I Ching (Yijing): the Book of Changes, history and reading

A Book with Three Faces

The I Ching, also written Yi King or, in pinyin transcription, Yijing, is one of the oldest texts in Chinese literature. It presents itself as a collection of sixty-four figures, the hexagrams, each accompanied by short, enigmatic texts. Depending on the context, it is consulted as a divination manual, studied as a philosophical classic, or read slowly as a book of wisdom to be contemplated.

The word yi means “change” or “transformation”. Commentators of the Han period also give it the senses of “simple” and “constant”, three ideas that sum up the spirit of the book: everything changes according to simple principles, and change itself is a constant. On this page you will find the history of the text, its structure, the two most widespread methods of consultation, and what it is honest to expect from it.

A History in Several Layers

Historians distinguish several strata. The core, called Zhouyi, is a collection of figures and divination formulas dating back to the Western Zhou dynasty; it is often placed around the 9th century BCE, though estimates vary by a few centuries. It is linked to a much older practice of consulting fate by chance, such as the inscribed bones and shells of the Shang period.

Chinese tradition tells a different story: the mythical sage Fuxi is said to have invented the trigrams, King Wen of the Zhou to have composed the judgments of the hexagrams, his son the Duke of Zhou the texts of the lines, and Confucius the commentaries. Critical history has not confirmed these attributions: the commentaries, known as the Ten Wings (Shiyi), are texts by various authors, gathered roughly between the 5th and 2nd centuries BCE.

Several early manuscripts have survived: bamboo strips held at the Shanghai Museum (around 300 BCE) and a silk manuscript discovered at Mawangdui, in a tomb sealed in 168 BCE, which arranges the hexagrams in a different order from the one we know. In 136 BCE, under Emperor Wu of the Han, the book took its place among the Five Classics of Confucianism, and commentators followed one another: Wang Bi in the 3rd century, then the Song thinkers (Shao Yong, Zhu Xi).

In the West, the Jesuit Joachim Bouvet and then Leibniz (1703) took an interest in it; James Legge published an English translation in 1882; Richard Wilhelm's German translation (1924), later rendered into English by Cary Baynes with a preface by Carl Gustav Jung, made the book a modern success. The composer John Cage also used it in the early 1950s to bring chance into his music.

Lines, Trigrams and Hexagrams

Everything rests on two kinds of lines: the solid line (yang) and the broken line (yin). Three lines stacked form a trigram: there are eight of them. Two trigrams stacked form a hexagram of six lines: 8 × 8 = 64. The lines are read from bottom to top, like a plant growing.

The numbers follow the classical order, known as the “order of King Wen”. The other 56 hexagrams combine two different trigrams: for example Heaven beneath the Lake, or the Mountain beneath the Wind. Each hexagram has a name, a short general text (the “judgment”) and a text for each of its six lines. The names vary from one translation to another.

Consulting the Book: Yarrow Stalks and Coins

The oldest method is that of the yarrow stalks: you handle fifty stalks (one is set aside), separating and counting them through a ritual of eighteen movements that produces the six lines. It is long and is practised calmly, which is part of its charm.

The three-coin method, which is quicker, is attested later; sources do not agree on its exact date (Han period or later). You toss three coins six times. By convention, one side counts as 2 (yin) and the other as 3 (yang); the total gives the line.

The probabilities differ depending on the method: with coins, a changing line has a one-in-four chance of appearing; with stalks, a changing yin line is rarer than a changing yang line. Specialists point out this difference, which is often overlooked. Note the six lines from bottom to top; changing lines produce a second hexagram, read as the direction the situation is taking.

How to Read Without Getting Lost

First formulate an open question (“How should I approach this step?”) rather than a closed one (“Will I succeed?”). Identify the hexagram you obtained, locate its two trigrams (the lower, inner one, and the upper, outer one), read the judgment in the translation of your choice, then the changing lines if there are any, and finally the resulting hexagram. The texts speak in images (a pond, a journey, an animal): they invite you to compare, not to decode.

A methodological tip: do not repeat the question in the hope of a more pleasant answer. The tradition itself recommends not asking twice about the same matter. Write down your readings and look at them again a few weeks later, as you would with a reading log.

Limits and Honesty

No study has established that the I Ching predicts the future; the chance of the throws carries no information about the world. Its strength lies elsewhere: the book pushes you to look at a situation from an unexpected angle and to weigh your impulses. Carl Gustav Jung saw in it an illustration of his idea of “synchronicity”, a hypothesis that has never been proven. So treat these consultations as time for reflection, never as medical, legal or financial advice.

Finally, translations differ widely (names of the hexagrams, tone, added commentaries): read two if you can. The pages of this guide give original summaries of the trigrams, not extracts from a translation. To place the practice among others, see the history of divination and the I Ching guide.

Frequently asked questions

Also read

The meanings mentioned belong to tradition and symbolism. They are neither promises of results nor medical advice. Back to Guide to the Yi King.