One Who Knows the I Ching Does Not Divine: Mastering the Zhouyi to Know Fortune and Misfortune

Confucius said: One who understands the Changes does not divine. Xunzi said: One who is skilled in the Changes does not consult the cracks.

The Zhouyi was originally a book of divination. Yet great scholars like Confucius and Xunzi said that "one who understands the Changes does not divine, one skilled in the Changes does not consult the cracks." This is because the Zhouyi embodies a profound philosophy of life. One who has read it thoroughly can draw from it the wisdom of living and fathom the principles by which fortune and misfortune arise and cease in life, and thus has no need of divination—fortune and misfortune are self-evident.

The Zhouyi is a classic common to both Confucianism and Daoism. Even after Buddhism entered China, many disciples of the Buddhist school drew on a number of its ideas to help localize Buddhism in China.

China's national treasure, Chinese medicine, directly took the theoretical system of the Zhouyi and built upon it its own vast theoretical edifice. As for the fortune-tellers and physiognomists who practice divination, they of course treat the Zhouyi as a tool for making a living.

Ever since Confucius transformed the Zhouyi into a system of moral philosophy, it became the most important part of Chinese classical philosophy.

To study traditional Chinese culture, to learn Chinese medicine, or even to study astrology and divination—if one does not enter through the Zhouyi, it is very hard to glimpse the inner sanctum. The Zhouyi is one of the Six Classics, and may even be called the foremost of all the classics; it is indeed worthy of being regarded as the great synthesis of classical Chinese thought.

Yì means changeability. As the Buddhists say, life is impermanent and all is illusion, forever in flux: the human heart is easily changed, the age is easily changed, the economic situation is easily changed, the grand world order is easily changed, and fate always feels mysterious and unfathomable.

To live is to ride a roller coaster: now at the peak, now in the valley; the road of life now flat, now twisted; the family fortunes today flourishing, tomorrow in decline. Hence the ancients often said that in life, eight or nine things out of ten go against one's wishes. How many ups and downs, partings and reunions lie within this—those who have reached a certain age will understand its flavor.

In this impermanent world and changing life, some are overwhelmed by suffering, some remain calm, some are bewildered, and some awaken fully. The foolish of the world, when stricken by misfortune or uncertain of the road ahead, cannot help hoping that some wise person will point the way; the Zhouyi is precisely such a book for pointing the way.

The Zhouyi summarizes the various conditions of life in sixty-four hexagrams, each further divided into six lines—six small images. These hexagrams nearly suffice to encompass every situation of human life. The ancients of China believed that to read the Zhouyi thoroughly is, when beset by life's perplexities, to find the answer oneself and to guide others.

This is why the Zhouyi has fascinated countless wise people.

Yì also means "constancy"—that which does not change. Though life is like illusion, one can meet ten thousand changes with what does not change. Why? In all sixty-four hexagrams of the Zhouyi, every one is favorable to seeing the "great person." The great person, as Confucius meant, is one who keeps to "the way of the noble person."

As long as a person is upright, kind, reasonable, broad-minded, of few desires, and free of greed, whether in favorable or adverse circumstances, he can respond calmly and at ease.

Yì also means "not easy." To hold fast to principles amid a stormy life is very far from easy. Knowing is easy; doing is hard. The unity of knowledge and action has always been an exceedingly difficult thing.

The third line statement of the Zhouyi Hénng (Duration) hexagram says: "If one does not continuously maintain his virtue, he may incur disgrace; perseverance brings misfortune." The Image says: "Not continuously maintaining one's virtue means there is no place to be accepted."

These statements of the Duration hexagram tell us that if a person cannot consistently hold to certain principles of conduct from beginning to end, he will surely suffer disgrace and be unacceptable to others. A reliable person should have a fixed style of action and unchanging principles.

Yì also means simplicity.

The entire guiding principle of the Zhouyi lies in the two hexagrams Qián and Kūn, and the essence of Qián and Kūn can be summed up in eight words: "Ceaseless self-strengthening; generous virtue that carries the world."

If a person can live by these eight words, even without understanding the intricate doctrines of the sixty-four hexagrams, he may pass his life in peace; even if he never becomes rich and noble, he will surely be safe and happy.

But if one can read the sixty-four hexagrams thoroughly, then before every turn of life's events one can remain calm and at ease. So it is indeed of benefit to know and be skilled in the Changes.