The I Ching's philosophy relies on the Yin (receptivity) and Yang (activity) and their transformations, also called changes or mutations. In the I Ching, the Yin and the Yang are represented by lines which are combined into groups of six to obtain 64 figures called hexagrams. In an hexagram, the transformation of one or many lines gives a new hexagram. We have 6 lines per hexagram thus 386 possibilities of transformation, which can combine into 4096 hexagrams pairs.
These 64 hexagrams and 384 lines found in the I Ching, can describe real life. They come with texts which allow us to grasp the meaning of the line or the hexagram.
By studying the I Ching texts, we first notice that some of the concepts outlined are obvious, others seem magicals and others totally obscure. What is amusing, is that two people will not always have the same vision of the texts. What can appear obvious to you, will appear magical or obscure to someone else, and vice-versa. Studying the I Ching's philosophy is to seek the meaning of the 64 hexagrams and the 384 lines, and for this we need guidance.