What use is the I Ching?

Question

ChatGPT · Answer

The I Ching, also known as the Book of Changes, is an ancient Chinese text that serves multiple purposes, including:
1. Divination: The I Ching is widely used as a tool for divination. Users cast coins or yarrow sticks to produce hexagrams, which are then interpreted to provide guidance on specific questions or life situations. The hexagrams represent various states of change and offer insights into the dynamics of a situation.
2. Philosophical Reflection: The I Ching contains profound philosophical concepts, particularly related to the ideas of change, balance, and the interplay of opposites (Yin and Yang). It encourages readers to reflect on their circumstances and the nature of life.
3. Moral Guidance: The text often emphasizes ethical considerations and moral dilemmas, providing wisdom that can help individuals navigate personal and social challenges.
4. Meditation and Self-Development: Many people use the I Ching as a meditative tool, contemplating its verses to gain deeper self-understanding and clarity about their intentions and actions.
5. Cultural and Literary Influence: The I Ching has influenced various aspects of Chinese culture, including art, literature, and philosophy. It has also inspired thinkers and writers around the world.
Overall, the I Ching is valued for its depth, providing insights into the nature of change and the complexities of human experience.

John Ringland · Answer

Firstly a brief introduction to the I Ching quoted from "Total I Ching: Myths for Change". Then I ask the I Ching to answer the question itself.

%3E “We in the modern West tend to see change as objective and predictable or totally random... We assume that it is the same for all people at all times... The sages and diviners who put together the Yijing [I Ching], the Classic of Change, saw things differently. They recognized change and what we call chance as the work of the spirit, an individual encounter with reality. They called the basic flow of energy that shapes experience as Dao or Way, and realised that this Way expresses itself as symbols (xiang) that articulate a 'moment' of time (shi). They realised that we can use these symbols or images to be in harmony with the time. Through them our actions resonate with the spirit and connect with its hidden transforming power. Using Yijing is the art of finding and using these images. This symbolic approach to change helps us to live our lives fully and freely by keeping us in touch with the Way, what the old sages called the ongoing process of the real.

Yijing... is the world's oldest and most sophisticated system of wisdom divination, a powerful tool and spiritual vehicle that can help people to navigate the voyage of life. It is designed to help us understand and work with the unconscious forces shaping the situations we confront and to keep us connected with the creative process of life. It brings out the helping spirit (shen), the inner voice that helps us on our way. It does not describe Change; it participates in and articulates Change. It shows how Change happens because it is a part of the process it models. Philosophically, this is a gift to humans that gives us access to the primordial transformations that initiate the process of generation and return of the Wanwu, the Myriad Beings or Ten Thousand Things. It shows the symbols (xiang) and the spirits (shen) through which all transformation occurs. By using Change, we actively participate in this creative process rather than being its passive and unwilling victim. This can have a profound effect on our lives. It is a transformation of the way we experience and affect the world we live in. Through it we become a part of what was called The Great Enterprise.

The world of ancient China was... an animate or living world and humans were in regular imaginative contact with all its powers... It is more than a vanished and foreign past, for it shows us the basic ways we imagine things, how our imagination, our soul, works. By leading our experience back to this mythic ground, we can talk with the spirits, the imaginative powers that are creating the realities we experience. From the perspective of Change, this is a fundamental healing act. From it flow 'blessings' (fu).

This tradition of Change evolved in late antiquity as an instrument to open the world of the Way. It focuses on the ideal of a person who is committed to realising themselves as a true individual as the only way to effect Change in the world. Change helps this person by giving practical advice and making the power and virtue of the spirits (de) available. This lets us penetrate the transformations and connect with the Way. As we embrace this ideal, we become a Realising Person (junzi), one who seeks to realise their destiny and, through that connection with fate and the Way, acquires the real ability to aid others... [Through Change we] may experience shen ming, the friendship of this clear and loving spirit.” (Total I Ching: Myths for Change”, Stephen Karcher, Time Warner Books, 2003)
Question to the I Ching: What use is the I Ching?
I will quote most of the answer, however I will need to interpret and paraphrase much of it if it is to make sense to those who are not at all familiar with its rich and complex mythological language and style, or with the art of applying it to a particular context.
Answer: (15, Humbling / The Grey One) -%3E (16, Providing For / Riding the Elephant)
The I Ching is an embodiment of unconscious powers that work to prepare the future. It connects us with the flow of energy into the unconscious world and results in the emergence of a spirited strength that allows a joyous response to any situation. It embodies a site of radical transformation at the threshold of the human world, a paradigm shift where the deeper reality expresses itself in the Opened Heart to move and change us.

It helps us to balance, adjust and cut through pride and complication. To stay close to fundamentals and to think and act in a modest way. It is an omen animal (memeplex, cognitive / cultural virus) whose emergence indicates that liminal unconscious processes have been activated.

This omen animal is linked to the quality of Humbling or equalising, the moment when a lack is filled through activation of unconscious powers moving in underworld ways. As a stance in the world this humbling cuts through the pride and complication of an overdeveloped ego. It breeds an agile, extremely effective personal power connected with the Noble One or ideal of the Realising Person. This quality is considered to be the 'handle' of the power and virtue (inner connection with reality) that allows one to become an effective person. The souls and spirits extend blessing through Humbling and the people love it. Heaven augments it and Earth diffuses it. The appearance of this omen animal indicates that your situation has constellated the unconscious powers and that you can trust in the outcome.

