How the I Ching became one of the most widely read and influential
books in the world
The I Ching originated in China as a divination manual more than three
thousand years ago. In 136 BCE the emperor declared it a Confucian
classic, and in the centuries that followed, this work had a profound
influence on the philosophy, religion, art, literature, politics,
science, technology, and medicine of various cultures throughout East
Asia. Jesuit missionaries brought knowledge of the I Ching to Europe
in the seventeenth century, and the American counterculture embraced it
in the 1960s. Here Richard Smith tells the extraordinary story of how
this cryptic and once obscure book became one of the most widely read
and extensively analyzed texts in all of world literature.
In this concise history, Smith traces the evolution of the I Ching in
China and throughout the world, explaining its complex structure, its
manifold uses in different cultures, and its enduring appeal. He shows
how the indigenous beliefs and customs of Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and
Tibet "domesticated" the text, and he reflects on whether this Chinese
classic can be compared to religious books such as the Bible or the
Qur'an. Smith also looks at how the I Ching came to be published in
dozens of languages, providing insight and inspiration to millions
worldwide--including ardent admirers in the West such as Leibniz, Carl
Jung, Philip K. Dick, Allen Ginsberg, Hermann Hesse, Bob Dylan, Jorge
Luis Borges, and I. M. Pei. Smith offers an unparalleled biography of
the most revered book in China's entire cultural tradition, and he shows
us how this enigmatic ancient classic has become a truly global
phenomenon.
