Meihua Yishu is famous among Chinese divination students because it feels fast, flexible, and mysterious. It reads through images and numbers, often beginning from a sudden trigger: a time, number, sound, object, or scene. That makes it very different from Liu Yao, which relies on a more technical rule system.
This guide explains what Meihua Yishu is, how it casts a hexagram, and how it differs from Liu Yao.
What Is Meihua Yishu?
Meihua Yishu is a Yijing-based divination method that uses pre-heaven trigram numbers, image reading, and the relationship between body and use trigrams. It is traditionally attributed to the Northern Song thinker Shao Yong, though the historical authorship of the transmitted text is debated.
As a practical method, its main traits are clear:
- Flexible casting methods: time, numbers, sounds, directions, visible objects, or sudden impressions can become the trigger.
- Pre-heaven trigram numbers: Qian 1, Dui 2, Li 3, Zhen 4, Xun 5, Kan 6, Gen 7, Kun 8.
- Body and use trigrams: the body trigram represents the main side or the core of the matter; the use trigram represents the other side or external environment.
- Image first, rule second: compared with Liu Yao, Meihua relies more on direct symbolic resonance and less on a dense technical apparatus.
How Does Meihua Yishu Cast a Hexagram?
The most common method is the year-month-day-hour method:
- Upper trigram: add the lunar year number, month number, and day number. Divide by 8 and use the remainder to select the trigram. A remainder of 0 means Kun, the eighth trigram.
- Lower trigram: add the hour-branch number to the same total, divide by 8, and use the remainder.
- Moving line: add year, month, day, and hour numbers, divide by 6, and use the remainder to identify the moving line from bottom to top.
- Body and use: determine which trigram is body and which is use according to the casting rule being applied.
Meihua can also cast by numbers, sounds, objects, directions, or sudden scenes. This is why it is often described as trigger-based. The practitioner borrows the moment itself as the doorway into the hexagram.
Body-Use Generation and Control
After the hexagram is formed, one of the core judgments is the five-phase relationship between the body trigram and the use trigram.
| Relationship | Meaning | Basic reading |
|---|---|---|
| Use generates body | The outer side supports the main side | Favorable; matters tend to go smoothly |
| Body generates use | The main side gives energy outward | Moderately favorable; effort is required |
| Body controls use | The main side can manage the situation | Powerful; the matter can be handled |
| Use controls body | External forces restrict the main side | Difficult; obstacles need caution |
| Body and use are the same phase | Equal or similar force | Neutral; read with the images |
A fuller reading also examines the mutual hexagram and the changing hexagram. The original hexagram shows the initial situation, the mutual hexagram shows the inner process, and the changed hexagram shows the later tendency.
What Questions Can Meihua Yishu Read?
Its range is broad:
- Love: where is this relationship going?
- Career: will this cooperation or job change work?
- Money: will this deal profit, or will money return?
- Lost objects: where is the missing item, and can it be found?
- Travel: will this trip go smoothly?
- Sudden events: what does this moment or sign point toward?
Meihua is especially suited to questions that arise suddenly, when a strong moment, image, sound, or number seems to call for a reading.
Meihua Yishu vs. Liu Yao
Both are Yijing-based divination methods, but their paths are very different.
| Comparison | Meihua Yishu | Liu Yao |
|---|---|---|
| Core tool | Pre-heaven trigram numbers, body and use | Na Jia, six relatives, self-response, six spirits |
| Casting | Flexible: time, number, object, sound, image | More fixed: coin method, generated hexagram, structured casting |
| Rules | Concise, image-number centered | Detailed technical system |
| Judgment focus | Body-use relationship and symbolic images | Useful god strength, moving lines, generation, control, clash, combination |
| Learning curve | Looks easy at first, deepens through image sensitivity | Rules are many at first, but become systematic with practice |
| Best use | Sudden triggers and quick readings | Prepared questions and detailed analysis |
In one sentence: Meihua is more resonance-based; Liu Yao is more system-based. Meihua depends heavily on image sensitivity. Liu Yao depends more on a repeatable technical framework.
Which One Fits You?
- If you like clear rules and step-by-step logic, Liu Yao may be easier to study seriously.
- If you are sensitive to images, timing, and symbolic atmosphere, Meihua may feel more natural.
- If you often want to cast in a sudden moment, Meihua's flexibility is useful.
- If you want to analyze a complex matter in detail, Liu Yao's six relatives and self-response framework can give more structure.
Many experienced students eventually learn both and choose the tool that fits the situation.
Summary
Meihua Yishu is a flexible, image-number method based on pre-heaven trigram numbers and body-use judgment. It is fast, sensitive, and well suited to sudden questions. Liu Yao is a more rule-heavy Yijing divination system with Na Jia, six relatives, self-response, and moving-line analysis. Both grow from the Yijing, but they train different skills.
Reference Check
This article checks its basic concepts against the following sources:
- Chinese Text Project: Meihua Yishu transmitted text
- Chinese Text Project: Shuo Gua
- Chinese Text Project: Bu Shi Zheng Zong
Note: The historical attribution of Meihua Yishu is debated. This article uses the practical image-number divination tradition commonly grouped under that name, without making strong textual-history claims.