Chapter XII - Summary
XII - 1
It is said in the I: 'Help is given to him from heaven. There will be good fortune; advantage in every respect'. The master said: 'Yu is the symbol of assisting. He whom heaven assists is observant of what is right; he whom men assist is sincere. The individual here indicated treads the path of sincerity, desires to be observant, and studies to exalt the worthy. Hence 'Help is given to him from heaven. There will be good fortune; advantage in every respect''.

XII - 2
The master said: 'The written characters are not the full exponent of speech, and speech is not the full expression of ideas; -- is it impossible then to discover the ideas of the sages'?.
The master said: 'The sages made their images to set forth fully their ideas; appointed all the hexagrams to show fully the truth and falsehood of things; appended their explanations to give the full expression of their words, and changed and made general the method of doing so, to exhibit fully what was advantageous. They thus stimulated the people as by drums and dances, thereby completely developing the spirit-like character of the I'.

XII - 3
May we not say that Ch'ien and K'un are the secret and substance of the I? Ch'ien and K'un being established, the system of changes was thereby constituted. If Ch'ien and K'un were taken away, there would be no means of seeing that system; and if no changes were seen, Ch'ien and K'un would almost cease to exist.

XII - 4
Hence that which is antecedent to material form, we call Tao; that which is subsequent to material form, we call a definite thing.
Transformation and shaping is what we call change; carrying this out and operating with it, is what we call generalizing the method; taking the result and setting it forth for all the people under heaven is what we call the business of life.

XII - 5
Hence, to speak of the images: the sages were able to survey all the complex phenomena under the sky. They then considered in their minds how they could be figured; and by means of the hexagrams they represented their material forms and their character. Hence the hexagrams are denominared semblances. These were called the images. The later sages were able to survey the motive influences working all under the sky. They contemplated them in their common action and special nature, in order to bring out the standard and proper tendency of each. They then appended their explanation to each of the hexagrams, to determine the good and evil indicated by it. Hence the lines with their explanations are denominated imitations. These were called the judgements.

XII - 6
The most thorough mastery of all the complex phenomena under the sky is obtained from the hexagrams. The greatest stimulus to movement in adaption to all affairs under the sky is obtained from the judgements.

XII - 7
The transformation and shaping that take place are obtained from the changes of the lines; the carrying this out and operating with it is obtained from the general method. The seeing their spirit-like intimations and understanding them, depended on their being the proper men; and their completing them by silent meditation, and securing the faith of others without the use of words, depended on their virtuous conduct.