Essay - I Ching Ching Is A Form of Divination Used in...

I Ching

Ching is a form of divination used in Ch*****a for the prediction of many affairs, both personal and affairs of the state. "I" or yi means change. "Ching" or ying ***** book. There*****e it is known in English as the Book ***** Changes. It is based on the philosophy that everything in ***** universe is constantly changing. The I Ching reflects this process of changes ***** gives a w*****y to interpret the way ***** energy is flowing at any particular moment.

When an answer ***** needed for a decision, the questioner poses a question ***** ***** oracle.

***** put, the tossing ***** coins helps you ***** a group of lines (trigrams and hexagrams) that lead to a better understanding of one's present and future s*****uation. Trigrams are a series ***** three ***** (ei*****r solid or broken lines) while hexagrams are comprised of six. Once a pattern ***** lines is formed, the oracle book is consulted for answers to the ***** posed ***** it.

***** I ***** has a long history. The earliest ***** ********** of ***** in China dates from the early Shang Dynasty. It involved heating the bones of animals in a fire and studying the cracks ***** developed in them. The traces ***** this early form of divination are still ***** in part ***** the four oldest idegrams: I Ching, Yuan, Heng, and LiChen. They represent the ***** seasons, and also the qualities of fundamentality, success, fitness, ***** perseverance. [Wei, 2002]

***** ***** Shang ***** (1523-1028 BC), questions that could be answered with a "yes" or ***** "no" were written on tortoise shells. The shells were heated, then doused in water, which caused them to crack. A ***** crack, was interpreted as a "no" answer, an unbroken crack, ***** a "yes." The I ***** elaborates on *****, by grouping the lines into sets ***** threes (***** trigrams) and ***** sets of sixes (the hexagrams). The oracle ***** used to ask about affairs of the state, war, proposed marriages, and ***** birth of a princess. [Wei, 2002]

The texts of the I Ching, as we know them now, began to be written down about 1000 BC. It was also at this time that the yarrow stalk method of divination was created. ***** had the very important effect of making ***** much easier, more practical, and more widely available. What had once been the prerogative of the emperor alone gradually spread throughout literate mainstream Chinese society. And of course the oracle was *****ed a steadily widening range ***** ***** about more personal matters, similar to the way it is ***** today. [Wei, 2002]

No one really knows how old ***** oldest interpretations of the I Ching are. The oldest ***** can date reliably are to the 8th century BC. References in it have been historically identified to the time. In *****, the Judgement of Hexagram 35 refers to Price Kang, a Chou prince who is known ***** have abandoned the name 'Kang' shortly after the Chou conquest. [Wei,