Frequenty Asked questions about I-Ching

ichinglogo.gif (40196 bytes)
Alex Chiu's Online I-Ching © 2001 Registered with the US Copyright Office.

Frequenty Asked Questions

Questions:

How come your I-Ching book is so different from other I-Ching books that I have read in book stores? Other I-Ching books are more easy to learn, but your I-Ching book looks like a chemistry text book.

ANSWER: This is the true Chinese I-Ching, and I am a real I-Ching master. Other I-Ching books that you have read in book stores were probably written by I-Ching master wannabes who probably only read one or two I-Ching books and decided to publish a book themselves to earn some quick cash. Their books are pure 'Bla-Bla-Bla'. Anybody can write 'Bla-Bla-Bla'. But my book is full of laws and logic, which are something that can only be acquired by years of practice and observation. I think a few I-Ching masters in China can write a book like Super I-Ching. But too bad not many of them understand English. Frankly speaking, I think my Super I-Ching book is the best I-Ching book ever written. No English book or Chinese book can beat my book. My Super I-Ching book is so good that people from China have ordered my book. And $20 or $30 to people in China could be half a month of salary. They have to pay oversea airmail shipping charge for the book. They must struggle with English to read Super I-Ching. Yet they ordered my book.

I have also read many other Chinese authors' I-Ching books. Most of these books are 200 pages the most with around 100 examples. And most of these authors read hexagrams based on 'feelings'. "Humm...; My heart tells me this hexagram doesn't look good."

But you know what? You cannot predict a future based on feeling because that is simply not accurate enough. That's why I have spent more than 5 years composing this book. I have set up web forums where users can post their hexagrams for free readings. Then I documented their hexagrams and actual results in my book. Then I established hundreds of rules or combos based on personal or actual users' experiences. You can go to China Town and read all of their Chinese I-Ching books, but you will only be able to decode 3% of God's enigma. But after you have finished reading Super I-Ching, you will be able to decode 90% of God's enigma. That's why this book is close to 1000 pages long. You have to read this book 3 or 4 times in order to remember everything. Even I have to read it many times so that I won't forget these rules that I have created.

How can I-Ching improve my life? What can I do to improve my life?

ANSWER: If you would study one chapter each day, your I-Ching skill will improve. There is no way for a person to remember everything after reading it only once, so make sure to read and re-read. Once you have mastered I-Ching, you will be able to know which direction is good and which direction is bad. Then you can become a very talented business person. You will make less mistakes in life. I-Ching helps you choose the right lover, the right investments, the right occupation, the right place to live, the right place to travel, etc. I-Ching helps you eliminate lots of danger and frustration. So the only thing you should do right now is study I-Ching as hard as you can because I-Ching itself can improve your life tremendously. Without I-Ching, you are a fast car traveling on the midnight highway which has no headlights on. You never know when you will crash into another car or fly off the road and fall into a valley. But if you study I-Ching well, you can gain control over your future. Your headlights all of a sudden turn on allowing you to see every curve and every road sign. I-Ching is a language you use to communicate with God, and English is the language you use to speak to people. They are both important.

Question:
Is Super I-Ching easy to learn? Can everyone become an expert in Super I-Ching?

ANSWER: I think that everyone can learn this stuff as long as I am the teacher. Trust me. Learning this stuff is not hard especially if you have a good memory. But writing an organized book which allows the readers to easily comprehend and absorb the material is by far the biggest challenge. When I first started learning Super I-Ching, I ran into lots of bumps and pitfalls because nobody is organized and dedicated enough to write a book which neatly and accurately categorizes different types of examples into different chapters. All other Super I-Ching authors basically just give you about 100 or 200 scrambled up examples giving you no idea how to utilize hundreds of rules of Super I-Ching. I often think that the other authors of Super I-Ching wrote their books because they only want to earn money and not because they really understood this stuff. How come their books are so messy and none of the rules which I discovered were ever mentioned in their books? But unlike other authors, I endeavored to categorize examples into different chapters in order to explain the functions of existing rules. I believe that anybody can become a master in Super I-Ching as long as he remembers and respects the rules taught in my book. Super I-Ching is kind of like a foreign language. A language has its grammar, and Super I-Ching has its rules. Just follow the rules, and you will do just fine.

