A Brief Introduction of Yi Jing’s (易经)Contributions

Yi Jing (易经) is an ancient Script depicting the constant changes in the natural world or the Universe. It was written by FuXi (伏羲) over 3000 years ago. King Wen of Zhou Dynasty (周文王) extended the eight trigrams (八卦) of Yi Jing to 64 hexagrams (64 卦) around 1000–750 BC. The 64 hexagrams represents 64 interlocking and 384 (i.e., 6 lines x 64) interchanging situations in the natural and human world (Wu, 1982; Rutt, 1996; Redmond, 2014). 

Yi Jing is the foundation of all Chinese philosophies. For example, Dao De Jing (道德经) is an interpretation of Yi Jing, written by Lao Zhi in 600 B.C (Frosch, 2000; Hensler et al., 2000; Wong et al., 1998; Rarick, 1996; Boar, 1995; Wee, 1994; Floyd, 1992). Dao De Jing has now become the second most translated book worldwide. Confucius (孔子) was a bit younger than Lao Zhi. He wrote the "Ten Wings" (十翼) as a humanistic extension of Yi Jing (Yu, 1996; S.Y. Yang, 1996; Luo, 1996; Hsieh & Fang, 1986). 

The greatest contribution of Confucius was that he added the humanistic ethics and virtue of kindness (人道和仁德) to Yi Jing. The humanistic thoughts of Confucius are similar to the virtues of Socrates and Aristotle etc. These are the kind of humanistic virtues (e.g., piety, modesty, balance, peace, gratitude, letting go, empathy etc.) some folks are talking about across fields nowadays. The famous text adopted by many Business schools, the Art of War (孙子兵法), is also influenced by Yi Jing (Huang, 1986; Li et al., 1995; Zhang, 1994; Lin, 1994; Lo, 1995).

The philosophy of Yi Jing consists of three parts (三才): heavenly dao, humanistic dao, and earthly dao (天道, 人道, 地道). The dao (or the way) of Heaven and Earth is metaphysical. This is the part that Hegel and Leibniz (Nelson, 2011) highly appraised. They considered metaphysics superior to the humanistic thoughts/ethics. Because according to Yi Jing, all living creatures and things are created by the Heaven and Earth (1, 0). Every human is viewed as a small universe of The Universe. Therefore, the dao/way of human should follow the dao of heaven and earth (i.e., the natural law, the only unchanged part in the Universe). 

In Yi Jing, the 1st Hexagram Qian (乾: 1) and the 2nd Hexagram Kun (坤: 0) represent the Origin of the Universe. That is, heaven and earth, ruler and the ruled, father and mother, robustness and gentleness, perseverance and inclusiveness, head and heart/lung, Sun and Moon etc. In short, Qian (1) and Kun (0) are the origin (some religions call it The Creator or the Being) of all things on earth and in the Universe -- an ontological view. Therefore, one cannot fully understand and act upon the humanistic virtues truthfully unless one understands the Dao of the Origin of the Universe and the constant changes derived from the Origin (Yin and Yang, or 0 and 1). To understand the origin and the natural way of the heaven and earth, one needs to understand the the binary system and the life implications of Yi Jing.

Hegel described the structure and reasoning of Yi Jing as a theory of negation of negation (i.e., dialectics) (Brinkmann, 2011; Wu, 1982). Leibniz perceived Yi Jing as a binary system (0, 1) similar to the binary probability theory he created in 1701 (Swetz, 2003). This binary system of Yi Jing has now become the underlying structure of computer system, biology, economics, mathematics, statistics, physics, meteorology, geology, chemistry, medicine, agriculture, architecture, business management, strategic leadership, laws, political science, social science and so on (Nelson, 2011; Swetz, 2003).

Moreover, Yi Jing is not an astrology. Yi Jing is known for its extremely accurate predicting power and useful strategic guidance in problem solving under different situations such as crises (e.g., economic, financial, business, and military crises, earthquakes, severe weather changes, emotional and relational crises, mental and physical illness etc.). For example, Carl Jung used Yi Jing divination in his therapy sessions and found that the casted hexagrams were always synched with the dreams or other occurrences of his patients. He called these synced events between the patient's mind and Yi Jing a “synchronicity” (Jung, 1969; Wu, 1993). Nowadays we use the word "sync" for our cell phone, websites, and TV. The word came from Yi Jing and Carl Jung. More and more practitioners are now using Yi Jing in their counseling sessions. They found out that those who used both Yi Jing and counseling were more likely to recover from their depression problem than those did not. In addition, many politicians and millionaires including the President-elect Donald Trump, and Bill Gates etc. have frequently consulted Yi Jing especially the part related to Feng Shui. 

In recent years, Yi Jing has been applied to form new models of strategic leadership development, innovations, and decision making and problem solving. The key areas that use these models include: public policies, stock market predictions, business practices, human resources management and evaluation, marketing, social media policies, crisis management, emotional management, employee engagement, interpersonal communication, diplomatic and military policies, financial policies, education reform policies etc. (Zeng, 1991, 1997; Lin, 1997; Guang, 1998; Shi and Sun, 2000 ).

