Tossing 3000 Years Ago Is Just As Meaningful Today (I Ching)

Member Name: Sexy Kay

Product:	I Ching
Date:	30/01/02 (336 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: May answer your questions

Disadvantages: Sometimes hard to fully understand

Once upon a dream, a very long time ago, there lived a King. He was a little puzzled and perplexed and didn't know what to do. King Wen, for that was his name, gently tugged on his whispy beard hoping for inspiration and the answer to his question. Should he or shouldn't he? Yes or no? Decisions, decisions. Such is the life of a King.

He stopped pulling on his beard and, instead, thrust his hand into the pocket of his silken robe and felt to see what he could find. All he had were three lucky coins. He looked at them and felt a strange compulsion to toss them in the air. So he did. They fell back to the ground with a clink, well three clinks. He did this again and again. He noticed how different sides of the coins landed face up and, being very good at sums, realised they could fall in four different combinations.

"Ha ha!", he chuckled. He hadn't had this much fun since he first founded the Chou Dynasty. Full of excitement - for he didn't get out much - he decided to give the sides of the coins a value. This being China one side of the coins was blank so this, he decided, would be worth three points. The other side of the coins, which had a pretty pattern, would be worth two points.

He was high on expectancy as he tossed away repeatedly. As the coins fell to the ground he added up the value of the sides face up. He found that they would only total either six, seven, eight or nine.

"That's it!", he shouted out, stunned by his own brilliance, "If the coins add up to six or eight the answer to my question will be no. But if they total seven or nine the answer will be yes".

His heart was thumping like the thunder of three stallions stampeding. He thought once more of his question and as he did so tossed the three coins into the air knowing he would soon have his answer. After what seemed an eternity there was the familiar clink, clink, clink. "Two
plus two plus three. Seven, the answer is Yes!". King Wen ran round his throne room whooping with glee, "Yes, yes, yes!" Now he would be able to decide anything. What a happy King he was. A whole new future lay ahead. People everywhere would remember him for ever and ever for, he decided, he would tell the world about his discovery.

It was getting very late so he toddled off to bed. He tossed his coins once more before going to sleep and they added up to nine. The Queen was unexpectedly delighted.

Next day he had to get all of this written down for posterity. "If the coins total seven or nine they will be symbolised by a straight line thus ___ but if they are a six or an eight they will be a broken line thus _ _", he told himself. On pondering this a little longer he said, "And ___ will become Yang and _ _ will be Yin".

And so it came about that the very beginnings of the 'I Ching' or 'The Book of Changes' were born.

King Wen spent many years perfecting his system whereby the answers to all problems could be solved, and not with just a simple yes or no. The 'I Ching' would also show glimpses and guidance for what lay ahead for men and perhaps even women. He looked into the future and saw that three thousand years hence people would still be fascinated and amazed by his oracle. Even in the imaginary land of Dooyoo his fame would spread.

When not tossing his coins the King meditated and did so seriously. He discovered that all of human experience could be defined in 64 different ways. Therefore, he reasoned, all answers would also be within these 64 themes. How excited he felt, this was much more fun than chopping the heads off infidels. With his mathematical brain now ticking over nicely, and guided by powers higher than his own, inspiration struck like a thunderbolt, "Goddam it, that's the answer. Eureka! Flippin heck, I've only gon
e and done it". Well words such as this, but in a Chinese sort of way.

For you see, if he tossed his three coins six times, using the same Yang and Yin lines there would be 64 different combinations of six lines possible - exactly the same number as all human experience. No wonder he did a little majestic dance and had another whoop - what a blooming great coincidence!

Over the next goodness knows how long he drew pictures of all the 64 possible line combinations and wrote wondrous verse relevant to each hexagram - as they would become known in years to come.

..... fast forward 3002 years .....

Today there are many versions of the I Ching in book form, with varying translations from the original Chinese. This all amounts to, what is believed to be, the world's oldest and most revered system of fortune telling - or a way to get answers to whatever may arise in life. It's quite easy to do:

Take three coins, in the UK tails is two points and heads is three. Toss the coins, add up the points and draw either a Yin or a Yang line as described previously i.e. _ _ or ___

Do this six times placing the next line on top of the previous one until you have created your hexagram. Look up the hexagram in one of the many I Ching books available. Read what it all means and, Bob's your Uncle or Wen is your King, you have part of the answer to your future or question. How easy is that?!

Well easy peasy but many of the translations are very, what shall I say, Confucius style Chinese. As an example, these are the first words for the hexagram called Tzhin picked at random ...

"The sun shines above the earth,
The superior man polishes his brilliance.
He secures civil tranquility
and is rewarded with many horses
etc. etc."

"You what?", you may well say. Fortunately though most of the books give an interpretation as to what the author feels this al
l means, so that is kind of helpful.

I'm not going to give a fuller explanation, other than to say that you can also have 'moving' Yin and Yang lines in your hexagram as well (if the coins add up to six or nine they are considered 'moving'). Very briefly these tell of how things are now, but the opposite will come about - after all life is about change. This is also why the I Ching is often called The Book of Changes. The interpretations for what the moving lines mean are also shown in the books.

Instead of coins there is also a method of using yarrow sticks, to determine the Yin and Yang lines, but this is complicated and takes much longer.

So there you go, but no doubt you are wondering, "But does it work, is it any good, does it really tell your fortune?"

Many learned people, from Confucius to C.G. Jung, have studied the I Ching and the world of coincidences. They have pondered whether the hexagram, created by throwing the coins, is relevant to the questioner by accident or by the unconscious mind somehow influencing the outcome. Who can be sure?

I've dabbled with the I Ching and have sometimes been amazed by the accuracy of what it has foretold (see Appendix below). Mind you my boyfriend does say I'm very gullible to such things. Nevertheless, studied properly, I feel many insights can arise. I'm not so sure that it can be used as a quick fortune telling aid. I feel it's more of a meditation thing. The words and interpretations need to be thought about and raked over in the mind. The results are, or can become, very profound.

..... re-wind 3002 years .....

King Wen was well pleased with his creation and felt his words had been empowered by someone such as the White Goddess with her lunar knowledge. He kept telling everyone, until they yawned with boredom - or would have done so if he hadn't have been all powerful, that man can choose to
follow the small part of himself or, instead, follow the greater part and achieve greatness - just like what he had done! It's all in the coins (or yarrow sticks).

Free readings are available on www.facade.com/iching/ or www.iching.com

;-> Kay

P.S. Probably the most respected book on the I Ching is the translation carried out into German by Richard Wilhelm and then into English by Gary F Baynes. The book I have at home is one I bought in America, again called I Ching, and is written by a Sam Reifler. I'm sure there will be books on the I Ching in most libraries.

P.P.S. The story of King Wen is my personal interpretation of events! It is generally accepted, however, that he did initiate the I Ching.

A Serious Appendix

On that dreadful day of the 11th of September I used the I Ching and the hexagram formed was called Khen (in English 'The Thunder-clap'). This is part of the translation copied exactly from the book I have:

"This is a time of sudden catastrophic events. Remain cool. Expect a general reaction of shock and fear and then hysteria. Do not get caught up in it. If you retain a deep acceptance of the inevitability of the present moment, then you will ride out the present widespread catastrophe wiser and stronger than you were before"

It went on to say:

"You have lived in a state of peace and equaniminity. But in the face of the present disasters you are rediscovering fears and anxieties in yourself. Thus you do not completely, deeply, effortlessly accept the will of God"

I'll leave you with those thoughts.

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