I Ching” is the primary Chinese classic that reveals the law of changes in the world; as such, it is interpreted in the West as the “Book of Change.” The universe in fact has its own set of rules governing variations regardless of the ups and downs, prosperity and adversity. To human beings, however, adaptation hinges on how we adjust our mindsets and actions to the ever changing world, for better or worse.

What one can possibly do is to adapt or wait to adapt to the changes. The method developed in “I Ching” provides a guideline to our actions through an inspiration from the intelligence and wisdom collected from history and traditions. That’s why “I Ching” has become a text book of divination in helping people understand the Tao’s (or God’s) intention, act right away upon changes, otherwise, opt for a wait-and-see strategy. The divination of “I Ching,” therefore, meets people’s needs for survival, prosperity, and decision makings under uncertainties, which turns out to be its most common and extensive application.

Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee are both Chinese-born American physicists. Their research in 1956 toppled the Parity Conservation Law, a widely accepted presumption in modern physics at that time. The landmark discovery earned them the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957.

Interestingly, their devotion to this research project began with an inspiration from “I Ching.” (Refer to the lengthy cover story entitled “A question of Parity” published in The New Yorker on May 12, 1962 (Pic. 1). It detailed how Yang and Lee confirmed their trust and confidence in scientific pursuance following “I Ching” revelation.

Coat-of-arms

Those inspired by “I Ching,” however, are not limited to Yang and Lee or Chinese. Here is another example.

The coat-of-arms of the Bohr Family is designed by Niels Bohr (1885-1962), the great Danish physicist himself, after he was knighted the Order of the Elephant in 1947 for his distinguished achievements. Bohr is the key contributor to the breakthroughs of the theory of quantum mechanics, one of two major discoveries in modern physics (the other is Einstein’s theory of general relativity). The coat-of-arms features a diagram of Taichi (a symbol of interchange of yin and yang, a core concept of “I Ching”) at the center with a motto in Latin, “CONTRARIA SUNT COMPLEMENTA,” meaning “Opposites are complementary” in English. It reveals Bohr’s love, trust, and devotion to the fundamental idea of “I Ching.”

The method of recognizing the divination applied by Yang and Lee is a simplified version, which uses coins as a tool. Toss three coins and determine the sphere of yin and yang, say, head representing yin and tail representing yang. Each “head” is assigned a value of 2 and each “tail” a value of 3. Toss three coins together, and total the values of heads and tails combined:

Three heads = 6

Three tails = 9

One head with two tails = 8

Two heads with one tail = 7

The chance of getting a value of 6 or 9 is 12.5 percent (one-eighth) respectively, while the probability for getting a value of 7 or 8 is 37.5 percent (three-eighths) respectively.

A value of 9 from three tails, or three yang, is one of the Eight Trigrams in “I Ching“ named Sky (天), with a symbol consisting of three whole horizontal lines ☰. A value of 6, from three heads, or three yin, is the trigram named Earth (地), consisting of three broken lines ☷. A value of 7, as resulted from two heads and one tail, has three different combinations: head-head-tail (☳ named Thunder 雷), head-tail-head (☵ named Water 水), and tail-head-head (☶ named Mountain 山). The chance to get each of these three trigrams is one-eighth, respectively. A value of 8, as resulted from one head and two tails, has three combinations, too: head-tail-tail (☱ named Valley 泽), tail-head-tail (☲ named Fire 火), and tail-tail-head (☴ named Wind 风). The chance to get each of these three is respectively one-eighth, or 12.5 percent as well.

The coin tossing method to get to know of a divination is, in a nutshell, a random number generator. Bagua 八卦— the Eight Trigrams are thereby generated, equally proportionated. It is easy to get a hexagram (六爻重卦) by putting one trigram upon another trigram. We need merely to repeat the process twice, one for the upper trigram, one for the under trigram. If both the upper and the under trigrams are Sky (天), then the result is Qian Gua（乾卦), one of the most important gua in the 64 hexagrams (8 trigrams multiply by 8 trigrams) in “I Ching”. If both tosses turn out to be Earth (地), then it results in Kun Gua (坤卦), which is also a principal gua. If the first toss gets head-head-head — ☷ or Earth, while the second toss tail-tail-tail — ☰ or Sky, then the combined gua is Tai Gua (泰卦). If the first toss creates ☰ or sky, and the second toss ☷ or Earth, they combine to be Pi Gua (否卦). and are in pair, as well as and .

These two pairs of gua are critically important in marking the sun’s orbiting and intensity of sunshine. We will get into the details later.

Incidentally, is meant to be fortune, and is meant to be misfortune. 否极泰来 (pi ji tai lai)，an idiom frequently used among Chinese, means when a misfortune is getting worse, the fortunate conditions shall merge and prevail. Everyone looks forward to this transition and tries every means to get away from the opposite.

In other words, “CONTRARIA SUNT COMPLEMENTA” is the root of hope, to Neil Bohr and everyone else alike.

In “A question of Parity,” the story deals with the faith of Yang and Lee upon “I Ching.” As for illustration, two most intelligent physicists posed a question to “I Ching” on November 26, 1959: “May there be a breakthrough in Particle Physics in the next two years?”

The divination they got associated with “I Ching” was Jian Gua , a combination of upper Wind and under Mountain (风山的渐卦). Conventionally, is interpreted as “take the time.” Following that revelation, Yang and Lee decided to slow down the pace of their research efforts in that direction. Another example is about their good friend A. Pais, a known Dutch physicist. Pais consulted “I Ching” on June 21, 1961 with a question “Does there exist one universal principle that unifies strong, electromagnetic and weak interactions?” What he got from “I Ching” was Xu Gua , a combination of Water and Sky (水天的需卦), the message seemed clear, “need to wait and see.”