The I-Ching is a Chinese system of divination, a decision making tool, that has survived for over five thousand years. When writing began in China at about that time, about the year 3,000 BC, the I Ching teachings were first recorded. Two thousand more years passed, during which time the I Ching and its teachings flourished.

It is thought that the original teaching came from one individual - Fu Hsi. He is reputed to be the man who first united all of China, becoming her first emperor. He is also credited with leading the Chinese people from the age of hunting and fishing into the age of agriculture. A man of intellect, Fu Hsi, as the story goes, drew from the universe, over a period of time and in stages, a perfect mathematical model of itself, complete with all its conditions and elements of change the sixty-four six-line figures, that the Chinese call "kua".

To form the sixty-four kua of the I Ching, Fu Hsi, surveyed the vast diversities and movements under heaven, saw the ways the movements met and became interrelated, the ways their courses were governed by eternal laws. He thought through the order of the outer world to its end and explored his own nature to its deepest core. He perceived the beginning of all things that lay unmoving, in the beyond, in the form of ideas that have yet to manifest themselves. He put himself in accord withthose ideas and, in so doing, arrived at an understanding of fate.

In the twelfth century BC, the tyrant, Chou Shin, last emperor of the Shang Dynasty ruled. At the same time there also lived a man named Wen, a learned I Ching scholar of rare insight. Wen governed a small province according to I Ching principles and was respected by the people as Chou Shin was hated and feared. The people urged Wen to gather an army and overthrow the tyrant, but Chou Shin heard the rumors and had Wen arrested and put into prison. Wen was allowed to live, but only because of his great popularity.

During the year 1143 BC, he used the I Ching's great wisdom and its divinatory powers to keep himself alive. In Wen's time, there were two versions of the I Ching, Lien Sah and Gai Tsen, and during his time of isolation, he re-interpreted the names of the kua and other portions of the great books. He also changed the order of the kua established by Fu Hsi to the order currently in use in every version of the I Ching. The order of the kua does not in any way affect the readings.

In 1122 BC, Wen's oldest son, Yu, overthrew the tyrant Chou Shin and became king. To honor his father, he bestowed upon him the title of "King," and he was forever after known as King Wen, even though he never ruled as king. King Yu died a few years after becoming king, leaving a thirteen year old son as heir to the throne. The inexperienced youngster obviously was incapable of ruling, so King Wen's younger son, Tan, known as the Duke of Chou, ruled in his stead. King Wen had instructed Tan in the teachings of the I Ching, and it was Tan who, during his reign as acting king, interpreted the meanings of the individual lines. The I Ching was then considered complete. The year was 1109 BC.

Such was the wisdom of King Wen and his sons, derived from study of the I Ching, that they were able to provide a foundation for their dynasty so strong that it lasted for 800 years, the longest in the history of China.

Several hungred more years passed and finally the sage and scholar, Confucius, came on the world scene. In his later years he began the study of the I Ching and when he was past the age of seventy humorously commented, "If some years were added to my life, I would give fifty to the study of the I Ching, and might then escape from falling into great errors." Confucius wrote many commentaries to the Book of Changes, most of which are reproduced in other volumes of the I Ching.

The Concept

The concept of the names of the Hexagrams is important. Because our Western systems of writing are phonetic rather than graphic, we tend to believe that written words are only representations of spoken words. Chinese writing, on the other hand, is historically based on drawings, not sounds, and the earliest written characters were rough sketches or drawings of the objects in question. As time passed, written Chinese became more and more standardized, the drawings came more to represent spoken words, and the pictographic richness of the original drawings began to fade and be forgotten.

It is quite possible that the characters that we now take to be the names of the Hexagrams are actually remnants of illustrations that King Wên used to help him remember and explain the significance of the Hexagrams. Furthermore, it is likely that Wên did not himself conceive these drawings, but that he compiled them from one or more already existing systems of wisdom or divination.

While it is Chinese in its essence, I Ching also contains ideas which are clearly not Chinese, thereby indicating that the writers who have contributed to the texts were acquainted with other cultures. Thus its value is not limited to oriental life styles, but may also be applied around the world.

The I ching views the universe as a natural and well-coordinated system in which the process of change never ceases. It presents human nature and destiny as based on principle and order. It is a practical guide through the perplexities and insecurities of daily life. It roots our actions, experiences and expressions in the fundamental ground of existence. It's beautiful commentaries help to give us the moral strength we need to fulfill our ideals. The loveliness of its images provide endless joys of meditation, study and contemplation.

The heart of the "Book of Change" is in its images. There are sixty-four in all, and any reader must be familiar with the particular meaning of each one, as well as the ways in which one image may change into another image in the course of time. Age-old traditions describing the images through the medium of imaginative verse help the intuitive and psychic personality to disclose the underlying themes. The images have been interpreted from the point of view of many of the world's religions, including Christianity, and they have been related to secular concerns in translations like the one that has guided the affairs of present-day Japan's pre-eminent corporate leader, Matsushita.

The Method

Original I Ching is a creative method for using the ancient archetypes that underlie Wên's illustrations to explore the way our minds work. First, we formulate a question and ask the Oracle for an answer. On the basis of the answer (six lines, divided or undivided, changing or unchanging) we create an Original I Ching Mandala. Lastly, we explore the Mandala for insight into the hidden assumptions, decisions, and beliefs that gave rise to our question.

The basic approach to an I-Ching reading is to throw yarrow sticks, or more often coins. With the coins, heads or tails and the number of each determine the value of the toss. Six tosses generate the six lines of the hexagram. Each possible combination has a text connected to it. In addition, each line has a particular meaning. Sometimes the translation from Chinese to English doesn't make sense at first. If you put yourself in place of a Chinese person in a less modern society, you begin to experience the value of the oracle. It allows you to relate to your environment, to people, and even to yourself in new and interesting ways. Generally the I-Ching relates to a current situation, telling you one way to evaluate all that is happening to you. You naturally have the choice to accept its interpretation.