Non-random Yijing consultation

[SirPalomides]

When I was a lad I had a copy of Thomas Cleary's pocket I Ching that gave instructions for consulting it, not using coins or yarrow stalks, but selecting pairs of trigrams based on their appropriateness to the situation at hand and turning to the relevant hexagrams. He based this method on an ancient appendix which, in typical Thomas Cleary fashion, he neither named nor cited. I haven't seen this method mentioned anywhere else and wondered if others knew more about it.

[Taomeow]

29 minutes ago, SirPalomides said:

When I was a lad I had a copy of Thomas Cleary's pocket I Ching that gave instructions for consulting it, not using coins or yarrow stalks, but selecting pairs of trigrams based on their appropriateness to the situation at hand and turning to the relevant hexagrams. He based this method on an ancient appendix which, in typical Thomas Cleary fashion, he neither named nor cited. I haven't seen this method mentioned anywhere else and wondered if others knew more about it.

 

The source of this may be the Plum Blossom Oracle method, although it is different -- at least the variety I've been taught, which combines the traditional yarrow or coins toss with observing the situation at hand, paying particular attention to certain features -- e.g. particular birds, dreams, weather phenomena, etc.  Whether that's what TC had in mind I don't know.  

 

 

[Zhongyongdaoist]

5 hours ago, SirPalomides said:

When I was a lad I had a copy of Thomas Cleary's pocket I Ching that gave instructions for consulting it, not using coins or yarrow stalks, but selecting pairs of trigrams based on their appropriateness to the situation at hand and turning to the relevant hexagrams. He based this method on an ancient appendix which, in typical Thomas Cleary fashion, he neither named nor cited. I haven't seen this method mentioned anywhere else and wondered if others knew more about it.

 

I don't have a specific reference, but there are passages in both the Neiyi and Zhongyong that point to the theoretical basis of this and its root in ancient Chinese physiologica/spiritual cultivation and cosmology, which you might find interesting and some suggestions as to how to proceed to develop the ability which you describe.  There are also magical procedures which go back a long time such as the invocation of the Eight Archivists, which is described in the Daozang, as well as an interesting procedure which Professor Jerry Alan Johnson gives in his books involving "mudras".  I don't have much time now, but I will try to post some of this in the next few days.

 

ZYD

[Zhongyongdaoist]

The first thing to understand is what is called the Macrocosm/Microcosm analogy, the notion of a fundamental link be similarity between the world at large, the Macrocosm, and its reflection on a human level, us Microcosms.  I have posted about it in many places I will copy one of them that brings in both Greek Classicism and Confucianism here:

 

On 11/5/2014 at 9:44 AM, Zhongyongdaoist said:

The notion that all one needs to know is oneself is founded on the Microcosm/Macrocosm analogy, well represented by this quote attributed to Paracelsus:

 

Quote

If I have manna in my constitution, I can attract manna from heaven. Melissa is not only in the garden, but also in the air and in heaven. Saturn is not only in the sky, but also deep in the ocean and Earth. What is Venus but the artemisia that grows in your garden, and what is iron but the planet Mars? That is to say, Venus and Artemisia are both products of the same essence, while Mars and iron are manifestations of the same cause. What is the human body but a constellation of the same powers that formed the stars in the sky? He who knows Mars knows the qualities of iron, and he who knows what iron is knows the attributes of Mars. What would become of your heart if there were no Sun in the Universe? What would be the use of your 'Vasa Spermatica* if there were no Venus? To grasp the invisible elements, to attract them by their material correspondences, to control, purify, and transmute, them by the ever-moving powers of the living spirit—this is true Alchemy." (Burgoyne, Thomas H., The Light of Egypt, H. O. Wagner, Denver, Colorado, USA, 1965, Vol. II, p. 63, I have not been able to otherwise source this quote attributed to Paracelsus)

 

In the West it became fundamental to Metaphysics and Ontology, but originated as an Epistimological theory:

Like is only known by like in Empedocles

 

because it solves a lot of problems created both by Parmenides on the one hand and the early Greek Atomists on the other.

This doctrine was worked out by Plato in a very profound way and continued to influence Western Philosophy up to Hegel.

 

It existed in China as can be seen in this quote from the Confucian, Mencius:

Quote

7A:4
萬物皆備於我矣。反身而誠、樂莫大焉。彊恕而行、求仁莫近焉。
(Mencius at The Chinese Text Project)

I prefer this translation to the one on The Chinese Text Project:

"All the ten thousand things are there in me. There is no greater joy for me than to find, on self-examination, that I am true to myself. Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence."
(D. C. Lau, Mencius, Penguin Books, 1970, p. 182, Emphasis mine, ZYD)

 

and was also used in Daoism.

 

The next important concept is that of Li, in its sense of principle, meaning in this case, fundamental pattern, and its use in cosmology, both Chinese and Western.  While I will post about this here, I have posted about it in A Science of Wu Wei? beginning here:

 

On 11/11/2018 at 6:49 AM, Zhongyongdaoist said:

I found Western Classical Philosophy particularly Aristotle's Four Causes and his concept of the "unmoved mover", better translated as "unchanged changer", to be very useful in modeling wu wei.

 

In subsequent posts I examine the relationship between Aristotle's matter/form cosmology and Chinese Li/Qi cosmology, quoting from the Neiye, Dao De Jing and Zhuangzi, and I will develop these ideas in the light of passages from the Neiye, Zhongyong, and Zhuangzi, and will expand on ideas that I posted in Confucian Qi gong, which SirPalomides has recently bumped for the edification of those who may be interested.

 

I will post more shortly.

 

ZYD

[SirPalomides]

On ‎2‎/‎10‎/‎2020 at 3:07 PM, Taomeow said:

 

The source of this may be the Plum Blossom Oracle method, although it is different -- at least the variety I've been taught, which combines the traditional yarrow or coins toss with observing the situation at hand, paying particular attention to certain features -- e.g. particular birds, dreams, weather phenomena, etc.  Whether that's what TC had in mind I don't know.  

 

 

 

For anyone interested I finally found something from the Plum Blossom method, as explained in Da Liu's book I Ching Numerology and some missing information supplied by Harmen Mesker. I'm not sure if it's quite what Taomeow was taught because it doesn't use yarrow stalks or coins at all. Basically there are two approaches called Earlier Heaven and Later Heaven, and the one I had in mind is the Later Heaven. The hexagram is determined by observing some object  and taking note of the hour and direction. The object determines the upper trigram, the direction the lower trigram, and the hour, combined with the numbers of the trigrams, determines the moving line (there is only one moving line in the plum blossom method.)