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    The I Ching: The Book of Changes
    The I Ching: The Book of Changes
    The I Ching: The Book of Changes
    Ebook654 pages9 hours

    The I Ching: The Book of Changes

    By Dover Publications

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    One of the most important books in the history of Oriental culture is the I Ching, or as it is usually called in English, the Book of Changes. Its basic text seems to have been prepared before 1,000 B.C., in the last days of the Shang Dynasty and the first part of the Chou Dynasty. It was one of the Five Classics edited by Confucius, who is reported to have wished he had fifty more years of life to study it. Since the time of Confucius it has never lost its enormous significance; it has been used by Confucianists and Taoists alike, by learned literary scholars and street shamans, by the official state cult and by private individuals.
    Basically, the I Ching is a manual of divination, founded upon what modern scholars like Wolfgang Pauli, the Nobel Laureate physicist and C. G. Jung, the psychoanalyst, have called the synchronistic concept of the universe. This means that all things happening at a certain time have certain characteristic features which can be isolated, so that in addition to vertical causality, one may also have horizontal linkages. According to tradition, King Wan and his son the Duke of Chou spent their lives analyzing the results of divination in terms of interacting polar forces and six-variable hexagrams, correlating an observed body of events with predictions. Whether this account is true or not, the I Ching still retains its primacy in Chinese thought.
    Apart from its enormous value in Oriental studies, the I Ching is very important in the history of religions, history of philosophy, and even in certain aspects of modern Western thought. It is one of the very few divination manuals that have survived into modern times, and it is typologically interesting as perhaps the most developed, most elaborate system that is known in detail. In philosophy, it marks a stage in the development of human thought, while the I Ching has recently become very important in the understanding of certain cultural developments in the Western world.
    This present work is the standard English translation by the great Sinologist James Legge, prepared for the Sacred Books of the East series. It contains the basic text attributed to King Wan and the Duke of Chou, the ten appendices usually attributed to Confucius, a profound introduction by Legge, and exhaustive footnotes explaining the text for a Western reader.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateJul 12, 2012
    ISBN9780486147611
    The I Ching: The Book of Changes

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    Reviews for The I Ching

    4/5

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    • 3/5
      An ancient Chinese manual for divination, the I-Ching (Yijing 易經) has long been the source of much interest both inside and outside of China.

      This version, the translation by Richard Wilhelm (the eminent German sinologist), is still one of the best around.
    • 5/5
      This is the book I would like with me on a desert island.
    • 5/5
      OK This is the granddaddy of I Ching primers in English, Cary Baynes Translation for Richard Wilhelm's German version is considered to be THE reference book for all other English books on the subject until very recently. If you are young and know a little about Chinese Romanization the book is written in English with Wade/Giles Chinese Romanization (i.e. chi'ng instead of the modern Pinyin qing Tao/Dao etc.)But nevertheless for a good understanding and significant historical background of the I Ching outside of China itself I highly recommend it. Mr. Wilhelm traveled, lectured and taught for many years in the early 20th Century on this and related Taoist subjects. He was very famous in his own right and Baynes English translation gave him the :market in America as well as his native Germany/European audiences.
    • 5/5
      I keep coming back to this old friend for advice and counsel. The book will never tell you "what to do" but only how to think aboutor approach the question of doing.
    • 5/5
      Wow! The trick is to not think of these things as signs. but symbols. A sign means one thing and a symbol reverberates with meaning. You can not pin it down. Allow it to speak. Try not to corral it into some meaning.
    • 4/5
      Like this version. Have the hard back copy and it is nice quality. Also a 'Pocket I Ching' version of this same edition was published in the 80's, just containing the 64 Hexagrams each with: Condition/ Judgment/ Image/ Degrees of change, which has been very useful to take away on trips.In my experience this really works. Don't use it so often, but when I have it's been very useful, shockingly accurate at times.
    • 5/5
      This is not a book for the idly curious. It requires careful reading and study to gain even a superficial understanding of it. However, the effort is worth it.
    • 4/5
      Written before WWII so references to societies - Europe and China - are interesting. This is basically a cook book but the amplifications are very interesting psychologically. A discussion of how the way applies to artists is very interesting.
    • 5/5
      This book has been my guide and my mentor for almost 35 years now - I couldn't be without it. Of this book Carl Jung says "For lovers of self-knowledge, of wisdom - if there be such - it seems to be the right book." I totally agree.
    • 3/5
      From the back of the book: "The central theme of the I CHING or BOOK OF CHANGES is the continuous change and transformation underlying all existence. It is a work of great inspiration and reflects and answers all human conditions. It presents nothing less than a time-tested philosophy of life."Er, yes, it does, but this translation is also reflects a thoroughly male-centric view of the universe. There is a lot of talk about 'the superior man' but women don't seem to exist. One might argue this is just the way English was written back then, but it can jar a little. If you'd like a gentler and more female-oriented version, try Diane Stein's Kwan Yin Book of Changes.

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    The I Ching - Dover Publications

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