By yielding you acquire the power to realise the Way. This is pleasing to the spirits. Through it they will give you success, effective power and the capacity to bring the situation to maturity. If you use the oracle to keep in touch with the Way, you can complete what you want to do. Your acts will not bring things to an end, but will open new possibilities. Cutting through pride and the need to dominate brings a great power of realisation. Be clear about this, then act directly.

This will release you from constraint and bring creative balance. Humbling gives you a handle on the power to realise who you are meant to be. It equalises the flow of energy by carefully distinguishing the value of things. It is a connection with spirit powers through which Heaven moves in the world to bring brightness and clarity. Humbling brings dignity and makes things shine. Through it you can accomplish and complete things.

The I Ching articulates the treasure hidden in the field of life. The ideal Realising Person reflects this by balancing the opposites to correctly spread the blessings that flow from the spirit world. The I Ching is an embodiment of liminal unconscious powers at work. It is ceaselessly toiling through Humbling. It serves to open the Way. Myriad people submit to this and follow its connection to the Way. It has no need to advertise, whatever it desires simply appears.

It is a demonstration of Humbling to show what Humbling really is. This cuts through pride and complication. There is nothing for which this is not advantageous. The I Ching has no dogma and is not attached to any particular ideas. It does not get involved in arguments. Through being an embodiment of the Way, everything simply falls into its hands.

The I Ching indicates great available reserves of grace and power. It cultivates within you the capacity for spontaneous direct response, to enjoy and take pleasure in life, whilst collecting what you need to meet the future. The activation of unconscious creative powers builds the strength to respond directly, joyously, spontaneously and effectively to any situation. This is a quality highly valued in the ancient world. It involves the gathering of reserves of energy and grace into a store of power and virtue from which you can respond without thought. Similar to martial arts and many performing arts, it involves a kind of sub-cortical patterning whereby a corrected or straightened response becomes almost simultaneous with stimulus, bypassing cerebral systems of rational choice. This ability to respond directly and correctly allows you to enjoy the moment, to take pleasure in life.

The hexagrams or divinatory symbols have power to store and discharge spirit, which enables you to move effectively with the stream of experience. Joyous Response is a response to life that involves smooth moving, moving with the flow or current and the moment when a spirit power spontaneously triggers other powers into action. In this way one may gather what is needed to meet and enjoy the future. By establishing your inner forces they can be mobilised to respond to any situation. This brings profit and insight.

The accumulated energy can bound forth at the sudden call to action. This arouses delight and honours the power to realise the Way. By exalting the highest spirit one may become very wise. This results in firm purposeful action. This is the way Heaven and Earth work together, how they create time and order the seasons.

The inner gathering of energy allows immediate response to an outer call to action, allowing one to delight in the actualisation of power and the connection of ones personal desires with the High Lord. This is working through inner inspiration.

The hexagram (40, Loosening / Deliverance) represents the hidden potential implied within the answer. Thus the I Ching makes possible the solving of problems, untying of knots and the release of blocked energy. It gives liberation and freedom from suffering. It indicates the critical moments, the openings in time through which one can attain release and blessings. These are junctures, points of insertion or critical points, when the conditions are right for the blessings to flow. It releases one from the knot or noose of a hostile fate. It signifies dissipating melancholy, awakening from illusion, fever breaking, satisfying natural needs, opening communication and sexual climax, when inhibited forces are set free. It offers liberation through spiritual practice that makes one a sage who perceives through the Bright Spirits and is thus released from compulsion and fear.

Finally a brief personal comment. I have consulted the I Ching several thousand times in the last decade and it has consistently guided, inspired and enlightened my awareness. It has helped me to overcome internal blocks and to tune into the currents of energy that permeate and animate the world. The I Ching has over time earned my deepest trust and respect.

Susan Lee · Answer

Yes, it does.

As I like to tell my students, the I Ching doesn't tell you what you want to hear --- it tells you what you need to know.

Gary and Phil do a good job of explaining how this works. Phil is absolutely correct when he says that the degree to which it "works" for a person depends on the amount of attention, especially self-attention, you bring to the process.

Here's what worked for me:
I threw the coins every day, seven days a week, received my hexagram, and then WROTE The Morning Pages, three pages of "free writing," speculating on what the message was trying to tell me.   See Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way for a description of what The Morning Pages are, and what they can do for you.

Writing down what you think it means helps enormously in seeing the patterns the I Ching is trying to communicate to you.

Here's an example:

I had a job that paid well, but was a constant frustration.  I really wanted to stay at job, and was constantly asking "What can I do to make this situation work for me?"    The answer I got repeatedly was  No. 8, Union, with Changing Line 3: "You hang together with the wrong people."

Translation: Your current associations are not good for you.  You can remain cordial, but distance yourself and find the right friends.

I left, and what a relief!  I am now pursuing my own agenda at a different job, and am 1,000 times happier, although several thousand dollars a year poorer.

One more, from someone else:

For seven years I had a website where I published my Daily Yi, and had subscribers from all over the world.  I did private readings for some of them. I had one man who had been pursuing a  romance with a woman for several years.  Periodically, there would be some sort of a crisis in their relationship, and he would ask for advice.

