I Ching

Yijing

 or I Ching
(Chinese; “Book of Changes”)

Ancient Chinese text, one of the Five Classics of Confucianism. The main body of the work, traditionally attributed to Wenwang, contains a discussion of the divinatory system used by wizards in the Zhou dynasty. A supplementary section of “commentaries,” believed to date from the Warring States period (475–221 BC), is a philosophical exposition that attempts to explain the world and its ethical principles. The book's cosmology, which involves humans and nature in a single system, has made it universally popular.

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I Ching

an ancient Chinese book of divination and a source of Confucian and Taoist philosophy. Answers to questions and advice may be obtained by referring to the text accompanying one of 64 hexagrams, selected at random
http://www.zhouyi.com/

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I Ching

a book of divination and speculations. [Chinese Lit.: I Ching]

See : Prophecy

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I Ching

(Book of Changes), ancient Chinese literary classic, originally used in the process of divination and later incorporated into the Confucian canon (the Five Books). The oldest section of the / Ching consists of 64 graphic figures (hexagrams), with an aphorism attached to each and explaining its significance. This section appears to date back to the eighth or seventh century B.C. In the fourth and third centuries B.C., a number of interpretations of the hexagrams and aphorisms were written, known as the Ten Wings. These laid the basis for a specific trend in ancient Chinese thought that proceeded from the conception of changeability of all reality and the cyclical transformation of various phenomena into others as the result of the interrelation of yin and yang, the forces of darkness and light. According to this view, the hexagrams were symbols that illustrated the universal revolution of the cosmos and also provided norms of behavior for people. Within this framework, various natural philosophical conceptions were elaborated that later played a significant role in the emergence of neo-Confucianism. A large number of Chinese and Japanese philosophical works of medieval and modern times have also sought to interpret the I Ching.

REFERENCES

Shutskii, Iu. K. Kitaiskaia klassicheskaia ‘Kniga peremen\ Moscow, 1960.
Wilhelm, R.I. ging: Das Buch der Wandlungen, vols. 1–2. Jena, 1924. (Translated from Chinese into German and illustrated.)