This is not a game. It is the ancient Chinese divinatory system of
To question the oracle you must throw the long dice six times. These dice have only two numbers: two and three. To throw the dice, click on the upmost die. If the Yin numbers (the twos) are in majority then a Yin line (broken) will be produced. If the Yang numbers (the threes) are in majority, then a Yang line (whole) will be produced. Six throws are necessary to determine a hexagram. A number pops up, which is the number of the
To read what the hexagram has to say, right-click on the number and choose "Properties". A hexagram consist of two trigrams. The headings "Above" and "Below" reflect upon these. Under the heading "The Lines" you can read what the strong lines mean. A strong Yin line (a "Six") has a cross on it. A strong Yang line (a "Nine") has a circle on it. You can save your oracles by pressing "Save". To question the oracle again, click on "New game".
Moreover, under the hexagram number there appears a 'C'. Right-click on it and you can read the comments of King Wan and Duke of Kau. Whereas the hexagram text derives from the Wilhelm translation, the comments are taken from the Legge translation. This is an ideal combination. The comments in the Wilhelm translation are somewhat prosaic, which is perhaps not suitable for this spiritual book. Remember that the hexagram is more important than the commentators' texts. It is your associations that count, that is, it is you who should write the comment. This is also Palmer/Ramsay's standpoint in
I Ching contains much wisdom. It is well worth reading like a regular book. Its obscure language is typical for oracles (compare the oracle at Delphi, etc). Such obscure imagery can entice projections from the unconscious. It is well-known that the unconscious often carries solutions to our problems, as exemplified by the chemist Kekulé, who found the ring structure of benzene in a dream. A more prosaic explanation is that a comment of any sort has the capacity of breaking one's habitual thinking, and make one see things differently.
If you want to, you can edit the zrf-file, add comments, or insert improvements of the translation. There is much information on the
The eight trigrams have the following names and symbolic meanings:
Ch'ien / The Creative - spirit, creative, seed, heaven, father (oldest Yang)
K'un / The Receptive - vessel, matter, square, earth, mother (oldest Yin)
Chen / The Arousing - sudden movement, thunder, eldest son
K'an / The Abysmal - water, the moon, danger, spirit trapped in matter, middle son
Ken / The Stillness - resting, inert, mountain, youngest son (youngest Yang)
Sun / The Gentle - penetrating, following, wind, wood, eldest daughter
Li / The Clinging - brightness, clinging, spirit outside matter, fire, middle daughter
Tui / The Joyous - lake, attraction, pleasure, youngest daughter (youngest Yin)