Wen Wang Gua (Chinese: 文王卦; pinyin: Wén Wáng Guà) is a method of interpreting the results of I Ching divination that was first described in writing by Jing Fang in Han dynasty China.
It is known by various names: (Liu Yao) (six lines) refers to the fact that it interprets the meaning of six symbols; the Najia method, indicates its logic of elemental values derived from the Chinese calendar; Wu Xing Yi (changes of the five elements); or Wen Wang Ke (Lessons of King Wen).
That the use of element correlation theories was relevant at the time can be seen from the extant records, such as the Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals, a compilation of earlier texts which was attributed to Dong Zhongshu.
As one modern researcher remarks: "Dong Zhongshu is generally remembered as the author of a detailed system of correspondences in which everything was correlated to one of the five fundamental forces, so that everything could be shown to be interrelated in an orderly and comprehensible manner.
"[2] Jing Fang and his teacher, the author of the "Forest of Changes by Jiao", were among the first to apply this form of correlative thinking to I Ching divination.
Section 2 of the Eighth Wing relates line positions top, middle and bottom to Heaven, Man and Earth respectively.
Although traditionally attributed to Fu Xi, Shao Yong's binary or lexicographical order first appears in the eleventh century AD:[5][6]
Larry James Schulz writes in his dissertation Lai Chih-Te, (1525-1604) and the phenomenology of the “Classic of Change” (Yìjīng): More about this system can be found in Fung Yu-lan’s A History of Chinese Philosophy, Volume II.