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I CHING
THE BOOK OF CHANGES
James Legge, translator (1882)
Scanned at www.sacred-texts.com, 1998
The I Ching, or Book of Changes, is the most widely read of the five Chinese Classics. The book was traditionally written by the legendary Chinese Emperor Fu Hsi (2953-2838 B.C.). It is possible that the the I Ching originated from a prehistoric divination technique which dates back as far as 5000 B.C. Thus it may be the oldest text at this site. Futher commentaries were added by King Wen and the Duke of Chou in the eleventh century B.C.
An I Ching interpretation is performed by making six binary decisions (a hexagram). This is called 'casting the I Ching'. These are written down as a stack of six solid or broken lines. This was traditionally done either by tossing yarrow stalks or coins, although there is no reason why the hexagrams can't be generated by some other means (such as a computer program).
There are actually four possible values for each of the lines; the two on/off values, and a line which changes from on to off or vice versa. Thus one cast of the I Ching can generate several different hexagrams, which adds depth to the interpretation. The sophistication of this method has not escaped modern interpretation, and the four-valued logic has been compared to the biochemistry of DNA amino acids. How a Neolithic shamans' divination technique presaged the basic logic of the human genome is one of the ageless mysteries.
I The Khien Hexagram 2,358 bytes
II The Khwan Hexagram 2,423 bytes
III The Kun Hexagram 2,660 bytes
IV The Mang Hexagram 2,444 bytes
V The Hsu Hexagram 2,108 bytes
VI The Sung Hexagram 2,431 bytes
VII The Sze Hexagram 2,072 bytes
VIII The Pi Hexagram 2,440 bytes
IX The Hsaio Khu Hexagram 2,358 bytes
X The Li Hexagram 2,062 bytes
XI The Thai Hexagram 2,566 bytes
XII The Phi Hexagram 2,318 bytes
XIII The Thung Zan Hexagram 2,113 bytes
XIV The Ta Yu Hexagram 1,961 bytes
XV The Khien Hexagram 1,931 bytes
XVI The Yu Hexagram 2,020 bytes
XVII The Sui Hexagram 2,131 bytes
XVIII The Ku Hexagram 2,256 bytes
XIX The Lin Hexagram 1,970 bytes
XX The Kwan Hexagram 1,926 bytes
XXI The Shih Ho Hexagram 1,961 bytes
XXII The Pi Hexagram 1,982 bytes
XXIII The Po Hexagram 2,054 bytes
XXIV The Fu Hexagram 2,229 bytes
XXV The Wu Wang Hexagram 2,283 bytes
XXVI The Ta Khu Hexagram 2,037 bytes
XXVII The I Hexagram 2,264 bytes
XXVIII The Ta Kwo Hexagram 1,973 bytes
XXIX The Khan Hexagram 2,217 bytes
XXX The Li Hexagram 2,129 bytes
XXXI The Hsien Hexagram 1,920 bytes
XXXII The Hang Hexagram 1,829 bytes
XXXIII The Thun Hexagram 1,880 bytes
XXXIV The Ta Kwang Hexagram 2,257 bytes
XXXV The Chin Hexagram 2,306 bytes
XXXVI The Ming I Hexagram 2,310 bytes
XXXVII The Kia Zan Hexagram 2,094 bytes
XXXVIII The Khwei Hexagram 2,632 bytes
XXXIX The Kien Hexagram 2,150 bytes
XL The Kieh Hexagram 2,218 bytes
XLI The Sun Hexagram 2,533 bytes
XLII The Yi Hexagram 2,533 bytes
XLIII The Kwai Hexagram 2,737 bytes
XLIV The Kau Hexagram 2,069 bytes
XLV The Tsui Hexagram 2,508 bytes
XLVI The Shang Hexagram 1,941 bytes
XLVII The Khwan Hexagram 2,571 bytes
XLVIII The Ching Hexagram 2,318 bytes
XLIX The Ko Hexagram 2,254 bytes
L The Ting Hexagram 2,205 bytes
LI The Kan Hexagram 2,710 bytes
LII The Kan Hexagram 1,991 bytes
LIII The Kien Hexagram 2,301 bytes
LIV The Kwei Mei Hexagram 2,206 bytes
LV The Fang Hexagram 2,605 bytes
LVI The Lu Hexagram 2,116 bytes
LVII The Sun Hexagram 2,388 bytes
LVIII The Tui Hexagram 1,822 bytes
LIX The Hwan Hexagram 2,259 bytes
LX The Kieh Hexagram 2,044 bytes
LXI The Kung Fu Hexagram 2,060 bytes
LXII The Hsiao Kwo Hexagram 2,526 bytes
LXIII The Ki Chi Hexagram 2,070 bytes
LXIV The Wei Chi Hexagram 2,310 bytes