I-Ching Background
==================

The I-Ching, or Book of Changes is a Chinese ancient book dating back
3000 to 5000 years.  The philosophy behind the book is that everything
is changing and nothing is static in the universe.  The Law of Changes
also states that whatever goes up must go down, and vice versa.  It is
even said that the I-Ching has captured the essence of the universe and
so how things work in the universe can be predicted by the application
of I-Ching.

There are totally 64 different hexagrams in the I-Ching, which is
formed by the 8 fundamental trigrams multiplying themselves together.
That is, 8 x 8 = 64.  Each hexagram consists of 2 trigrams.  Each
trigram contains 3 lines of either solid or broken.  Solid lines
correspond to the positive Yang force, while broken lines correspond
to the negative Yin force.

The text is composed of 64 short topics which correspond to the 64
hexagrams.  Within each topic, there are 6 different outcomes of that
topic, which correspond to the 6 lines within the hexagram.

There are 5 fundamental elements in the I-Ching, namely Metal, Wood,
Water, Fire, and Earth.  They are inter-related in two different cycles,
namely Creation and Control.

In the Creation cycle:
----------------------
Water strengthens Wood; Wood strengthens Fire; Fire strengthens Earth;
Earth strengthens Metal; Metal strengthens Water.

In the Control cycle:
---------------------
Water weakens Fire; Fire weakens Metal; Metal weakens Wood;
Wood weakens Earth; Earth weakens Water.



Program Description
===================

The program is roughly divided by 3 sections.

The Upper Section:
------------------
This is where a query begins.  There are two different types of query
available in the program.

The General Query consists of 3 buttons, namely Inner Trigram,
Outer Trigram, and Change Line.  To use the General Query, simply
make up your mind and press all these buttons in order.  You will
then be prompted to enter your question, and the resultant hexagram
will be displayed at the middle of this section.

Another query is Target Time Query, which is useful for some situations.
For example, one day you walk on a street and suddenly find a dog barking
at you without apparent reason, or you walk in a countryside and suddenly
see an owl flying past you.  These are just some examples of the Divine
speaking to you.  To use the Target Time Query, simply fill in the time
of your special event using the Year, Month, Day, and Hour combo boxes
and press the Run button.  You will be asked to describe the event at the
prompt, and the resultant hexagram will be displayed accordingly.

The Middle Section:
-------------------
From right to left there are 4 columns of boxes.  The first column shows
the Original Hexagram, Change Line, and Final Hexagram.  The Original
Hexagram tells the past to present situation of the query.  The Change
Line tells the present to future situation of the query.  Generally
speaking, the outcome of this Change Line is the outcome of the query.
The Final Hexagram tells the future situation of the query.  It is formed
by flipping the indicated Change Line in the Original Hexagram.

The next column shows how the Original Hexagram is changed to the Final
Hexagram.

The next column has two boxes which show either "Body-Use" or "Use-Body".
They are used by the next column which will determine the fate of the
query by means of the interactions among the 5 fundamental elements.
"Body" here represents the query itself.  "Use" here represents the
influential forces around the query.

The last column shows the reaction of "Body" and "Use" in terms of Metal,
Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.  The "Body" is enclosed by the bracket ().
The "Use" is enclosed by either ++ or -- depending on whether it
strengthens or weakens the "Body".  The more ++ in this column,
the better is the result of the query.

The Lower Section:
------------------
This section contains an edit box showing the text of the Original
Hexagram, Change Line, and Final Hexagram.

There is a log file called iching.log in the program directory.
It will record whatever you have entered along with the reply
from the I-Ching.  This file has a maximum size of 500 Kilobytes.
If it is bigger than 500k, it will be re-created. You can view
this file by means of a text editor.