Technically, Yi Jing is not hard to learn. But it does take time, concentration and practices to learn well. It is even easier to get a hexagram through any online I Ching divination system. However, personally, I think the more accurate way to cast a hexagram should be using 50 stalks, rather than using coins, three sets of numbers, or an online system. This is because there is a direct synchronicity between the vibrations of our heart and the 384 lines of 64 hexagrams. Research has suggested that different HVR (heart vibration rate) is linked to different emotional and behavioral outcomes (Hawkins, 1992). I presume that our HVR and our actions (e.g., using 50 stalks to obtain a Hexagram) will affect which hexagram to be drawn. This is perhaps why Yi Jing is so highly accurate that it has become the study of Emperors in Asia for hundreds of years.

The hardest part about Yi Jing, however, is how to interpret the complicated outcomes of the casted hexagram. For example, one needs to look at the Judgement, Image, and the symbolic meanings of 6 lines within each hexagram. Each line (爻) represents the "changing" situation one faces. Each changing line (变爻) will transform the original casted hexagram into other hexagram(s), suggesting that the situations one faces never cease to change. Thus, there is no such a thing called a fixed and ever-lasting best solution. The best life strategy for one to adopt is to follow the Dao depicted in Yi Jing. That is, one needs to modify one's thinking and acts (纠正想法和修行) more often to adapt to new situations that are for the good of all around. Also, one should use the way of heart (心法) to sync the work/life experience and the situation with the descriptions of the casted hexagram chronologically. Because the 6 lines (六爻) within a hexagram represents 6 different stages of how a situation one is in evolves. There are more rules of how to interpret the Yi Jing that I will discuss in the future.

I humbly accept any guidance from any Yi Jing teachers and masters. I appreciate your time on reading this post.

References

Brinkmann, Klaus. 2011, Idealism without Limits: Hegel and the Problem of Objectivity. Dordrecht: Springer.

Frosch, R.A. 2000. Learning from Lao Tzu’s leadership primer, Research Technology Management, 43(3): 27-8. 

Guang, W.H. 1998. A new classification of organization climate on the basis of change the theory, Master’s thesis, Institute of Business Administration, Da-Yeh University (in Chinese).

Hawkins, David. 1992. The Power of Emotional Decision Making. Harvest House Publishers.

Hsieh, Z.H. and Fang, C.H. 1986. Management idea of the Confucianism shown in Analects of Confucius, Journal of Management Science, 3(2): 115-28 (in Chinese).

Jung, C.G. 1969. Synchronicity: An Causal Connecting Principle. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 109–110.

Jung, Carl G. 1993 [1952]. Synchronicity: An Causal Connecting Principle. Bollingen, Switzerland: Bollingen.

Lin, G.X. 1997. Mathematical anatomy and exploration of Jyi-Shiong and Huo-Hwu via food supplies manufacturing, Chiao Da Management Review, 17(2): 81-97 (in Chinese).

Li, S.J., Xiang, X.J. and Qin, J.R. 1995. Use the Art of War by Sunzi Flexibly: The Sheet of Operating a Business, Yuan-Liou Publishing Co. Ltd, Taipei (in Chinese). 

Luo, G.X. 1996. The survey of influence of thought of Confucius’ management on the business administration practices of Taiwan, The Chinese Journal of Administration, Vol. 60, pp. 47-65 (in Chinese).

Nelson, Eric S. 2011. The Yijing and Philosophy: From Leibniz to Derrida, Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 38 (3): 377–396.

Redmond, Geoffrey; Hon, Tze-Ki. 2014. Teaching the I Ching. Oxford University Press.

Rutt, Richard. 1996. The Book of Changes (Zhouyi): A Bronze Age Document. Richmond: Curzon.

Shi, C.X. and Sun, J.Q. 2000. I-Ching and Business Administration, T-P Publishing Co. Ltd, Taipei (in Chinese).

Swetz, Frank J. 2003. Leibniz, the Yijing, and the Religious Convention of the Chinese, Mathematics Magazine, 76(4): 276-291.

Wu, K. C. 1982. The Chinese Heritage. Crown Publishers, New York.

Yang, S.Y. 1996. Relations between Confucianism and management, Confucius, Mencius & Life, Vol. 4: 89-93 (in Chinese).

Yu, Y.S. 1996. Religion Ethics and Businessman’s Spirit in Modern times in China, Linking Publishing Co. Ltd, Taipei (in Chinese).

Zeng, S.Q. 1991. “Divination in management – four major functions of Book of Changes in management”, Management Magazine, Vol. 209, pp. 140-4 (in Chinese).

Zeng, S.Q. 1997. Management Theory of I-Ching in 21st Century, Fang-Zhi Publishing Co. Ltd, Taipei (in Chinese).

Copyright ? 2016 Huei Hsia Holloman