A textual research on the hexagram Xian in Zhouyi

The hexagram Xian (Influence) was arranged as the first hexagram in part II in Zhouyi . There are as more as hundreds of interpretations, from the ancient times to the present, to the name of Xian , the remarks affiliated to it and its lines, and its implications. Basing upon what he had collected about the hexagram, the author classifies them into three: influence; King Wen's being tortured in prison; and divination for going out. And there are divergences of views among those who hold that Xian connotes influence. The author upholds that the hexagram Xian vividly describes a process of influence between two sexes, which is the original implication of Xian . Being based on this, the hexagram gives us a suggestion about how to deal with the relationships between human and nature, society, as well as human itself, which is its immediate significance. Diversity of the interpretations of the hexagram does not lead to interpretative confusion. By the hermeneutic views, this is greatly related to the conciseness of the remarks, the innate quality of the image, and specific impacts of contemporary cultural background upon the interpreter.