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Yixue qimeng 易學啟蒙 "Introduction to the study of the 'Changes'" is a handbook to the Classic Yijing 易經 "Book of Changes" written by the eminent Neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130-1200) and Cai Yuanding 蔡元定 (1135-1198) from the Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279). This small text with a length of 4 chapters is a practical adaption of Zhu Xi's interpretative book Zhouyi benyi 周易本義.
Zhu Xi tried to purge the Yijing from the many Han-period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) commentaries and interpretations which focused on cosmological and numerological correlations of the hexagrams instead of their original divinatory function. Zhu Xi held that the nine trigrams had been invented by Fu Xi 伏羲. Later on, King Wen 周文王 of the Zhou dynasty 周 (11th cent.-221 BCE) wrote down short texts on the hexagrams which were later on expanded by the Duke of Zhou 周公旦 to interpretations on the individual lines of the hexagrams. The efforts of these personalities resulted in the core text of the Yijing, the Zhouyi 周易. The comprehensive commentaries Tuan 彖, Xiang 象, and wenyan 文言 were believed to have been added by Confucius.
Zhu Xi, as a Neo-Confucian scholar, was convinced that the moral orders as stipulated by the teachings of Confucianism were not made by man but were inherent in the natural world and thus a kind of natural law. The conscience of this origin and basic nature of the trigrams and hexagrams helped the user to identify the proper course of action at a certain moment of time, along with eventual changes in the flow of events.
The Yixue qimeng was published in 1186. The first chapter studies the symbolism of the Yellow River Chart (Hetu 河圖) and the Inscription of the River Luo (Luoshu 洛書), which are symbolisms similar to the trigrams of the Zhouyi. The second part elucidates the function of the Yin and Yang patterns (broken and solid) of the lines of each trigram. For the production of hexagrams with the help of milfoil stalks, chapter three of the Yixue qimeng can be used. The change from one hexagram to another one due to external circumstances is explained in the fourth and last chapter of the book.
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| 右兩奇一耦，以耦為主，為少陰者凡二十有八。掛扐之數十有七，除初掛之一為十有六。以四約而三分之，為一者二，為二者一。一奇象圓而用其全。故二一之中各復有三。二耦象方而用其半。故一二之中復有二焉，而積二三一二之數則為八。過揲之數三十有二，以四約之亦得八焉。 | Above are all twenty-eight cases of two odds and one even, with the even as ruler, making the younger yin. The number of stalks placed between the fingers is seventeen; subtracting the single one makes sixteen. Dividing four by three yields two ones and one two. A one represents a circle, and we use all of it. Thus of the two ones each contains three. Two pairs represent a square, and we use half of them. Thus the single two contains two in it, and the sum of two threes and one two is eight. The number that has been counted off is thirty-two; grouping this by fours also yields eight. |
| 掛扐除一，四其四也，自一其十二者而進四也，八之母也，過揲之數，八其四也，自三其十二者而退四也，八之子也。 | [Cai Yuanding:] Subtracting one from those placed between the fingers, or multiplying four by four, or multiplying twelve by one and adding four, yield the mother of eight. The number of stalks counted off, or eight times four, or multiplying twelve by three and subtracting four, yields the children of eight. |
| 即四象少陰居二含八之數也。 | This is the younger yin of the Four Images, residing in two and containing eight. |
Translation following Adler 2020. |
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Hu Fangyan 胡方平 (mid to late 13th cent.) wrote the commentary Yixue qimeng tongshi 易學啟蒙通釋.
There is a complete translation by Joseph A. Adler. 2020. The Original Meaning of the Yijing: Commentary on the Scripture of Change. New York: Columbia University Press).
| 1 | 本圖書 | The original Chart and Scripture |
| 2 | 原卦畫 | The original drawing of the trigrams |
| 3 | 明蓍策 | Explaining the milfoil stalks |
| 4 | 考變占 | Examining the prognostications of the changes |
| 六十四卦相變圖 | (Charts of the changes of the 64 hexagrams) |