Mastering the Yijing

[Kongming]

How would one traditionally become a master of the Yijing? I am sure to become a master would be no easy task, but what would be involved?

 

For example, I am sure part of mastering the Yijing would be to memorize the hexagrams and their relations, meanings, etc. so when one casts (coins, yarrow stalks, etc.) one wouldn't have to reference the text to understand the outcome, being able to just look at the hexagrams and know, especially through the training of one's intuition.

 

This of course is mastering the divinatory aspect of the Yijing, but what about the metaphysical, spiritual, or magical/occult aspects of the Yijing? What would mastery of these areas involve?

 

Does anyone have any good book recommendations on these topics?

 

Thanks in advance.

[vonkrankenhaus]

I have not found one book that could productively explain any of it to a western reader.

 

But this book linked below might be seen as having some basic info:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Ching-The-Book-Changes-Unchanging/dp/0937064815

 

 

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

[mostly_empty]

I don't mean to be facetious, but consult the Yijing for a response! 

 

Disclaimer <not a master of anything!!!!!!!!>

[Kongming]

I have not found one book that could productively explain any of it to a western reader.

 

But this book linked below might be seen as having some basic info:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Ching-The-Book-Changes-Unchanging/dp/0937064815

 

 

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

 

Thanks, I've had this one on my wishlist for a while now but haven't gotten around to purchasing it. Since I found it for cheap I recently purchased Alfred Huang's The Numerology of the I Ching but have not read it yet so cannot comment on the content. It's a shame that English sources of some of the more esoteric or in depth looks at the Yijing are scarce and often expensive.

 

 

I don't mean to be facetious, but consult the Yijing for a response! 

 

Disclaimer <not a master of anything!!!!!!!!>

 

I was anticipating this response, just surprised it was soon soon haha.

[Daeluin]

With all things, I would imagine it takes mastering one's self to truly understand anything else. Fortunately it would appear the yijing may be used as a tool to help one peel back layer upon layer until one reaches the root.

 

There are so many ways the yijing may be applied and studied. The monthly hexagram cycle. Feng shui. Wen Wang Gua. The magic square. Alchemy. Bagua quan. He luo li shu. Plumb blossom numerology. And so on.

 

Reading multiple translations is a given. But one needs to also bring it into one's life, make it a part of who one is.

 

I used the calculations in a he luo li shu book to calculate "daily hexagram lines", which followed a new hexagram every six days based on the calendar. Each day was a new line. By studying this sequence I was opening it and making it a part of my life. This slow study allowed each new day to unfold and slowly bring new wisdom and reflections to me. Later I realized the calculations did not match what the original he luo li shu text called for. However it was opening the sequence and giving it energy over a long period of time that brought it to life and allowed me to listen to it better. Since then I've done this with other cycles, and learned much from this slow approach.

 

There are standing and moving meditations that use different postures for the trigrams and hexagrams, and might differ depending on whether houtian or xiantian energies are being focused on. Feeling the elemental forces within is another way to receive the wisdom of the yi. Then one can leave the mind behind and become one with the change, allow it to deeply integrate within, and meditate on the imprinting each dynamic has left behind.

 

All changes are one. Each hexagram should ultimately be able to lead one to the heart of change, the changeless. One should be able to look at anything and intuitively understand the myriad of forces operating on it. Some types of change are timeless, inherent at all times, though perhaps more strong or weak in their presence. Some types of change will be very dominant in a particular phenomena, but on deeper layers more subtle changes become evident. The yijing globe is a fascinating study of how all the symbols combine to form a whole, and how every whole embodies this collection of principles, be it a person, an organ within the person, a cell within the organ, a molecule within the cell, an atom within the molecule, and so on. Too it embodies the connection of the spiritual elements to all of these physical elements, and not only does it show the lines, but it shows what is between the lines.

 

I've been told one may study the yijing for a lifetime.

I imagine one only masters change by returning to the eternal.

