The Three Versions of the YiJing and DaXiang 大象
How we came to use symbolism to interpret the hexagrams of the YiJing
As my writing project unfolds, I feel that I need to provide a little more background information before we delve into the hexagrams themselves. In several of my writings, I have mentioned that traditionally, hidden within the first chapter of any Chinese classic, resides both the key point and the spirit of the entire book. This is of course also true with YiJing 易經 (I Ching), or The Book of Change. Understanding this concealed message will help us grasp deeper insights on the symbolic meanings of each hexagram and its cultivation methods. Actually, stories of different versions of the YiJing perfectly illustrate this point.
It was said that in ancient times, two other versions of YiJing 易經, or the Book of Change existed, in which the arrangement of the hexagrams and the text were completely different from the current version we have today.
The oldest version is LianShan 連山, or Linking Mountains, which was written more than five thousand years ago, back when human beings still lived in mountains with cave dwellings. In these times, mountains held the primary spirit of their daily lives and the first hexagram of LianShan (Gen艮/Mountain) and whole book was about the Way of Mountains. LianShan was used as the divination tool and consultation manual of the royal families of the first ancient Chinese dynasty – Xia 夏 (2070–1600 BCE).
After human beings moved down from the mountains and started agricultural life, they understood that the earth (soil, fields) was their most important source of life-giving sustenance, and the second version of YiJing, known as GuiCang 歸藏, or Returning to the Underground was born. Of course, GuiCang started with hexagram Kun坤/Earth and the book was about the Way of Earth. It was the main divination tool and consultation manual for the emperors of the Shang 商 (1600 –1046 BCE) Dynasty, the second Chinese dynasty.
I will spend a little more time sharing the birth story of the current version of the YiJing because it is good inspiration for this new writing project. It was said that King Wen 文 (1152 ―1056 BCE) was jailed in YouLi 羑里 by the last Shang Dynasty Emperor. During his time in YouLi, King Wen observed the way of the universe and learned that human being should follow the Way of Heaven. Therefore, he rearranged the sequence of the sixty-four hexagrams and wrote new commentary on them. Of course, his new text is about the Way of Heaven. After his jailed life, he returned to his kingdom and gradually developed the power of his kingdom, steered by his ideas of the Heavenly Way. A few years after he passed away, his son King Wu 武 accomplished his father’s goal - he overtook the Shang Dynasty and established the Zhou 周 Dynasty (1046-256 BCE). Consequently, King Wen’s Yijing is typically called ZhouYi 周易, which literally means YiJing from the Zhou Dynasty. As we all know, this version starts with the Hexagram Qian 乾/Heaven. Interestingly, the Zhou Dynasty was the longest lasting dynasty in Chinese history. I believe the reason for this is that most of the emperors of the Zhou Dynasty followed King Wen’s ideas of the Way of Heaven to rule their nation.
After about 500 years King Wen wrote the new version of the YiJing, people had hard time understanding these ancient symbols of the trigrams, hexagrams, and old text. Hence, Confucius (551 – 479 BCE) wrote ShiYi 十翼, the Ten Wings, to help people learn the YiJing. The Ten Wings are ten commentaries, edited by scholars from the Han 漢Dynasty (202 BC – 220 CE), alongside King Wen’s YiJing, to make a more modern version of ZhouYi. This nearly 2000 year old “modern” version is the same version we use today. As time has passed, the original writings of Confucius’ Ten Wings is now regarded often as being full of mysteries when it comes to comprehending it with our modern lives and ways of thinking.
The significant connection between this writing project and ZhouYi will be DaXiang 大象, the Great Symbol from the Ten Wings. In general, DaXiang describes each hexagram as being made with the images of top and bottom trigrams, the symbolic function, and what human beings could learn from this pattern, all in just one sentence. In the coming months, I will expand the writing on each hexagram from one sentence to an entire article, with each article starting with its related DaXiang sentence for context.
Finally, I think we have enough background information to begin! Stay tuned for Qian 乾/Heaven in the next article.