I Ching Resources

[m1thr0s]

:: I Ching Resources ::
§ Resource Contributors §
• deviadah (dev)
• fr.novumorganum (fn)
• imagenerator (im)
• Kain (kn)
• MythMath (mm)
• rivetrenuck (riv)
• Why not you?


http://abrahadabra.com/images/firebullet.sm.gif Introduction:
The I Ching; also called “Book of Changes” or “Classic of Changes”) is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. A symbol system designed to identify order in what seem like chance events, it describes an ancient system of cosmology and philosophy that is at the heart of Chinese cultural beliefs. The philosophy centres on the ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites, the evolution of events as a process, and acceptance of the inevitability of change (see Philosophy, below). In Western cultures, the I Ching is regarded by some as simply a system of divination; many believe it expresses the wisdom and philosophy of ancient China. - source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ching)


http://abrahadabra.com/images/firebullet.sm.gif Internet Resources...
• An Introduction to "Canon of Supreme Mystery" (http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/%7Ensivin/taixuan.html) | The first Neo-Confucianism: an introduction to Yang Hsiung's "Canon of Supreme Mystery". (mm)
• Calling Crane in the Shade (http://www.biroco.com/yijing/index.htm) | Joel Biroco's site on the I Ching. An excellent resource. (fn)
• Hermetica (http://www.hermetica.info/) | This site has a pretty thorough interpretation of the I Ching and other Taoist philosophy. It even includes for each of the hexagrams quotes and Qabalistic corespondences (though I haven't examined them much for their synchronicities or lack therof). (im)
• I Ching, The (http://www.sacred-texts.com/ich/index.htm) | The I Ching, translated by James Legge. (kn)
• I Ching & the Genetic Code (http://forums.abrahadabra.com/showthread.php?t=271) | A thread by m1thr0s (http://forums.abrahadabra.com/member.php?u=20). (dev)
• I Ching on the Net, The (http://pacificcoast.net/%7Ewh/Index.html) | These pages provide links to I Ching resources on the Internet. (riv)
• Tai Xuan Jing Symbols (http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/tai_xuan_jing_symbols.html) | These symbols are used in the ancient Chinese book 'The Elemental Changes', also known as 'The Alternative I Ching'. In unicode. (mm)
• Wikipedia 1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ching) | Wikipedia on I Ching. (dev)
• Wikipedia 2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_Xuan_Jing) | Wikipedia on Tai Xuan Jing. (mm)
• Yijing Hexagram Symbols (http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/yijing_hexagram_symbols.html) | These symbols are used in the ancient Chinese 'Book of Changes', known as the Yijing or I Ching. In unicode. (mm)


http://abrahadabra.com/images/firebullet.sm.gif Downloadable pdf's...
• Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set (http://std.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n2416.pdf) | As the name implies. (mm)
• Unicode (http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1D300.pdf) | Tai Xuan Jing Symbols. (mm)


http://abrahadabra.com/images/firebullet.sm.gif Recommended Books...
• Classical Chinese Combinatorics: Derivation of the Book of Changes Hexagram Sequence (http://www.lulu.com/content/515663) by Richard S Cook | The first and most enigmatic of the Chinese classics is the Book of Changes, and the reasoning behind its binary hexagram sequence remained an unsolved mystery for some 3,000 years (according to the tradition ascribing it to King Wen of Zhou, d. -11th c.). This Monograph resolves the classical enigma: Richard Cook provides a comprehensive analysis of the hexagram sequence, showing that its classification of binary sequences demonstrates knowledge of the convergence of certain linear recurrence sequences (LRS; Pingala -5th c.?, Fibonacci 1202) to division in extreme and mean ratio (DEMR, the “Golden Section” irrational; Pythagoras -6th c.?, Euclid -4th c.). It is shown that the complex hexagram sequence encapsulates a careful and ingenious demonstration of the LRS/DEMR relation, that this knowledge results from general combinatorial analysis, and is reflected in elements emphasized in ancient Chinese and Western mathematical traditions. (mm)
• Rediscovering the I-Ching by Greg Whincup | This book attempts to rediscover the original meaning of the I Ching, which is simpler and more direct than the traditional interpretation followed by other translations. (riv)


Under Construction...


note: contributions to this resource sticky are strongly encouraged.
you can post suggested resources here and we'll bump them up or contact us.
m1thr0s

[m1thr0s]

that's so sad...almost nothing at all.

one of the important things left out of this description is that Yang Hsiung (also Yáng Xióng (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Xiong_%28author%29)) was not actually creating this document from scratch at all. He was employed at the time as the court historian and stumbled upon a very ancient text which he took it upon himself to translate, believing it to be much too important a body of work to let die in the dust as it were.

This point is very often overlooked and it's a very important detail. Archeological finds have traced the actual use of ternary trigrams in ancient China back as far as they have been able to trace the binaries. We don't actually know for sure which system predates which. We only really know that the ternary bigrams fit the LoShu Diagram perfectly where the binary bigrams leave 5 of 9 squares unaccounted for.

The 8 Kua, or binary trigrams, flank the LoShu to the outside edges only leaving the LoShu Square itself technically unaccounted for. Confucius bemoans this fact in his own writings...even in his time a question lingered here.

A Great Mystery indeed...

m1thr0s

[m1thr0s]

If anybody has any idea at all how to actually get in touch with the author Derek Walters, please let me know. I would like to appeal to him to let us have access to a pdf copy of his (now out of print) book on the Tai Hsuan Ching so that we can study it properly. Or even a clean hard copy with permission to make a pdf copy for educational purposes...I don't care.

This is very frustrating for me personally...one of the really core documents supporting my own work can't be fucking accessed by anybody. How the hell am I supposed to engage anybody in intelligent conversations when they only have my word for the history?

Anyway...I've tried to track him down with no luck. They go a great distance to shield these authors for good reason I am sure...but we need to either get his permission or permission through his publisher (Aquarian Press) if they even still exist.

God help us if they check out these forums but it's a risk we just have to take...It's hard to convince anybody that an internet forum might be a serious learning environment.

edit: there's a very thin chance that some library someplace has digitized this book for their own inventory. This might be another route to go as well...

MythMath: Do you have any idea how to download the font that includes the Tai Hsuan Ching Characters? I have seen that unicode page before but it drives me nuts trying to sift through their jargon...where the hell is this thing exactly?

m1thr0s

[Anibis]

What about Michael Nylan? (s)he should be easier to get a hold of... I'll see what I can do...
-Anibis

[m1thr0s]

I'm not real interested in contacting Nylan, but thanks.

Walters' work is much better attuned to the rest of I Ching philosophy as we have it.

m1thr0s

[Dragon]

I now hold in my little claws a pretty clean copy of the Tai Hsuan Ching. m1, it's the real mccoy, 1983 edition with the original cover....not the Alternative I Ching crap that came later...gods! Remember that?....peeps...we were pissed that this invaluable tool was panned for all that new age fluff of the time...it just got lost in the surface clutter as far as the mainstream goes.

HA!

Their loss....But ultimately kind of sad...because it was also a loss for people as a whole.

Creosote brains. Pfft!


m1, I would be happy to share it with you.


Laters -

~D~

[Naomi]

This is the Wilhelm edition I use online, it's got a drop down menu for quick access

http://deoxy.org/iching

[MythMath]

Hey, that's cool and handy...

Maybe one day we can fabricate
something similar for the THC...

[Naomi]

I use the John R Mabry translation, here's a handy site for the text, um, are they supposed to go with tetragrams
s?

http://home.pages.at/onkellotus/index.html