[Daeluin]

Da Lui has an interesting introduction on Shao Yong, in his book I Ching Numerology:

 

Shao Yung was born in 1011 in the town of Fan-Yang in the Hopeh Province of northern China. His parents were poor peasant farmers. From them he learned to plant, plough, cut wood, and provide for his own needs. They also taught him to respect the classics and learn from them.

 

As a young boy Shao Yung began to devote himself to studying the classical knowledge of the day. Such was his reputation as a student that the philosopher Li Chih Ts'ai offered to teach him the principles of Taoism and the lore of the I Ching.

 

Shao Yung became and ardent student of Li Chih Ts'ai and from him received instruction in the traditional works of the School of Symbol and Number. This school, known as Hsiang Shu P'ai, concentrated on the use of the I Ching for astrology, prediction, and numerology. Its teachings, many of which were in the form of elaborate charts, tables, and diagrams, originated with the famous Taoist Ch'en Tuan and had been passed on through a succession of Taoist scholars. Their ideas were close to the original spirit of Fu Hsi, the inventor of the eight trigrams.

 

Secluding himself in a nearby forest, Shao Yung studied the I Ching and its commentaries from the School of Symbol and Number. So diligently did he apply himself that he was totally oblivious to heat, cold, or his own comfort. He split apart his books an covered the walls of his shelter with their pages, so that whether sitting or lying down he could study the subtle changes of the sixty-four hexagrams.

 

It goes on to describe some very synchronistic occurrences that were perhaps the reward of his deep sincerity. I have come to experience some similar synchronistic events related to my studies in the yi (which happened to be while I was studying some of Shao Yong's techniques). Excitedly I shared these events with my teacher and he merely smiled and said that's how it works.

[Daeluin]

I have also come to look more deeply into the metaphysical chinese calendar. It is very five element based, and so heavily relies upon those principles. Shao Yong's he luo li shu uses it to perform numerological calculations to identify hexagrams which pertain to one's entire life, so I figured it would be worth studying.

 

It ended up unlocking quite a bit more for me, as both medical and alchemical texts also reference the principles within the calendar system.

 

Also the calendar system, well, the cycle of sixty stem-branch combinations known as the sexagenary cycle, appears to be tied into the system of pitch-pipes, ie music theory. In his Book of Changes and the Unchanging Truth, Ni Hua Ching has a chart:

 

 

The cantong qi also hints at studying the series of pitch-pipes and the calendar and the yijing together, so I figured I should do so, but this chart left me struggling.

 

Meanwhile I had heard of another book that goes into a system known as nayin, which can be read about here. It takes the 60 pairs and follows a procedure to combine the two elements into one element. These new elements are more unique, such as lamp fire vs heavenly fire, or metal used in forging or the metal left over in the furnace, and so on. I haven't been able to discover much more about the pattern behind these names so I was curious about this new book.

 

When it came I was startled to discover that this nayin system is actually the one referred to in the theory of musical note changes. Excitedly I read that it is apparently described in the classics very similarly to the yijing, with an Upper and Lower Cannon. The two distinctly different appearing systems turned out to be one system. Not only does this simplify them both, there are multiple perspectives to approach studying them from now, especially if I am able to connect them back to help understand how music theory might relate to the received sequence of the yijing.

 

Often I find there are hints and clues like this, but it takes doing the work to make sense of it. Drawing out my own charts, using colored pens to help the patterns emerge in different ways, and so on, allows me to work around the circumference of the pattern, shifting my perspective enough until the center, the heart of it, begins to finally emerge.

 

 

 

I don't know a whole lot about the traditional ways of studying these arts, but it occurs to me there is one common theme with all of this: the direct correlation of hard work to quality of skill: kung fu.

[Daeluin]

Thanks, I've had this one on my wishlist for a while now but haven't gotten around to purchasing it.

 

I second this recommendation - the first edition has lots of sometimes has less expensive used copies available. There is an intro that goes into the cosmological numerics with some detail.

