I Ching (Yi King or Y-Kim)

The ancient Chinese Book of Changes, attributed to the emperor Fo-Hi in 3468 B.C.E. It expounds a classical Chinese philosophy based on the dual cosmic principles of yin and yang and claims to elucidate the outcome of any given situation by a technique involving interpretation of 64 hexagrams, each composed of two groups of three lines. These lines are each either broken or solid.

Predicitions are traditionally ascertained by a detailed process of selecting sticks or yarrow stalks to indicate the appropriate hexagram and the interpretation associated with it. A bundle of 50 sticks is used. These should be kept wrapped in clean silk or cloth. When the I Ching is consulted, it is traditional to face south and incorporate the divination procedure into a ritual. Prostrations are made, then incense lighted and the sticks passed through the fumes. The question to be answered should be straightfoward, usually related to the favorable or unfavorable auguries of a given project. One of the 50 sticks is taken out and put on one side. The remaining 49 are bunched together then quickly divided into two heaps by the right hand. The inquirer then takes one stick from the right-hand pile and places it between the last two fingers of the left hand. He then pushes away four sticks at a time from the left-hand pile until only one, two, three, or four remain. This remainder is placed between the next two fingers of the left hand. Next, four sticks at a time are pushed away from the right-hand pile until only one, two, three, or four remain. The left hand should now contain either five or nine sticks, thus: 1 + 1 + 3; 1 + 2 + 2; 1 + 3 + 1; or 1 + 4 + 4. These sticks are laid in the second heap. The process is then repeated with the remaining sticks from the first heap, which are pushed together with the right hand and then divided as previously. This will yield a total of either four or eight sticks, thus: 1 + 1 + 2; 1 + 2 + 1; 1 + 3 + 4; or 1 + 4 + 3. These four or eight sticks are then placed on the first pile, but kept slightly apart from those already there.

The process is repeated with sticks remaining on the first heap, resulting in either four or eight, as in the second phase. After these three counts, the second heap will contain (5 or 9) + (4 or 8) + (4 or 8). These three figures indicate the bottom line of the appropriate hexagram (i.e., unbroken or broken), and whether "moving" or not. The 49 sticks are then bunched together again and the whole process repeated to discover the second line from the bottom of the hexagram, and so on until the six lines have been found. A table of interpretations of the upper and lower trigrams can then be consulted.

A quicker system of divining the appropriate hexagrams involves tossing six coins; a set of I Ching playing cards has been marketed in the United States, permitting an even more rapid divination.

There are several translations currently available, and it is advisable to study more than one, because the interpretations of the ancient Chinese concepts and symbols sometimes vary. For parallels between the I Ching and Western occultism.

see Y-Kim, Book of

Sources:

Baynes, C. F., and R. Wilhelm, trans. The I Ching or Book of Changes. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1967.

Blofeld, John, trans. I Ching: The Book of Changes. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1968.

Legge, James, trans. I Ching: Book of Changes. Edited by Ch'u Chai and Winberg Chai. New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1964. Reprint, New York: Causeway Books, 1973.

Liu, Da. I Ching Coin Prediction. New York: Harper & Row, 1975.

Reifler, Sam. I Ching: A New Interpretation for Modern Times. New York: Bantam, 1974.

Schoenholtz, Larry. New Directions in the I Ching: The Yellow River Legacy. New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1975.

Wincup, Gregory. Rediscovering the I Ching. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1986.

I Ching

The I Ching or Book of Changes has been used as a method of divination for more than 5,000 years, and in spite of its venerable age, modern enthusiasts insist that it is the most sophisticated method of predicting future events ever devised. Querents approach the I Ching with such questions as "What does the future hold for me?" "Should I marry now?" and throw coins. Each coin is assigned a number, so the results of the tosses are totaled to find the corresponding hexagram to learn the answers to the inquiries. The "book" consists of 64 hexagrams, each comprising six broken or unbroken lines. Although the text accompanying the I Ching does not refer to the two primal cosmic principles—the yin and the yang—in essence, the philosophical premise of the I Ching does hold that the broken line and the unbroken line can represent any pair of polar opposites, such as male/female, light/dark, and so forth.

Those who believe in the wisdom of I Ching maintain that within the 64 sections there exist teachings for every possible situation that anyone will encounter throughout his or her life. Within the hexagrams are represented numerous archetypal situations in cater-gories such as "The Rise to Power," "Proper Relationships," "Negativity," and so forth. The hidden meanings of the hexagrams were divined by ancient Chinese sages who were in tune with the philosophy of the Tao, which views human beings as creatures of nature and teaches that instincts, feelings, and imagination should be allowed to have free reign. Taoism is in sharp contrast to Confucianism, which envisions humankind as rational and moral creatures who have responsibilities to their society. The essential philosophy of Taoism is that the natural world and the Tao are one.

Those who rely on the I Ching as their dependable window to the future explain that they find this method of divination to be superior to all others because, as its name implies, it recognizes the difficulty of focusing on events that have not yet occurred and it takes into account the likelihood of changes that may most certainly occur. In fact, the basic premise of I Ching is that every situation in the panorama of human events has within its context an inherent tendency to change. While some may despair and complain that the only thing constant in life is change, those who rely on I Ching agree—but remain confident that changes occur within cycles and that these cycles may be observed, predicted, and acted upon.

Delving Deeper

Carroll, Robert Todd. "I Ching." In The Skeptic's Dictionary. [Online] http://skepdic.com/iching.html. 9 March 2002.

Dening, Sarah. The Everyday I Ching. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997.

Seabrook, Myles. I Ching for Everyone. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1998.

Wilhelm, Helmut, Richard Helmut, and Irene Eber. Understanding the I Ching. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.

I Ching or Yi Ching (Scripture of Change(s)). One of the three pre-Confucian Classics. It seems originally to have been a diviners’ manual, built on the symbolisms of eight trigrams (each composed of broken and unbroken lines, standing respectively for yin and yang). These trigrams were later expanded to give sixty-four hexagrams. Confucius is supposed to have added commentary, called the Ten Wings, which gave philosophical depth to the work.

I Ching / ˈē ˈching; ˈjing/ • n. an ancient Chinese manual of divination based on eight symbolic trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams, interpreted in terms of the principles of yin and yang. It was included as one of the “five classics” of Confucianism. English name Book of Changes.

I Ching an ancient Chinese manual of divination based on eight symbolic trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams, interpreted in terms of the principles of yin and yang. It was included as one of the ‘five classics’ of Confucianism. Its English name is Book of Changes, a translation of the original Chinese yijing.

I Ching See Book of Changes

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