The first answer he received was No. 6, Conflict which says:  "You are sincere and are being obstructed," telling him essentially that he was not to blame in the difficulties.

Conflict also says, as Carol Anthony explained it:  "Whenever we try to see into the fog  ahead to the point that we force what we want to see upon it, we cannot  come to a true  understanding.  On the other hand, if we withdraw from  the conflict, the fog will lift."

Did he "withdraw from the conflict?"  Of course not.  He loved this woman, and wanted to find a way for them to share their lives.

When the next crisis hit, about 8 months later, he received No. 23, Splitting Apart, Line 1:  "Those who persevere are destroyed."   Did he persevere?  Of course.

Six months later, when he asked again, he received No. 32, Duration, with Changing Line 4:  "No game in the field."  Meaning: Persistence in the search is not enough if there is nothing worthwhile in the field to begin with.  Or as Marshall put it: If you are going in the wrong direction, no matter how long you travel, you will never get to where you want to be."

Did he ever "get where he wanted to be?"   Don't know, but he can't say the Yi didn't warn him.

Ho-Sheng Hsiao · Answer

Does mind come before matter?
Does matter come before mind?

In this age, the popular notion is that matter comes before mind. That is, we have the Big Bang, energy congeals into elementary stuff, and over time, they aggregate into higher and higher complexity. The ultimate level of complexity (as far as we know) is consciousness, that is, sentient mind. Thus, mind emerges from matter (Ratcheting Up Autonomy [ http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/08/ratcheting_up_a.php ]).

However, there is a different myth in which mind comes before matter. In this story, Consciousness Is. Consciousness has a Great Idea. And in the explosion of inspiration we now call the Big Bang, energy falls out of those ideas, elementary stuff falls out of energy. Mind, then does not emerge spontaneously through the complex -- yet "blind" -- interaction of matter. Rather, the idea, the intent came first, and the body manifests out around the idea. This is not so strange if you've ever made something or created something. You're inspired first, then seek an appropriate expression of that idea.

So which is right?

The story that mind emerges from matter is the story of Earth. The story that matter manifest from mind is the story of Heaven. The story of the I-Ching is the dance of Heaven and Earth, the dance of mind and matter, intention and form, ideals and tangibility, design and emergence, theory and practice.

Try smoking that in your pipe :-)

Anonymous · Answer

I'm not sure what you mean by "work." It depends on your expectations. If you expect it to tell you the future, you'll be disappointed. If you expect it to tell you exactly what you already know, then yes, it works.

I've been consulting the I-Ching since the late 70s. My first hexagram was Ch'ien, the I-Ching's first hexagram, which has been translated as Creative Power or The Creative. All the lines were changing. It's taken many years of interacting with the I-Ching to understand it, and I don't mean as a translator, I mean, what the book is and how best to use the information it provides.

The most important thing I've learned is that life is a series of changes, highs and lows, ups and downs, and I've learned, I hope, some degree of humility. I've learned that I have alternatives in the way I act and the way I approach problems, people, my life in general. I think that throwing the coins, or drawing the sticks, is a way to freeze time, essentially taking a snapshot of the present, as each line is created. Then, when reading the divination, it's as if it is saying, "here you are now, and here are the paths you can take and the actions or in-actions that will help you move in the direction you need to go."

But then there are those times when many lines are changing and it isn't all that clear. This is when I know that life has gotten a bit more complicated than usual and it may be the result of my own behavior or it may be the Universe doing whatever it happens to be doing at the time, that is, out of my control. It's good to be able to recognize that state, so I'm not spending energy trying to push the river, so to speak.

This isn't just a book, it is a compendium of knowledge and a study of interactions, human to heaven (or the Universe), human to Earth, human to human, and all the other combinations within our realm of awareness. Although it seems that our feelings and emotions have infinite combinations, they are many, but they are actually finite. And you have to be able to understand, through a good translation that makes sense to you, what this ancient book is saying to you. Have a conversation. Don't ask it to tell the future. Ask it to help you to see the present. Then it works. Then, I hope, you work, as a better person over time.

Martin Hauser · Answer

What is I Ching?

You will get very different answers to this question depending on whom you ask.

In the West, the I Ching is little known and less understood. Most who have heard of it characterize it as a book of divination. That is one use the I Ching has been put to, both in the West and in the East. To describe The I Ching as only a book of divination though is misleading in the extreme. The alternative names by which this ancient text is referred to attest to this: it is also known as The Book of Changes and as The Classic of Change.

The Book of Changes is one of the few surviving classics of Chinese antiquity that managed to escape being destroyed in the book burnings [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_book-burning_incidents#Chinese_philosophy_books_(by_Emperor_Qin_Shi_Huang_and_anti-Qin_rebels) ] that took place in ancient times. It likely escaped this fate because it was not just the province of intellectuals and politicians, but of the common people as well and they were consulting it in their daily lives both as a divinatory text and a source of wisdom. It had become too important a part of their lives to allow it to be destroyed. (1)

The most ancient parts of this classic Chinese text predate written history and may predate the invention of writing itself. It had long been part of an oral tradition before it was committed to writing.

