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NEW
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Divination
Practices: I Ching—Part One
By Dr.
John Ankerberg and Dr. John Weldon |
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Introduction
The I Ching, or "Book of Changes," is one of the
five principal texts of Confucianism and an ancient method of Chinese
divination and self-knowledge. It has been practiced for three or four
millennia, and to varying degrees it has impacted China, Japan, Korea,
and Vietnam. 1 "In China and
the countries much influenced by Chinese civilization, Japan, Korea and
Vietnam, the book has continued to play an influential role to the
present day. In Japan until very recently, military tactics were based
on the oracle, and the book was required reading for the higher ranks of
Japanese officers." 2
The I Ching is more than merely a method of
divination; as we will see, it is also a philosophy of life linked to
the concepts of Taoism. It has recently been popularized in the West by
translators and prominent individuals who are also practitioners. Occult
psychoanalyst Carl Jung expressed his faith in the oracle in his
autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, and in his foreword
to the English translation of the I Ching by Richard Wilhelm. As
we will see, some modern psychologists also utilize it as an adjunct to
psychotherapy, reflecting Jung’s belief that one of its functions is to
draw information from the unconscious mind. Catering to the modern
American desire for "instant" everything, there is even a set of I
Ching "playing cards," which permit more rapid "divination."
The I Ching is composed of 64 hexagrams of
broken and solid lines. A hexagram is determined by an elaborate method
3
of tossing 50 yarrow sticks in a particular, complex procedure, or by
the simpler and allegedly less accurate method of using a toss of three
coins three times. Every hexagram has a meaning described by the I
Ching, which is to be self-interpreted using intuition and awareness
of the flow and flux of cosmic energy.
Philosophy
The I Ching is based upon the precepts of the
classical Chinese pagan religious philosophy known as Taoism,
4
which involves the cosmic dualism of yin and yang (complementary
polarities threaded throughout life, such as male and female). The I
Ching claims to be able to give a person an understanding of the
"implications" of any given moment, and, allegedly, the best or "wisest"
action to then take. Because all life is said to be governed by an
"immutable" Law of Change, which is related to the yin and yang
polarities, the I Ching is believed to sort out the "life
patterns" produced by this law and the best way to respond to them. This
is supposedly revealed through an intuitive interpretation of the
"meaning" of 64 hexagrams, each having two groups of three lines
variously arranged.
Since the cosmic order is in constant change, and
since human life and destiny are irreversibly intertwined with this
cosmic order, all human situations need corresponding constant revision
to "harmonize" with the changes in nature. The purpose of the I Ching
is to provide insight into the future so that people may live in harmony
with the mercurial cosmic order.
5
Thus, the originators:
...believed that they had succeeded in analysing Change itself into
sixty-four constituent processes, each subdivided into six stages and
all interacting upon one another. They invented a method for relating
individual affairs to the stages and processes most closely affecting
them, thus fashioning a key whereby future generations could unlock
the secrets of the future and determine the surest way to live in
harmony with the circumstances prevailing. For more than two thousand
years, those who have learned to use it have testified to the
marvellous results obtained. 6
As noted, the I Ching "Book of Changes" has 64 hexagrams; it
also uses eight "trigrams," with both solid and broken lines. The
possible combinations represent the cosmic symbols illustrating the
patterns of change in people, nature, society, and so on. The unbroken
lines represent the yang (male) principle; the broken ones represent the
yin (female) principle. "According to ancient Chinese belief; every
event and thing in the universe arises from the interaction of these two
principles. Differences between things results from the varying
proportions in them of Yin and Yang." 7
Furthermore:
Changes are viewed in terms of cycles which consist of opposite
movements (e.g., expansion and contraction, rise and fall). When one
pole is reached, the movement invariably reverts to the opposite pole.
This principle was used to explain the ebb and flow in nature,
society, and individuals. One’s basic attitude should be to accept
this cosmic order and to harmonize or become part of it. Under this
conception of change the opposite poles are complementary and the
ideal way is to accept both the high and the low poles. 8
Although the serious divinatory nature of the oracle is stressed, it
is often viewed like runes, as a game of entertainment. As Samuel
Reifler writes in I Ching: A New Interpretation for Modern Times,
"Like its Western counterparts, such as astrology and tarot reading, the
I Ching is most often used as a parlor game." 9 But the serious
nature of the practice is indicated by the power it invokes and the need
for ritual. "Facing the table and with his back to the South, the
enquirer prostrates himself thrice, lights a stick of incense and—with
his mind fully concentrated on the question—mentally or verbally
propounds it in the form previously decided upon. While doing so, he
takes the divining sticks in his right hand and passes them three times
through the incense smoke by describing clockwise circles with his
wrist." 10
Since the I Ching is allegedly a method of
self-knowledge, applications are also made to contemporary
psychotherapy, especially through the Jungian concept of archetypes:
The hexagrams embody the universal patterns of situations that lie
beneath the collective consciousness of man, and correspond to the
archetypes of present-day thought. The different strata of
explanations and commentaries are various attempts to interpret the
meanings of these archetypes. Because archetypes lie in the
unconscious, their interpretation generally requires the use of a
symbolic and esoteric language in order to express what the ordinary
language cannot. 11
Jungian analyst Joseph L. Henderson, M.D., has said
this about the oracle:
It embodies the kind of reasonableness we associate with modern
psychological insight. As a practitioner of analytical psychology I
find the wisdom of this book is not only ancient but perennial, and
therefore, contemporary, and so I understand that when people use it
practically to clarify their lives they are, for the most part, not
indulging in wayward superstition but have found an authentic guide to
a deeper knowledge of their motives. When, therefore, my patients, as
they occasionally do, bring me reports of the things the I Ching
has told them I take the communication seriously and feel honored to
become at least an amateur interpreter of this old wisdom. 12
(to be continued)
Notes:
1. Richard Cavendish, ed., Encyclopedia of the
Unexplained: Magic Occultism and Parapsychology, New York: McGraw
Hill, 1976, pp. 122-23; John Blofeld, I Ching, New York: E. P.
Dutton, 1968, p. 15.
2. Cavendish, p. 123.
3. Ibid., p. 125.
4. Blofeld, p. 38.
5. James Legge, trans, I Ching: Book of Changes,
New York: Bantam, 1969, pp. LVIII-IX.
6. Ibid., Foreword.
7. Cavendish, p. 122.
8. Keith Crim, ed., Abingdon Dictionary of Living
Religions, Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1981, p. 335.
9. Samuel Reifler, I Ching: A New Interpretation
for Modern Times, New York: Bantam, 1981, p. 1.
10. Blofeld, p. 79.
11. Crim, p. 335.
12. W. Brugh Joy, Joy’s Way: A Map for the
Transformational Journey, Los Angeles, J. P. Tarcher, Inc., 1979,
pp. 52-53.
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Copyright 2006, Ankerberg Theological Research Institute
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