Question:
Your site is good, but I can't say it is the best. You use some strange abbreviations. Why not ping-yin? Why don't you use Chinese characters? People have to learn your abbreviated letters, and they are not common. And they are not very comfortable moreover.

ANSWER: The reason why I have abbreviated all of the characters is because it's easy for people to read. Why do we practice I-Ching? What is the goal of practicing I-Ching? The goal is to predict the future accurately. If I don't abbreviate the symbols and the words, this is what a hexagram would look like.

Not Yet Accomplished                                      Kun (6 strike)

Brother    Si       Fire.    O Opp.        Wealth. You.    Metal - -     Grey Snake
Child..    Wei.   Earth   - -                 Officer    Hai.     Water - -   Yellow Soil
Wealth.   You    Metal   O                  Child..    Chou   Earth - -   Red Bird
Brother   Wu      Fire.   - - Self         Parents Mao.   Wood.- - Green Dragon
Child..    Chen   Earth   O                 Brother Si..    Fire     - -   Black Warrior
Parents   Yin     Wood. - -                Child..     Wu..   Earth - -   White Tiger

You cannot read anything! It is so complicated and so confusing. All you can see is a bunch of hard to pronounce Chinese pin-yings. You can't see the hexagram at all!   If you can't see the hexagram, you won't be able to understand what God is trying to say to you. I don't want to confuse my students with stuff like 'black warrior' or 'green dragon' or 'Brother Si', etc. This is not 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. I am trying to teach people how to predict the future accurately. There is no need for my students to show off their Chinese pin-ying so that they look more professional from the outside.    What you have inside is more important than what you have outside. This whole pin-ying crap has got to go! The hexagram must be simplified so that people can concentrate on the hexagram. If one cannot focus on the elements and on the stars, one cannot give an accurate prediction! That's why I simplified everything to make my hexagrams look like this:

Humble					Little Much
Hiders
	B	yo	--		P	sh	--
	K	h	--	J	B	s	--
	P	c	x		R	w	-
	B	s	-		B	s	-
	R	w	--	U	R	w	--
	P	cn	--		P	cn	--

NOW we are in business. This hexagram is clean and sharp. Now my students can focus on the elements and on the stars. Now they can gradually improve and become real prophets. There is no need to show off your knowledge of ping-yin. Your job is to predict the future accurately. Nobody cares if you understand ping-yin or not. People only care about your true ability. Showing off your ping-yin might make people think that you are a professional feng-shui master or something. But a true master will only laugh at you.

Question:
After a few years of practice as I gradually become a master in Super I-Ching, can I develop my own I-Ching reading style? I mean, can I come up with a different way of interpreting the meanings of the signs?

ANSWER: No. Please always remember that I-Ching is not tarot cards. I-Ching is the same as math and physics. 1 + 1 always equal 2. Voltage times Amperage always equal Watts. It doesn't matter who is reading the sign. There is only one correct way of reading a sign and not a few different ways. If you found a mistake in my text book after you have done sufficient amount of testing and sign reading, feel free to notify me. I hope that my book is perfect, but I cannot say for sure that there is absolutely no mistake in my book. I myself have discovered many unnoticed phenomenon and established a few new laws. If you found a new law or have found a flaw in one of my laws, please notify me. Thank you.

Question:
Maybe drawing the hexagram from top to bottom will also work? Maybe if you believe that 2 tails represent a solid line while 2 heads represent a dotted line, you still can make an accurate prediction because you believed it? Maybe my prediction will still turn out to be accurate if I don't convert to Beijing's time?

