Arrangement of trigrams in the form of a family is one of the well-known patterns of arrangement of trigrams , based on the following text in the Book of Changes :
The section "Sho gua zhuan" (Zhang 9) says:
乾 天 也 ， 故 稱 乎 父 ； 坤 地 也 ， 故 稱 乎 母 ；
震 一 索 而得 男 ， 故 謂 之 長 男 ； 巽 一 索 而得 女 ， 故 謂 之 長女 ；
坎 再 索 而得 男 ， 故 謂 之中 男 ； 離 再 索 而得 女 ， 故 謂 之中 女 ；
艮 三 索 而得 男 ， 故 謂 之 少男 ； 兌 三 索 而得 女 ， 故 謂 之 少女。
Translated by Eremeev V.E .:
Qian is Heaven, therefore it symbolizes the father.
Kun is the Earth, therefore symbolizes the mother.
Zhen is a preference in the first [line], which is male, therefore symbolizes the eldest son.
Xun is a preference in the first [line], which is female, therefore symbolizes the eldest daughter.
Kan is a preference in the second [line], which is male, therefore symbolizes the middle son.
Lee is a preference in the second [trait], which is female, therefore symbolizes the middle daughter.
Gen is a preference in the third [line], which is male, therefore symbolizes the youngest son.
Dui is a preference in the third [line], which is female, therefore it symbolizes the youngest daughter.
Thus, all trigrams can be represented in the form of a family consisting of a father, mother and six children.
Graphically, this arrangement of trigrams can be represented as follows:
On the left side is the entire male half: father, eldest son, middle son, youngest son.
On the right side is the entire female half: mother, eldest daughter, middle daughter, youngest daughter.
The following patterns are traced:
- Father and mother represent fully yang and yin trigrams
- Sons are determined by the only Yang trait in the trigram
- Daughters are determined by the only Yin trait in the trigram
- The seniority of sons and daughters is determined by the location of the only feature of the corresponding sign. Since trigrams start from the bottom, seniority is also considered by the location of the defining feature in relation to the base
- The male part of the family and the female part of the family in this drawing are mutually opposite, each line from the right side corresponds to the opposite line in the left part.
- Older and younger children are mirrored to each other relative to middle children.
The sequence of trigrams for seniority of the family members designated by them will be as follows: 乾, 坤, 震, 巽, 坎, 離, 艮, 兌: father, mother, eldest son, eldest daughter, middle son, middle daughter, youngest son, youngest daughter.