I Ching


Book Description

The award-winning new translation of the ancient Chinese oracle and book of wisdom, by the acclaimed translator of the Tao Te Ching and The Art of War Pose a question, then toss three coins (or cast your yarrow stalks) to access the time-honored wisdom of the I Ching. The I Ching, or Book of Change, has been consulted through the ages, in both China and the West, for answers to fundamental questions about the world and our place in it. The oldest extant book of divination, it dates back three thousand years to ancient shamanistic practices involving the ritual preparation of the shoulder bones of oxen. From this early form of communication with the other world, it has become the Chinese spiritual book par excellence. An influence on such cultural icons as Bob Dylan, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Philip K. Dick, and Philip Pullman, the I Ching is turned to by millions around the world for insights on spiritual growth, business, medicine, genetics, game theory, strategic thinking, and leadership, and of course for the window it opens on China. This new translation, over a decade in the making, is informed by the latest archaeological discoveries and features a gorgeously rendered codex of divination signs—the I Ching’s sixty-four Tarot-like hexagrams. It captures the majesty and mystery of this legendary work and charts an illuminating path to self-knowledge.




I Ching


Book Description

This book contains a dramatic and revealing translation of this ancient classic into English. The Chinese original is set side-by-side with the translation. Two things set this work apart from other translated versions. First, archeological findings are used to uncover the meaning of passages obscured for thousands of years. Second, it preserves the flavor of the original in a poetic rendition. An introductory part of this book provides the historical and philosophical background to the I Ching . The story is told of the ancient Chinese civilization, pointing out events and figures mentioned in the I Ching . The undisguised face of the I Ching will appeal to the modern reader, who will read it in his or her own individual way, as poetry, as discoverer of self, or as soothsayer. It is in the grand tradition of the I Ching for different people to see different things.: To Confucius, who was born in 550 B.C., it was a source of ethics.; To Leibnitz, the eighteenth-century inventor of calculus, it was the essence of binary mathematics.; To Jung Freud''s rival in psychology, it was an explorer of the unconscious.; To some Wall Streeters, it predicts the stock market. This second edition includes a new chapter on a historical perspective, and other additions, changes and minor reformatting. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Introduction (285 KB). Readership: Graduate and undergraduate students, academic researchers, scholars who are interested in Chinese classics, history and culture; general audience interested in Chinese classics and culture.