, birds and beasts, the ten thousand things — the images of nature; one inward and close — the body, the senses, human affairs — the images on hand. Deep reading: these two roads together are why the eight trigrams can speak of nature and of human affairs at once. Zhen can image thunder (a sky image) and also movement, the foot, the eldest son (taken from the body, human affairs). The room for drawing images opens from the 'far' and the 'near' directions at the same time. So when you read and draw images, ask first: what is this hexagram in sky images? What is it on the human body? Walk both roads and the image thickens on its own.

First Layer: The Eight Trigrams' Basic Images — Heaven, Earth, Thunder, Wind, Water, Fire, Mountain, Marsh

Drawing images starts from the smallest unit, the three-line trigram (the eight trigrams). Each of the eight has one most basic natural image, and this is the ground of drawing images: Qian is Heaven, Kun is Earth, Zhen is thunder, Xun is wind (and wood), Kan is water (and the moon), Li is fire (and the sun), Gen is mountain, Dui is marsh. Memorize these eight basic images and a six-line hexagram can be read by splitting. For example: Tai's six lines — the lower three are Qian (Heaven), the upper three are Kun (Earth), combining into the image of 'Heaven and Earth.' The earth's qi should rise and the sky's qi should descend; one rises, one falls, and they meet, so Tai is 'Heaven and Earth meet and the ten thousand things connect.' Pi is the reverse: Kun below and Qian above, sky on top and earth below, each settled in its place and no longer meeting, so 'Heaven and Earth do not meet and the ten thousand things do not connect.' Deep reading: the same pair of Qian and Kun, swap the positions and the image turns from 'meeting' to 'not meeting,' and the meaning flips entirely. This shows that the basic images are not just nouns — they carry direction and motion. Heaven tends to rise, earth tends to sink. Draw the image and you must read that motion to know what happens when they stack. How to practice: take any hexagram, split the upper and lower trigrams, write out their basic images, then see how these two natural things interact when stacked. Do this step and the hexagram's skeleton image is there.

Second Layer: Broad and Classed Images — The Expanded List the Shuogua Gives

The eight trigrams have only eight basic images, but the world holds tens of thousands of things. What then? The Shuogua lists a long string of classed images for each trigram, widening the reach of drawing images. Take Qian. The Shuogua says: Qian is Heaven, is the round, is the ruler, is the father, is jade, is metal, is cold, is ice, is deep red, is a good horse, is an old horse, is a lean horse, is a piebald horse, is the fruit of a tree. Heaven, round, ruler, father — on down the line, all are images of Qian. Kun is Earth, is the mother, is cloth, is a cauldron, is stinginess, is evenness, is a cow with a calf, is a great cart, is pattern, is the crowd, is a handle. Zhen is thunder, is the dragon, is dark yellow, is spreading, is the great road, is the eldest son, is decisiveness and impatience, is green bamboo. Deep reading: these images look mixed, but they have an inner logic. Why is Qian the ruler and the father? Because it is pure yang, vigorous, leading. Why jade and metal? Because the substance is hard, the value high, the gleam bright. Why a good horse? Because it runs with vigor. Grasp each trigram's 'temper' and the classed images are not rote but pushed outward along the temper. The right way to learn classes: do not memorize the whole table. Grasp each trigram's core temper first (the trigram virtue, covered in the next layer), then understand why these images fall to it, and you can file new things in yourself. The Shuogua's list is a model, not a ceiling.

Third Layer: The Combined Image of Upper and Lower Trigrams — Water over Fire, Fire over Water

A six-line hexagram is two three-line trigrams stacked. The second step of drawing images is to lay the two trigrams' images together and read the combined image. The classic example is Ji Ji and Wei Ji. Ji Ji has Li below and Kan above — Li is fire, Kan is water, together 'water over fire.' Water can press down fire, fire is controlled under water, water and fire aid each other, the matter is done, so it is called Ji Ji (already crossed). Wei Ji has Kan below and Li above — Kan is water, Li is fire, together 'fire over water.' Water and fire each in place yet not meeting: fire flares upward, water flows down, they run apart, the matter is not done, so it is called Wei Ji (not yet crossed). Deep reading: this pair lays the method of combined images out plainly. The same two elements, water and fire — which is up and which is down changes the image, the meaning, and the fortune completely. When drawing a combined image, also mind direction: the upper trigram usually shows the outside, the other party, the future, the high place; the lower usually shows the inside, oneself, the present, the low place. So to read a combined image, ask first: what is the upper trigram, in what place? What is the lower, in what place? Do the two aid each other (meet, connect, help) or run apart (separate, block, fight)? Then see what the combined image lands on in the matter — water over fire can be 'cooking' (Ding is also water over fire) or 'putting out a fire,' and which one you take depends on the judgment, the line texts, and the question asked.

