The I Ching

The Book of Changes

James Legge

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780486147611
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy

One of the most important books in the history of Oriental culture, the I Ching seems to have been prepared before 1000 B.C., in the last days of the Shang Dynasty. A manual of divination, the work proposes that all things happening at a specific time have certain characteristic features which can be isolated.

THE APPENDIXES.

THE APPENDIXES.

APPENDIX I.

Treatise on the Thwan, or king W

n’s Explanations of the entire Hexagrams.

SECTION I.

I. 1. Vast is the ‘great and originating (power)’ indicated by Khien! All things owe to it their beginning:—It contains all the meaning belonging to (the name) heaven.

2. The clouds move and the rain is distributed; the various things appear in their developed forms.

3. (The sages) grandly understand (the connexion between) the end and the beginning, and how (the indications of) the six lines (in the hexagram) are accomplished, (each) in its season. (Accordingly) they mount (the carriage) drawn by those six dragons at the proper times, and drive through the sky.

4. The method of Khien is to change and transform, so that everything obtains its correct nature as appointed (by the mind of Heaven); and (thereafter the conditions of) great harmony are preserved in union. The result is ‘ what is advantageous, and correct and firm.’

5. (The sage) appears aloft, high above all things, and the myriad states all enjoy repose.

The name Thwan, and the meaning of the character so-called, are sufficiently established. The Thwan are king W

n’s explanations of the entire hexagrams. It seems impossible now to ascertain how the character arose, and how it was named Thwan. The treatise on the Thwan is ascribed to Confucius; and I have considered in the Introduction, p. 30, whether the tradition to this effect may to any extent be admitted.

I. The hexagram Khien is made up of six undivided lines, or of the trigram Khien, Fû-hsî’s symbol for heaven, repeated. The Thwan does not dwell upon this, but starts, in its exposition, from the word ‘heaven,’ supposing that the hexagram represented all the meaning which had ever been intended by that term. In paragraphs 1, 2, 4 the four attributes in W

n’s Text (2 being occupied with the second, though it is not expressly named) are illustrated by the phenomena taking place in the physical world.

In paragraphs 3 and 5, the subject is the sage. He is not named indeed; and Khung Ying-tâ (A. D. 574—648) does not introduce him till paragraph 5, when the meaning necessitates the presence of a human agent, who rules in the world of men as heaven does in that of nature. The ‘connexion between the end and the beginning,’ which he sees, is that of cause and effect in the operations of nature and the course of human affairs. The various steps in that course are symbolised by the lines of the hexagram; and the ideal sage, conducting his ideal government, taking his measures accordingly, is represented as driving through the sky in a carriage drawn by six dragons. Kû Hsî extravagantly says that ‘ the sage is Heaven, and Heaven is the sage;’ but there is nothing like this in the text.

II. 1. Complete is the ‘great and originating (capacity)’ indicated by Khw

n! All things owe to it their birth ;—It receives obediently the influences of Heaven.

2. Khw

n, in its largeness, supports and contains all things. Its excellent capacity matches the unlimited power (of Khien). Its comprehension is wide, and its brightness great. The various things obtain (by it) their full development.

3. The mare is a creature of earthly kind. Its (power of) moving on the earth is without limit; it is mild and docile, advantageous and firm :—such is the course of the superior man.

4. If he take the initiative, he goes astray :‘-he misses, that is, his proper course. ‘If he follow,’ he is docile, and gets into his regular (course). ’ In the south-west he will get friends :‘—he will be walking with those of his own class. ’ In the north-east he will lose friends:’—but in the end there will be ground for congratulation.

5. ‘The good fortune arising from resting in firmness ’ corresponds to the unlimited capacity of the earth.

III. 1. In Kun we have the strong (Khien) and the weak (Khw

n) commencing their intercourse, and difficulties arising.

2. Movement in the midst of peril gives rise to ‘great progress and success, (through) firm correctness.’

3. By the action of the thunder and rain, (which are symbols of K

n and Khan), all (between Heaven and earth) is filled up. But the condition of the time is full of irregularity and obscurity. Feudal princes should be established, but the feeling that rest and peace have been secured should not be indulged (even then).

