The Basic Yi Jing, Oracle Of Change

Plot

The "Yi Jing" or Book of Changes is China's oldest classic. It is a book of divination attributed to the mythical emperor Fu Xi. You may throw six times 3 coins. Head is "yang", light, tail is "yin", dark. The six throws are noted from bottom to top, forming a pattern of unbroken "yang" lines and broken "yin" lines. These lines can be changing or unchanging. If there is all heads or all tails, the line is believed to change into its opposite. 64 combinations of six lines (so-called hexagrams) stand for the basic configurations of the world's changing states. As the world as a whole is reflected in each of its parts, the six throws of someone consulting the Book of Changes, reflect the changing state of the world in relation to his question. Commentators such as the Duke of Zhou (8th century BCE) or Confucius added their wise advise to these hexagrams, words that for ages guided China's millions. The present version of the Book of Changes wants to be a divination tool, that stays as close as possible to the Book of Changes of the time of Zhou, which is followed in its pristine Chinese logic. In their additions, notably that named "The Twelfth Wing" the authors delved into the philosophic meaning of the Yi. They conversed with other researchers, among which Carl Gustav Jung, and completed the book with an extensive bibliography.