Fourth Layer: The Image from Trigram Virtue — Vigor, Yielding, Movement, Entering, Entrapment, Brightness, Stopping, Joy

Beyond concrete objects, each of the eight trigrams has a 'virtue' — its nature and temper. The eight virtues: Qian vigor, Kun yielding, Zhen movement, Xun entering, Kan entrapment, Li brightness, Gen stopping, Dui joy. Qian's virtue is vigor — hard and unceasing. Kun's is yielding — soft and bearing. Zhen's is movement — rising and shaking. Xun's is entering — seeping in. Kan's is entrapment — falling, danger. Li's is brightness — clinging, light. Gen's is stopping — halting, boundary. Dui's is joy — delight, speech. Deep reading: the image from virtue and the image from object are two rulers that complement each other. The object gives you 'what it is'; the virtue gives you 'what temper, how it moves.' The same Kan: the object is water and danger, the virtue is entrapment — it is not ordinary water, it is water that traps you, a dangerous pit. The same Li: the object is fire and sun, the virtue is brightness — clinging, depending; one yin clings between two yangs, and fire must cling to wood to burn. When reading and drawing images, lay the object and the virtue together and the image gains depth. Meet Kan and think 'water' first, then 'entrapment, danger'; put the two together and you know the trouble in this hexagram is the kind that swallows you and will not let you out, not the kind that rushes at you in plain sight. The virtue layer is the key step that raises drawing images from 'what does it look like' to 'what temper it has.'

Fifth Layer and Practice: Image from Line Position, and How to Draw Images for Any Hexagram

Drawing images has one more layer in line position: where each line of the six-line hexagram sits also joins in. Lines 2 and 5 hold the center of the lower and upper trigrams and often take the image of 'the middle way, holding the center'; the first line takes the image of 'beginning, foot, below,' the top line the image of 'end, head, above, excess.' Qian's nine at the top, 'an arrogant dragon has regrets,' takes exactly the image of the top line at the extreme, gone too far. As for practice, draw images for any hexagram in these steps. First, split the hexagram: break the six lines into upper and lower three-line trigrams and write them on either side. Second, call out the basic images: write the natural image of the upper and lower trigrams separately (say Kan water, Li fire). Third, build the combined image: lay the two images together by position (water over fire / fire over water) and judge whether they aid or run apart. Fourth, add the virtues: mark a virtue on each trigram (say Kan entrapment, Li brightness) and fold the nature into the image. Fifth, check the classes: when you need to land on a concrete thing, turn to the Shuogua's list of classes and pick by context (the same Qian takes 'ruler,' 'good horse' for career questions, 'jade,' 'metal' for object questions). Sixth, look at line position: to read a line, see which place it sits in and take the matching positional image (center, beginning, end, excess). For example, practice with Da Guo. Da Guo has Xun below and Dui above — Xun is wind, wood, entering; Dui is marsh, joy; combined it is 'the marsh drowns the wood' or 'wood under the marsh' — water flooding over the treetops is the image of 'excess.' The tree should stand upright but is soaked under water — gone too far. Then the virtues: Xun entering, Dui joy, one seeping and one delighting, with the danger of excess caught between. Run the six steps and why Da Guo is called 'great excess,' and why its line texts are full of 'the ridgepole bends,' 'the ridgepole rises' — a house about to collapse — can all be drawn out of the figure.

Can You Really Draw the Images?

Given a six-line hexagram, can you first split it into two three-line trigrams and call out their basic images — instead of staring at the whole thing and not knowing where to start?
Do you know that 'water over fire' and 'fire over water' are the key difference between Ji Ji and Wei Ji — one pair of water and fire, swap the positions, and the meaning reverses?
When drawing images, do you also use the trigram virtues (vigor, yielding, movement, entering)? Reading only the concrete objects (horse, ox, water, fire) and not the nature easily pulls the image off course.

Common Breakers

Fixing the image to death. The same trigram can take different images in different questions. Kan can be water, danger, the center, the ear, a thief — which one depends on context. Decide 'Kan is water' and half the hexagrams jam.
Forgetting to split the upper and lower trigrams. A six-line hexagram is two three-line trigrams stacked; drawing images splits first, then reads. Treat the whole as one block and you lose the structure of 'the upper trigram is outside, the lower is inside' and 'the upper is the future, the lower is the present.'
Taking only the object and not the virtue. Knowing Zhen is two yin and one yang is not enough — Zhen's virtue is 'movement,' rising up, shaking, fright turning to resolve. Take the object and the virtue together and the hexagram gains depth.

Drawing Images from Hexagrams in Four Dimensions: Career, Relationships, Personality, and Health

Career & Wealth

In career, drawing images is the skill of 'translating' the matter in your hands into a figure and reading it back. Facing a situation, do not rush to fortune and misfortune. Draw images first: where is the water now, where is the fire? Who is up, who is down? Do they aid or run apart? Suppose you lead a team: tight control above and loose execution below is 'fire up, water down,' each going its own way, and the first thing to solve is not who is right but to connect the two directions so water can press the fire. Draw the combined image clearly and the structure of the problem shows itself. Then the virtues: does this stretch call for 'vigor' (a hard charge), 'entering' (seeping in), or 'stopping' (pulling back)? Drawing images turns an abstract situation into something workable, more useful than empty strategy.

