Plum Blossom Number Casting: Two Three-Digit Entries
Last updated 10/7/2026
This page is a written calculation guide, not an interactive I Ching calculator. Its task is exact: derive one Plum Blossom hexagram and moving line from two recorded three-digit entries.
Following Wen’s practicum, you settle the question during a timed pause, then record two spontaneous three-digit entries in sequence. Add the three digits within each entry and use those two digit-sums. The first sum gives the lower trigram. The second gives the upper trigram. Adding the two sums gives the changing line.
Prerequisite: know the course’s 1–8 trigram key and 1–6 line key. Your output is a calculation sheet that another person can reproduce without knowing your interpretation.
When to Use It
Use this specific method when you want to reproduce Wen’s practicum 7.9:
- Write the question.
- Set a three-minute timer and use the pause to settle attention on the question.
- When the timer ends, immediately record the first three-digit entry without calculating.
- After a brief pause, immediately record the second three-digit entry.
- Freeze all six digits before doing any arithmetic.
Do not use this page to convert a chosen or supplied whole number, receipt, address, page, clock value, or other external cue. Those inputs require their own named rule; they are not Wen’s spontaneous-entry procedure.
Basic Formula
| Step | Operation |
|---|---|
| Lower trigram | sum the digits of the first entry, then divide that sum by 8 |
| Upper trigram | sum the digits of the second entry, then divide that sum by 8 |
| Moving line | first digit-sum + second digit-sum, divided by 6 |
Remainder 0 means 8 for trigrams and 6 for lines.
The key value is the remainder, not the quotient. If a recorded entry has digit-sum 13, then 13 divided by 8 gives quotient 1 and remainder 5, so the trigram is Xun. The quotient is just how many full cycles have passed.
Claim source: received Meihua Yishu, vol. 1, “Divide the Trigram by Eight” and “Divide the Line by Six,” for the remainder keys. Wen's workbook practicum 7.9 documents the complete modern convention taught here: sum the digits in each three-digit entry; first digit-sum=lower, second digit-sum=upper, and the two digit-sums together=moving line.
Worked Example
Example type: invented illustration. The construction is checkable; no publication outcome is reported.
Question: “Should I keep developing this article?”
Numbers:
- First entry: 125; digit-sum 1 + 2 + 5 = 8.
- Second entry: 463; digit-sum 4 + 6 + 3 = 13.
Calculation:
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Lower trigram | first digit-sum 8 divided by 8 leaves 0 | Kun, Earth |
| Upper trigram | second digit-sum 13 divided by 8 leaves 5 | Xun, Wind |
| Moving line | 8 + 13 = 21; divided by 6 leaves 3 | line 3 |
Primary hexagram: Wind over Earth, Hexagram 20, Contemplation.
Changed hexagram: line 3 changes, producing Wind over Mountain, Hexagram 53, Gradual Progress.
UAYA interpretive start:
- Wind over Earth: influence moving across a field.
- Line 3: the question turns at the threshold between inner and outer action.
- Wind over Mountain: gradual development, not immediate publication.
Bounded teaching reading:
The image supports continued observation and gradual development rather than an immediate release decision. Review the article against an editorial checklist before deciding. Confidence is low because this invented example has no outcome and the reading is not the calculation.
The received Hexagram 20 and line 3 texts, followed by Hexagram 53, constrain this teaching interpretation; they do not guarantee timing or success.
Keep One Declared Convention
This course calculates the moving line from the two recorded digit-sums. It does not use the unreduced three-digit entries or switch to the two trigram remainders after the result appears. Other variants are outside this lesson unless a named source and locator are added.
The practical rule is: state the convention and do not change it after seeing the hexagram.
This is also why the direct-number method is a good classroom drill. Mistakes are visible: another person can check the arithmetic, the remainder, the moving line, and the final hexagram without accepting any private intuition.
Why the Course Case Is Not Reused
The workshop case used three arriving messages for the upper trigram and the recorded clock value 14:27 for the lower trigram. Those inputs belong to its declared observed-event convention.
It did not produce two spontaneous three-digit entries through Wen’s practicum. Therefore it is ineligible for this calculation method. Do not invent replacement entries that happen to reproduce Hexagram 14, line 2.
This is a deliberate negative control: a course case may be used only in lessons whose recorded inputs actually fit the lesson’s precommitted rule. The independent 125/463 illustration above demonstrates this method without rewriting the workshop record.
Failure Control
If a sum divides evenly, do not enter 0 as a trigram or line. Use Kun for a trigram remainder of 0 and line 6 for a line remainder of 0. If you used a whole three-digit entry instead of its digit-sum, used the quotient, changed a digit, or switched conventions after seeing the output, mark the sheet invalid and stop before interpretation.
Practice Drill
Run three separate trials of the timed two-entry exercise. Use a low-consequence practice question for each trial, and preserve the entries exactly as first recorded.
For each:
- Record each entry and its digit-sum.
- Calculate the lower and upper trigrams in that order.
- Find the moving line.
- Name the primary and changed hexagrams.
- Write one sentence using Ti/Yong and Five Phases.
Do not interpret at length yet. Build accuracy first.
Next, learn how the asking moment can become the input. Continue to The Horary Method.