The I Ching [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ching ] (Yì Jīng) or Classic of Change is believed to be one of the world's oldest books and has been one of the most important sources of Chinese culture [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ching's_influence ]. The oldest strata of this work date back three millennia or more. Over the centuries scholars and philosophers have added numerous commentaries and interpretations to the original, so it can be viewed in a sense as a work still in progress. It has been in continuous usage in China for thousands of years and encompasses an ongoing stream of thought and a commonly held cosmogony that have passed through and been modified by many different minds and generations. The two principal schools of Chinese philosophy, Taoism [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism ] and Confucianism [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism ] both have deep roots in the I Ching.

The hexagrams [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ching#Hexagrams ] of the Yi Jing existed prior to Chinese script and belonged to a long oral tradition, the origin of which is lost in the mists of time. In its earliest incarnation the I Ching was primarily a method of divination based on cracking of oracle bones [ https://www.thoughtco.com/oracle-bones-shang-dynasty-china-172015 ] by heat. The possibility exists that divination played a role in the development of writing in ancient China.

Though it began life as a method of prognostication, the Yi Jing later grew into a book of wisdom, literature, ethics, politics, history, and mathematics. It is in fact the world’s oldest surviving treatise on combinatorics. Among other topics, it is concerned with the nature of space and time. Most fundamentally though, The Classic of Change has to do with relationships, both in human life and in the cosmos. The oldest strata of the work offer a kind of holistic proto-mathematics and an alternative mathematical logic which has been lost to modern thought. It is this aspect of The Classic of Change that interests me most. I have attempted to explore this aspect of the work and further develop it in a new kind of geometry I have called mandalic geometry, an introduction to which can be found at

What would the book Mandalic Geometry for Dummies contain in explanation? [ https://www.quora.com/What-would-the-book-Mandalic-Geometry-for-Dummies-contain-in-explanation/answer/Martin-Hauser ]

(1) Protecting knowledge against Book Burnings and... - blindmen6 [ https://blindmen6.tumblr.com/post/59032683369/protecting-knowledge-against-book-burnings-and ]

Scot · Answer

The I Ching is a philosophy-based tool that can help reduce cognitive biases and improve observational capabilities. This is the benefit of the I Ching to anyone in general, and seems applicable to anyone who seeks to bring bias-free observation to their practice, whatever it may be. (I argue elsewhere that scientists and engineers should be especially interested in such self-improvement.)
 
The primary philosophical premise of the I Ching through each of its hexigrams seems to be that the restraint and/or dissolution of ego allows for a better connection to the reality present in each moment. The ego of the I Ching is simply the busy mind; the ever-present parade of thoughts, memories, memes, preoccupations, impulses and motivations. Whenever cognitive bias arises, it is the result of this ego. 
 
Typically this ego/mind is a filter through which reality must pass to become internal understanding. Thus, what is observed is dependent on the ego/mind of the observer. 
 
Quieting the ego (and clearing the lens) is something the I Ching encourages (or cautions) its readers to do within 64 specific contexts. Achieving that clarity is not a function of the I Ching, but must be conducted through other means such as meditation.

Anonymous · Answer

The I Ching is a heuristic device for understanding the rolling over of opposites in creation.
 
First we must understand that Yang is a celestial cause and Yin is a terrestrial response. All things are Yin and some things are considered Yang by analogy only. If you look into the meanings of these terms it is quite clear that Yang mean some invisible cause issuing from Heaven and impacting earth. But earth is made up of myriad opposites, and these opposites all reflect the more general relation between yin and yang that appears as causation, and so there is a ramification of the analogies of yin and yang throughout existence.
 
In a sense Yin and Yang are like variables and given a level of permutation of a progressive bisection one may substitute any opposites from the myriad opposites in creation for yin or yang. Thus the first step is to consider your situation, whatever it is at the moment that you want to understand, and pick out the most important and dynamic opposites that are affecting your situation. Then what you do is you rank these from the most important to the least important. Best to pick out at least six opposites that are affective in your situation. 
 
Next step is that you decide of these opposites which is yin and which is yang elements from each opposites. This is not easy, because by analogy it is not always intuitively obvious which is the Yang or driving or causal side of the opposition in a given case. But you must remember that the true yang element is an invisible cause that is hitting the situation from an unknown direction, and that the opposites you pick are only being moved by that invisible cause, so that all the pairs of opposites are yin with respect to the invisible cause descending from heaven to earth. However, in each situation there is one of the elements from each pair of opposite which is the more dynamic, and that is considered yang in each case.
 
Now once you have your six pairs of opposites and you have decided which elements of each pair are yin and which are yang, then you do the divination using the I Ching to determine what the starting hexagram for the situation, and what the ending or transformed hexagram is. You should use the I Ching that was found in the grave site more recently than the traditional I Ching as your first reference because it is more original. But they are similar enough that referring to the handed down version does not matter. Pick a good scholarly translation though, there are some pretty strange translations that are available.
 
Line up the first hexagram you get with the list of opposites that you have chosen to represent the situation you are in. Then read the I Ching commentary against that set of opposites. Then note the changed lines, and note the meaning of the transformed hexagram, in relation to the changes in the meaning between the two hexagrams. When you look at the changed hexagram you are looking at a possible permutation of the given situation into a different situation. This is not a prediction but indicates a propensity or tendency in the situation that your unconscious has thrown up to you as a state you have accessed in the divination process. Nothing is telling you the future, the tendency or propensity is in the current situation you are in and that you are wandering about.
 
