Six Lines basics
Stem-branch assignment (Na Jia)
By Vi Nhật Sơn · Updated
Nạp giáp
Stem-branch assignment (Na Jia) — what is it? Stem-branch assignment is how a hexagram is laid out in Six Lines: the order of the hexagrams in a palace, the branches, and the Self and Response lines.
Stem-branch assignment — how the branches and the Six Relations come about and are laid out: the way a hexagram of the Yi is arranged in Six Lines divination, on the basis of the rule of change from the book Lian Shan.
The order of the eight hexagrams in a palace
At its simplest: a palace has eight hexagrams, and the order of each hexagram follows this rule of change:
- The first hexagram of every palace is always a Pure hexagram, that is, one whose Upper and Lower are the same. The palace of a hexagram is named after this first hexagram — for example, the first hexagram of the Qian palace is The Creative (Qian), also called the Pure hexagram of Qian
- The second hexagram changes the first line (Yang becomes Yin, or Yin becomes Yang) and keeps the other five lines as they are (Yin or Yang unchanged)
- The third hexagram changes lines 1 and 2 and keeps the other four
- The fourth hexagram changes lines 1, 2 and 3 and keeps the other three
- The fifth hexagram changes lines 1, 2, 3 and 4 and keeps the other two
- The sixth hexagram changes lines 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and keeps the remaining line
- The seventh hexagram is called the Wandering Soul; it changes lines 1, 2, 3 and 5 and keeps the other two
- The eighth hexagram is called the Returning Soul; it changes line 5 only and keeps the other five
Placing the branches in a hexagram
The branches are placed in a hexagram according to the following rule:
| Trigram | As lower trigram (lines 1 · 2 · 3) | As upper trigram (lines 4 · 5 · 6) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| Heaven (Qian) | Zi Water | Yin Wood | Chen Earth | Wu Fire | Shen Metal | Xu Earth |
| Lake (Dui) | Si Fire | Mao Wood | Chou Earth | Hai Water | You Metal | Wei Earth |
| Fire (Li) | Mao Wood | Chou Earth | Hai Water | You Metal | Wei Earth | Si Fire |
| Thunder (Zhen) | Zi Water | Yin Wood | Chen Earth | Wu Fire | Shen Metal | Xu Earth |
| Wind (Xun) | Chou Earth | Hai Water | You Metal | Wei Earth | Si Fire | Mao Wood |
| Water (Kan) | Yin Wood | Chen Earth | Wu Fire | Shen Metal | Xu Earth | Zi Water |
| Mountain (Gen) | Chen Earth | Wu Fire | Shen Metal | Xu Earth | Zi Water | Yin Wood |
| Earth (Kun) | Wei Earth | Si Fire | Mao Wood | Chou Earth | Hai Water | You Metal |
Placing the Self and Response lines
How the Self and Response lines are placed depends on the order of the hexagram in the palace, the Self line always being two lines away from the Response line:
| Order of the hexagram in the palace | Self line at | Response line at |
|---|---|---|
| First hexagram | line 6 | line 3 |
| Second hexagram | line 1 | line 4 |
| Third hexagram | line 2 | line 5 |
| Fourth hexagram | line 3 | line 6 |
| Fifth hexagram | line 4 | line 1 |
| Sixth hexagram | line 5 | line 2 |
| Seventh hexagram | line 4 | line 1 |
| Eighth hexagram | line 3 | line 6 |
See also
- Six Relations — placing the Six Relations by the element of the palace
- The eight palaces and the 64 hexagrams — charts of the 64 hexagrams with branches, Six Relations, Self and Response already placed
- The 64 hexagrams and how they are named, Eight Trigrams
- Self line, Response line