ANSWER: As I said, I-Ching is not tarot cards. I-Ching is more like a car engine. Can an engine still run if you replace gasoline with cooking oil? Can the crankshaft still turn if you inserted the No. 3 spark plug wire into the No. 2 spark plug's socket? Will the timing still be correct if you screw around with the timing belt without reading the car manual? Can the engine still run if you cut the gasoline pipe? If you disregard anything taught in this book, you will screw up. Super I-Ching is a very delicate study. Every nut and bolt were placed there for a reason, and nothing can be altered. If you disobey any law taught in this book, you will make a wrong prediction. There is absolutely no room for compromise. If you made a slightest error in your calculation, the building that you have designed will collapse when the wind speed picks up. If you ignored a single law in your I-Ching prediction, your prophecy will be laughed by others in the future. Nothing more can be added, and not a single law can be omitted.

Question:
I have never seen anything like Super I-Ching. Every I-Ching related book I read taught people how to throw the coins and read the quotes. The 5 elements and the 5 stars were not even mentioned. Where did Super I-Ching come from? Is Super I-Ching a traditional Chinese I-Ching?

ANSWER: There are different I-Ching styles. The style which I am teaching you (Everyone now calls it Super I-Ching.) is the 'Wild Crane' style. With Wild Crane style, we focus mainly on the elements and the stars. The Wild Crane style existed ever since 1000 years ago. It is constantly evolving into a more complicated but yet more precise and more accurate system thanks to contributions from many top level astrologers and I-Ching scholars throughout the centuries. Nobody knows who invented the 6 colors. Nobody knows who discovered the patterns of the stars and the elements. Nobody knows who invented the 12 elements. All we know is that this stuff came from China, and everything taught in this book was invented by Chinese. The other style, which teaches you how to read the quotes, is the Shao Kang Je's style. Shau Kan Je hardly ever tossed the coins. He liked to do time reading.

Each style has its own law. With Shao Kang Je's style, 6 strike really doesn't mean much. But with Wild Crane's style, 6 strike and 6 match is the most important factor. Shau Kang Je compares the strength of the guas. The moving gua is the enemy, and the quiet gua is yourself. Which one is stronger? The stronger one wins. But Wild Crane style tells people to throw the coins. Almost half of the time, both guas move. So you can no longer compare the strength of the guas. There is this one guy who wrote a good book. He uses mainly Shao Kang Je's style. That's why I didn't dare to use his laws and examples in my book at all. The laws don't match!

Question: I thought you said we are not allowed to have different styles. How come now you say there are different styles of I-Ching?

ANSWER: Different styles require different tools. The wild crane style must be used when you toss the three coins, and no quote reading is allowed when you do the wild crane style. The Shao Kan-Je style must be used when you do time reading or when you write 2 Chinese letters and count their strokes. If you toss yarrow sticks, you must use another style which is similar to Shao Kan-Je's style. You got it? When I say style, I mean to say a set of laws which is designed for a certain tool that you use. You cannot have two different styles for one kind of tool. One style is compatible with only one kind of tool. You can only use the wild crane style when you choose to toss the coins. If you try to interpret the signs derived from coin tossing with other styles, you will most likely make a wrong prediction. So never read a whole bunch of books which contain different styles and compose a book yourself which contains every known law from all of the books you've read. You cannot install a VW bug's engine inside a Toyota. You cannot wear pants that are 29 inches wide if you have a 40 inches belly. You must treat this practice very seriously. If you are hired by the defense department as a military counsel, your decision can win a battle for your beloved country or can cause thousands of lives of your country men to be lost for nothing. If you make a wrong business decision, nobody will lose a fortune except yourself. Therefore, I-Ching does not tolerate a slight error. Don't try to create your own style, and don't try to paint a new picture. What has been recorded in this book is based on hundreds of years of experiences and research data. These laws are not something which you can ignore simply because you feel that you are special.

Question: Why are there so many different styles of I-Ching?

