Teaching the I Ching (Book of Changes)

Teaching the I Ching (Book of Changes) is a comprehensive and authoritative source for understanding the 3,000-year-old Book of Changes, arguably the most influential Chinese classical text. Beginning in the 1960s, as a result of the renewed interest... Read more

Teaching the I Ching (Book of Changes) is a comprehensive and authoritative source for understanding the 3,000-year-old Book of Changes, arguably the most influential Chinese classical text. Beginning in the 1960s, as a result of the renewed interest in Asian philosophy and the availability ofa readable English translation, the I Ching (Pinyin Yijing) became a countercultural classic and attracted scholarly interest as well. In China, the Yijing was alternately condemned and praised during the Mao era - though the Great Helmsman was rumored to consult the Changes himself. It is nowwidely read in China, and scholarship on the Changes has blossomed both in China and the West, stimulated by advances in reconstructing the ancient Chinese language and by the recent discovery of previously lost versions of the text.Chinese traditional culture cannot be understood without some familiarity with the Yijing, but it is one of the most difficult of the world''s ancient classics. The text is fragmentary with many obscure allusions and conflicting interpretive traditions spanning more than two thousand years. Theassociated diagrams have complex interpretative schemes. Geoffrey Redmond and Tze-Ki Hon provide the necessary background for teachers at the university level to cover the Yijing even if they are not specialists. This book also serves as an introduction for students beginning the study of theChanges and presents an up-to-date survey of recent scholarship. Less