The Book of Changes (I Ching), with the Commentaries on the Judgements and Images

Introduction

The Book of Changes is the oldest of the Chinese classics, honoured as 'the first of all the classics'. Its broken and unbroken lines form eight trigrams, which combined in pairs make sixty-four hexagrams; each hexagram has a judgement and each line a text, originally used for divination. Tradition says that Fu Xi drew the trigrams, King Wen wrote the judgements and Confucius the commentaries, and these 'Ten Wings' turned a book of divination into a profound work of philosophy. 'Heaven moves with vigour; so the noble person strengthens himself without ceasing' comes from the Commentary on the Images. This volume translates the whole of the canonical text with the Commentaries on the Judgements and on the Images. The idea of change at its heart shaped every part of Chinese philosophy, and fascinated Western thinkers from Leibniz to Jung.