ANSWER: It's kind of like alphabets. A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Most of the European countries use them. But every European country has their own language. Germans have their own grammar. The French have their own words. The English have their own spellings. I-Ching is the same as alphabets. There are only eight guas, but there are different styles of I-Ching divinations. I teach people the Wild Crane style. Wild Crane style practitioners do not read the I-Ching quotes. But Wild Crane style is a lot more accurate than the styles that require one to read the quotes.

Question: If you say God is mathematical, how can one pray to a mathematical God? And how can the mathematical God answer one's prayer?

ANSWER: Caucasians say pray. We Chinese people say hope. After all, praying and hoping are the same thing. Pray = Hope. You hope your son would finish college and would have a good future. Your husband hopes that he can win the Lottery one day. You put lots of money in the stock market, but the market went down. You hope that the stock market would climb back up. You hope! Hope! Hope!
But hoping that things will become better does not guarantee you that things will become better. When things are out of your control, there is nothing you can do except sit home and hope. Caucasians say pray. We Chinese say hope. When you hope, who are you talking to? Are you talking to yourself or to your wife? No! You are talking to the nature! You hope that the nature would make bad luck go away and bring good luck to you. You are talking to the nature! And who is that nature that you have just talked to? That nature is your God, the mathematical clock of the universe! But no where on the bible did it guarantee you that what you pray for will definitely come true.

Caucasians say pray. We Chinese say hope.

Question: Which is the strongest? The year, the month, the date, or the hour?

ANSWER: I would say that the date is the strongest element. If the date bounds to a moving line, most likely you must wait until the bondage is broken in order to see that line move. If the month is bounding to a moving line, that line could still move even before the bondage is broken. Based on my experience, the strength of the year hardly exists. Which means, if the year is bounding to a moving line, it probably does not affect that moving line at all. I don't know if the strength of the hour is more powerful than the date or not. All I know is that most professionals ignore the element of the hour.

Question: According to the traditional empty dates law, t and c are empty when someone tosses the coins on day y - I. And y & m are empty when someone tosses the coins on day cn - I. How come your empty dates chart is not the traditional one? How come you changed it?

ANSWER: I have to change the empty dates law because the traditional empty dates law doesn't work. It's flawed. Trust me, because I have investigated hundreds of signs, tested everyone of them, and have proven that the real empty dates should be t and c when someone tosses the coins on day t - I. I made this daring move (change the empty dates law) after I have seen with my own eyes that my new empty dates chart works beautifully without a glitch. If the traditional method doesn't work, you can no longer keep it. So may it be known to the world that Alex Chiu is the one who has adjusted the empty dates law.

Take a look at this example: One of my students asked me, "When can I receive a package?" He got [Little much] and [Gen].

Year Month Date Hour Empty Dates

w sh t - I t & c
```
      Little Much - 62  Gen - 52

      P sh  X           G y   -  
      B s  - -          K t  - - 
 K h  R w   O  J        P sh - - 
      B s   -           B s   -  
 G m  R w  - -          R w  - - 
      P cn - - U        P cn - - 

      Unstable          6 Strike
```
First of all, based on my experience, the empty dates should be t and c if he got the sign on day t - I. The self line and the 6th line form a R combo, meaning that he will receive the package soon. Right now, the self line R w has been struck loose by the date. So on day w or on day wa, he will receive the package when R w regains its strength.

If according to the old empty dates chart, sh and h are empty if you got the sign on day t - I. Then the answer would be totally different. Then he will receive the package on day sh because the 6th line P sh is still empty. The R combo cannot be established before the emptiness of P sh fulfills.

What's the result?

Result: He received the package on day wa. One of my students said maybe the old empty dates law works in Asia but does not work in America. But the man who received the package on day wa lives in Singapore, and Singapore shares the same time zone as Beijing.

I have seen hundreds of cases which are similar to the above case. Each case proves that the traditional empty dates chart is flawed. Nobody dared to challenge the traditional method for hundreds of years because people think that the traditional method is more credible than peoples' experiences and judgment. Therefore, people are still using a flawed empty dates chart until today. It is my duty to correct the traditional empty dates chart in order to provide you the most precise, the most accurate fortune telling system. It is my duty to refine and maintain an ingenious, priceless treasure which has been passed down by my ancestors.