Love & Relationship

In love, drawing images shows the two people's positions most clearly. Are you water and he fire, or you fire and he water? Fire above and water below running apart means both are pushing their own way and neither receives the other; water over fire is what aids. Thunder and wind (Zhen and Xun) are a pair — one moves, one enters; one opens the road, one seeps in. Mountain and marsh (Gen and Dui) are a pair — one stops, one delights. See which combination you are and you know the natural strengths and the natural pitfalls of the relationship. Drawing images does not decide for you whether to split or stay. It lays out 'what structure the two of you really are,' so you do not waste effort remaking the other's nature.

Personality

People who can draw images carry two languages in their heads — the abstract and the concrete. They see a thing and can say 'this is a Kan image (danger, entrapment)' and also 'this is someone dragging their feet in the dark.' Such people are flexible, quick to associate, good at explaining complex things through analogy, and excellent communicators and readers. The downside is over-associating, dragging an image off to the horizon and away from the point. The practice: drawing images must take root — every image must return to the figure itself and be justifiable. Association is the fruit; the figure is the root. Do not let the fruit drift too far from the root.

Health

Applied to the body, drawing images means seeing body and mind as a figure. If you are hot-tempered, heady, and sleeping badly lately, that is 'fire over water' — fire up, water down, water and fire not meeting, which is called the heart and kidney not linking. If you have no energy all day, stuffy and low, unable to raise your qi, that is 'water over fire' pressing you flat. Many states in Chinese medicine are at heart a matter of the up-down position of water and fire, yin and yang — drawing images helps you judge whether to 'draw the fire down' or 'raise the water to aid the fire.' Add the virtues: should you move (Zhen) or stop (Gen), advance or retreat — the body gives signals. Drawing images lets you see the body as a picture, with more wholeness than looking at one symptom alone.

Classic Passages on Drawing Images from Hexagrams with Plain English Translation

How to Apply the Method of Drawing Images from Hexagrams

Give a Hexagram a Checkup with the Six-Step Method: Take a hexagram and run six steps: split the trigrams, call the basic images, build the combined image, add the virtues, check the classes, look at line position. Write down each step. Run a dozen and you will find the split and the combined image are the two most useful — the skeleton of most hexagrams' meaning is in 'how the upper and lower trigrams stack.' Practice and, seeing any six-line hexagram, your eye splits it into two three-line trigrams first, and the images surface on their own.
Translate the Problem into a Figure, Then Draw Images: Face a concrete situation and do not rush to find a matching hexagram. Take a sheet: in this situation, who is 'water,' who is 'fire,' who is up, who is down, do they aid or run apart? Draw it as a pair of trigrams, upper and lower. When you finish you will find many tangled problems take shape the moment you draw images — the jam turns out to be 'two directions not meeting.' The use of drawing images is to give an abstract situation a shape.
Use the Trigram Virtues to Calibrate Your Action: After drawing images, ask one more question of the virtue: this matter now — does it call for 'vigor' (a hard push), 'entering' (slow seeping), 'stopping' (halting first), or 'movement' (decisive rising)? The same matter, with the wrong virtue, takes twice the effort for half the result. Rushing a hard attack when it should seep in gradually (entering but using vigor), or still spreading out when it is time to pull back (stopping but using movement) — both are virtues misused. The virtue gives your action its nature, closer to what you actually do than the object image.

Drawing Images from Hexagrams: Common Questions

Q:Why can the same hexagram take so many different images — which one should I take?

Look at context. Kan can be water, danger, entrapment, the ear, a thief — which one depends on what you ask and what the judgment and line texts say. Drawing images is a tool, not an answer; take the image that fits the question and occasion. Decide 'Kan equals water' and you will jam on other kinds of hexagram. The test: if the image you draw can carry this hexagram's judgment and line texts, it is right.

Q:Is drawing images the same as what the commentators call 'image-number'?

Drawing images is the most basic link in image-number. Image-number is a whole system that derives principle from symbols, and drawing images is its most direct step — reading concrete images from the figure. Above it there are also line position, hexagram change, na-jia, mutual bodies, and so on, but all of them build on drawing images. Learn it, then move toward image-number, and your foundation is steady.

Q:For a beginner drawing images, which step goes wrong most easily?

Forgetting to split the upper and lower trigrams. Many people stare at the whole six-line hexagram from the start and do not know where to read. The correct first step is always to split: what is the upper three, what is the lower three, what image does each take, how do they relate when stacked. Make splitting muscle memory and drawing images flows. The next most common error is looking only at the object and not the virtue — remember the object gives 'what it is' and the virtue gives 'what temper,' and use both rulers together.