I Ching Basic

The text of the I Ching is a set of predictions represented by a set of 64 abstract line arrangements named Hexagrams (卦 guà). Each Hexagram is a figure composed of six stacked horizontal lines (爻 yáo), where each line is either Yin (), an open line with a gap in the center) or Yang (), an unbroken, or solid line. With six such lines stacked from bottom to top there are 64 possible combinations, and thus 64 hexagrams represented.

The hexagram diagram is conceptually subdivided into two three-line arrangements called Trigrams (卦 guà). There are 8 possible Trigrams. The traditional view was that the Hexagrams were a later development and resulted from combining the two set of Trigrams. Each Hexagram represents a description of a state or process. When a Hexagram is cast using one of the traditional processes of divination with I Ching, each of the Yin or Yang lines will be indicated as either moving (that is, changing), or fixed (that is, unchanging). Moving (also sometimes called "old", or "unstable") lines will change to their opposites, that is "young" lines of the other type -- old yang becoming young yin, and old yin becoming young yang.