Zhouyi vs. Yijing

[hermes]

When I was in China I noticed a strong preference for using the title Zhouyi (周易) rather than Yijing. I wonder why this might be. Is the another work referred to as the "Classic of Changes"? Or Might "Zhouyi" refer to the oldest layer of the text without the Ten Wings?

[Taomeow]

There's a number of ways the hexagrams have been arranged.  In fact, the number of ways 32 pairs of trigrams can be arranged is astronomical (a number with 35 zeroes).  The one most used is known as the Zhou sequence (after the Duke of Zhou), and that's the version the term Zhouyi (Changes of Zhou) refers to.  Aka the Fuxi arrangement.  Another one is the King Wen sequence, which is supposed to be much older.  In any event, the term Zhouyi is interchangeable with the term I Ching (Yijing), and so is the term "King Wen sequence" -- a different arrangement of the same 64 hexagrams.  

 

The difference is of much scholarly interest.  For divination, it doesn't matter.   

[remod]

I can't say I'm an expert but my understanding is always been that "Zhouyi" refers to the original text associated with a hexagram and every single line; no additional commentary, no interpretation.

"Yijing" is the general term to refer to that text plus commentaries and interpretations.

[Harmen]

On 25-5-2021 at 5:44 PM, hermes said:

Or Might "Zhouyi" refer to the oldest layer of the text without the Ten Wings?

 

This. When (Chinese) books refer to the Zhouyi they often want to focus on the core text without the Ten Wings, or they want to disassociate with the Confucian tradition that is linked to the Yijing. Many books that talk about Wenwang Gua 文王卦 have Zhouyi in their title because the subject of their book is something that is explicitly not Confucian.