A Journey of a American into the I Ching

Author: Decaro
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-10-01
Features: Around 3,000 years ago, the I Ching was not poetry or a philosophical work, but was regarded as a divination text to predict the future. (jiǎgǔ) and turtle shells were heated over fire, and the cracks that appeared could foretell future events. Later, people recorded the results shown by these shells using ink and brush in the form of calligraphy. Over time, these records transformed into six lines, or symbols composed of six line segments, to predict the future. Arranging and combining any three line segments representing yin and yang could form the Eight Trigrams, which symbolize eight fundamental substances. The Eight Trigrams, when paired and combined, produce the Sixty-Four Hexagrams, used to describe everyday occurrences. The author uses the phrase "One Hundred Blossoms as a Body" to express the sequence and meaning of time spent in harmony with nature, the inner soul, and to achieve what modern people call "self-discovery." These one hundred short essays were completed within a single day, with "blossoms" representing how all things in the world grow from sowing, taking root, growing, until their eventual death. The completion of this process occurs after new seeds are sown, so there is no true conclusion, just as the Dao seeks unity for all things in the world... To attract readers, the author appears as a narrator living during the time of the story's occurrence, three thousand years ago. Typically serving as a sorcerer or a special storyteller, Li can translate the meanings of these prophecies into the general language or corresponding expressions we use today. These stories were often inscribed on turtle shells, and later, when collected into a book, they became the I Ching. He envisions the role of a dragon to discover and fulfill his ultimate purpose...