Mei Hua Yi Shu
Mei Hua Yi Shu, the “Plum Blossom Numbers of Change,” is a way of getting an I Ching hexagram without coins: from the date and hour of the question or from numbers you name. The calculator builds three hexagrams, divides the main one into “Body” and “Use” and shows how the tradition reads them through the five elements.
The default is the current moment by your device's clock. The date and time are also needed for divination by numbers: they determine the seasonal strength of the Body and, in one of the variants, the moving line.
What's in the Result
- Three hexagrams. The main hexagram (本卦) is the beginning of the matter, the mutual hexagram (互卦) its course, and the changed hexagram (变卦) the outcome. Each name links to its interpretation.
- Body and Use. The trigram with the moving line is the Use (用): the question, the matter, the outside world. The other trigram is the Body (体): you yourself.
- The relationship of the elements of the Use to the Body and its traditional reading: the method's main conclusion.
- The seasonal strength of the Body: prosperous, growing, resting, imprisoned or dead, according to the month of the question.
- Course and outcome: how the trigrams of the mutual and changed hexagrams relate to the Body, and the images of all these trigrams.
How it is calculated
- By time. Four numbers are used: the number of the year branch in the lunar calendar (子 — 1, 丑 — 2 … 亥 — 12), the number of the lunar month, the lunar day, and the number of the hour branch (also from 1 to 12). The sum of the year, month and day gives the upper trigram; the same sum plus the hour gives the lower one. For a trigram the sum is divided by 8; for the moving line the sum of all four numbers is divided by 6. A remainder of 0 counts as 8 and as 6 respectively.
- Trigram numbers follow the Xian Tian (Early Heaven) order: Qian 1, Dui 2, Li 3, Zhen 4, Xun 5, Kan 6, Gen 7, Kun 8.
- By two numbers. The first number gives the upper trigram, the second the lower one, and their sum the moving line. Many schools add the hour number to the sum; this option is in the form.
- By three numbers. The first gives the upper trigram, the second the lower one, the third the moving line. There is also a variant in which the sum of all three numbers is divided by 6.
- The mutual hexagram is built from lines 2–4 of the main hexagram (lower) and lines 3–5 (upper); the changed hexagram is the main one with the moving line reversed.
- Body and Use. If the moving line is in the lower trigram (lines 1–3), the lower trigram is the Use and the upper one the Body; if it is in the upper trigram, the other way around.
Where the schools differ, we chose these conventions. The lunar date is taken for your local date from the tables of the official Chinese calendar. The year changes at Chinese New Year, not at Lichun, because the book counts by the lunar year. A leap month gets the number of the month it repeats. The hour comes from your device's clock, without a longitude correction. The Rat hour begins at 23:00, and by default so does the next lunar day; you can move the day change to midnight in the form. The strength of the Body is judged by the month of the solar calendar: a month begins at a jie solar term, and the Chen, Wei, Xu and Chou months are Earth months.
We checked the calculation against the independent meihua-ts-lib library on five thousand random moments and number pairs: the lunar date, the numbers, the three hexagrams, Body, Use and the relationship of the elements matched everywhere except for dates between Lichun and Chinese New Year, where the library takes the year branch from Lichun. The calculator reproduces the book's classical examples: the readings about the plum tree, the peony, and the neighbor who knocked at the door in the evening.
How to Read
The heart of Mei Hua is how the Use relates to the Body through the five elements. The table gives the traditional readings of the five relationships:
| Relationship | Characters | Traditionally |
|---|---|---|
| Use generates Body | 用生体 | the best sign: the matter comes to you by itself, help, profit |
| Same element | 比和 | favorable: agreement, support from equals |
| Body controls Use | 体克用 | favorable, but through effort |
| Body generates Use | 体生用 | a “drain”: expenses and fatigue, you give more than you get |
| Use controls Body | 用克体 | the worst sign: pressure from circumstances, obstacles |
The seasonal strength of the Body refines the conclusion. The element of the month is prosperous (旺), the element it generates is growing (相), the element that generated it is resting (休), the element that controls it is imprisoned (囚), and the element it controls is “dead” (死). Traditionally, a strong Body withstands pressure and a weak one does not.
The mutual hexagram describes the course of the matter, and the changed hexagram its result. The classical rule: if, among the Use, the two trigrams of the mutual hexagram and the trigram of the changed hexagram, more of them generate the Body or share its element, it bodes well; if more of them control it, it bodes ill. The images of the trigrams hint at who and what is involved: Dui is a young woman, words, the mouth; Kan is danger and water; Gen is stopping, a house, a barrier.
An Honest Look at the Method
Mei Hua Yi Shu is attributed to the philosopher Shao Yong (11th century), but the book took shape later, in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Its calculation rules are strict and reproducible, but its predictive power has not been tested: the numbers determine the hexagram unambiguously, while the meaning is attached to it by the interpreter. In the book itself, the decisive role belongs to “external signs” — what the diviner sees and hears at the moment of the question — and the calculator knows nothing about those.
Use the result as a prompt to think the question over calmly, not as an answer. Decisions about health, money and safety are not made this way.
Related in This Section
Frequently asked questions
How is Mei Hua different from coin divination?
Coins produce a hexagram at random, while Mei Hua derives it from numbers: the date and hour of the question, or numbers that came to the question on their own. It is also read differently — not from the texts of the lines, but from the relationship between Body and Use through the five elements.
Why does the result change during the day?
The lower trigram and the moving line depend on the hour: every two hours the hour branch changes, and the hexagram with it. The upper trigram changes once a day, along with the lunar day.
Which numbers should I use for divination by numbers?
Tradition uses numbers that came to the question on their own: how many times someone knocked, how many objects are on the table, the first numbers that came to mind. You can enter any whole numbers from 1 to 999,999,999 in the form.
Can I ask the same question several times?
By the rules of the method, no: one question gets one hexagram, cast at the moment the question arose. A calculation in a different hour will give a different result, and that is no longer a refinement but a new question.