The I Ching
is the most important
Chinese book of wisdom
So I'll start with the I Ching
The ancient wisdom of this classic
is still relevant today
No matter what we study
sometimes we can start
with everyday life
Philosophy may seem profound
but it's actually part of our daily life
Let me give you a simple example
Lunar New Year's just passed
We say: San Yang Kai Tai
Why do we say this at New Year?
Do you know what San Yang Kai Tai means?
"San Yang Kai Tai" is a common expression
It's the hexagram "Tai" in the I Ching
Tai is one of the 64 hexagrams
Tai means auspicious
or peaceful
The opposite of "Tai" is "Pi"
Look at "Pi Ji Tai Lai"
We often say "Pi Ji Tai Lai"
"Pi" means inauspicious
extremely inauspicious
but things won't get any worse
In the long run things can only get better
How about "Jiu Wu Zhi Zun"
Why Jiu Wu (9-5) and not Jiu Yi (9-1)?
Or Jiu Er (9-2) or Jiu San (9-3)?
Why does it have to be 9-5?
What's so special about 95?
The point here is "Shu" or counting
Counting is the first of three key concepts
Counting is the 1st concept
The 2nd is "Yi Li" or the principles of change
It's more philosophical
The third is "Xiang" or symbols
The I Ching is a compendium
of symbolic diagrams
called "gua"
3-line "gua" are called trigrams
6-line "gua" are called hexagrams
We can draw these "gua"
Let's give it a try
I will draw a trigram
There are 8 trigrams
the eight gua or "bagua"
This trigram is called Qian (Heaven)
Qian is one of the bagua
Now
these are broken lines
In Chinese: "yin" broken "yao" lines
This trigram
is called "Kun" [Earth]
Qian and Kun
are both symbols
in the I Ching's system
In Chinese, they are xiang
Every trigram has a name
Why call this one "Qian"
and that one "Kun"?
No matter what it's called,
each symbol has a specific meaning
We understand these meanings
via the "Yi Li"
Let's revisit the concept of "counting"
1, 2, 3
3 lines or "yao"
If we stack two trigrams
one on top of the other
like this
one trigram
on top of the other
like that
It's a hexagram
with an upper trigram and a lower trigram
We can count these lines ("yao")
This is line one
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
The uppermost line is called "shang"
and the lowest line "chu"(beginning)
This is an unbroken ("yang") line ("yao")
and it corresponds to the number 9
As for these broken lines (yin yao)
they correspond to the number 6
So this line is the 1st 9 (9-1)
This is the 2nd 9 (9-2)
This is the 3rd 9 (9-3)
This is the 4th 9 (9-4)
This is the 5th 9 (9-5)
"Jiu Wu (9-5) Zhi Zun"
refers to this line
Now you know why it's "Jiu Wu (9-5)"
Why not 7?
or 8?
Why it must be 9 and 5?
I'll tell you later on in this course
Our language incorporates ancient wisdom
Humans are not like other animals
Humans are intelligent
Humans can think
The most important thing
as Socrates once said
is: know thyself
Getting to know yourself
is the most difficult thing to do
The 1st principle in philosophy:
Know yourself
It is extremely difficult
It's called "enlightenment"
in Zen Buddhism
Enlightenment is
knowing yourself
You may think it doesn't matter
if you read the I Ching or not
But I would say
you need to read it to know yourself
To understand the roots of Chinese culture
you must read the six Confucian classics
of which I Ching is the most philosophical
You have to read the I Ching
The mere mention fills folks
with reverence
What do you think
of the title: "I Ching"?
What do you think it means?
We should define it
This name's been in use for so long
that most folks don't know where it's from
There're actually 3 versions of the I-Ching
The 1st is called Lian Shan Yi
which dates to the Xia Dynasty
The 2nd, Gui Cang Yi dates to the Shang
The 3rd, Zhou Yi dates to the Zhou
These are 3 different versions
Only the Zhou version was passed down
Now let's take a look at this title: "I Ching"
Where did the term "ching" (classic) come from?
It dates
to the Han Dynasty
when the classics ("ching")
were first canonized
Han historian Ban Gu's "Literary Treatise"
mentions the I Ching
and fixes the term I Ching
The "Treatise" lists ancient books
It says the I Ching has 2 chapters
and 10 Confucian commentaries
so there are 12 parts altogether
12 parts in total
including the classic and commentaries
There are narrow and broad definitions
Narrow is the original 2 chapters (Zhou Yi)
just the symbols
and the original explanations
This is the I Ching Confucius studied
This is the narrow definition of the text
The I Ching in Ban Gu's "Literary Treatise"
includes the 10 Confucian commentaries
Confucius was revered in the Han
so the Confucian tradition was passed down
The Zhou I Ching
also called Zhou Yi
is the narrow definition of the I Ching
Confucius studied it diligently
and loved reading it in old age
He toured the kingdoms and returned to Lu
and settled down
Then he started elucidating the I Ching
He wrote about it
and taught it
His disciples
passed down his teachings
In the Han, his teachings were compiled
into the 10 commentaries
that the broad I Ching includes
Ban Gu's "Treatise" refers
to the broad definition of the I Ching
The narrow or original
I Ching was in 2 chapters
With the 10 commentaries
there were 12 chapters in total
which form the "broad" I Ching of the Han
while the original 2 chapters
comprised the narrow I Ching
adding 10 commentaries
we get 12 chapters
AKA the "Da Yi" or Great Yi
The "Da Yi" is the broad definition
"Great" reflects a deep reverence
"Da" means "Great"
I said the Zhou Yi was the narrow version
Problem is:
"Zhou Yi" sometimes meant the 12 ch. text
There's a Tang dynasty commentary
True Meaning of the Zhou Yi
It includes the original text
and Wang Bi's 3rd c. commentary
and a later Tang subcommentary
which did further explanatory work
The "Zhou Yi" in the True Meaning of the Zhou Yi
refers to all 12 chapters
including the 10 commentaries!
In the Song dynasty
Zhu Xi wrote the Zhou Yi Ben Yi
the "Basic Meaning" of the Zhou Yi
Zhu Xi also included the 10 commentaries
but he used the term Zhou Yi
In other words
the term "Zhou Yi"
refers to the I Ching
in the broad sense
of the term
On the other hand
the original I Ching Confucius read in the Zhou
didn't contain the commentaries
Confucius's disciples collected
It's the narrow 2 ch. definition of the Zhou Yi
which dates to the Zhou
This is the narrow sense
In the Han,
people revered Confucius so much
that the 10 Confucian commentaries
were incorporated into the I Ching
and esteemed as highly as the original text
The original text of the I Ching
includes only the 2 original chapters
not the commentaries
In this class
we'll use the broad definition
in Ban Gu's "Treatise":
the classic and the commentaries
We will cover both
I hope that was clear