What is the Book of Changes about?

The Book of Changes is a complex philosophical system. Most of the contents of the Book of Changes circulating now are said to have been written by Zhou Wenwang, so it is called the Book of Changes. Generally speaking, The Book of Changes is regarded as a divination book based on sixty-four hexagrams. However, many researchers believe that its content covers philosophy, politics, history, military affairs, folk customs and many other aspects. It is an important work of Confucianism and Taoism.

In the ancient Book of Changes, there were only sixty-four hexagrams, and later the legend of annotation was written by King Wen. Legend has it that the author of Biography is Confucius. In ancient legends, the Book of Changes is only a part of the Book of Changes, and the complete Book of Changes also includes Lianshan and Guizang.

The Book of Changes was highly praised by many later researchers, many of whom were regarded as profound scholars at that time.

Writing process

The completion time of Zhouyi has always been controversial. Now it is generally considered to be a work of the Warring States or Qin and Han Dynasties. It was not written by one person, and its content basically reflected the views of Zhou people.

content

The Book of Changes, which has been handed down now, consists of two parts:

I ching: including 64 hexagrams and 384 hexagrams.

Yi Zhuan: Also known as Ten Wings, it is the annotation of the Book of Changes, including Xun Shangxia, Xiang Shangxia, Cohesion Shangxia, Classical Chinese, Preface Gua, Speaking Gua and Miscellaneous Gua.

Zhouyi used a unique symbol system to symbolize various things. These hexagrams are formed by overlapping three or six groups of Yang "-"(a long horizontal line) and Yin "-"(two short horizontal lines).