Overview

Used in China as a book of divination and source of wisdom for more than three thousand years, the I Ching has been taken up by millions of English-language speakers in the nineteenth century. The first translation ever to appear in English that includes one of the major Chinese philosophical commentaries, the Columbia I Ching presents the classic book of changes for the world today. Richard Lynn's introduction to this new translation explains the organization of The Classic of Changes through the history of its various parts, and describes how the text was and still is used as a manual of divination with both the stalk and coin methods. For the fortune-telling novice, he provides a chart of trigrams and hexagrams; an index of terms, names, and concepts; and a glossary and bibliography. Lynn presents for the first time in English the fascinating commentary on the I Ching written by Wang Bi (226-249), who was the main interpreter of the work for some seven hundred years. Wang Bi interpreted the I Ching as a book of moral and political wisdom, arguing that the text should not be read literally, but rather as an expression of abstract ideas. Lynn places Wang Bi's commentary in historical context.

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Reviews

This is the best I Ching that has so far appeared. Times Literary Supplement (London) This new translation is welcome because of its crisp usage of modern-day English... Highly recommended. Library Journal Familiar with current historical and textual research, having no truck with 'ageless wisdoms' and leery of spirituality, Richard Lynn's translation of the I Ching as retranslated, explicated and interpreted by the young scholar Wang Bi and his followers, feels a world apart from that of Wilhelm. London Review of Books [Lynn]'s provided us with the materials from which to reconstruct Wang Bi's vision of the text. The result is clearly written and presented--the best entry into an I Ching world that we have so far. Shambala Sun Lynn has... produce[d] a translation of whose accuracy one can be optimally confident... [T]his is a solidly and attractively produced volume. Religion

This is the best I Ching that has so far appeared. -- Times Literary Supplement (London) This new translation is welcome because of its crisp usage of modern-day English... Highly recommended. -- Library Journal Familiar with current historical and textual research, having no truck with 'ageless wisdoms' and leery of spirituality, Richard Lynn's translation of the I Ching as retranslated, explicated and interpreted by the young scholar Wang Bi and his followers, feels a world apart from that of Wilhelm. -- London Review of Books [Lynn]'s provided us with the materials from which to reconstruct Wang Bi's vision of the text. The result is clearly written and presented -- the best entry into an I Ching world that we have so far. -- Shambala Sun Lynn has... produce[d] a translation of whose accuracy one can be optimally confident... [T]his is a solidly and attractively produced volume. -- Religion

Author Information

Richard John Lynn has a Ph.D. in Chinese from Stanford University. Acclaimed as one of the outstanding translators of our time, he has taught at the University of California, Berkeley; Auckland University; and the University of British Columbia. He is currently professor of Chinese thought and literature at the University of Toronto. Lynn has also served as a Humanities Administrator in the Division of Research at the NEH, in charge of the Translators Grants Program.

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