Where the randomness in casting comes from
Why casting needs randomness
The traditional coin and yarrow-stalk methods rely on outcomes no one can arrange in advance. Yi keeps that premise: the wording of your question, an observation you chose and your earlier records do not decide the hexagram.
How your movement takes part
During the cast you tap, drag or gently move the device. That movement is gathered for this cast only and mixed with the device’s randomness when the lines form.
The device’s randomness is always present
Even if you barely move, the device’s randomness is part of the mix, so less movement never makes a result easier to work out or to arrange beforehand.
Why Plum Blossom is different
Plum Blossom tosses no coins and divides no stalks. It converts the time, numbers, sentence, or the thing in view and its direction that you provide into an upper trigram, a lower trigram and a changing line by fixed rules, so the same input gives the same hexagram. The record names this input type.
What the record keeps, and what it leaves out
The record keeps how the hexagram formed without keeping details that trace your own movement.
- Kept: the method, the time, how each line formed, the primary hexagram, the changing lines, the resulting hexagram and the type of input.
- Not kept: the raw movement and the random values used for mixing.
A boundary for study and reflection
Randomness keeps the process independent; it gives the result no extra meaning. Casting in Yi supports study and reflection, not prediction: understanding comes back to the source text, the commentary and your own situation.
Frequently asked questions
Is my movement uploaded?
No. Movement is used only for that cast. After mixing it is not saved and is never uploaded.
Why does the same Plum Blossom input give the same hexagram?
Plum Blossom converts your input by fixed rules and uses no randomness. That is part of the method, and the record names its input type.
How can a cast be traced back to its process?
The casting record keeps how each line formed, such as the faces of each coin toss, so the primary hexagram and changing lines correspond to the process at the time.
Cast and keep a record in Yi
Choose a method, take part in forming the lines, then read the source and commentary and note your understanding. Records stay on your device by default.
Download Yi on the App StoreThis page is a Yi original explanation of where casting input comes from and how it is recorded, for classical study and personal reflection. It is not classical text or historical commentary and is not practical advice.