Alex Chiu's Online I-Ching © 2001  Registered with the US Copyright Office.

The self and the opponent  "J" and "U"

In every hexagram, you see the capital letter "J" and the letter "U". The J, which is called "the self line", represents yourself, and the U represents your opponent. When asking a question that concerns yourself, you must focus on the J self line. If you are sick and you want to know when you can get better, you are the self line. If you want to know when you can become a millionaire, you are the self line and the money is the G line. If you want to know when can you marry your girlfriend, you are the self line and the woman is the G line. If you want to know when you and your husband will divorce, you are the self line and your husband is the R line. The U line represents your opponent or someone who you don't know. If you are asking about a person who you don't know, he must be the U line. If you are asking about your own sister, you must use the B line. If it's your mom, you take the P line. If it's about your boss, you either take the R or the P. But if you are flying over to England to meet a news reporter who wants to interview you for the first time, the news reporter must be represented by the U line. If your baseball team is playing against another team tomorrow, your team is the self line and the other team is the U.

Let's focus on the symbol U.   The appointed star is the star in concern. For example, if you are asking a question about a girl that you love, the star which most concerns you is the G star. (G represents a woman, money, wealth, property, etc.) If you are asking about a position or a job, your appointed star is the R star because R stands for responsibility. If it's concerning someone who you don't know or someone who you are not very familiar with, the appointed star is the line that has the letter U at the right side.

For example, my next door neighbor doesn't like the person who has just moved into the room beside his. He threw coins asking when will the new guy move out. He got [No Way] and [Queen].

                No way          Queen
             G   sh  -       G   sh  -
             R   s   -       R   s   -
             K   w   - J     K   w   -   U
             G   cn  X       R   yo  -
             E   y   X       P   h   -
             P   t   O U     G   c   - - J

Since my next door neighbor didn't like the new guy, the new guy cannot be represented by the B star because B stands for a brother, a sister, or a friend. The new guy also cannot be represented by an R because R stands for a government official, a police officer, boss, etc. Then in this case, we choose the line that has the letter "U" to be the appointed line, which is the first line.  95% of the time, the appointed star is in the first hexagram. (the hexagram on the left)  If the first hexagram does not contain the star which you must appoint, you might find the appointed star at the second hexagram.

There is a 6 strike.  If one got a 6 strike in the 1st toss, things definately will not happen.  But luckily, the U line P t moves bounding to G c.  If the U line is bounding to another element, the power of the 6 strike has been eliminated.   This means the next door neighbor will move out.

Result:  The neighbor ran out of money and was evicted out of the house within a few weeks.

A man wants to gamble money on cock fights.  He tossed the coins concerning his fortune for today's cock fights and got [Touch] and [Shun].

The U line represents your opponent.  The self line represents yourself.  The R star on the U line represents power, control, and possession.  So the R star represents the winner.  The K star sitting on the self line represents the person who is giving out the money because K produces the money star.  So K is the loser.   In this hexagram, the self line's K star is too strong.  You will become a big loser.  The 2nd line P w moved turning into the money star which produces the U line.   The 2nd line w moved killing the self line.  If P w kills the self line's advancing K star, the K star can no longer advance.  If the self line's loser star cannot advance anymore, he might still win money at the end.  But too bad that the 2nd line P w cannot really kill the self line's K star because P w itself got killed back by G h.   P w will move at hour w.   So in the hour of w, your opponent will win all the money.  

Result:  This man won in earlier fights.  But in the hour of w, he lost all of his money.

I want to fire my employee who is now withholding all of my merchandise.  Will he steal my merchandise if he knows that I plan to fire him?  When will he turn over the merchandise to me?  I tossed the coins and got [Fog] and [Family].

The U line is my employee, and the self line is myself.  The R star represents gaining control over the merchandise.  The K star represents losing control over the merchandise.  The 3rd line R cn moves turning into B h which bounds to the self line.   When the self line K star is being produced by a B star, there will be great joy because K is also the happiness star.  The self line K y turns into an R star.   That means I will soon gain control over the merchandise.  The top line B t moves turning into K m which kills and bounds to the U line R sh.  This means my employee is about to lose control over the merchandise.  Right now, the top line K m is bounding to the date m so it cannot move.  But in day yo, the bondage of the top line shall be broken thus allowing the top line to move to kill the U line.  Day yo will also cause the 3rd line to move bounding to the self line. 

Result:  My partner helped me take back all of our merchandise on day yo, and that employee was fired on the same day.

A doctor asked, "When will our hospital hire an assistant for our lab?"   He received [Queen].

He hopes that his hospital will hire an assistant.  The U line represents the hospital, and the U line does produce the self line.  This means the hospital will hire an assistant for him.  Bur right now, the U line R w is bounding to the month wa.  If the U line bounds to month wa, the U line cannot produce the self line yet.   But month t will break the bondage for U line allowing U line's R w to produce the self line.  Month t will also turn R w into a moving line.  When R w moves, it moves to produce the self line.  So the hospital will hire an assistant for him in month t.

Result:  An assistant was hired in month t.

J and U (Self and opponent)

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©2001  Registered with the US Copyright Office.   All rights reserved. Written by Alex Y.C. Chiu

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