The Basic Yi Jing, Oracle of Change

New revised edition, 2012. The YI JING (I Ching) or Book of Change is China's oldest classic. It is a book of divination attributed to the mythical emperor Fu Xi. It contains 64 hexagrams or six-line images, which can be used to give answers to any question. Commentators such as the Duke of Zhou (8th century BCE) or Confucius added their wise words to these hexagrams and for ages this book has guided China's millions. The present version of the "Book of Change" is mainly meant as a divination tool. In this translation the authors did not only depend on the text and context, but mainly stayed with the basic structure of the YI JING – namely the meanings and order of the trigrams, and the images and order of the hexagrams – to clarify the meaning of the hexagrams and lines. They were also supported by their long-time experience of working with the Yi Jing. This new translation of the Yi Jing was therefore not a matter of translating the text from the Chinese language into English, but was rather a transcribing of the essence of the YI JING into concepts that come as close as possible to its actual meaning and purpose. The authors attempted to construct what they see as THE BASIC YI JING: one that is simple and easy, and comes as close as possible to the essence of the Yi-tradition. In their additions, notably named "The Twelfth Wing", the authors delved into the abstract and philosophic aspects of the book. They conversed with other researchers, and completed the book with an extensive bibliography. TOC: About the authors – Preface – Introduction, Origin, signs and omens, The Inner stgructure of the Yi-Jing, Three main methods of consultation, Inquiry and interpretation – THE BASIC YI JING – The Twelfth Wing: Introduction, Eight main principles of the Yi JIng, The Yi Jing and the process of change, The Yi JIng and the concept of time, The Yi Jing and the theory of chance, Parallelity and the Yi Jing, Inconsistencies in the Yi Jing, The Yi Jing's ways of wisdom, The order and sequence of the hexagrams, Yi Jing methodology, Consulting the Yi Jing with a die, Yi Jing numerology, A Mandala of hexagrams – Appendices: The working method, Yi Jing corrections, The Trigrams, Miscellaneous, Chart to identify the hexagrams – Bibliography