Each trigram is given a Chinese name, as is the combination of the two trigrams in a hexagram. The method of reading them is from the bottom upwards. The various combinations of these two lines are made by two trigrams (combinations of three lines) placed one atop the other to create a hexagram (a combination of six lines), making a total of sixty-four possible combinations.

The yang principle is indicated in the I Ching by an unbroken line and the yin by a broken or pided line, hence the binary aspect of the system. The proper attitude depends on one's situation and the desired outcome. Neither is considered superior, since in some situations a dominant and forthright attitude is appropriate, while in others a more submissive attitude is needed. The basis of the text is the philosophy of yang and yin, the former being associated with light, strength, affirmation, and so on, and the latter with darkness, weakness, yielding, negation, and so on. Since the Chinese language lacks inflection, the title could be translated either 'Book of Change' or 'Book of Changes.' I prefer the former, since constant change is a basic assumption of ancient Chinese philosophy. Jung, in fact, states that Legge 'has done little to make the work accessible to Western minds' (Wilhelm-Baynes, xxi). But many of us who have become intrigued with the text and cannot read the Chinese original prefer the Wilhelm-Baynes translation, even though it is, as Chan points out, 'interpretative to some extent' (795). The Chinese scholar Wing-tsit Chan preferred James Legge's 1882 translation. Other translations exist, of course, including one published by the Sinologist John Blofeld in 1965. Baynes at Jung's request the revised edition was printed in a new format with a preface by Richard Wilhelm's son, Hellmut, also a Sinologist. His German translation was then rendered into English by Cary F. The great German Sinologist Richard Wilhelm translated the I Ching in 1923 based on his years of familiarity with the text and his consultation with Chinese who used it.

Is it, as many who consult it claim, a book of pination? Is it more fundamentally a book of wisdom, offering suggestions of what one might do in various situations? Is it a remarkable insight into the basic archetypal possibilities of the human psyche, as Carl Jung believed, and perhaps also related to his notion of synchronicity? Is it basically a resource book that gives us some insight into the social structure of ancient China, as some scholars claim? Is it an early example of a binary number system, anticipating by millennia the switching structure of the modern digital computer? Or is it somehow all of these at once? The Chinese classic called I Ching (sometimes written Yi Jing, as it should be pronounced) has been interpreted a number of ways by different scholars and devotees of the text. Originally printed in the January-February 2005 issue of Quest magazine.Ĭitation: Brooks, Richard W.

I ching workbook