_The I Ching: A Biography_ Book Review

The introduction to The I Ching: A Biography (Princeton University Press, 2012)

Journal of Chinese Religion 46:2, 2018

A review of The I Ching (Book of Changes): A Critical Translation of the Ancient Text. New York: Bloomsbury Academic Press, 2017. xxix, 464 pp. US$26.95 (PB). ISBN 978-1-4725-1413-4

Dao, 2015

Book of Changes - The Original Core of the I Ching - Lars Bo Christensen, 2016

The Book of Changes has always been regarded as one of the most important, but also most enigmatic, Chinese classics. Lars Bo Christensen’s coherent and meaningful translation of the original core - the divination manual - can be read by anyone and is supported by extensive evidence and a complete glossary. --- “Lars Bo Christensen’s translation is excellent, as it is his idea of offering to the reader the “core” of the book, because the reader will have direct contact with the ancient text without the many layers of interpretations which in a sense obscure our comprehension of the original text. The introduction is clear, deep and concise. It is a book to be read both by academics and non academics.” Gabriel García-Noblejas, Faculty of Translation and Interpreting, University of Granada, Spain.

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2003

consists of two horizontals framed by two obliques above and below.-440 and-382 have two horizontals and two obliques.-168 has four or even five horizontals, with upper and lower indented. mar:-651 has the right horizontal on the lower right;-440 has the right horizontal in the middle. ú:-651 shows no slant.-168 is slanted. kal:-651 shows some slant;-440 shows horizontals slanted downwards;-382 is like the earlier forms (-651). ma: note that in one case the middle horizontal is not indented, but two cases in the same tablet show different shapes.

1. A Romance with the I CHING 2. The I CHING : Science, Metaphysics & Divination 3. The Origin of Confucianism

The Journal of Parapsychology, 2001

L. Storm and M. A. Thalbourne (1998-1999) carried out an experiment (N = 93) with the Chinese book of divination the I Ching (J. Blofeld, 1968), which contains 64 hexagrams (6-line structures) and associated readings. Three coins are thrown 6 times to generate 1 of these hexagrams. Participants selected 16 of 64 hexagram-descriptor pairs, based on their emotional and/or cognitive states of mind. It was predicted that 1 of the 16 choices would come up as a "hit" (PMCE = .25). The proportion of hits was marginally significant. Transliminality and 6 factors on R. B. Cattell's 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF; R. B. Cattell, H. W. Eber, & M. M. Tatsuoka, 1970) correlated significantly with hitting success. Number of changing lines (given by throwing 3 heads or 3 tails) was not significantly different from chance, but number of changing lines did correlate significantly with transliminality. Number of changing lines also correlated with 5 factors on the 16PF. Finally, transliminality correlated with 5 factors on the 16PF. A replication experiment (N = 107) was conducted in 1999. Hexagram hitting was significant, but the transliminality-hitting correlation and the 6 hitting-16PF correlations were not significant. Also, the transliminality-changing lines correlation and the 5 changing-lines-16PF correlations were not significant. However, 4 transliminality-16PF correlations were significant. The successful parapsychological outcomes were interpreted according to the theory of psychopraxia (L. Storm & M. A. Thalbourne, 2000; M. A. Thalbourne, 1982, in press-a). This is a report of a replication of an experiment we conducted in 1998 (Storm & Thalbourne, 1998-1999). We carried out a study with the I Ching (an ancient Chinese system of divination; Blofeld, 1968) to determine, among other things, whether transliminality 2 "might function as a connecting principle between paranormal effects and other personality variables" (Storm & Thalbourne, 1998-1999, p. 100). Participants were also required to complete the Transliminality Scale (Thalbourne, 1998) and Cattell's 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (Cattell, Eber, & Tatsuoka, 1970). According to traditional usage, to consult the "oracle" of the I Ching one must generate a hexagram, which involves, first, posing a meaningful question to the I Ching (yes-no questions are excluded), followed by the 1 This study was supported, in part, by a grant from the Bial Foundation. 2 Transliminality is defined as "a hypothesised tendency for psychological material to cross thresholds into or out of consciousness" (Thalbourne & Houran, 2000, p. 853). A review of the literature on transliminality can be found in Thalbourne's (in press-b) article.

Explorations in Media Ecology

After presenting the I Ching as a medium, this piece goes on to reveal the characteristics of the ancient Chinese sacred book from diverse perspectives. To maintain a fast tempo, and to stay within the bounds of what counts as a probe, the entries have been explained in a suggestive rather than exhaustive manner. Put otherwise, the piece seeks to say more with less, much like how the I Ching itself communicates. Although arranged alphabetically, the entries can be read in any order. As a matter of fact, the reader may experience the shock of recognition when leaping from entry to entry aleatorily. To pay homage to McLuhan, the piece ends with a tetrad on the I Ching. The reader is encouraged to read the piece in dialogue with 'McLuhan and the I Ching: An interological inquiry', 'Flusser and the I Ching' and 'Focal knowledge, medium bias, and metamedium'.

2004

1994 was the seventieth anniversary of the publication of Richard Wilhelm's (1873-1930) celebrated translation into German of the Chinese classic, the Yi jing, under the title, I Ging, Das Buck der Wandlungen. In the decades following its publication in Germany, Wilhelm's translation was translated into the major European languages and the English translation by Cary F. Baynesincluding a foreword by Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)-which appeared in 1949, has had a tremendous influence on the twentieth century Western reader's understanding of the Yi jing. The numerous reprints which have been published the last thirty years speak for themselves. Concurrently, a number of other translations of the Yi jing have been published or reissued , most notably perhaps those by James Legge (1814-97) and John Blofeld, but it is fair to say, I think, that none of these rivalled Wilhelm's translation in popularity or perceptiveness. It is also significant that a full translation of the Yi jing profiting from the great advances in major sinological disciplines (such as, for example, the studies of the oracle bones of Anyang or the archeological texts of later periods) has not been attempted during this period. In China Li Jingchi (d. 1968?), Qu Wanli (1907-78), and Gao Heng (1900-86) initiated an approach of context criticism in Yi jing studies which views the book in a sociological and historical context. Some Western scholars have continued this approach: in 1974 Gerald W. Swanson (b. 1938) submitted a dissertation, "The Great Treatise: Commentary Tradition to the 'Book of Changes'", to the University of Washington, in which he translated the Xi ci zhuan, "The Commentaiy on the Appended Phrases", basing himself primarily on Han dynasty (202 BC-AD 220) commentators. This trend was taken several steps further by Edward L. Shaughnessy in his study in "textual archeology" in his dissertation, entitled "The Composition of the Zhouyi" from 1983, and by Richard A. Kunst, who translated the older part of the Yi 1 The "book of wisdom" tradition may have found its new authoritative translation in the joint efforts of Rudolf Ritsema and Stephen Karcher: I Ching. The Classic Chinese Oracle of Change: The Divinatory Texts with Concordance, Shaftesbury, Dorset: Element Books, 1994, pp. 816. This translation has also appeared as Vols. 62-4 (1993-5) of the Eranos Yearbook. In the introduction Ritsema and Karcher state, "The I Ching offers a way to see into difficult situations, particularly those emotionally charged ones where rational knowledge fails us, yet we are called upon to decide and act. … The I Ching is able to do this because it is an oracle" (p. 8).