Our methodology

A recorded three-coin cast

Meow Ching generates three coin faces for each of six tosses on the server. The text face is worth 2 and the paw face is worth 3. Totals of 6 and 8 create broken yin lines; totals of 7 and 9 create solid yang lines.

The tosses are recorded from bottom to top. The resulting six-line pattern is mapped to its number in the King Wen sequence of 64 hexagrams. Totals of 6 and 9 identify moving lines. All of them flip together to determine the changed hexagram; with no moving lines, there is no changed hexagram.

The initial coin faces are random. Once saved, the same faces give the same totals, moving lines and hexagram numbers. The browser plays back that saved result. Retries and follow-ups keep it, so a model response cannot alter the cast. How it works explains the process without requiring technical knowledge.

The classical text

Our public reference for the Chinese text is the Book of Changes on Wikisource. Each hexagram page links to its corresponding classical text so you can read the Judgment and Image in context.

The library focuses on these two passages. Our English renderings and modern explanations are separate editorial writing. Where wording supports more than one reading, translation notes explain the choice. For personalized readings, the saved hexagram and its actual changing lines determine which passages are considered.

Original editorial English renderings

The English Judgment and Image on our public pages are Meow Ching's original editorial renderings of the displayed Chinese passages. They are not copied from a modern commercial translation or presented as a published scholarly edition.

Classical Chinese can support more than one reading. Our English aims to be readable for a beginner while keeping the passage's images and judgments visible. Where an ambiguity matters, a translation note explains the choice. A short modern explanation then connects the imagery to situations a reader can examine, followed by a reflection question.

Words such as "good fortune," "misfortune" and "no blame" belong to the historical language of the text. Their appearance in a rendering is not a promise, risk assessment or prediction by the product.

AI interpretation

A personalized reading asks AI to relate the supplied evidence to your question. It is instructed to distinguish the classical passage, the source's modern paraphrase and its own interpretation, and to answer in the language of your question.

The saved cast controls which lines move. The number of moving lines decides which passages lead the reading and which support it, following long-standing reading practice; no single line is treated as the answer. The server also works out basic facts about the pattern's structure, so the AI explains them rather than guessing. Commentary about changing a single line is used only in its proper context, never as a replacement for the combined changed pattern.

AI may still misread, overstate or produce an explanation that does not fit your circumstances. Check the underlying text and your own observations. The reading cannot establish facts about people or events it has not observed.

FAQ

Is there one definitive English meaning for each hexagram?

No. The public explanation offers one accessible way to read the imagery. The source text, translation notes and your own context may suggest other possibilities.

Are the English explanations ancient quotations?

The Chinese passages are classical text. The English renderings and modern reflections are original editorial writing. A personalized AI answer is another interpretation and should be read as such.

Why did another I Ching site explain the same cast differently?

Sites may use different translations, casting methods or rules for reading several moving lines. Meow Ching states its rules here so you can compare the method as well as the wording.