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Yijing Insights, Part 1

Chinese civilization has, from the most ancient times, revered the I Ching for its deep and profound mysteries. It is said that Fu Hsi, the legendary Sage/Shaman was the creator of the trigrams that structure the I Ching.

In later times (around 1150 BC) King Wen of the Chou Dynasty, while serving a 7 year prison sentence, passed his time away creating hexagrams from the trigrams that Fu Hsi initiated. He then added textual commentary to the 64 hexagrams that comprise the I Ching, and since then it has been referred to as the "Book of Changes."

It was King Wen's son, the Duke of Chou, who added passages for each of the hexagram lines ( yao). More than six centuries elapsed before the great sage Confucius made his own contribution to the book by adding commentaries that have since been called the '10 wings'.

Most of the thoughts and ideas of the great sages and shamans of antiquity and later times were derived from the symbolic hexagrams that are contained in the book. This elite group of thinkers saw how this book, starting from the most basic contrasts and dualities that describe the basic relationships between the properties of material existence, could be a guide to the subtle processess of nature, and so it was considered a source of wisdom. Many contemplated and meditated on it at length, and absorbed themselves in communication with the oracle, some even reaching enlightenment through their one-pointed efforts. Some spoke of a transformation that occurred when they 'merged' themselves with the principles of the I Ching.

Though certain scholars and masters throughout the ages have included their own unique insights, the main principles have remained intact. Many estimate the trigrams to have been created more than 5000 years ago, and though it would seem futile to try to prove this point, it can certainly and safely be said that the I Ching has stood the "test of time". It is as reliable and pertinent today as it was thousands of years ago, therefore giving us the same quality of guidance and wisdom that the ancients received. The wisdom of the book is essentially timeless, and therefore gives us the ability to penetrate the minds of the great sages of the past.

In other words, if you are able to penetrate the I Ching you will be able to penetrate the minds of the sages, as their minds and the "Yi" speak for each other. Though we may or may not become enlightened through its use, we will gain a little sense of liberation from our rigid and inflexible tendencies that we have received from social conditioning.

We can be thankful for the works of the great masters and scholars of the past and present in their attempts to help us gain an understanding of the underlying principles of the book. Of course, one could say that the I Ching has created the sages and masters as well. At this point, I'd like to note that the roster of illumined teachers who were intimately familiar with the I Ching included Fu Hsi, King Wen and Duke of Chou, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Chen Tuan, Shao Yung, Chu Hsi and many others. All of these great personalities have been influenced by the I Ching in one form or another.

It has been said that Shao Yung ( 1011-1077), the Neo Confucianist and Taoist recluse of the Northern Sung Dynasty, was the first to introduce the binary numerical system through his hexagram arrangement, making him the ancient Grandfather of the modern computers. The I Ching has been influential in DNA studies, acupuncture and other medical analysis, various forms of astrology, weather studies, astronomy, biological data, and other areas of study.