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I Ching - The Legend
As legend has it, the wise Fu-Hsi taught Chinese soothsayers the art
of I Ching interpretation around 3000 BC; however, there is no way
to prove that claim. What we know, though, is that sometime before
1000 BC, King Wen and his son, Duke Tcheou, codified and wrote
comments in a corpus known as the I Ching (translated as The Book of
Changes), whose origin even in the past. Confucius himself, a few
centuries later, wrote about an I Ching, not so dissimilar from the
one we know today, commentaries which have survived to this day.
Although we cannot prove that the I Ching is the oldest book in the
history of humanity, there is reasonable evidence that it antedates
at least Homer and the Pentateuch (we are not introducing here last
year's best-seller!) Respect for the I Ching has endured throughout
its history: it was a pillar of Taoism; an inspiration for Chinese
Ch'eng and Mahayana Buddhism; the I Ching is the ONLY book known to
have been saved from the notorious "burning of the books" ordered by
Emperor Shih Huang Ti some 2000 years ago; only the Bible, Koran,
and Vedas can claim an influence on par with that of the I Ching.
In 1697, a French Jesuit missionary in China, Joachim Bouvet,
introduced the I Ching to German mathematician and philosopher,
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz, who was amazed by the Book of
Changes and its use of binary arithmetic, then unknown in Europe.
Leibnitz spread the good word, and thus our civilization was first
introduced to binary arithmetic, which is not only the cornerstone
of the Book of Changes but also the language of all modern
computers. Leibnitz was not the only great mind fascinated with the
I Ching. Foremost among those who extolled its merit was no doubt
psychologist Carl C. Jung, who saw in the Book of Changes the most
perfect illustration of his own Theory of Archetypes and referred to
the I Ching as "the most profound book ever to come from the East."
Related Links
http://www.kheper.net/iching
 FRACTALS,
EVOLUTION AND THE I CHING: A
Fractal Introduction to Chinese Philosophy. Excerpted
from the Electronic Book of the School of Wisdom,
Laws
of Wisdom.
 TRIGRAMS:The
Eight Trigrams of the I Ching. An excerpt from the free
Electronic Book
Laws
of Wisdom.
HEXAGRAMS:
The Sixty Four Hexagrams of the I Ching; Another excerpt
from
Laws of Wisdom.
THE
FIVE AGENTS OF CHANGE: The Five "Hsing"
or Elements in Chinese philosophy. An excerpt from another School
of Wisdom publication co-written by Professor Arnold Keyserling of
the Academy of Art, Vienna Austria,
Chance and Choice:
A Compendium of Ancient and Modern Wisdom Revealing the Meaning
and Significance of the Myth of Science.
CYCLICAL
TIME IN CHINESE THINKING: The
Twelve Year Cycle following the Zodiac and its relationship to the I
Ching hexagrams and the genetic code. Another excerpt from
Chance and Choice.
RICHARD
WILHELM: Learn about the Marco Polo
of the Inner World of China. Richard Wilhelm is the translator of
the Princeton University, Bollingen Press version of the I Ching,
generally regarded as the best in the West. Another excerpt from
Laws
of Wisdom.
RICHARD
WILHELM'S HOME PAGE: Go to the Home
Page of Richard Wilhelm. In addition to the I Ching, there
are many other excellent books of Chinese philosophy translated by
Richard Wilhelm, including: The Secret of the Golden Flower; A
Short History of Chinese Civilization; Lectures on the I Ching:
Constancy and Change.
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