I Ching Community Discussion Forum: What if the I Ching doesn’t know? Quale started this thread by asking: “Do you think the answers the I Ching gives come from inside (from your subconscious) or outside (from the universe, or the cosmos or whatever)? I remember reading a theory saying that… Read more »What if the I Ching doesn’t know?
Harmen has put together a stunning ‘reading list’ of online articles on Yi and early China. Here it is – impressive stuff.
I’ve just been looking at an article by Edward Shaughnessy about the Fuyang Zhouyi: a fragmentary copy of the earliest part of the Yi, dating from 165BC. And what struck me most forcibly was how little has changed. The fragments show hexagram and line texts more or less identical to… Read more »A living tradition
While researching for the ‘journeys’ session I came across this page of research results of Anthony Barbieri-Low. Scroll down to the last one on the page, and you’ll find a beautifully clear reconstruction of a Shang chariot. A little below this there is a link to an animation of the… Read more »Strength in the axle straps of a great chariot
Hexagram 37, People in the Home, defines a safe space. Within it we can find our place with one another, and become confident enough in our own identities that we can eventually reach out beyond its walls.
The first line of the hexagram sets up those all-important walls:
‘With barriers, there is a home.
Regrets vanish.’
It’s a very clear line: walls create a home; they separate ‘inside’ from ‘outside’, so there can be a secure, close-knit group within. In readings, this line very often points to the need to set limits, to have ground rules, without which there can be no mutual understanding. Fences, as Wu Jing Nuan comments on this line, make good neighbours.
I find it makes a difference if instead of drawing each line of my hexagram as I go, I draw it first in my mind’s eye. Closing my eyes and visualising clear, creamy paper, and drawing on each line with a broad-nibbed pen. Or keeping my eyes open and seeing… Read more »Writing hexagrams in the air
OK, so that one lasted 3 hours. (And I thought I’d chosen something nice and small and manageable – ha!) I think I’ve lost my voice. Huge thanks to everyone who came and listened and contributed ideas. Hopefully I’ll get the recording and transcript ready to put on sale within… Read more »Phew
