The Book of Changes (I Ching 易经) is an ancient Chinese oracle book. The book consists of 64 chapters, and a series of appendages known as the "Ten Wings". The origin of the book is shrouded in mystery: the classical tradition dates back to King Wen and the Duke of Chou (around 1100 BC), it seems likely that the main body dates back at least to the eighth century BC, and the latest comments of the century BC III (period Warring States).
Tradition attributes to Confucius (Kung Tzu, 551-478 BC) the preparation of comments and part of the Appendices. In a piece of the Yü Mon Confucius says that if he had still fifty years of life they would be dedicated to the study of the I Ching. The West became aware of this extraordinary and unique book in 1854, with the first translation made by J. Law.
The symbols described in the book consist of a series of horizontal lines superimposed (hsiao), some solid or continuous lines (yang), some broken, that consist of two segments separated by a space (yin lines). All combinations of three lines are the eight trigrams, with six lines are built 64 esagrammi, o kua; ad ogni esagramma è riservato un capitolo.
Lo I Ching esprime una filosofia che sta alla base del pensiero cinese e in particolare di quello taoista: tutta la realtà nasce da due principi fondamentali e complementari: lo yang (o principio attivo, maschile, creativo) e lo yin (passivo, femminile, ricettivo); tali principi non sono considerati come opposti e irriducibili, nè dotati di attributi morali (il bene contro il male), ma perennemente destinati a fondersi e dividersi in vari modi e in un ciclo infinito. L'essenza della realtà è in sostanza il mutamento.
Da qui deriva la base oracolare del libro: conoscere la realtà significa conoscere il flusso del mutamento, e hence whether and when to support this flow, or whether it is convenient (or possible) to oppose it. In many cases, the I Ching answered by advising not to act, according to the dictates of the Taoist Wu Wei, past actions or inaction. The I Ching does not require a specific future to events, rather it describes the various probabilities in the present moment. The term "superior man" (Chüntzû) indicates that the test has the knowledge to make the best known, deciding to act or not act.
Italian versions translated from other languages \u200b\u200b
| Curator | Edition | Original | Translation |
| R. Wilhelm | Astrolabe | German (1923) | (1950) L. Agresti |
Resources
* Personal blog on I Ching
* Collection books on I Ching (Italian) *
Collection Web site (several languages)
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