I Ching

alternative Yi Jing

1. A Chinese classic text describing an ancient system of cosmology and philosophy which is at the heart of traditional Chinese cultural beliefs.

   2 more examples

   A somewhat analogous situation exists in China. After the death of Mao Zedong and the gradual emergence of a market economy, UFOs, channeling and other examples of Western pseudoscience emerged, along with such ancient Chinese practices as ancestor worship, astrology and fortune telling—especially that version that involves throwing yarrow sticks and working through the hoary hexagrams of the I Ching. The government newspaper lamented that “the superstition of feudal ideology is reviving in our countryside.” It was (and remains) a rural, not primarily an urban, affliction.

   1995, Carl Sagan, “The Most Precious Thing”, in The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, 1st edition, New York: Random House, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 17

   In search of inspiration, I picked up the I Ching, the ancient Chinese “Book of Changes” that has been consulted for centuries. I’ve held on to a dusty Bollingen Series text since my college days. To consult the oracle, you cast yarrow straws or, in a pinch, coins, and match the results with one of 64 hexagrams. Then you read and interpret the text that accompanies the hexagram. Got that? Sitting at the dinner table with the I Ching and some pennies, I formed a question in my mind: “Is it time to begin investing again?”

   2009 July 11, John Schwartz, “There’s No Future in Being an Oracle”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022