H. Binary Level Conception in I Ching

H. Binary Level Conception in I Ching

The text of I Ching (Book of Changes) is a set of symbolized statement of 64 sets of six lines called Hexagrams.

Each Hexagram is composed of six stacked lines of Yang (unbroken line) and Eum (open line with a space in the mid point of the line).

When the Hexagram is considered as an aggregation of the lines of Yang and

Eum, and when the Yang could be defined as 1, and the Eum defined as 0,

the Hexagram could be an aggregation of two numeric digits of 1 and 0.

Then the Hexagrams can be expressed with binary levels like 101001, 110011 ….

This binary level conception is associated with the famous Chinese Scholar and Philosopher: Shao Yung (邵雍 : 1011-1077,  Song Dinasty). He is considered that he clearly understood the binary sequence is a logical progression of values. But it is uncertain that he knew the numbers can be used in computation. Also he probably did not know that this binary levels could be a very important bridge to connect the General Public and the Divination World : I Ching