Taoism > Sources > I-ching

Introduction to I-ching (Book of Changes)

• See also:
  > I-ching - Philosophy and Practice
  > Introduction to the I-ching by Richard Wilhelm (HTML)
  > Foreword to the English Version of Wilhelm's Translation by C.G. Jung (PDF)
  > Philosophy of Naturalness in I-ching
  > I-ching as Oracle - Online Reading
   
• Online I-ching course: a 60-day course delivered by email. It provides teachings about philosophy, structure and practice of I-ching, including a lot of examples of consulting.

Fu Hsi, the divine ancestor, author of the eight trigrams (pa-kua)

Even if today we are mostly interested in its philosophical aspect (see Wilhelm's introduction), the book has been used from the oldest times as an oracle, while it offered information about the evolution of the events in time or about the positive or negative result of the consultant's actions. Sovereigns and princes used the book in this direction. Its importance is also proved by its survival from the arson of books ordered by the Chinese emperor Ch'in Shih-huang-ti, in 213 A.D.

• History of I-ching

Tradition has attributed the creation of this unique book to Fu Hsi, the mythical ancestor, who invented many other useful things to Chinese antiquity. It is said that he had been the witness of a miraculous phenomenon that put him in contact with the 8 trigrams (pa-kua), forming the basic structure of the Book of Changes. The legend says that while he was walking on the banks of the Yellow River, he caught a glimpse of a dragon coming out of waters and wearing on his back the signs of the 8 trigrams that he copied by drawing them with his finger, on the sand.

King Wen and Prince of Chou also had essential contributions to the present form of the book, regarding hexagrams, titles, judgments and lines texts.

Richard Wilhelm the author of German translation

Finally, an outstanding contribution came from the famous Confucius and his school, who added various comments (Wings).

It is all agreed that this book contains the essence of Chinese spiritual movements and that it has influenced everything that was consequently conceived. Nobody can deny its importance in the Taoism too.

• Structure of I-ching

I-ching is a collection of 64 hexagrams. The hexagrams are linear structures made up of six continuous or discontinuous lines. The continuous lines ______ represent the yang principle and the discontinuous ones__  __, the yin principle.

The 64 combinations of lines have titles like Creative (Yang), Difficulty at Beginning, The Caldron, The Marrying Maiden, Progress, Contemplation... that definitely describe typical situations. Each hexagram also contains a Judgment (many times offering oracular predictions) and short texts explaining the significance of each individual line.

• I-ching in Western Culture

The most important contribution to the spreading of this book in Europe was that of Richard Wilhelm. He was a Christian missionary in China and he met Lao-nai Hsuan, a descendant of Confucian school, who effectively helped him to translate the book into German. More than a simple translation, Wilhelm also added his comments to the 64 hexagrams.

C.G. Jung

C.G. Jung suggested a version in English made by Cary F. Baynes, and it was also Jung who added a substantial introduction to this version, where he explained with examples the way the book could be consulted as an oracle. This was the most important contribution to the explanation of the oracular practice to the western culture.

• I-ching Today

I-ching is together with yin-yang, Lao-tzu and Tao-te ching one of the most familiar terms to the Western culture. The book is further on used as an oracle, even if many users have difficulties in interpreting its symbolic answers.

^ TOP

Copyright 1999-2008, Way of Perfect Emptiness. All rights reserved.