The I Ching and I

The Bradford Hatcher I Ching

This site contains much resource material for those interested in the Classic of China, the I Ching and its translation. It also has one of the finest and most scholarly translations of it, with gratitude to Bradford Hatcher. The I Ching is more lately referred to as the Yi Jing. A common translation of the title is "The Classic of Change".

There are those who see this book as little more than a pre-modern superstitious book of fortune telling, based on readings established by various methods of random chance, a main one being the throwing of coins. This somewhat unlearned attitude is in sharp contrast to its almost supreme place in Chinese history and philosophy, even to this day. Beyond philosophy, it contains a subtle but effective approach to human psychology both in content and in its use. Its use at a mundane level is indeed a form of productive lateral thinking, evoked by its very randomness. The great Confucius extolled it. C. G. Jung, the emminent psychologist studied it and wrote the foreword to the almost canonical Richard Wilhelm translation. (I regard Hatcher's translation a modern standard of equivalent importance and status.)

There is much more to this great classic. Much much more. There are sites of the simple fortune telling kind (but not without value) and there are the others. Seek and you shall find.