繁體中文 | English
Reverse-engineering the I Ching (易經) using computational methods and AI-assisted pattern recognition.
How most people use I Ching:
Cast → Read result → Accept fate → Done
↑
Stuck here
How it should be used:
Cast → Understand situation → Choose direction → Act → Change
↓
This is the point
Why do most people use it wrong?
| Problem | Result |
|---|---|
| Don't know hexagrams have "types" | Don't know whether to stay or leave |
| Don't know there are "paths" | Don't know which direction to go |
| Don't know about "timing" | Don't know when to act |
| Treat I Ching as fortune telling | Passive waiting |
What this research solves:
Get a hexagram → Consult this guide →
- What type is this? (Attractor/Repeller/Trap)
- Should I stay or leave?
- Where should I go? (Recommended path)
- Which line change is safest?
- Take action!
The I Ching's power has always been there. Most people just don't know how to use it.
After analyzing all 384 lines of the I Ching as data, we found patterns that contradict 2000 years of traditional interpretation:
Traditional view: 无咎 = auspicious Data shows: Only 28% fortune (吉), 65% neutral (中)
Traditional view: 貞 (righteousness/persistence) always leads to fortune Data shows: 16% of 貞 combinations are actually 凶 (misfortune)
- 恆卦初六「浚恆，貞凶」— excessive persistence brings misfortune
- 節卦上六「苦節，貞凶」— excessive restraint brings misfortune
Traditional view: "四多懼" — the 4th line is fearful/dangerous Data shows: Position 4 has the highest 无咎 rate (22.2%) — it's actually the best position for recovery
Traditional view: I Ching and Five Elements (金木水火土) are inseparable Triple verification proves this wrong:
1. Text Search: "五行" "相生" "相剋" appear 0 times in 384 lines + Ten Wings
2. Statistical Analysis:
- Five Elements only adds +0.3% prediction accuracy
- Earlier/Later Heaven mappings show <1% difference
3. Head-to-Head Comparison:
| System | Effect Range | Explanatory Power |
|---|---|---|
| Trigram Virtues (卦德) | 1.50 | High |
| Five Elements (五行) | 0.30 | Low |
Trigram Virtues have 5x the explanatory power of Five Elements.
The original logic is recorded in Shuogua (說卦傳): "乾健、坤順、震動、巽入、坎陷、離麗、艮止、兌說"
易 = Change
能變 = Fortune
不變 = Misfortune
Data proof:
- Staying in a bad position: 0% fortune rate
- Actively changing from a bad position: 44% average fortune rate among neighbors
The I Ching is not about predicting your fate — it's about knowing when and how to change.
We built a complete navigation system for all 64 hexagrams:
| Category | Meaning | Action |
|---|---|---|
| 吸引子 (Attractor) | Good here, worse if you leave | Stay |
| 排斥子 (Repeller) | Bad here, better if you leave | Leave |
| 福地 (Blessed Land) | High fortune rate | Maintain |
| 困境 (Difficult) | Low fortune rate | Change |
| 陷阱 (Trap) | Bad here, neighbors also bad | Choose carefully |
For each hexagram, we provide:
- Current fortune rate
- Neighbor average (what happens if you change)
- Recommended path (which hexagram to transition to)
- Which line to change for best outcome
Example: 師卦 (7) → 17% fortune, neighbors average 44%
- Recommendation: Leave
- Best path: 師 → 臨 (change line 6 → 83% fortune)
Open docs/visualization.html or data/trigram_matrix.html to see the fortune distribution across all 64 hexagrams as an interactive heatmap.
All 384 fortune labels (吉/中/凶) derived directly from the I Ching text. Our classification method:
- Conditional phrase parsing (highest priority)
- Keyword reliability scoring (无咎, 吝, etc. have different weights)
- 3D lookup table:
LOOKUP[inner_trigram, outer_trigram, position]
Key insight: Fortune is not a linear formula — it's a non-linear interaction between trigrams and position.
iching/
├── scripts/ # 26 analysis scripts
│ ├── core/ # Predictors (100% lookup, 90.6% rule-based)
│ ├── analysis/ # Statistical analysis
│ ├── visualization/ # 2D/3D visualization
│ └── infrastructure/# Database utilities
├── data/
│ ├── iching.db # SQLite database (384 lines)
│ ├── structure/ # Hexagram relationships
│ └── commentaries/ # Classical Chinese texts
├── docs/ # Research documentation (Chinese)
└── book/ # Book manuscript (Chinese)
📖 Download the Ebook (EPUB) — Best way to read the full research (Chinese)
Or browse the docs:
docs/KEY_DISCOVERIES.md— Main research findingsdocs/HEXAGRAM_STRATEGY_GUIDE.md— Practical 64-hexagram navigation guidedocs/visualization.html— Interactive 8×8 heatmap
Want to explore the data?
data/iching.db— SQLite database with all 384 linesdata/structure/— Hexagram relationships and trigram mappings
Most docs are in Chinese (繁體中文). Use an LLM to translate, or open an issue for translation requests.
We welcome others to examine our data and scripts to verify these findings.
The research is reproducible:
- Raw data in
data/ - Analysis scripts in
scripts/ - All 384 lines labeled and categorized
If you find errors or have alternative interpretations, please open an issue. Rigorous criticism makes the research stronger.
- Meihua Yishu 梅花易數 — Meihua divination AI skill for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and other LLMs. Provides a complete hexagram casting and interpretation system.
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — Non-commercial use with attribution.
For commercial licensing, please contact me.