But the secret of the I Ching is that it is like a house of mirrors in which each pair of Hexagrams are separated by another hexagram by which one hexagram, the situational one, and the other hexagram the propensity or tendency are separated from each other by an orthogonal hexagram. Work out what the orthogonal hexagram and that will tell you the barrier between the current situation and the psychoidal propensity that your unconscious has thrown up to you through chance. That hexagram represents the transformational value of the potential in relation to the current situation. Your read all three of these hexagrams in relation to the opposites you chose before generating any hexagrams, and what it is telling you is in a given situation what the likely path of the rolling over of opposites might be. So if you are in Hexagram H1 and your propensity is toward H2 but the traversed mirror between the beginning and end is hexagram is H3, then you will get some inkling of the potential transformation in the situation that you are considering.
 
Look at what the Great man would do in these various hexagrams and consider your approach to them based on what he would do. The hexagrams are a mirror for you in which you can see your own relation to the world. It is a mirror because it contains all the possible transformations. Whatever the rolling over of the opposites will be it will come from the transformations of the opposites you have picked out and aligned with the hexagrams, against which you are interpreting the hexagrams. By looking at a possible potential for change in the situation, your are prompted to consider the actual potential for change in the situation. By looking at the door way between the current situation and the potential transformation of that situation, you see the limitations on your movement in the situation.
 
If you use the I Ching as a guide for looking deeper into the situation you are in and its potential for transformation by the rolling over of opposites then it is hard to go wrong. If you think it is going to tell you what is going to happen then you are lost anyway, and there is not much that can be done for you, you will misread the situation and you will fail to understand what the oracle is indicating. But if you align the oracle with the dynamic opposites in the situation you are in, and you use the hexagrams as indicating aspects of the current situation and its propensity for self-transformation by the rolling over of the objects, then you may learn something about yourself that you did not know before. Whatever is thrown up to you from your look at the situation based on the I Ching, is merely a reflection of the mandala of your greater self-mirrored in the world. The I Ching is the mirror of that self because it contains all the possible permutations of the progressive bisection at the level 2^6 which is at a fairly high level of complexity. The opposites you identify in the situation will roll over into their opposites or jump to another state within the set of hexagrams in the next moment, then there will be a new propensity for that moment and a new mirroring by the transforming hexagram. Pick significant moments to take samples of this flux of existence. The I Ching is a model of the interpenetration of existence with itself, and you with it. When you look out at the opposites that are controlling the situation at the moment you are looking at a mirroring of your self in the mirror of existence in which you are completely immersed. The I Ching is merely a heuristic device to remind you of that mirroring. Look in the mirror occasionally to see if your tie is straight but avoid becoming narcissistic.
 
In effect if you read the opposites of creation and the rolling over of the opposite in creation directly then you do not need this heuristic, it is a crutch for the beginner to aid their learning about the rolling over of opposites in creation, or the sudden transformations of things into their opposite. Watching for the dynamic in the situation (the landscape's self-transformation) is more important than consulting the map of the landscape (the I Ching). It is only telling you what you should already know, existence interpenetrates and you are not separate from that interpenetration.
 
In any given situation there is always some dynamic invisible cause at work, and the scattering of the opposites in creation indicates that dynamic. Look beyond the dynamic of the opposites to what make them turn and shift and that is where the heart of the matter lies.

Ralph Hua · Answer

In the ancient times, the I-Ching was used only by Kings, generals, high officials.

In the case of the King, when he has a major decision to make, he will seek advice from five sources.

1. His own experience
2. His close subjects, ministers
3. His ancestors through ritual prayers
4. The commoners through olden days 'surveys'
5. The I-Ching through 卜卦 a procedure of asking a question to the heavens and seeking wisdom and advise interpreted through the stacking of the Trigrams and also the text accompanied by it.

[This is the table of the 64 Trigrams]

In modern times, you are the King of your life so you can use the five methods too.

1. Your own experience
2. Your close friends and experts online
3. Meditation
4. Google
5. I-Ching

I have personally tried using I-Ching as way for asking for guidance on certain questions where I may missed out on some details or blind spots.

It was and still is amazing and it is a never ending learning and experiencing process.

Sarah Liem · Answer

The I Ching is a powerful ancient Chinese divination tool that offers guidance and insight into life's questions and challenges. It's essentially a book of wisdom containing a collection of hexagrams, each representing a unique combination of yin and yang energies. People use the I Ching for various purposes, including seeking advice, making decisions, and gaining clarity on complex situations. 
 
Personally, I've found the I Ching to be incredibly insightful when faced with dilemmas or uncertainties. It provides a different perspective and encourages deeper reflection on the situation at hand. Plus, when I combine it with other metaphysical practices like tarot readings, it offers a more comprehensive understanding of the energies surrounding me. 
 
If you're interested in exploring the I Ching further, I recommend checking out YouApp. It's a fantastic metaphysics app that combines various divination methods, including the I Ching, to provide personalized guidance and support based on your unique circumstances.

Mike Leary · Answer

Depends on how you use it. 
Very ancient, so was used in ways we wouldn't today. Some of course still try to do the old way. No problem except we have better forecasting tools for the weather now.