II. As the writer in expounding the Thwan of hexagram 1 starts from the word ‘heaven.’ so here he does so from the symbolic meaning attached to ‘earth.’ What I have said on the Text about the difference with which the same attributes are ascribed to Khien and Khw

n, appears clearly in paragraph 1. It is the difference expressed by the words that I have supplied,—‘power’ and ‘capacity.’ Khien originates; Khwan produces, or gives birth to what has been originated.

The ‘ penetrating,’ or developing ability of Khwan, as displayed in the processes of growth, is the subject of paragraph 2. the brightness’ refers to the beauty that shines forth in the vegetable and animal worlds.

Paragraph 3 treats of the symbol of the ‘ mare,’ to lead the mind to the course of ‘the superior man,’ the good and faithful minister and servant.

See the note, corresponding to paragraph 4, on the Text. ‘Resting in firmness’ is the normal course of Khw

n. Where it is pursued, the good effect will be great, great as the unlimited capacity of the earth.

IV. 1. In M

ng we have (the trigram for) a mountain, and below it that of a rugged defile with a stream in it. The conditions of peril and arrest of progress (suggested by these) give (the idea in) Mang.

III. Kun is made up of the trigrams K

n and Khan; but according to the views on king W

n’s arrangement of the trigrams, as set forth especially in Appendix V, chap. 14, the six others come from Khien and Khw

n, and are said to be their children. On the first application of Khw

n to Khien, there results K

n, the first line of Khien taking the place of the last of Khw

n ; and on the second application, there results Khan, the middle line of Khien taking the place of that of Khw

n. McClatchie renders here:—‘ The Thun (Kun) diagram represents the hard and the soft (air) beginning to have sexual intercourse, and bringing forth with suffering !’ But there is nothing in the Yî, from the beginning to the end, to justify such an interpretation. Nor do I see how, from any account of the genesis by the component trigrams, the idea of the result as signifying a state of difficulty and distress can be readily made out.

In paragraph 2 there is an attempt from the virtues or attributes assigned to the trigrams to make out the result indicated in the Thwan. To move and excite is the quality of K

n ; perilousness is the quality of Khan. The power to move is likely to produce great effects; to do this in perilous and difficult circumstances requires firmness and correctness. But neither is this explanation very satisfactory.

The first part of paragraph 3 depicts a condition of trouble and disorder in the natural world occasioned by the phenomena that are symbols of the significance of K

n and Khan; but this is symbolical again of the disorder and distress, political and social, characteristic of the time. Good princes throughout the nation would help to remedy that; but the supreme authority should not resign itself to indifference, trusting to them.

2. ‘M

ng indicates that there will be progress and success : ’—for there is development at work in it, and its time of action is exactly what is right. ‘ I do not seek the youthful and inexperienced; he seeks me :’—so does will respond to will. ‘ When he shows (the sincerity that marks) the first recourse to divination, I instruct him:’—for possessing the qualities of the undivided line and being in the central place, (the subject of the second line thus speaks). ‘A second and third application create annoyance, and I do not instruct so as to create annoyance :’—annoyance (he means) to the ignorant.

(The method of dealing with) the young and ignorant is to nourish the correct (nature belonging to them);—this accomplishes the service of the sage.

IV. The trigram Kan has for its symbol in the natural world a mountain, which stands up frowningly, and stops or arrests the progress of the traveller. Stoppage, understood sometimes actively, and sometimes passively, is called the virtue or attribute indicated by it. Khan, as I said on p. 32, has water for its symbol, and especially in the form of rain. Here, however, the water appears as a stream in a difficult defile, such as ordinarily appears on an approach to a mountain, and suggesting perilousness as the attribute of such a position. From the combination of these symbols and their attributes the writer thinks that he gets the idea of the character (not the entire hexagram) M

ng, as symbolical of ignorance and inexperience. See on ‘ the Great Symbolism’ below.

Down to the last sentence of paragraph 2, all that is said is intended to show how it is that the figure indicates progress and success. The whole representation is grounded on the undivided line’s being in the central place. It is the symbol of active effort for the teaching of the ignorant in the proper place and time; this being responded to by the divided fifth line, representing the ignorance to be taught as docile, ‘ will responds to will.’ But the subject of line 2 requires sincerity in the applicant for instruction, and feels that he must make his own teaching acceptable and agreeable. All this serves to bring out the idea of progress and success.

Then finally in the young and ignorant there is ‘a correct nature,’ a moral state made for goodness. The efficient teach...