六爻排盘 2.4

Six Yao Divination is one of the many methods derived from the Book of Changes for divination. It possesses its own system and is a prediction art with a very complete theory. Widely circulated among the common people in China as a highly accurate divination method, it is greatly favored by diviners. Over the dynasties, many individuals devoted themselves to Six Yao Divination, inheriting and developing this field of study, thus allowing it to be passed down to the present day.

Tracing its origins, Six Yao Divination can be dated back to the Han Dynasty more than two thousand years ago, derived from the Jing Fang Yi of that era. Jing Fang was a renowned scholar in the Han Dynasty and based on the Book of Changes, he ingeniously incorporated Yin-Yang, the Five Elements, and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches into the Eight Trigrams. By observing the relationships of generation and control between the Twelve Earthly Branches and Trigram Palaces, paired with the Six Kinships, he established the original concepts and methods of Six Yao Divination. This practice was further developed by scholars of subsequent dynasties, culminating in what is known as Six Yao Divination today.

This divination method involves predicting after incorporating the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches into the Eight Trigrams. Initially referred to as "incorporating heavenly stems divination method," it evolved from the judgment method of hexagrams in the Book of Changes. Hence, when assessing the auspiciousness or inauspiciousness of matters initially using this divination art, judgments were also made with reference to hexagram judgments. Subsequently, influenced by Taoism and other divination arts, diviners incorporated numerous superstitions when assessing matters, leading to a chaotic situation in divination practices.

However, in ancient times, this divination method was only known by a few individuals, and common people did not possess this knowledge until the Song Dynasty when a book titled "Fire Beads Forest" authored by a person known as "Ma Yi Dao Ren" became widely spread among the public. Hence, this divination method was also referred to as "Fire Beads Forest Method" in ancient times. Nevertheless, there are significant differences between the methods described in "Fire Beads Forest" and the present Six Yao Divination. Concepts like monthly breaking or hidden movement were not introduced yet, and the application of Five Elements' effectiveness in relation to the Twelve Palaces was not very clear.

Subsequently, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was considered as the peak period for Six Yao Divination and also a period of abundant creativity in writing about Six Yao. Works from this period include "Golden Intelligence," "Heavenly Machine for Divining Changes," "Complete Book on Divining Changes," "Divine Book on Divining Changes," "Undersea Eye," "Mao Yi," "Supplementary Chapters to Yilin," "Hidden Changes," "Complete Book on Casting Lots," "Added Verses for Divining Changes," "Authentic Text on Casting Lots," "Complete Mechanism for Casting Lots," "Mysterious Heavenly Divide for Divining Changes," and essential works on divination studies.