The Same Sixty-Four Hexagrams, a Different Order at Mawangdui

The received Zhouyi opens with Qian and Kun. At Mawangdui, Qian remains first, but Kun occupies position 33. The same set of sixty-four hexagrams can support different reading sequences. Edward L. Shaughnessy’s study of hexagram order provides a concordance.

What does the archaeological date establish?

An early report preserved by Hunan Museum records the discovery of silk manuscripts in Tomb 3 in December 1973 and dates the burial to 168 BCE using a dated wooden document. That date sets a boundary for the manuscript. It does not tell us when its sequence originated, or mean that every statement was composed in that year.

A visible rule is not an explanation of intention

The manuscript has eight groups with a fixed upper trigram; each starts with the hexagram whose two trigrams match. Here, “upper” and “lower” refer to the two sets of three lines within a six-line figure. See page 435 of the sequence study linked above.

Two questions therefore need separate answers. We can identify how the figures are arranged. Whether someone chose that arrangement for consultation, teaching, or another purpose requires further evidence. Looking up related figures within a group is a useful reading exercise today; that does not establish how an ancient reader used the manuscript.

Build a comparison that keeps the versions apart

Choose two editions whose sources are clearly identified, then work through three steps.

1. Identify the figure before its number. Copy all six lines and check them from bottom to top. Keep the received and manuscript sequence numbers in separate columns. A note that says only “hexagram 33” may identify different figures in different tables. Record the names separately too. If you use familiar received spellings for convenience, say that you have matched the names across versions.
2. Compare one feature at a time. Circle the upper three lines and examine the eight figures in that group. Then compare a name, a hexagram statement, or one line statement separately. A change of position does not entail a change of wording; a verbal difference does not establish that reordering caused it. An early study of the manuscript discusses several kinds of difference from the received text. Keep those questions distinct in your notes.
3. Separate observations from proposals. Put “these eight figures share an upper trigram” in an observation column. Put “this may make lookup easier” in a proposal column. Add page references and questions to investigate. Mark damage or disputed readings explicitly instead of filling gaps with a smooth modern sentence.

Try a short exercise: cover the numbers and find the same figure in both versions using only its lines. Then uncover the numbers and examine its neighbors. Ask whether an interpretation follows from the statement attached to that figure, or from a connection you have made between adjacent entries.

The aim is not to crown one version the “real” Book of Changes. It is to discuss the material, its arrangement, and its interpretation separately. Continue with the textual layers of the Zhouyi when comparing core statements and later commentaries. For checking the figures themselves, consult reading the six lines from bottom to top.

References

• Hunan Museum archive: 晓菡, “An Overview of the Silk Manuscripts from the Mawangdui Han Tombs at Changsha” (晓菡《长沙马王堆汉墓帛书概述》; Chinese). Source for the find context and burial date.
• Edward L. Shaughnessy, “The Hexagram Sequence”, chapter 11 of The Origin and Early Development of the Zhou Changes (Brill, 2022), especially p. 435 and table 11.2.
• Edward L. Shaughnessy, “A First Reading of the Mawangdui Yijing Manuscript”, Early China 19 (1994), pp. 47–73. The publisher’s 2015 date records online publication, not the article’s original publication year.