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1 I CHING, THE ORACLE

2 4

3 I CHING THE ORACLE KE R SDN HUANG X%P World Scientific

4 Published by World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd. P O Box 128 Farrer Road Singapore 9128 I CHING, THE ORACLE Copyright 1984 by World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd., All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher. ISBN pbk Printed in Singapore by Continental Press.

5 To my mother

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7 PREFACE Three thousand years ago, revolution brought down the house of Shang in China, and the mandate of Heaven passed to Zhou. Thus ended the era of bronze vessels and oracle bones, and began the great dynasty that saw the rise of Chinese philosophy. The Zhou people knew the deepest secret of the universe, that Yin and Yang are at the root of things, that they continually change into each other, giving motion to the world. They expressed this in their oracle, the 1 Ching, the Canon of Change. 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 translation apart from all previous ones. 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 supplies the historical and philosophical background to the I Ching. We tell the story of ancient Chinese civilization, pointing out events and figures mentioned in the 1 Ching. The undisguised face of the 1 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, according to Adam Smith in his book Powers of Mind (Random House, New York, 1975), it can predict the stock market. As a companion to this book, a computer software offers computerized consultations of the I Ching. In the court of Zhou, they used to do this by counting stalks of the yarrow reed. Results of the count would indicate what passages to read. In later ages, yarrow-counting was replaced by coin-tossing, as a ritual closer to people's lifestyle. And now, the I Ching is ready for the future. Marblehead, Massachusetts, U.S.A. October, 1983 I.H.

8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank my wife Rosemary for her inspiration of this work. Thanks are due to Philip and Phylis Morrison, for their encouragement and support. To my late father I owe my knowledge and love of the Chinese classics. On a yellowed copy of the 1 Ching that he gave me many years ago, he had inscribed "Taking up the father's work," a phrase from the hexagram Work. This book might be a fulfillment of that wish, though I am not sure he would have approved of the result. With fondness I thank Nathan Sivin, with whom I had many discussions of the 1 Ching, when we jointly ran an undergraduate seminar on the subject some years ago, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In writing this book I have drawn heavily on the following Chinese works: V Dong f^- Zuo Bin, Sixty Years of Oracle-Bone Studies, (Yi Wen Publishing Co., Taipei, 1965). PloN r- 41-t-"k0`^NM ) o r3 ZS Gao Heng, Modern Annotation to the Old Classic Zhou Yi, (Zhong Hua Books, Hong Kong, 1968). r J 1^ ^$' ^3 ^ '' -^^^--9 ' 1968) Goa Heng, Discourses on the Old Classic Zhou Yi, (Zhong Hua Books, Hong Kong, 1968). n +' 1968)

9 CONTENTS PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT vii viii PART I. ABOUT THE I CHING Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION The Binary Nature of Things The Eight Elements The Sixty-Four Hexagrams The Idea of Change About This Book On Divination Chapter 2. LEGEND OF THE I CHING In The Beginning The Dawn of History The Great Bronze Age Jou The Terrible The Mandate of Heaven The Oracle of Change Chapter 3. THE LEGACY OF CONFUCIUS Every Five Hundred Years China Got Her Name I Ching Enshrined Chapter 4. DIGGING FOR THE FACTS 16 Fact or Fiction? The Oracle Bones of Shang 16 Mystery of the Dragon Bones 17 Wang Hai the Ancestor 17 Wu Ding's Boar Hunt 19 Perserverance Brings Disaster 21 Rummaging Among Old Books A Historical Appraisal

10 Chapter 5. USING THE I CHING The Coin Oracle 26 Layout of the I Ching 27 Reading the Message 27 Basic Rules 28 Where the Rules Came From 29 Chapter 6. 1 CHING TALK Hexagram Order 31 Hexagram Names.32 Editors and Scribes 33 The Medium 33 The Message 36 PART II. I CHING, A MODERN TRANSLATION 1 Heaven Qian 40, 41 2 Earth Kun 42, 43 3 Retrenchment Tun 44, 45 4 Blindness Meng 46, 47 5 Waiting Xii 48, 49 6 The Court Song 50, 51 7 The Army Shi 52, 53 8 Support Bi 54, 55 9 Small Cattle Xiao Chu 56, Treading Lii 58, Peace Tai 60, Stagnation Pi 62, Gathering Tong Ren 64, Great Harvest Da You 66, Modesty Qian 68, Weariness Yii 70, The Chase Sui 72, Work Gu 74, Prevailing Lin 76, View Guan 78, Biting Shi Ke 80, Decoration Ben 82, Loss Bo 84, Return Fu 86, Propriety Wu Wang 88, Big Cattle Da Chu $90, The Cheeks Yi 92, Great Excess Da Guo 94, Water Kan 96, Fire Li 98, Cutting Xian 100, Steadfastness Heng 102, The Little Pig Tun 104, Great Injury Da Zhuang 106, Advance Jin 108, The Crying Pheasant Ming Yi 110, The Family Jia Ren 112, 113

11 38 Abandoned Kui 114, Admonishment Jian 116, Letting Loose Jie 118, Decrease Sun 120, Increase Yi 122, Stride Guai 124, Rendezvous Hou 126, Illness Cui 128, Ascendance Sheng 130, Trapped Kun 132, The Well Jing 134, Revolution Ge 136, The Caldron Ding 138, Thunder Zhen 140, Mountain Gen 142, Progress Jian 144, The Marrying Maiden Gui Mei 146, Abundance Feng 148, The Traveler Lii 150, Wind Xun 152, Lake Dui 154, Flowing Huan 156, Frugality Jie 158, Sincerity Zhong Fu 160, Small Excess Xiao Guo 162, Fulfillment Ji Ji 164, Unfulfillment Wei Ji 166, 167 APPENDICES A. Trigrams and Hexagrams 169 Table of Trigrams 169 Matrix of Hexagram Numbers 169 Table of Hexagrams 170 B. The Yarrow-Stalk Oracle 172 C. The Chinese Pinyin System 174 Index of Hexagrams 175 Index of Chinese Names 177