All societies tried to make sense of why things happened as they did. And people came up with stories and formulas to reduce that anxiety. The I-Ching happens to be one of the better, as it identified human dynamics and even hidden ones for the average Joe.

Awareness is it's strong point. Seeing the opposite while focusing on the one you want, is working smarter. But the secret of the I Ching is that, humans have always been in that conflict between mind, body (emotions), and spirit. Finding a way to balance oneself and get educated along that way is, as they say in the commercial,  priceless.

It is an ideal way to educate yourself on psychology of life and connect the dots as to how people act and why they typically do what they do. This model is surprisingly accurate in discriptors of behavior. Using the I-Ching as divination to predict and be an oracle, is a whole other ball of wax. There are people who will swear by it, just like the tarot, astrology/the zodiac, numerology and fundamentalism. Magic abounds when people are not sure and insecure. They look for answers in someone who markets it as proof.

The Hagakure, meaning (Hidden by the Leaves or hidden leaves), is a practical and spiritual guide for the Samurai, by Yamamoto Tsunetomo. It is a collection of work which cautions against mistaking the I-Ching for a work of divination.
http://judoinfo.com/pdf/hagakure.pdf

%3E I-Ching, it is a mistake to think that it is something for divination. Its essence is non-divination. This can be seen by the tact that the Chinese character 'I' is read as 'change'. 
Although one divines good fortune, if he does evil, it will become bad fortune.
And although he divines bad fortune, if he does good, it will become good fortune.

from Wikipedia:

%3E The Hagakure was written approximately one hundred years after the start of the Tokugawa era, a time of relative peace. With no major campaigns to fight, the samurai were transforming from a warrior to an administrative class. His work represents one approach to the problem of maintaining military preparedness and a proper military mindset in a time when neither has much practical application.

In addition:

%3E Confucius' ten commentaries, called the Ten Wings, transformed the I Ching from a divination text into a "philosophical masterpiece". It was this form of the I Ching that inspired the post-Warring States Taoists.

So how to identify ?
It can help move past the strictly intellectual process to give glimpses of life as metaphor. To listen with your heart as well as logic. To meditate on each of these, take a day and see how each fits into your life. You will learn about yourself quickly.

Take for instance; Receptive
 this reading is from
http://deoxy.org/iching/

%3E This hexagram is made up of broken lines only. The broken lines represents 
the dark, yielding, receptive primal power of yin. The attribute of the 
hexagram is devotion; its image is the earth.  It is the perfect complement of 
THE CREATIVE—the complement, not the opposite, for the Receptive does 
not combat the Creative but completes it . It represents nature in contrast to 
spirit, earth in contrast to heaven, space as against time, the female-maternal 
as against the male-paternal. However, as applied to human affairs, the 
principle of this complementary relationship is found not only in the relation 
between man and woman, but also in that between prince and minister and 
between father and son. Indeed, even in the individual this duality appears 
in the coexistence of the spiritual world and the world of the senses.
 
  But strictly speaking there is no real dualism here, because there is a clearly 
defined hierarchic relationship between the two principles. In itself of course 
the Receptive is just as important as the Creative, but the attribute of 
devotion defines the place occupied by this primal power in relation to the 
Creative. For the Receptive must be activated and led by the Creative; then it 
is productive of good. Only when it abandons this position and tries to stand 
as an equal side by side with the Creative, does it become evil.  The result 
then is opposition to and struggle against the Creative, which is productive of 
evil to both.
 
            THE JUDGMENT
 
            THE RECEPTIVE brings about sublime success,
            Furthering through the perseverance of a mare.
            If the superior man undertakes something and tries to lead,
            He goes astray;
            But if he follows, he finds guidance.
            It is favorable to find friends in the west and south,
            To forego friends in the east and north.
            Quiet perseverance brings good fortune.
 
The four fundamental aspects of the Creative—"sublime success, furthering 
through perseverance"—are also attributed to the Receptive.  Here, however, 
the perseverance is more closely defined: it is that of a mare. The Receptive 
connotes spatial reality in contrast to the spiritual potentiality of the Creative. 
The potential becomes real and the spiritual becomes spatial through a 
specifically qualifying definition. Thus the qualification, "of a mare," is here 
added to the idea of perseverance. The horse belongs to earth just as the 
dragon belongs to heaven. Its tireless roaming over the plains is taken as a 
symbol of the vast expanse of the earth. This is the symbol chosen because 
the mare combines the strength and swiftness of the horse with the 
gentleness and devotion of the cow.
 
  Only because nature in its myriad forms corresponds with the myriad 
impulses of the Creative can it make these impulses real. Nature's richness 
lies in its power to nourish all living things; its greatness lies in its power to 
give then beauty and splendor. Thus it prospers all that lives. IT is the 
Creative that begets things, but they are brought to birth by the Receptive. 
Applied to human affairs, therefore, what the hexagram indicated is action in 
conformity with the situation. The person in questions not in an 
independent position, but is acting as an assistant. This means that he must 
achieve something. It is not his task to try to lead—that would only make him 
lose the way-but to let himself be led. If he knows how to meet fate with an 
attitude of acceptance, he is sure to find the right guidance. The superior man 
lets himself be guided; he does not go ahead blindly, but learns from the 
situation what is demanded of him and then follows this intimation from 
fate.
 
