[ENG]🧿 The I Ching and Binary Code – Part 1: How Hexagrams Became a Digital Structure

   CALee Acupuncture

🧿 The I Ching and Binary Code – Part 1: How Hexagrams Became a Digital Structure

🪷 Introduction: The I Ching, Traditional Oriental Medicine, and Logical Thought

In previous blog posts, we explored how the I Ching (or Zhouyi) and Traditional Oriental Medicine stem from the same philosophical root.

Concepts such as Yin-Yang, the Eight Trigrams, and the Five Movements and Six Qi are not merely abstract philosophical notions. They are deeply embedded in the diagnostic systems and therapeutic principles of Oriental medicine.

We have attempted to show that this ancient system of thought is not a product of pure imagination or mysticism, but rather a highly structured, rational, and logical worldview, based on observation and reasoning.

As an extension of that exploration, we now turn our attention to a modern interpretation of the I Ching—
one that connects this ancient system to the structure of digital information, particularly through its relationship to binary numbers and the structure of the 64 hexagrams.

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📚 Series Overview

This blog series will be presented in three parts:

1. Part 1 – How hexagrams became a digital structure

2. Part 2 – Arranging the 64 hexagrams through binary logic

3. Part 3 – The cycle and transformation of hexagrams: From ancient intuition to digital thinking

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🧠 The Basic Structure: Yin and Yang

The I Ching is based on two fundamental elements: Yin (⚋) and Yang (⚊).
These two lines function similarly to the binary digits 0 and 1.

• ⚋ Yin = 0

• ⚊ Yang = 1

By combining these, one can form:

• 2 lines (bigram)

• 3 lines (trigram)

• 6 lines (hexagram)

The 64 hexagrams are created by combining six Yin or Yang lines in every possible arrangement.
That is, 2⁶ = 64, which perfectly mirrors the structure of a 6-digit binary system.

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💡 Binary Logic and the I Ching: A Parallel

Binary code allows all data and systems in modern computers to be represented using only 0 and 1.
In a similar way, the I Ching uses only Yin (⚋) and Yang (⚊) lines to represent all phenomena of nature and human life.

Binary	Hexagram (bottom → top)	Meaning
000000	⚋⚋⚋⚋⚋⚋ (Kun 坤)	Earth, receptivity
000001	⚊⚋⚋⚋⚋⚋ (Bo 剝)	Erosion, breakdown
000010	⚋⚊⚋⚋⚋⚋ (Bi 比)	Alliance, affinity
...	...	...
111111	⚊⚊⚊⚊⚊⚊ (Qian 乾)	Heaven, creativity

※ The rightmost digit is the bottom line, the leftmost is the top line. The hexagram is read from bottom to top.

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🔍 Applications in Traditional Oriental Medicine

In Traditional Oriental Medicine, the human body is understood as a miniature universe, governed by the dynamic balance of Yin and Yang.
The 64 hexagrams represent not only cosmological change but also the patterns of physiological and pathological transformation.

For example, Eight Principle Diagnosis (八綱辨證) divides symptoms into Yin/Yang, Deficiency/Excess, Exterior/Interior, Cold/Heat.
These diagnostic patterns stem directly from binary logic—a structured classification rooted in the I Ching.

Thus, linking the I Ching to binary systems is not just a philosophical metaphor.
It is a way of accessing the logical foundations of ancient clinical reasoning using a modern lens.

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🔗 Coming Up Next

In Part 2, we will explore how the 64 hexagrams can be arranged precisely according to binary logic, and how this ordering reveals deep structural coherence within the I Ching.