Teaching the Yi Jing (I Ching)

We're getting serious in my ancient Chinese thought class this week, turning to the texts themselves.  I may be a bit unconventional because the first text I have the class read is the Yi Jing (I Ching).  Manyul mentioned (on Facebook) that this is a difficult book to teach,and he wondered about my experience; so, I thought I would blog it.

First, let me mention the order of the texts as I teach them.  I start with the Yi Jing, then move to the Dao De Jing.  The Analects is third, followed by Zhuang Zi and then Mencius.  And we finish up with Han Feizi.  The weakness of the class is that we do not read Mo Zi or Xun Zi (can't do everything!).  But I think this line up works as a first class in ancient Chinese philosophy.

I start with the Yi Jing and the Dao De Jing (I am assuming it is more common to start with The Analects) because I want to get the students engaged with a broad notion of Dao (Way).  Of course, the Dao De Jing provides such a notion, but I start with the Yi Jing because it opens the door to a broad notion of Dao, one that is shared by Daoists and Confucians alike, and it also provides some insight into the importance of contextuality in both Daoism and Confucianism. 

Truth in advertising: I come at Confucianism by and large from a Hall and Ames perspective (I know some will find fault in this); that is, I think their notion of Ars Contextualis gets at something important in Confucius and Mencius.  And even if the concept (at least the ars part of it - might be too active for an wu-wei mindset) may not be quite as applicable to Daoism , contextuality is certainly important in both the Dao De Jing and Zhuang Zi.

But contextuality I simply mean the orientation of understanding things in context.  As Hall and Ames define ars contextualis, the "art of contextualizing":

The art of contextualizing seeks to understand and appreciate the manner in which particular things present-to-hand are, or may be, most harmoniously correlated. Classical Chinese thinkers located the energy of transformation and change within a world that is ziran, autogenerative or literally ‘so-of-itself’, and found the more or less harmonious interrelations among the particular things around them to be the natural condition of things, requiring no appeal to an ordering principle or agency for explanation.

I don't want to go into all the implications of this idea here.  But if one is taking this perspective on Chinese thought, the the Yi Jing makes for a sensible starting point because it is, essentially, a tool that illuminates the immediate context the questioner finds himself in. It is a way of apprehending where in Way we are at a particular moment.

So, how to teach it?  I use the Wilhelm/Baynes edition.  I first have the students read the Jung Forward and the Wilhelm Introduction as well as the complete texts of the first two hexagrams.  I then teach them how to consult the oracle - it is a divination manual, after all - and then we engage the text through questions.  We also read the Shuo Kua and the Ta Chuan commentaries.  I realize that actually using the text as an oracle risks trivializing it.  But I emphasize to the students that my point is not to have them believe in some sort of supernatural powers of the text (though they can so believe if they want) but, rather, to use the text as it was designed to be used. 

My purpose is to use the Yi Jing to get at a general sensibility (as opposed to an explicated argument) about Dao.  The randomness and coincidence that attends to any use of the text as oracle is a direct experience of the complexity and fragility and spontaneity (ziran) of context.  I like Jung's Forward for this reason (even if it is dated with a few "Chinese mind" references).  His notion of "synchronicity" unfortunately has been appropriated by silly New Age types, but it is helpful in distinguishing correlative from causal thinking.  

But there are problems with the Wilhelm edition. Two stand out in particular

At several points Wilhelm brings "God" into the translation.  Now it may be true that the divination practices associated with the Yi Jing stretch far enough back into history that the Shang dynasty notion of a supreme ancestor-god (shangdi) is a relevant reference.  But Wilhelm's use of "God" comes a bit too close to a Christian monotheistic notion, which I take to be something unnecessary for reading and understanding the text. 

A second problem (and perhaps any of you who have read this far can help me out with this) is Wilhelm's seemingly veiled Platonism.  Take this passage (lvi):

The second theme fundamental to the Book of Changes is its theory of ideas.  The eight trigrams are images not so much of objects as of states of change.  This view is associated with the concept expressed in the teachings of Lao-tse, as also in those of Confucius, that every event in the visible world is the effect of an "image," that is, of an idea in the unseen world.  Accordingly, everything that happens on earth is only a reproduction, as it were, of an event in a world beyond our sense perception; as regards its occurrence in time, it is later than the suprasensible event...

