Beginning I Ching

[Moth]

I have read various parts of different texts explaining the I-Ching, but I feel myself easily discouraged by the amount of I-Ching translations out there. The only thing really stopping me from using the book is the fear of picking the wrong translation, and becoming misdirected or confused, or god forbid, "enlightened". So I turn to you people here. Which translation would you recommend, which would you stay away from, and why?

[Cloudhand]

Aleister Crowleys is the best, some say he is to modern but they have not read it, try it you can get it free around the internet.

 

 

[Sloppy Zhang]

I was lucky enough to find a very good copy of one at a used bookstore. Trying to find it on the net, it's pretty impossible, I can't find it anywhere Anyway, it's by Stephen Karcher, there is a new one on Amazon but I honestly don't know how it will compare to this.

 

The thing with the edition I have is that in addition to just the meanings, it actually gives all possible translations for certain keywords. So while you might miss out on the full meaning and all the possible nuances by not reading it in the original language, it pretty much gives you all the possible meanings in English. The only downside is that in some cases it makes the text look very intimidating and hard to digest.

 

But a good thing about it is that in the beginning it goes over divination methods, various different histories on how the I Ching came about, as well as it gives introduction to different theories, such as the five element theory, how the hexagrams and trigrams change, and things like that, before it gets into the hexagrams.

 

The 1950 Willhelm translations is available here: http://deoxy.org/iching it's just a translation of the hexagrams, and just one straightforward translation, so I'm sure there's lots of meaning and context that is left out which people might take an objection to, but for the straight beginner, it's not bad.

[trailmaker]

Am most accustomed to the Richard Wilhelm translation...

[Mutualist]

http://www.alexchiu.com/philosophy/superichingtuaybaytu.htm

[Sloppy Zhang]

James Legge's translation is here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/ich/index.htm

 

When I was searching for Aleister Crowley's version of the I Ching, I came across a review of it here: http://www.biroco.com/yijing/redflame.htm where it says Crowley had Legge's translation and wrote at the beginning 'Wood N' Legge which made me

 

(there is a link to Crowley's actual copy of the text is in the "links" section of that website... in fact, here it is: http://www.biroco.com/yijing/links.htm and then the actual work it sent me to: http://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib216.html)

 

http://www.alexchiu.com/philosophy/superichingtuaybaytu.htm

 

that was another one of the links the website I mentioned earlier links too. Fun stuff.

Edited May 11, 2010 by Sloppy Zhang

[~jK~]

I have read various parts of different texts explaining the I-Ching, but I feel myself easily discouraged by the amount of I-Ching translations out there. The only thing really stopping me from using the book is the fear of picking the wrong translation, and becoming misdirected or confused, or god forbid, "enlightened". So I turn to you people here. Which translation would you recommend, which would you stay away from, and why?

 

In studying the I Ching the levels of communication of the ancient Chinese become increasingly apparent.

 

First point that needs to be understood is that I Ching is a style of writing that was developed so as to examine a subject from 8 major perspectives with many minor variations.

 

In Chinese they use the term 'Ba Gua' which literally means 'Language of 8' when refering to the I Ching or, as they like to call it: 'Yi Jing'. Yi is an ancient dialect meaning 'Changes of the Sun and Moon enghtenment: which is Chinese for the term: "Understanding".

 

First book to get is 'The Pocket I Ching' http://www.amazon.com/Pocket-I-Ching-W-S-Boardman/dp/1850630003

An essential point of the book is to understand that it is describing Governing.

It is a very simplified version of the King Wen,Duke of Chow classic I Ching known as the Richard Wilhelm Translation.

 

Second book would be: The Buddhist I Ching (Shambhala Dragon Editions) [Paperback]

Chih-Hsu Ou-I Translated by Thomas Cleary

http://www.amazon.com/Buddhist-Ching-Shambhala-Dragon-Editions/dp/1570626030

There is not only one subject covered by the I Chng but to ate, I have found 4 subjects.

 

Enough for now.

When you are ready to ask questions, write me direct - just click on the Flower of Life and use the informatiion in my profile to E-mail me direct.

[the latest freed]

When I took a Chinese Literature course in undergrad, the professor had us use the Kerson and Rosemary Huang translation of the I-Ching. Kerson Huang is a Chinese-American physicist and Rosemary, his wife, is a poet (though I haven't read any of her work). This translation claims to strip away "more than two millenia of interpretive distortion and dogma superimposed on the text by successive generations of scholars." I don't know how valid that is, but I do find it to be a good text. The thing I like most about the book is that, before getting to the I-Ching itself, there are several chapters on the history and basic concepts of the book, and a pretty clear description of how to do a reading. The Huangs also provide a line-by-line interpretation of each hexagram beside their translations, along with a paragraph of commentary and summation of the hexagram in layman's terms. This makes it much easier for the beginning reader to begin to interpret the text. However, as you grow in your understanding of the nuances and various meanings of the text, another translation may be necessary. I already feel myself outgrowing it a little. While I still sometimes refer to the Huangs' interpretations, I have begun to find it more beneficial for me to derive the meaning of the hexagrams from the translations on my own. But, as I said, it's a very good, strong text for a beginner. Hope this helps!