Riding the Waves of Change – An Introduction to the I Ching

Having its origin in shamanic practices of the third millennium BCE, it took form as a book around the seventh or eighth century BCE, became a classic (a ching or jing) under the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) and was held in the highest regard throughout Chinese history for the next 2000 years.

It became known in the West thanks to the German translation of Richard Wilhelm (published in Jena in 1923) and especially to the foreword Carl Gustav Jung wrote for Wilhelm’s book. To this day most Western versions of the Yijing are translations of Wilhelm’s translation.

As an oracle, the book is supposed to answer questions about the unknown, which makes it a precious ally when we are confronted with life’s vagaries, uncertainties and dramas. But can it be so? Can an ancient Chinese book answer questions concerning our present life situation?

Obviously relating to the Yijing in such a way implies a radically different notion of space and time. In Riding the Waves of Change we will muse over such questions while describing the oracle’s origin and divinatory use.

The Book of Changes

What kind of changes are hinted at in the name of the Book of Changes? Yi refers primarily to all natural cycles, to the alternating of day and night, to the round of the seasons, to the organic process of growth and decay, and to the mirroring of these cycles in human life.

In the philosophical thought of ancient China this alternance of complementary opposites is represented by the interplay of two basic principles, yin and yang, night and day, receptive and active, feminine and masculine, moon and sun, etc. (more about that later). Therefore the change the title of the book alludes to is primarily the eternal round of yin and yangtransforming into each other.