This seems rather close to a notion of Platonic forms to me. It is not at all my sense of the Dao De Jing (all things in Way, being and nonbeing, are always present; there is no other world). I am not good on neo-Confucianism, so perhaps someone can enlighten me as to whether Wilhelm is here drawing on some Song revision.  In any event, the above assertion is not one that squares with my reading of The Analects or Mencius either. 

But, beyond those shortcomings, Wilhelm is useful as a first book (I find his translation a bit more accessible and easier to use for divination than Lynn's; and I keep Shaughnessy on hand as a historical reference).  This week my students should be getting some sense of Dao and Ziran through it.  I'll let you know how it goes.....

UPDATE: Fung Yu-Lan makes the connection between Plato and Neo-Confucianism, here: "Neo-Confucianism: School of Platonic Ideas."

Comments

[Jonathan Dresner]

I don't claim to be expert in neo-Confucianism, but there's no question that it has a Platonic theme, and that Yijing was one of the texts they considered very important in developing their cosmology. It's entirely plausible that those commentaries are affecting Wilhelm's reading.

I kind of like the idea of starting with Yijing, but I'm not as certain about allowing Laozi/Zhuangzi to monopolize the idea of "Way": later uses, including Confucius, aren't about a specifically Daoist Way at all until the Daoist ideas start to become more widespread.

I assume that you talk about Mozi, becuase it would be hard to explain a lot of Mencius or Hanfeizi without doing so, but even so, I can't imagine teaching that stuff without covering him in some detail. Hanfeizi makes much more sense if that way, for one.

[Sam Crane]

Thanks for the comment on neo-Confucianism...
I don't let Taoists monopolize the idea of Way; rather, I think their views are broader, and it is easier to start with that and move to the Confucian notion of Way (which has more of a human focus) than vice versa. That way the Confucian "silences" (i.e. don't talk about death or ghosts or spirits, etc.) make a certain sense.
And, yes, I do talk about Mozi, and they read a little about him. But we don't read the text itself.

[Manyul Im]

Sam; really interesting. I like the idea of actually "doing" some oracle consultation. (Do you actually break out yarrow sticks (or their equivalent)? Or do you flip coins?) I've been toying with the idea of including brief sections on Shang bone-divination as well as the Zhou yarrow-stalk-hexagram sort. (Not that I have ox scapulas or tortoise plastrons lying around for the "labs"!). I've been working (very sporadically) on trying to tie the oracular power of the bone fissure or the hexagram to the Confucian obsession with "rectifying terms." Maybe when I've figured out how that influence might go, I'll implement the divination sections.

Wilhelm is cheap, readily available, and pretty thorough--I would use it in a flash. The problems with it sound familiar from the last time I took a quick look at it. I think most people do a quickie section on the Yijing just before the Neoconfucian part of a course. I agree with Jonathan that the Platonistic aspects of Wilhelm's discussion probably have something to do with the connections between the Yijing commentaries and Neoconfucian versions of "dualism." The "God" language in Wilhelm seems odd enough to be interesting on its own--what was he thinking about really?

Your reply to Jonathan suggests that you think of the Confucian notion of Way as being a narrower conception but one that fits within the broader Daoist version. I don't disagree with that as a rubric, but what you say about the Yijing's sensibility, that its "randomness and coincidence that attends to any use of the text as oracle" provides "a direct experience of the complexity and fragility and spontaneity (ziran) of context" makes me think that the broader version of Way you attribute to the Yijing and to the Daoists is actually a narrow version that also fits under a different, broader version along with the narrower Confucian version. Something like this:

I. Broad Version of Way
A. Narrow Yijing Version of Way
B. Narrow Daodejing Version of Way
C. Narrow Zhuangzi Version of Way
D. Narrow Confucian Version of Way

It sounds to me like you have an account of (I) that is equivalent to (A) and (C). I'm not as sure, myself, that the versions of Way in (B) and (D) are just narrow versions of those, however. But I'll stop there for now.

