Shuo Gua Zhuan 說卦傳 (2)

說卦傳   第二章

　　昔者聖人之作易也，將以順性命之理。 是以立天之道，曰陰與陽﹔立地之道，曰柔與剛﹔立人之道，曰仁與義。兼三才而兩之，故易六畫而成卦。 分陰分陽，迭用柔剛，故易六位而成章。

Shuo Gua Zhuan    Chapter 2

When the ancient sages wrote the Yi, they had in mind the conformity with the nature and the way of life of Man. Therefore, yin and yang were to establish the way of Heaven. Softness and stiffness were to establish the way of Earth. Benevolence and righteousness were to establish the way of Man. Each trigram embraced the three qualities – Heaven, Earth and Man and is repeated to form a hexagram. Yin and yang were distinguished to be represented by soft and rigid lines occupying designated positions to produce a hexagram.