I-ching - Philosophy and Practice

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What is I-ching

=> Topics:
> History of I-ching - click here
> Philosophy of change and I-ching - click here
> The composition of the Book - click here.

> Introduction to I-ching by R. Wilhelm
> Introduction to I-ching by Carl Jung

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I-ching is one of the classical (ching) Chinese books dating back to Fu Hsi and the Yin dynasty, about 2900 BCE. It was used mainly as divination means, that is a device to predict future events.

The book escaped the arson of books ordered by Ch'in Shih-huang-ti Emperor, in 213 AD.

Richard Wilhelm, the famous German translator and commentator of the Book.

Known initially as the Chou-I (the Changes of Chou - dynasty) the I-ching is translated usually by Book of Changes , though the word "book" should be taken in the sense of a "holly book" in the Western cultures.

The book is a collection of 64 short essays assigned to 64 figures formed each of 6 continuous and/or broken lines (____ or __  __). These figures are called hexagrams .

Each hexagram corresponds to a specific life situation, therefore when consulting I-ching as oracle it leads one to his/her specific life situation and its development in time.

I-ching was thoroughly studied and translated into German by Richard Wilhelm, a Protestant missionary to China. This version is the most known and appreciated although it is connected to the Confucian approach.

Another translation of importance is signed by James Legge. In contrast with Wilhelm's, Lege's translation is more accurate and it is recommend for the beginners and experts who consult the book as an oracle too.

Through Wilhelm, I-ching becomes soon the interest object of the famous Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, who discovers in its philosophy the elements to certify the righteousness of his theory of archetypes of the collective unconscious.

James Legge - his translation is most accurate as it is not so much based on the Confucian tradition

Jung also doesn't confine himself to the scholarly examination of the book, but resort frequently to its services as a divination guide. To this effect, he writes an extremely interesting essay concerning the way the divinatory process works in I-ching, in which he makes an analogy to his synchronicity theory.

Jung also inspired the English version of the Wilhelm's translation made by one of his adepts, Cary F. Baynes.

Today we have a lot of version of I-ching in English. Most of them follow the Wilhelm's version translation style. Others are compilations, and a few offer translation versions without any connection with the Chinese text.

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