When people ask the I Ching questions, the answers they get back actually make sense! Hence it is easy to see why; the I Ching has been in use for over 5,000 years as a source of wisdom and guidance.
At first it was used by the Emperor and high officials of the Chinese court. It became more widely accessible to the masses in the 11th Century BC, thanks to King Wen who put it into book format for the first time.
Everyone needs guidance throughout their life. But in today’s busy world, the usual sources (family, friends, church, etc.) may not always be on hand to help. This is where The I Ching (the book of change) can be a useful source of comfort and advice that is always available.
Since the mid 1970’s, author Michael Hurn has been studying, using, and introducing the I Ching to others. In this time, he has found that people new to the I Ching find it easy to learn and use; but at first they tend to have a few problems accessing the wisdom contained within the oracle. Therefore, he has written The I Ching to show respect for this ancient oracle while making it simpler for people to access its wisdom.
In this book Michael brings the I Ching into the 21st Century, with perhaps the most fundamental change to its layout in 3,000 years! At last a copy of the I Ching that is not for dummies or for scholars but for those of us in between.
What makes this book unique?
In this book I have put the hexagrams in ‘line order’ and printed them onto the edge of the page. The Hurn sequence both overcomes the problems with the King Wen sequence and transforms the way that the I Ching is used.
Looking up a hexagram is now a simple matter of page flicking and pattern recognition. You work up from the bottom line, looking to see if the line is broken or solid.
The logic to this sequence is that broken lines come before the solid lines. This is also what that makes the new layout so intuitive.
The act of changing the order of the hexagrams has jumbled up the King Wen numbers. Digging into my background in computers, I have re-numbered the hexagrams in Octal. In the book and on this web site the hexagrams are given two numbers a three digit octal number and in brackets the ‘King Wen’ number.
To give an example: Conflict (6) 027: Lower trigram 2 Water, Upper trigram 7 Heaven.
This also makes it possible to use a copy of my book as a simple look up method for any I Ching book you may already own.
This book is all about making the I Ching easer to access and use. If you wish to extend your knowledge of the I Ching there are a number of good books on the subject. (I have listed a few in my book’s bibliography.) Also as the Internet is now such a great resource; you may like to enter some of the following into the likes of Bing, Google, Wikipedia, and Yahoo.
book of change, I Ching, Oracle of Change, King Wen, Yin and Yang, The I Ching Book, Yijing.
About the Author:
Michael Hurn resides in Ottawa, Canada with his wife, Claire and daughters Jessica & Amanda. He is a computer network security and systems integration specialist. They have had their share of tough times and throughout them all, the I Ching has been a constant source of wisdom, guidance and hope for their future.
Cover photo: (C) Starblue | Dreamstime.com