[Sam Crane]

Manyul,
Thanks for the response.
I throw coins.
I suspect that Wilhelm is falling back on an unstated Christian notion of God, but that is just my suspicion.
My "broad" sense of Way is drawn from the Yijing and the Daodejing, at least consciously. Perhaps you are right and I am actually doing something different. Generally, by "narrow" I mean to suggest that Confucians tend to focus more on the human realm of Way. That opens the possibility of a certain agreement between Confucians and Daoists on the non-human realms of Way, and that agreement might be found in the Yijing. That's my thinking at least....

[Allan Lian]

The theory of the five states of change works if students or masters know how to properly apply it. So does Wu Wei. Probably not many have reached that stage of cultivation.

When Yi students become more familiar with the images of the eight trigrams, they would be able to analyze and determine many things including those of unseen forces.

While I understand that the light spirits (shenxian) live in heaven(s), where do the dark spirits live, if not on earth? How many in the world can really tell us they are able to see the dark or the light spirits (guishen)? Just because the ancients do not discuss much about these spirits it never meant, they do not exist.

The invisible but parallel world theory remains just that. Perhaps Wilhelm and/or his mentor during their times believed that it exists. The divinities have never mentioned it. Neither have my learned Daoist friend nor I have ever seen it, so how do we know whether it exists or not?

[Allan Lian]

Wilhelm gets all the blame for some terms in following Legge’s translation. In the Confucian books, Legge translated Junzi as the superior man.

The ladies in the West ‘squirm’ and blame Wilhelm for using the same term in the Book of Changes as if he specifically coined ‘superior man’ just to be in line with the Confucians.

In the same books, Legge translated Shangdi as God. While Wilhelm translated the term once into Supreme Deity, perhaps he thought it more palatable or meaningful to his Western readers, predominating Christians at the time, by translating it as God.

Somehow he also gets whacked for that! (Joke)

[Sam Crane]

Allan,
Thanks for stopping by.
Legge was more outgoing with his Christianity, but I think Wilhelm may also have been drawing on it in his translation...

[Allan Lian]

Well, have to drop by now and then otherwise our teacher, the Yi, may knock me on the head for not visiting one of its more favored students in the West!

Joking aside, I like your chronological order of teaching ancient Chinese philosophy, from the Book of Changes down to Mencius. Reading the Yi could be a bit tough at times but under your delicate care and guidance, I am sure your students can handle it well.

Your knowledge of the Confucian doctrine is good, if not top class. If you can supplement your theory and practice with the four cardinal virtues and the hidden one, it is probable you can become distinguished in the field of teaching Ancient Chinese Philosophy which includes Tao.

Perhaps by then, you could be more grounded than your favorite sage, Zhuangzi. By knowing more than him what Heaven and Earth and their respective images really meant to the other sages of old including Laozi, Confucius, Buddha, and Mencius. Good luck.

[Manyul Im]

Joking aside, indeed.

子曰：“若聖與仁，則吾豈敢？抑為之不厭，誨人不倦，則可謂云爾已矣。”

[Allan Lian]

子曰：“若聖與仁，則吾豈敢？抑為之不厭，誨人不倦，則可謂云爾已矣。”

‘This is just we, the disciples (the students), cannot imitate you (the sage) in.' (Continuation)

Perhaps, we can still strive to follow the ways of heaven and earth by making things easy and simple for ourselves and fellow students. If we learn lofty ideas of heavenly essence while grounding ourselves with earthly virtues, if lucky, we can also reach the Center (Zhong) by and by, instead of missing the forest for the trees.

However the holy sage, Jiang Ziya may tend to disagree since he follows the four seasons instead of the ways of heaven and earth. But which other ancient sage that we know of has been the distinguished adviser to another Holy sage, and who had the purported 'mandate' to appoint Daoist deities!

[julio urvina]

Hi Allan.
Have you ever consulted the I Ching with regards to investment decisions?
I am writing my third book on managing and investing with the I Ching and I would appreciate it very much if you could share your experiences with me.
Julio
icic.com
Note: you can download the book for free at icic.com (the I Ching will not let me charge the readers for its wisdom)

[Allan Lian]

Hi Julio

Yes, I have consulted the Yijing for the investment of transnational shares and realty, international foreign currencies, and gold bullion since the 1970s.

Some of these investment experiences including a live-test case on shares investment have been shared in my blog for all to see and for free.

Thanks for your invitation but I currently enjoy the feeling of freedom from all unnecessary baggage.

Regards

Allan