The I Ching Or Book Of Changes

The bestselling English translation of the ancient classic of Chinese divination that has inspired millions with its timeless insights into the changing nature of all existence The I Ching, or Book of Changes, has exerted a living influence in China for thousands of years. Today, it continues to enrich the lives of readers around the world. First set down in the dawn of history as a book of oracles, it grew into a book of wisdom with the inclusion of commentaries on its oracular pronouncements, eventually becoming one of the Five Classics of Confucianism and providing a common source for both Confucianist and Taoist philosophy. This edition of the I Ching is the most authoritative and complete translation available, preserving the spirit of the ancient text while providing a vital key for anyone who seeks to live harmoniously with the immutable law of change. The book presents the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching along with their texts and interpretations in a format especially designed for easy reference. Unlike many editions of the I Ching, it also features the Ten Wings, supplemental writings traditionally ascribed to Confucius that provide indispensable insights into the symbolic structure of the hexagrams and their place in a cosmology where change is the only constant. With an illuminating foreword by C. G. Jung and an informative introduction by Richard Wilhelm, this beautiful edition of the I Ching shares the essence of wisdom and a true understanding of life.

The I Ching, usually translated as Book of Changes, is an ancient Chinese divination text and among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zhou period (1000–750 BC), over the course of the Warring States period and early imperial period (500–200 BC) it was transformed into a cosmological text with a series of philosophical commentaries known as the "Ten Wings". The I Ching is used in a type of divination called cleromancy, which uses apparently random numbers. Six numbers between 6 and 9 are turned into a hexagram, which can then be looked up in the text, in which hexagrams are arranged in an order known as the King Wen sequence. The interpretation of the readings found in the I Ching is a matter which has been endlessly discussed and debated over in the centuries following its compilation, and many commentators have used the book symbolically, often to provide guidance for moral decision making as informed by Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.

First among the ancient classics, the I Ching or Book of Changes is one of the world's most influential books, comparable to the Bible, the Koran, and the Upanishads. The I Ching's purpose is universal: to provide good counsel to its users in making decisions during times of change. Since its origins about 3,000 years ago, it has become a compendium of wisdom used by people of many cultures and eras. This groundbreaking new translation by Dr. Margaret Pearson is based on the text created during the first centuries of the Zhou Dynasty, study of documents showing how it was used in the dynasty, and on current archaeological research findings. Her translation removes centuries of encrusted inaccuracies to better reveal the I Ching's core truths for today's readers. Whether you are interested in trying this millennia-tested method of making wise choices or in understanding the world view of the early Chinese, this edition is essential reading.

"Teaching the I Ching (Pinyin Yijing) is a comprehensive and authoritative source for attaining an understanding of 3,000 year old Book of Changes, arguably the most influential Chinese classical text. It provides up-to-date coverage of key aspects, including bronze age origins, references to women, excavated manuscripts, the canonical commentaries, cosmology, and the Yijing in modern China and the West"--

Composed in 2 B.C., as "The I Ching revised and enlarged," The Elemental Changes is a divination manual providing a clear method for distinguishing alternative courses of action. Structured in 81 tetragrams ( as opposed to the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching), the book offers much to the modern reader. Today in the West, The Elemental Changes is an essential tool for understanding the Tao as it operates in the Cosmos, in the minds of sages, and in sacred texts. It is also one of the great philosophical poems in world literature, assessing the rival claims on human attention of fame, physical immortality, wealth, and power while it situates human endeavor within the larger framework of cosmic energies. The complete text of The Elemental Changes and its ten autocommentaries are here translated into accessible and, whenever possible, literal English. Following the Chinese tradition, supplementary comments are appended to each tetragram in order to indicate the main lines of interpretation suggested by earlier commentators.

Often referred to as the Eranos edition, this revised and updated translation offers the most substantial advance in I Ching since Richard Wilhelm introduced the oracle to the West in the 1920s. The I Ching is one of the oldest Chinese texts and the world’s oldest oracle. Accumulated from over 2,500 years of diviners, sages and shamans and born out of the oral tradition, the I Ching as we know it today is a collection of texts, imagery and advice, philosophy and poetry, divided into 64 chapters. There are 64 hexagrams, created from a collection of six lines, either broken or solid. In order to “read” from the book, you must cast a hexagram. The traditional method required yarrow sticks but nowadays is based on tossing three coins six times. The Original I Ching Oracle or Book of Changes was inspired by Carl Gustav Jung's insights into the psyche and researched for more than 60 years through the Eranos Foundation of Switzerland. It presents the oracular core of the I Ching as a psychological tool: the symbols interact with our minds in the same way dream images do.