This book contains a dramatic and revealing translation of this ancient
classic into English. The Chinese original is set side-by-side with the
translation. Two things set this work apart from other translated
versions. First, archeological findings are used to uncover the meaning
of passages obscured for thousands of years. Second, it preserves the
flavor of the original in a poetic rendition.
An introductory part of this book provides the historical and
philosophical background to the I Ching. The story is told of the
ancient Chinese civilization, pointing out events and figures mentioned
in the I Ching. The undisguised face of the I Ching will appeal to
the modern reader, who will read it in his or her own individual way, as
poetry, as discoverer of self, or as soothsayer. It is in the grand
tradition of the I Ching for different people to see different things.
- To Confucius, who was born in 550 B.C., it was a source of ethics.
- To Leibnitz, the eighteenth-century inventor of calculus, it was the
essence of binary mathematics.
- To Jung Freud's rival in psychology, it was an explorer of the
unconscious.
- To some Wall Streeters, it predicts the stock market.
This revised edition includes a new chapter on a historical perspective,
and other additions, changes and minor reformatting.