From 'Two Birds Fighting Over a Branch' to 'A Girl Falling': The Structural Thinking Behind the Plum Blossom Story

Using the Plum Blossom divination case as an example, this article explores how ancient people viewed event development, for reference only.

This is about a classic case in Plum Blossom Yijing: the Plum Blossom Divination.

First, a side note: whether this book was actually written by Shao Yong is unclear; it may be a pseudonymous work. But this does not diminish its value in Yijing theory—at least in this case, its exposition of image, number, and principle holds up to scrutiny.

The story goes:

Mr. Shao Yong was in a garden, saw two birds fighting on a plum tree, and both fell to the ground. He had a flash of insight, calculated based on the year, month, day, and hour, and concluded: "Tomorrow evening, a young girl will come to see the flowers, try to pick a branch, be mistaken by an unknowing gardener for doing something wrong, be chased, get scared, fall on her bottom, but it won't be serious."

From this divination case, four questions naturally arise:

1. Time: Why specifically "tomorrow evening"?

2. Person: Why does it correspond to "a young girl picking flowers"?

3. Injury: Why exactly "hurt her bottom"?

4. Severity: Why "scared and fell, but not serious"?

The original text includes specific formulas for "how to form the hexagram and how to calculate," which I won't repeat here. I'll focus on structure and logic.

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I. Forming the Hexagram from External Response: Two Birds Fighting and Falling from a Branch

This case uses external response to form the hexagram.

The external response is: Two birds fighting on a plum tree fall to the ground.

The resulting original hexagram:

• Upper trigram: Dui (Lake), innate number 2, element Metal;

• Lower trigram: Li (Fire), innate number 3, element Fire.

Now the mutual trigrams:

• Mutual of the body trigram: Qian (Heaven), element Metal, number 1;

• Mutual of the function trigram: Xun (Wind), element Wood, number 5.

Since the first line moves, the changing hexagram is Ze Shan Xian (Lake over Mountain):

• Upper trigram remains Dui;

• Lower trigram becomes Gen (Mountain), element Earth, number 7.

The entire hexagram structure is:

Original: Dui above Li below → first line moves → changes to Ze Shan Xian, with mutual trigrams Qian and Xun participating in the process.

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II. Positioning Body and Function: Why "Young Girl" and "Gardener"

In the original hexagram, the moving line is the first line, so:

• Body trigram takes the upper trigram → Body is Dui;

• Function trigram takes the lower trigram → Function is Li.

1. Image of body trigram Dui—young girl

   Dui represents a young girl, a traditional association.

   Since the body trigram represents "our side" or "the subject of the matter," it naturally corresponds to the young girl, matching the plot of "a girl seeing and picking flowers."

2. Mutual of body trigram is Qian—old man, gardener

   The mutual of the body trigram is Qian, whose images include old man, elder, manager.

   In this context, the most suitable modern translation is: gardener—

   a person with "management authority" in the garden, older, and decisive.

Thus, body is Dui (young girl), mutual of body is Qian (old man),

one responsible for "seeing and picking flowers," the other for "managing and protecting the garden,"

so the character configuration of "young girl + gardener" naturally emerges from the hexagram.

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III. Function and Mutual Trigrams: Why the Cause and Process Are "Not Good"

Now look at the function trigram and its mutual:

• Function trigram is Li, element Fire;

• Mutual of function is Xun, element Wood.

The five-element relationship is: Wood generates Fire, Fire overcomes Metal.

As mentioned, body is Dui Metal, mutual of body is Qian Metal—both Metal.

Thus the whole process becomes clear:

1. Xun Wood (mutual of function) generates Li Fire (function);

2. Li Fire then overcomes Dui Metal and Qian Metal (body and mutual of body).

This indicates:

• In cause: Xun Wood "ignites the fire," the matter will be "ignited";

• In process: Li Fire overcomes Dui Metal, meaning the process is unfavorable for "the young girl's side," with fright, harm, conflict.

Simply put:

Wood generates Fire, Fire overcomes Metal → the cause and process are "not good" trends.

But the outcome is not yet seen; we need to look at the changing hexagram.

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IV. Changing Hexagram Gen Earth: Why "Scared and Fell, but Not Serious"

The changing hexagram is Ze Shan Xian, with the lower trigram becoming Gen Earth:

• Gen is Earth, which generates Metal.

This means:

Although in the previous process Fire overcomes Metal, with conflict, fright, and harm,

ultimately it ends with Gen Earth generating Metal,

indicating that in the outcome, Metal still has vitality, the matter concludes as "not too bad" rather than "a great disaster."

So we can summarize:

• There is fright and injury in the middle;

• But in the end, "fright without major harm," not serious.

This corresponds to the story's minor injury of "falling on the bottom, but not hurting bones."

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V. Why Exactly the "Bottom" Is Injured?

This detail requires combining several pieces of information.

1. Body trigram is Dui Metal, mutual of body is Qian Metal → two Metals share the same qi;

2. In the process, Xun Wood generates Li Fire, Fire overcomes Metal → Dui and Qian side is injured;

3. In human body imagery, Xun trigram governs the thigh and buttocks.

That is:

• Xun trigram in this hexagram is a key link in "cause and process";

• Xun also images the buttocks and thighs in the human body;

• Xun is injured → in actual manifestation, it appears as: "buttock injury."

So it's "buttock injury," not head, hand, or elsewhere.

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VI. How Is Time Derived: Why "Tomorrow Evening"?

The time calculation part essentially plays with "numbers":

1. Sum of upper and lower trigrams of the original hexagram:

   • Dui (2) + Li (3) = 5

2. Plus the sum of upper and lower trigrams of the changing hexagram:

   • Upper Dui (2), lower Gen (7) → 2+7 = 9

3. Total:

   • 5 + 9 = 14

Thus, the time number given by this hexagram is: 14 shichen (two-hour periods).

If the time of divination was Shen hour (3-5 PM),

counting 14 shichen forward from Shen hour,

it would roughly fall around Hai hour (9-11 PM) of the next evening.

So the judgment is: "Tomorrow evening."

Additionally, the function trigram is Li, which has the image of "eyes,"

this also echoes the process of "the girl first sees the flowers, then decides to pick them."

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VII. Correspondence Between External Response and Human Affairs: Why "Human Conflict" Rather Than Something Else?

Finally, return to the initial external response: "Two birds fighting fall from a branch."

• Two birds fighting corresponds to dispute, misunderstanding, and conflict in human affairs;

• From the scene of "fighting on a plum tree and falling to the ground,"

  it maps to reality as the conflict between the young girl and the gardener over "picking flowers,"

  the girl gets scared, startles, and falls on her bottom.

The external response provides an image of "fighting and falling,"

while the hexagram refines the time, person, process, injury location, and severity.

This is the subtlety of the Plum Blossom Divination case:

From a small scene of "birds fighting and falling from a branch,"

it deduces a complete human affair plot—time, person, cause, process, outcome, all interlinked.