# CHAPTER III. On the Structure of the Hexagrams

1. Thus the Book of Changes consists of images. The images are reproductions.

The hexagrams are reproductions of conditions in the heavens and on earth. Therefore they are to be applied productively; they have creative power, so to speak, in the realm of ideas, as explained above.

2. The decisions provide the material.

The Commentary on the Decision [i.e., on the Judgment], which is probably what is meant here, presents the material out of which each hexagram, taken as a whole, is constructed. Thus it describes the situation as such before it undergoes change. Naturally this also applies to the Judgment itself.

3. The lines are imitations of movements on earth.

Here the lines are equivalent to the judgments appended to them; the judgments apply in the case of lines that move, that is, when they are nines or sixes. They reflect the changes within the individual situations.

4. Thus do good fortune and misfortune arise, and remorse and humiliation appear.

This movement reveals the direction that events are taking, and warnings or confirmations are added.

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