  Since there is something to be accomplished, we need friends and helpers in 
the hour of toil and effort, once the ideas to be realized are firmly set. The 
time of toil and effort is indicated by the west and south, for west and south 
symbolize the place where the Receptive works for the Creative, as nature 
does in summer and autumn. If in that situation one does not mobilize all 
one's powers, the work to be accomplished will not be done. Hence to find 
friends there means to find guidance. But in addition to the time of toil and 
effort, there is also a time of planning, and for this we need this solitude. The 
east symbolized the place where a man receives orders from his master, and 
the north the place where he reports on what he has done. At that time he 
must be alone and objective. In this sacred hour he must do without 
companions. So that the purity of the moment may not be spoiled by fictional 
hates and favoritism.
 
            THE IMAGE
 
            The earth's condition is receptive devotion.
            Thus the superior man who has breadth of character
            Carries the outer world.
 
Just as there is only one heaven, so too there is only one earth. In the 
hexagram of heaven the doubling of the trigram implies duration in time, 
but in the hexagram of earth the doubling connotes the solidity and extension 
in space by virtue of which the earth is able to carry and preserve all things 
that live and move upon it. The earth in its devotion carries all things, good 
and evil,, without exception. In the same way the superior man gives to his 
character breadth, purity, and sustaining power, so that he is able both to 
support and to bear with people and things.

There are 63 more where that came from.

Sand D Rain · Answer

The I Ching is a diary about moods and feelings; Each horizontal line stands for one day's thoughts and experiences. In China, Friday is the beginning of a hexagram, Saturday for the first horizontal line. Each hexagram has 7 days. To be honest, I don't know when a hexagram starts in Europe or America. Perhaps Friday at midnight, local time.

I tried to guess the order of 64 hexagrams in 2011, when I was still studying in a senior high school. Thanks to my friends' assistance, I finally completed it earlier than I thought I would. My method was to associate I Ching's content with my life. It w

I tried to guess the order of 64 hexagrams in 2011, when I was still studying in a senior high school. Thanks to my friends' assistance, I finally completed it earlier than I thought I would.  My method was to associate I Ching's content with my life. It was amazing that I found something similar 64 weeks ago. To be absolutely safe, I spent the rest of my high school period observing it. However, I didn't realize I should keep a diary at once, which made my theory not valid.

My results are different from popular versions.
Later I was admitted to ZJU and tried to persuade my psychology professor to pay attention, and she doubted it, advising me to conceive an efficient approach to prove what I said. It is hard to find enough participants who can keep a diary or fill a questionnaire for 64weeks.

I registered an account on Guokr and spread my theory in order to know what ordinary people think about it. They questioned me, but they didn't confute me by their records of life.

http://www.guokr.com/post/671880
The world should test my assumption!

It will certainly change history, for no one has comprehended the I Ching in this way and I'm sure that it's the truth. The author, King Wen, was said to have written the I Ching in prison. I think writing a diary is the best way to kill time.

I can estimate my mood but never know about the future, otherwise life would be boring.
For example, I can ask, "Why do I suffer from sleep problems for some days?", or "Why do I feel strange?" at some time, and find clues in the I Ching.

Even if I failed to invite scholars, someone else would do it.

People have read too much into the I Ching for thousands of years, and I have lost too much due to it. I hate fortune-telling, hence I decided to discover the truth of the book.

Psychology should create more terms to describe human emotions, or advance measurements.

Besides, the I Ching isn't perfect:
1. Ancient Chinese isn't perfect; it's vocabulary is limited.
2. the I Ching's records are too short and vague; its metaphors are obscure.
3. King Wen wrote it, but he could have made errors.
4. Is the I Ching we read the original one? 
Hexagram 1 ,乾 (qián) [ https://sandiching.quora.com/Hexagram-1-乾-qián ]

Thank you for the correction, Quora User

Rick Schrager · Answer

It can be provided one understands how it works.  It isn't fortune telling.  It does not predict the future.  In simple terms it can show you what you know that you didn't know you knew.  It does this by presenting you with images that can stimulate subconscious ideas.  It can show you what you know that you didn't know you knew.

It's important to understand that the I Ching is a collection of works that grew over thousands of years. It contains writings from many different hands.  The oldest part of the book, the Zhouyi is attributed to the emperor of the Zhou dynasty and his father.  This book contains less than five hundred words yet the average academic translation today uses over six hundred pages to explain them.  The other books were added or canonized over time leading to its status as a classic text (Ching means classic).  On the whole the I Ching is anything but simple to understand.  It's writings come from another place and another time when the customs and politics were very different from today so it's very easy to misconstrue its meaning.  In order to understand what it says one has to learn a little bit of history.

Quincy Robinson · Answer

I Ching seems to be a quantum measurement device, similar to the human brain, bridging space, time, and consciousness -- all aspects of the same.

When the human brain and I Ching interact, these measurement devices mutually entangle, producing the divination result and its uncanny applicability to the querent's state.

Explication:
Each hexagram figure is composed of two trigrams (ba gua), arranged in superposition.  The three lines of each trigram describes the Three Powers (Creative, Humane, Structive) in terms of YIN or YANG, open or closed.  By extension, trigrams can also describe an individual person's mental, emotional, and physical states at a particular time.  The resulting hexagram describes the process of Change as one proceeds from the initial state to the emergent state.

