One figure, two levels of information

The same figure can hide two different records

Take a supplied Qian figure with its bottom line moving. Reversing that yang line produces Xun below Qian, the figure Gou. Meihua and Najia Liuyao can agree on this elementary line change while keeping very different information around it. A matching screenshot therefore does not establish that the two readings used equivalent inputs or reasoning.

The comparison here concerns a common single-moving-line body–use approach in the Meihua Yishu and the Najia line-based approach illustrated in the Zengshan Buyi. It does not cover every school that uses hexagrams, and it does not rank predictive accuracy. Qian with line 1 moving is a declared structural exercise, not a claim that both methods produced it from one historical casting.

In Meihua, preserve the route from input to roles

Volume one of the Meihua Yishu gives several input procedures, including time and counted objects. They do not all use an interchangeable set of raw values. A complete record names the chosen procedure and preserves the numbers or observations it actually used. The common remainder-based moving-line procedure selects one position from a specified total.

For the supplied Qian exercise, the bottom line belongs to the lower Qian trigram. Under volume three's moving-versus-still allocation, lower Qian is use and upper Qian is body. Both trigrams belong to metal, producing same-phase accord at this level. Body and use are each three-line units, not labels for the top and bottom individual lines. See assigning body and use for that procedure.

No date or object count has been supplied here, so the original casting cannot be reconstructed. It would be possible to invent numbers yielding the desired figure, but those would be new inputs rather than recovered evidence. A structure exercise can be complete for its limited purpose while an actual case record would still be incomplete.

Najia adds information to individual lines

The Zengshan Buyi's chapters on branch placement, six relations and self–other positions provide additional layers. In its Qian example, the line branches upward are Rat Water, Tiger Wood, Dragon Earth, Horse Fire, Monkey Metal and Dog Earth. The self line is position 6 and the other line position 3. Marking line 1 as moving does not move the self marker to line 1.

Qian being assigned to metal does not make all six of its Najia lines metal. In this example the top self line is Dog Earth. Copying “upper Qian metal is body” into a Liuyao statement that the self line is metal would confuse two different layers, even though each original description was valid in its own setting.

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Original BaZiFlow structural comparison of a supplied figure and moving position, limited to the two named methods.

Use trigram, useful spirit and self line are not synonyms

Meihua's initial use trigram is the three-line group selected by the body–use allocation. In Najia Liuyao, the useful spirit or focus is selected according to the subject of the question and checked against the relevant line categories. The Zengshan Buyi's chapter on selecting that focus gives different categories for different questions. A shared word in translation does not make the two selections interchangeable.

The self line is also a positional marker, not automatically the useful spirit for every question. A comparison should retain both where self is located and why a particular category is selected as the focus. Collapsing them into an unexplained “main line” removes the basis for checking the reading. The basics of Liuyao introduces these line-level records.

Time is not an exclusive property of either method. Najia records examine day and month conditions alongside moving lines and relations; Meihua also discusses seasonal strength. The useful question is how time enters a declared procedure: as a casting input, an interpretive condition, or both. Since this exercise gives no day or month, it cannot establish a cycle void, month break or specific line strength.

Preserve every moving mark before comparing methods

The remainder procedure chosen for the Meihua side selects one moving position. A Najia record can have zero through six moving lines. The Zengshan Buyi states that unmoving lines do not change and also illustrates, in the edition transcribed on Wikisource, Xu changing to Song with lines one, three, four and six all moving. Removing one mark to fit a single-line worksheet would alter the record.

Using two methods to consider one question requires two clearly documented procedures. If a figure obtained by one method is then read through another framework, label the additional reading and identify what information is missing. Do not silently invent the original throws, values or time conditions from the final picture.

A common figure establishes a shared line pattern, not shared interpretive evidence. More terminology likewise does not by itself demonstrate greater accuracy. Continue with recording six casting results to see why a Najia record needs to retain its individual outcomes rather than only the finished hexagram name.