You can ask yes or no questions, but there are better ways to phrase your questions. The I Ching does not contain a kua or a line that answers "Yes" or "No." But, if you ask a question that requires a yes or no answer such as, "Should I marry now?" and you receive as an answer the kua of "Strong Restraint," your answer would be clear.
A more meaningful answer can be obtained if you ask, "What can I expect if I marry now?" Depending on your answer, you smight then want to ask, "What can I expect if I marry later?" Intelligent, well thought out questions will be the most rewarding.
Many people find it good idea to print out and keep their questions and readings in a journal. As events transpire this can be useful for later study and reflection. You will find that your question and the date appear on the same page as the reading to facilitate your understanding of the way of the I Ching.
Fu Hsi (pronounced foo shee), the great Chinese sage to whom the I Ching system is attributed, constructed his answers in the form of sixty-four hexagrams. The six linear lines stacked one above the other, either undivided, or divided, are called kua.
The top three kua and the bottom three are called trigrams, which means 3 lines.
Following the law of eternal change, the lines are always in motion, always moving upward. As a new line enters from the bottom, it pushes the five lines above it upward, thereby displacing the line at the top. The movement is always in time to the rhythm of the universal heartbeat, always mirroring the universe itself. Taken together, the kua and their lines represent every conceivable condition in heaven and on earth with all their states of change.
Each of the sixty-four kua can change into one another through the movement of one or more of the six lines that form the kua. This requires extra attention be paid to the changing line or lines. The transformation of the changing line to it's opposite results in a supplementary reading to the original kua formed. There are 4,096 possible combinations (64 x 64), which is said to represent every possible condition in heaven and on earth.
Each of the sixty-four kua, with their combined total of 384 lines, represents a situation or condition. Each situation or condition contains the six stages of its own evolution:
The kua, therefore, not only represent every conceivable situation and condition possible, but also include all their states of change.
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