Influence of the I Ching
As an important component of Chinese culture, the I Ching, a text over 3,000 years old, is believed to be one of the world's oldest books. The two major branches of Chinese philosophy, Confucianism and Taoism have common roots in the I Ching.[1][2]
Significance for Chinese culture
[edit]From its mythological origins in prehistory (see Fu Xi) and the earliest dates of recorded history in China, the I Ching has been added to by a succession of philosophers, scholars and rulers. Thus, it reflects a thread of thinking and a common cosmology that have been passed through successive generations. In addition to the I Ching's broadly recognized influence on Confucianism and Taoism, it has been shown to have influenced Chinese Buddhism. Fazang, patriarch of the Huayan school, is believed to have drawn on a mode of thought derived from the I Ching.[4]
One of the earliest versions of the I Ching (called, Zhou I, or Changes of Zhou) was the oracle of the Zhou. It played a role in their overthrow of the Shang dynasty by Zhou King Wu in 1070 BCE. An account of Wu's conquest tells of a solar eclipse believed by the King to be an omen from Heaven to march against the Shang. This account has been matched with a solar eclipse that occurred on June 20, 1070 BCE. Thus, the earliest layer of the I Ching has been shown to preserve a hidden history that went undetected for three millennia.[5] The Zhou Yi has been called one of the most important sources of Chinese culture. It has influenced fields as varied as mathematics, science, medicine, martial arts, philosophy, history, literature, art, ethics, military affairs and religion.
Joseph Campbell describes the I Ching as "an encyclopedia of oracles, based on a mythic view of the universe that is fundamental to all Chinese thought."[6]
Confucius
[edit]Confucius was fascinated by the I Ching and kept a copy in the form of "a set of bamboo tablets fastened by a leather thong, [which] was consulted so often that the binding had to be replaced three times. [Confucius] said that if he had fifty years to spare, he would devote them to the I Ching."[7] The ten commentaries of Confucius, (or Ten Wings), transformed the I Ching from a divination text into a "philosophical masterpiece".[8] It has influenced Confucians and other philosophers and scientists ever since.[8]
Influence on Japan
[edit]Prior to the Tokugawa period (1603–1868 CE) in Japan, the Book of Changes was little known and used mostly for divination until Buddhist monks popularized the Chinese classic for its philosophical, cultural and political merits in other literate groups such as the samurai.[9] The Hagakure, a collection of commentaries on the Way of the Warrior, cautions against mistaking it for a work of divination.[10]
Influence on Western culture
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- American historian Michael Nylan, representing UC Berkeley noted the considerable influence of the I Ching on intellectuals in Europe and America. She stated that it is the most familiar of the five Chinese classics, and without doubt, the best-known Chinese book that laid the foundation of modern Western culture beginning the 17th century.[11]
- German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz[11] was keenly interested in the I Ching, and translated I-Ching binary system into modern binary system.[3]
- When Danish Physicist Niels Bohr was awarded Denmark's highest honor and the opportunity to create a family coat of arms, he chose the yin-yang symbol, and Latin motto contraria sunt complementa, "opposites are complementary",[12] a nod to his Principle of Complementarity.
- Musician and composer John Cage used the I Ching to decide the arrangements of many of his compositions.
- The hip-hop music group Dead Prez refer to the I Ching in several of their songs and in their logo.
- Author Philip K. Dick used the I Ching when writing The Man in the High Castle and including it in the story as a theme.
- Author Hermann Hesse's 1943 novel The Glass Bead Game is mainly concerned with the principles of the I Ching.
- Psychologist Carl Jung wrote a foreword to the Wilhelm–Baynes translation of the I Ching.
- The writer Raymond Queneau had a long-standing fascination with the I Ching.[13]
References
[edit]- ^ Wilhelm, Richard; Baynes, Cary F.; Carl Jung; Hellmut Wilhelm (1967). The I Ching or Book of Changes. Bollingen Series XIX (3 ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (1st ed. 1950). ISBN 0-691-09750-X. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
- ^ Wilhelm, Richard; Baynes, Cary F. (5 December 2005). Dan Baruth (ed.). "Introduction to the I Ching". Archived from the original on 16 August 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
- ^ a b Perkins, Franklin. Leibniz and China: A Commerce of Light. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. p 117. Print.
- ^ Lai, Whalen (1980). "The I-ching and the Formation of the Hua-yen Philosophy". Journal of Chinese Philosophy. 7 (3). D. Reidel Publishing: 245–258. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6253.1980.tb00239.x. Retrieved 12 February 2006.
- ^ Marshall, S.J. (August 2002). The Mandate of Heaven: Hidden History in the I Ching. Columbia University Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-231-12299-3. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
- ^ Campbell, Joseph (12 April 1962). The masks of God: Oriental mythology. Viking Press. p. 411. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
- ^ Needham, J. (1991). Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 2, History of Scientific Thought. Cambridge University Press. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-521-05800-1.
- ^ a b Abraham, Ralph H. (1999). "Chapter 1. Legendary History of the I Ching". Archived from the original on 19 February 2007. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Internet Archive copy. (See also the whole work by Ralph H. Abraham: ) - ^ Wai-ming Ng (2000). The I ching in Tokugawa thought and culture. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-0-8248-2242-2. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
- ^ Yamamoto Tsunetomo; William Scott Wilson (trans.) (21 November 2002). Hagakure: the book of the samurai. Kodansha International. p. 144. ISBN 978-4-7700-2916-4. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
- ^ a b Nylan, Michael (2001). The Five "Confucian" Classics. Yale University Press. pp. 204–206. ISBN 978-0-300-08185-5. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
- ^ I.G. Bearden (17 May 2010). "Bohr family crest". Niels Bohr Institute (University of Copenhagen). Archived from the original on 29 October 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
- ^ Smith, Richard J. (2012). The "I Ching": A Biography. Princeton University Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-1400841622. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
External links
[edit]- "Between past and present" Shanghai Star 2004-10-09. Accessed: 2006-01-10.
- I Ching Web Edition
- I Ching AI Provides an AI - adapted version of classic text