Abstract
There is a type of inscription composed of numerical symbols found on antiquities either handed down from ancient times or excavated recently. Contemporary scholars call these numerical symbols “numerical diagrams” or “divinatory numbers.” Scholars have long contemplated the meaning of these inscriptions. By applying a principle which “ascribed odd numbers to yang 陽 and even numbers to yin 陰,” Chang Cheng-lang (Zhang Zhenglang) 張政烺 associated these numerical symbols with the I Ching 周易. Nowadays most scholars agree with Chang’s perspective and scholarly works have centered on the elaboration of his theory.
The earliest numerical diagrams were composed of numbers from 1 to 10. Later, numerical diagrams of the Chu bamboo slips of Zhanguo period 戰國楚簡 consisted largely of 1, 6, and 8. The Qin bamboo slips from Wangjiatai 王家臺秦簡 consisted exclusively of 1, 6, and 8. Only the two numerical diagrams 1 and 8 remained in the I Ching found in the silk books from the Mawangdui tomb 馬王堆漢墓帛書. 1 became yang yao 陽爻 and 8 was stretched as yin yao 陰爻. Thus, the yang yao and the yin yao comprised the “i diagrams” 易卦. Most scholars have assumed that the numerical diagrams were the predecessors of the “i diagrams,” and that the “i diagrams” have derived directly from the numerical diagrams. This has been the current consensus on the relationship between the numerical diagrams and the “i diagrams.”
I have extensively gathered materials on the numerical diagrams and re-examined the prevailing theory. By means of painstaking analysis and reasoning, I found that the correlation between the numerical diagrams and the “i diagrams” was actually very limited and indeed lacked a solid, logical foundation. The numerical diagrams did not correlate with the I Ching: Examples of the I Ching cited in the Zuo Zhuan 左傳 and the Guoyu 國語 showed no direct correlation with the numerical diagrams. Thus, the theoretical connection between the numerical diagrams and the “i diagrams” can only be regarded as a subjective inference for the most part.
This article proves that the numerical diagrams and the “i diagrams” are actually two different systems with no inherent connections. Many scholars assumed that the numerical diagrams could be correlated with the “i diagrams” and they drew inferences from the words of the I Ching. Yet if the basis for the connection between the numerical diagrams and the “i diagrams” were to be challenged, these inferences would have to be widely re-examined.
Keywords
numerical diagrams, yin-yang yao, i diagrams
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