Question: Who gave you the authority to change the empty dates chart? God?

ANSWER: I-Ching's components have been changed and re-corrected not just by me. During the Sung dynasty, Shao Kan-Je has changed the positions of the 8 trigrams. In the original trigram chart, trigram Li represents East and trigram Kan represents West. But in the new trigram chart, Li represents South and Kan represents North. Shao changed it because he said his new chart works better. So I-Ching scholars have been using Shao's new trigram chart ever since. Since I found out that the old empty dates chart is flawed, I must correct it because it is my duty to write an I-Ching text book which ensures the accuracy of I-Ching prediction.

Question: Are you sure that every law written in your book works? Are you sure that every law in your book functions perfectly without a flaw?

ANSWER: I am a perfectionist. If I am not absolutely sure about a certain law, I would not have recorded that law in my book. Every law that I have written in this book caused me to go through series of tests, and every law was proven to be properly functioning before I wrote it into my book. If you found a flaw, you better notify me because I do want to purge all the bugs out of Super I-Ching in order to make it more superior and more slick! Precision and accuracy is the key to success.

Question: How come the Western world is not familiar with this priceless treasure? Did the Chinese masters keep a good secret about the Wild Crane I-Ching so that the Westerners cannot steal this knowledge away from the Chinese?

ANSWER: I must griefly admit that Chinese people love to keep secrets, which is a very bad thing. I recently saw a news report about a Chinese opera performer who can change masks very quickly. When the reporter asked him, "Can you show the audiences how you change your masks?" That opera performer replied, "Sorry. I will only pass down this trick to my son. I will not teach this trick to anyone who is not blood-related to me."

I doubt that his son will be willing to learn that stupid trick from that idiot when the son grows up. His trick will be lost, and he will carry his little trick into his grave. Nobody will remember him, and certainly nobody will care about his little mask-changing trick. But so many important discoveries and secrets were lost this way. Doctors keep secrets. Craftsmen keep secrets. Musicians keep secrets. I don't know why Chinese people always think like this. Maybe the ancient Chinese did not have patent and copyright laws. So the general Chinese philosophy was poisoned by this 'keeping secret' thing. I personally believe that China might be one of the most advanced nation today if the ancient Chinese had patent and copyright laws because the Chinese are not stupid people.

Chinese invented cannons and grenades at around 1000 AD. They found few crossbows in emperor Qin's grave (225 BC). But why did the Europeans end up invading China with European guns and cannons? How come the Chinese only faught back with their old-style cannons which were out-dated hundreds of years ago? How come the Chinese did not even have guns to confront the Europeans? I think it's because the Chinese black smiths and inventors were keeping secrets from each other. That's why they had no new technology to drive away the Europeans.

The oldest spectacles in the world (eye glasses), which were suggested to be 700 year-old based on carbon dating, were also discovered in China. But why is there no historical document stating who invented the eye glasses? I think it's because the glass smith who invented the eye glasses planned to pass down this skill to his own son. But too bad that his son refused to become a glass smith. Therefore, the mystery of the oldest pair of eye glasses was left unsolved.

Historical document states that Zhai-Run invented paper at around 2001 AD. The reason why Zhai-Run's name was documented is because he was the prime minister of China. Bamboo sticks and wood were expensive for poor scholars to write on. And writing on silk were even more expensive. So Zhai-Run decided that he will spend his entire life to discover a cheaper material for scholars to write on. His paper making project was funded by the emperor, and it took him almost 20 years to invent paper.

But nobody knows the names of the persons who invented cannons, grenades, and eye-glasses because those people were probably not famous or important enough to catch the attention of historians. Everyone knows that King Wen was the one who stacked one gua on top of one other making 64 hexagrams because King Wen was a king.