 

Since I found it for cheap I recently purchased Alfred Huang's The Numerology of the I Ching but have not read it yet so cannot comment on the content. It's a shame that English sources of some of the more esoteric or in depth looks at the Yijing are scarce and often expensive.

 

From the reviews it seems this book mentions the 3 dimensional aspect of the 8 trigrams, something I've found missing in other sources, so I've ordered this. Thanks!

 

And it appears there is a newly published book (ah, just the paperback version is new) that also touches upon the Xiang Shu (image and number school, Hsiang Shu P'ai from above) tradition. Unfortunately is rather expensive.

 

While the yili (meaning and pattern) tradition might be helpful for applying the yi for guidance, it does follow that understanding the mathematics behind the yi would help one in its mastery. This is interesting, as the yi, while certainly founded on mathematical principles, is still based on circular phenomena and might defy a mathematician who merely follows a linear tact without allowing operation of the intuition.

 

In that sense perhaps it is also important to mention the Taoist I Ching by Liu Yiming and translated by Thomas Cleary, which is both mathematically principled and mystical.

[Wilhelm]

Hmmm, I read something about this in Bruce Frantzis's 2016 new years letter (source).  I'll see if I can find something more detailed.

For many years I was constantly being asked to teach the I Ching - Book of Changes, the classic guidebook in Taoism.  I have always said that it would take me a minimum of ten years and would require a retreat center.  To learn and embody the I Ching is not a weekend workshop it is a multi-year training...

[Kongming]

So what would be a practical first step? Memorizing the bagua and the 64 hexagrams?

 

Also, for one working within a Daoist framework and pursuing Daoist goals, which would be the best way to approach the Yijing? Alfred Huang in the work previously mentioned in the thread states that the School of Symbol and Number is the "Daoist" school of the Yijing and if that's the case I imagine that would be worth focusing on, but what about the Yijing's relationship to neidan?

[Taoist Texts]

In that sense perhaps it is also important to mention the Taoist I Ching by Liu Yiming and translated by Thomas Cleary,  

Cleary's translations are acceptable for simpler chinese texts, but not this one. He has mangled the original to the degree of a  total misinterpretation of  the meaning.

 

 but what about the Yijing's relationship to neidan?

a couple of trigrams are borrowed in neidan to superficially  illustrate one or two of its  main ideas. beyond that, there is no relationship, except in the minds of those who do not understand neidan.

[Daeluin]

So what would be a practical first step? Memorizing the bagua and the 64 hexagrams?

 

That would definitely be a way of bringing it more deeply into your life. The more you study each image over time, the more depth may emerge.

 

The trigrams have their own nuances, and behave like elemental forces. In the yijing they are describing change that happens within polarity - one elemental force resting upon another elemental force. In internal alchemy there is a dynamic of self and other, or "my house" and "the other house", which is similar to consciousness and subconsciousness. One's awareness of identity tends to remain in the consciousness, but the subconscious is just as much a part of who one is, yet it has fallen into a pit so to say, following the dynamic of the elemental force of K'an. Thus the yijing is very much describing the principles of the whole within a polarized system, and these principles may be utilized to understand how to merge the polarity back into a unity.

 

Also, for one working within a Daoist framework and pursuing Daoist goals, which would be the best way to approach the Yijing? Alfred Huang in the work previously mentioned in the thread states that the School of Symbol and Number is the "Daoist" school of the Yijing and if that's the case I imagine that would be worth focusing on, but what about the Yijing's relationship to neidan?

 

The cantong qi is a neidan text which goes deeply into daoist cosmology and use of the hexagrams. The translation by Fabrizio Pregadio is filled with scholarly notes which greatly help one to comprehend the mystery. Naturally every commentator brings their own bias, but I appreciate very much that Pregadio's commentary comes as an objective filtering of many other commentaries.

 

It is also well mentioned that the Thomas Cleary translation of the Taoist I Ching might be misleading if one is not familiar with how Cleary's translation of some fundamental taoist concepts differs from that of other translators.