Who wrote I ching
I Ching is one of the oldest oracular divination systems of the world based on ancient Chinese philosophy. It combines in itself profound wisdom and a practical philosophy, and has been practised and tested by Chinese sages for the past 5,000 years.
It has nothing to do with any religious doctrine, but is based on the observation of nature and human life. It also observes how the concept of change manifests itself in the events that surround the individual, the family and the community.
Counted amongst the great books of the world, I Ching or the Book of Changes occupies a unique position: It’s acts as a tool of divination; it’s a body of philosophy and a work of literary art.
I ching history
The I Ching has been in continual use in China for perhaps 5,000 years and still retains its place at the heart of the Chinese culture. Emperor Fu His (3,000 BC) is given credit for creating I-Ching.
The other historic figure who contributed a lot to it is a prince called Wen. In 1143 BC, when Prince Wen was cast into prison by a tyrant. He produced the first written version of the I Ching, which translated in English means The Book of Life Changing.
He numbered and organised the 64 hexagrams, which are the foundation of this system, and gave them titles and by long meditation on their inner significance arrived at a verbal expression of their basic meaning.
Confucius, the famous Chinese philosopher also added lengthy commentaries to the I Ching and studied it intensively and seriously even in his old age.
The basis of I Ching
According to Chinese philosophy, the world is made up of five basic elements. All the species – animate or inanimate – that inhabit it are made up of these elements in various proportions.
These ingredients change in the process of evolution in a uniform proportion with the advent of time The second fundamental building block of I Ching is the ancient concept of Yang and Yin, the complementary polarity of light and dark, creative and receptive, strong and weak, firm and yielding, male and female, positive, negative and so on.
The principal powers of nature are all combinations of Yang and Yin. There are eight such powers, so their Yang-Yin balance is expressed in eight three-line combinations called trigrams.
The power represented by these eight images makes up the natural universe. Hence on the basis of these two factors eight visual images or trigrams namely the Dragon, Earth, Thunder, Water, Mountain, Wind, Fire and Lake were devised to express the way nature functioned.
To make these symbols manageable, a brilliant code was invented based on the ancient polarity of male and female or active and passive, which the Chinese call Yang and Yin.
What is I ching used for, how I Ching works
Through a wonderful imaginative leap which anticipated the invention of computer binary code by 5,000 years, Yang was expressed by a single unbroken line
( ____ ) , and Yin was expressed by a broken line ( __ __ ).
Just as a computer needs only the two symbols 0 and 1 to express any data fed into it, so the ancient Chinese found that they needed only the Yang and Yin lines to express their eight images. Manipulating these symbols, Fu His discovered that the eight simple trigrams could be combined in 64 hexagrams expressing 64 aspects of life and its changes.
These hexagrams are the symbolic essence of the I Ching and can be placed one on top of the other to form 64 different six-line combinations. Each of the hexagrams has a title, image and a basic meaning
Based on this, the Chinese diviners symbolised these stages into 64 life situations, each situation developing into six steps of linear symbols of Yin and Yang broken and unbroken lines. Each six-lined figure formed is a hexagram.
And from this highly precise binary grid of 64 life situations, and their 4096 (64 x 64) mathematical inter-relationships, namely only one among the 4096 answers in possible for any single question or event.
As mentioned in the first part, the principal powers of nature are all combinations of yang and Yin. There are eight such powers, so their yang-yin balance is expressed in eight three-line combinations called Trigrams. These trigrams are linked to the forces that make up this universe.
Here’s a description of them.
Dragon – Ch’ien – Heaven
- Attribute: Strength and creativity
- Animal: Horse
- Body part: Head
- Family member: Father
- Direction: Northwest
Symbolised by three unbroken or yang lines – this trigram is called Ch’ien or the Dragon. It is entirely yang and represents the positive, masculine creative force. As the creative principle, the dragon is seen as the father of all things and in Chinese mythology controls the clouds and the waters.
This trigram rules over attributes like action, creativity, courage, dynamism, happiness and people or individuals of high status. The rulers of the state, the clergy, and all other important people come under this category. Its importance is...
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