The Yi Jing is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. It describes an ancient system of cosmology and philosophy, which is at the heart of Chinese cultural beliefs. The philosophy centers on the ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites, the evolution of events as a process, and acceptance of the inevitability of change.

  History

Traditionally it was believed that the principles of the Yi Jing originated with the legendary Fu Xi. In this respect he is seen as an early culture hero, one of the earliest legendary rulers of China (traditional dates 2852BCE-2738 BCE), reputed to have had the Eight Diagrams revealed to him supernaturally. By the time of Yu, the Eight Diagrams had been developed into hexagrams, which were recorded in the scripture Lian Shan. Lian Shan, meaning "continuous mountains" in Chinese, begins with the hexagram Bound, which depicts a mountain (::|) mounting on another and is believed to be the origin of the scripture's name.

After the Xia Dynasty (about 21st-16th century BC) was overthrown by the Shang Dynasty (about 16th-11th BC), the hexagrams were re-deduced to form Gui Cang, and the hexagram Field became the first hexagram. Gui Cang may be literally translated into "return and be contained," which refers to earth as the first hexagram itself indicates. At the time of Shang's last king, Zhou Wang, King Wen of Zhou deduced the hexagram and discovered that the hexagrams beginning with Force revealed the rise of Zhou. He then gave each hexagram a description regarding its own nature, thus Gua Ci (Explanation of Hexagrams).

When King Wu of Zhou, son of King Wen, toppled the Shang Dynasty, his brother Zhou Gong Dan created Yao Ci (Explanation of Horizontal Lines) to clarify the significance of each horizontal line in each hexagram. It was not until then that the whole context of Yi Jing was understood. Its philosophy heavily influenced the literature and government administration of the Zhou Dynasty (1122-256BC).

Later, during the time of Spring and Autumn (770-476BC), Confucius wrote Shi Yi (Ten Wings), an introductory comment on the Yi Jing. By the time of Han Wu Di of the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD), Shi Yi was often called Yi Zhuan (Commentary on the Yi Jing), and together with the Yi Jing they composed Zhou Yi (Changes of Zhou). All later texts about Zhou Yi were explanations only, due to the classic's deep meaning.

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