IC 21 · Answer

Before answer this question, a few background wording on I Ching. I Ching is a knowledge system that can be used to categorize certain subject matter in a systematic way. The I Ching wording published by King Wen thousands of years ago was used to categorize every single human life experiences. You can use the similar systems to capture all possible weather patterns, all possible star alignment combinations, all possible…iron ore future pricing behaviors.

Then why is it that I Ching has 64 hexagrams? Why not 128? Why not…2? Yes, you can write a book of I Ching with 2 variations: good, and bad. But if this is not fine enough of a description set, then you can break it down further to 4, 8, etc. I Ching started out with 8, and was subsequently developed into 64 “categories”.

So King Wen broke down all human experiences (all experiences any human being on earth can experience) into 64 categories. Refining the description further, each of the 64 categories are broken down into 6 lines (phases) in a sequential manner. You enter this experience from the lowest phase (line 1), and you exit after finishing the highest phases (line 6). Each categories have 6 lines (phases), thus the name “hexagrams”.

These 64 hexagrams and associating lines are not designated in a random way. This is where the wisdom of I Ching reside. These 64x6=384 lines interact/change to one another in a systematic way under certain rule set.

How to use I Ching? Today there are two major applications. First you can study the I Ching itself and understand the patterns of each life experience (hexagram), much like studying “how algorithm of life” works. What is the experience set of being humble in life? What is the experience set when you “fall-in-love”? What is the experience set of solving personal differences? I Ching describes the universal pattern and it can be used to guide your conscious living decisions.

Second major application is augury. Actually, I Ching itself does not perform augury. You conduct a augury ritual, and I Ching is just a reference book that interprets what the outcome of the ritual is. This process is somewhat similar to stock market price prediction using technical charts. You have certain data from the past, when organized in certain ways, you believe to a degree that it can help you guess what is the stock price in the future. I Ching is just the “reference book” that interprets your “technical lines”. The Augury ritual comes from your personal belief system that you can somehow read into the future (prayer to Jesus works in a similar way).

(P.S. How can I be sure what I answered above is true? This is beauty of I Ching: self-consistency. Different parts of the I Ching can be used to verify another part of I Ching. In the dumbest way, you can take the iterative approach. You can assume a particular interpretation to be true. Then you change these lines to get variation hex/lines, and verify if the variation also holds true and stay systematically coherent with all rest of the I Ching. If not, make another assumption and do it again. Many modern day I Ching interpretations do not check themselves vigorously in this regard, so when you read them, it is very hard to understand what it is saying. If you have a set of interpretation that is systematic and self-consistent when subjected under I Ching variation rules, then it is actually very simple and beautiful.)

Susan Lee · Answer

Yes.

The I Ching — the Book of Changes — tells you what you need to know, not what you want to hear.

It is like a Farmer’s Almanac of the human psychological and emotional landscape. It will tell you when to accept your circumstances, and when you need to change. It will tell you when to fight for what you want, and when it is best to retreat, or to step around the obstacle that stops you.

R.L. Wing, author of the I Ching Workbook, explains it as a ritual that captures a moment in time with a particular question in mind, allowing you to align your Self and your circumstances within all that is unfolding in the universe. Wing: “When you use The Book of Changes to peer into your future, . . . it is like unwrapping, unfolding, and discovering yourself . . .”

I have done a reading for myself or for others on an almost daily basis for nearly 20 years. Sometimes I have difficulty discerning what the Yi is trying to tell me. Other times, it is as clear as can be. Like last week. On Sunday, July 24, our sweet dog Molly died after a couple of painful weeks of decline. I tossed the coins on Monday, with no question asked, merely the notation that Molly had passed. I received the hexagram Peace. That message was a great comfort to me.

Leon Xu · Answer

I Ching tells you all about “Change”. I Ching is the root of our Cosmos and Chinese civilization.

The understanding of I Ching illustrated by Chinese civilization is based on

The understanding of TIME and SPACE from the very beginning

and

The accumulation of the understanding of human nature by the practice of billions of Chinese people from ancient time till now.

Spirit Man · Answer

The I Ching, above all, is an exposition, far more than a divinatory or predictive tool. I don’t think that prediction was even the original intention of those who created the I Ching.

The I Ching shows that everything in the universe - body, mind, life situations, trees, the ground - everything, is some variation of yin, yang, or mostly, both. And, the I Ching shows that all these varieties change, everything is impermanent and subject to decay, and rebirth as a new entity.

All things, being a variation of yin and/or yang, are therefore a manifestation of Tao. This, in my opinion, is the main purpose of the I Ching, much more than a coin-tossing divination tool.

Anonymous · Answer

A short reply: 
This book consists of 2 parts, one is written by emperor of Zhou, which contained 64 gua (divinatory signals), and another is the comments made by Confucius

Many people now tend to treat it as a philosophical theory, and people in ancient times tend to use it as a means to predict the future, using the 64 gua.

Sri Pri-Ya · Answer

The I Ching is an ancient Oracle in service of leaders seeking advise in political/ social/ leadership issues.

The Oracle should be used only in matters concerning the ways/ path of  the leader, the great man.

It is not wise for the common people to  bother the Oracle with personal matters. For that purpose the Tao Te Ching was designed.