Throwing the I Ching
I threw the I Ching today. It isn’t something I do casually, but each time I’ve seriously thrown the coins the resulting Hexagram and analysis the I Ching provides has been enlightening.For those of you who don’t know, the I Ching is the ancient Chinese Book of Changes. It is a historic tool for divination and, like traditional Chinese medicine, it dates back many centuries. The I Ching predates and is accepted by Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. It is based on the concepts that change is a natural part of life, and that one can come to understand change and how to act appropriately in the context of change. Importantly, it posits that there are patterns to change and it is understanding those patterns, and where you are in the cycle of change, that can help guide you.
The I Ching is broken down into 64 hexagrams - six lines, read bottom to top, that represent one of the cycles of change. Here are the Hexagrams presented in the order they appear in the I Ching.
Each Hexagram within the I Ching consists of three core texts - The Statement, The Lines and The Image - and most editions of the I Ching include appendixes written by Confucius or other scholars. I have 5 copies of the I Ching in my library and I consult all of them after throwing the I Ching.
The term “throwing the I Ching” is pretty much a literal one. There are multiple ways of determining which of the Hexgrams to consult. The first references to the I Ching discuss the use of tortoise shells in the divination process. The traditional method involves manipulating 50 yarrow stalks 3 times to get the 6 lines. It’s a long, time consuming process and, well, where do you get yarrow stalks around here? The method I use was developed by Shao Yun during the Southern Sung Dynasty (1127-1279) and involves throwing three coins six times. The coins I use are three Sacagawea dollar coins that I use only for this purpose.
One is supposed to meditate deeply on the question you want guidance on before and during the throwing process. The question itself isn’t supposed to be a “yes - no” question, and the process certainly isn’t something that will reveal next week’s winning Powerball numbers. While the question framed is supposed to be clear and simple, I’ve tended to frame my questions as inquiries into complex situations. However, I have followed the practice of not inquiring about predictions concerning outcomes (which can be done) and have rather made inquiries for advice into understanding a situation.
I have a great story about the first time I consulted the I Ching. It was during the period when I had been taking Chinese medicine to treat my gallstones. I’d been fairly successful drinking my nasty tea beverage twice a day for nearly 8 months (missed only two treatments!) as well as receiving acupuncture treatments. Here’s an image of what into my “tea”:
It gives a new meaning to “all natural.” Cooking my “tea” made the house smell nasty and, well, it tasted even worse. Still, I was determined not to have surgery so I downed it. To be honest, in time, my body got to liking it, but my tastebuds never did. Anyway, the treatment suddenly stopped working and I started getting gall stone attacks again. It wasn’t pleasant.
Devon was out in Oregon while the latter stages of all this was happening and at one point I mentioned to Ann and him that I was thinking of consulting the I Ching regarding the proper course of action. A few days later, while at work, I thought about the question and ran an I Ching program I had on my PDA. I didn’t read into it, but left the Hexagram on my PDA. When I got home, we were sitting around having dinner and Devon said, “Dad, I pulled out your I Ching books and consulted it about your gall bladder.” I asked him what he threw, and then compared it with what I’d gotten on my PDA. They were the same Hexagram. To put it into perspective, the odds of that happening (if you believe the discussion boards on the internet - I’m no statistician but I’m sure Devon can figure it out) is something like 4096 to 1. Anyway, if I recall correctly, I decided not to trust my PDA so I threw my own coins, and got the same result (262,144 to 1?). In any event, the I Ching led me to conclude that the Chinese medicine approach would not work and I opted for surgery. My surgeon said he was impressed that I tried alternative medicine for that long; my acupuncturist said her teacher, a Chinese doctor in San Francisco, was amazed that a caucasian would drink Chinese tea for that long and not ask for pills (less effective) instead. A lot of comfort that was. . . .
Anyway, the way I look at it, the insight contained in the I Ching is similar to that of Chinese medicine - understanding gained over centuries of close observation and testing. Importantly, it is not a determinative tool. It doesn’t establish your fate. Consulting the I Ching brings together chance, a system for understanding change, a particular context and one’s own analysis, decision-making and actions. In other words, it’s pretty much like how we have to deal with life every single day.
So in case anyone was wondering, I meditated on the proper attitude to take on the course of my international development career, this extended period of unemployment and the arising of uncontemplated opportunities.
I threw Hexagram 64 - Weiji, variously interpreted as “Not Yet Across,” “Not Yet Fulfilled,” “Before Completion” and “Unsettled”. I won't go into the commentary.
You can decide for yourself what it all means.