So many I-Ching and Feng-Shui masters today also are keeping their secrets. Even if you pay a master to learn his skill, he won't teach you 100% of what he knows. He might probably teach you just 10 or 20% of what he knows, and the rest of his skill will be passed down only to his own sons. But if his sons are not interested in his profession, he will bring his skill and his secrets to his dying grave. So many valuable knowledge and secrets were lost this way. I hate this philosophy. So I always try to teach people 100% of what I know. That's why my book is extremely complicated...... Because I am really trying very hard to teach you exactly what I know.

Question: What are Alex Chiu's accomplishments in Super I-Ching?

ANSWER: Some might think I am just a translator who simply translated ancient text into English. Actually, I accomplished a lot.
- I said that things will happen when the emptiness of the 2 lines which lie between J and U is fulfilled. (I know that lots of ancient signs recorded by Wild Crane also used that law. But I was the one who actually inserted that law in Wild Crane's ancient signs.)
- I said that things will happen when the emptiness of J and U fulfills if your sign is not your first toss.
- I have corrected the empty dates chart.
- I have laid out the rules of advancing and retreating lines.
- I have discovered many different types of combos. (B & K combo, G & B Link, R & K Link, y & h combo, etc.)
- I have more precisely laid out the strengths and weaknesses of the stars.
- I said that same elements can bound to each other. (Ancient books never taught people that important rule.)
- I discovered the extremely strong elements.
- I have laid out the rules for 'gua strikes back' and 'gua bounds back'.
I would say that I made up 80% of the laws found in Super I-Ching. So before I wrote this book, I-Ching scholars were basically blind-folded. I-Ching was not very accurate back in those days because there were no universal laws established telling people what will happen if a line does this or a combo does that. I-Ching scholars were basically depending on their psychic abilities, their experiences, or their intuitions when they read the signs. I established a whole bunch of laws so that people no longer need to guess. If one is confused about a certain sign, all he needs to do is open up this book and look up the laws. Then everything will be clear to him.
You might be surprised that I had to establish 80% of the laws after thousands of years of I-Ching evolution has taken place. I think it's because of that 'Chinese keeping secret' thing again. Doctors kept secret healing formulas. Musicians kept secrets. I-Ching and astrology masters also kept secrets. That's why I ended up establishing 80% of the laws for everyone. I bet that these laws were discovered by many top level prophets in the past. But those prophets were defeated by greed. They want to keep their own laws (secrets) to themselves. They were only willing to teach people the basics of I-Ching. But they kept their secret laws to themselves so that they can pass down the laws to their own descendants. Those greedy prophets were afraid that their descendants will become poor if others can also use I-Ching to conveniently and accurately predict the stock market trend.

Question: Why is Alex Chiu willing to teach us this priceless treasure? Doesn't Alex want to keep this a secret?

ANSWER: Of course I want to keep this a secret so that I can become the richest man in the world. I will earn so much money in the stock market. I will even beat Bill Gates. But I can't afford to betray my own culture. All those greedy prophets who kept secrets were traitors of the great Chinese culture. Everytime a Chinese kept a secret, the Chinese culture has been cheapened. The more important the secret, the more damage the Chinese culture has endured. I refuse to betray my culture, and I refuse to betray God. Who cares if I become the richest man in the world? There are already millions of millionaires out there. Who needs one more? Personal luxury cannot compare to a sacred tool that allows humans to successfully communicate with God. So if I kept my laws a secret, I have not only betrayed my culture. I have also betrayed my God.

I-Ching Index	Charts	Chinese Calendar	Forum	alexchiu.com
©2001 Registered with the US Copyright Office. All rights reserved. Written by Alex Y.C. Chiu

If you would like to write your own I-Ching book after you have mastered I-Ching, please ask the author for permission to use all of our element symbols, date symbols, calendar indications, charts, and the names of the hexagrams. We encourage an unification of English I-Ching symbols so more people can learn about I-Ching.

Year	Month	Date	Hour	Empty Dates
w	sh	t - I		t & c