Back to basics

A Chinese saying, ‘Not yet know how to walk; yet want to run’ may be applicable to some who tried and failed to delve deeper into Ancient thoughts contained in the Yi. Quite often we tend to forget what our teachers taught. It is from the basics that we build our foundation upon. With a solid foundation our knowledge will not founder while we gradually progress deeper into the studies of the Yi. Occasionally we discuss our understandings with likeminded fellows in forums or in casual meetings to learn more. As one progresses one reads a wider field of related subjects to increase one’s knowledge. One also tries to put into practice what one learns and by this practical experience one’s knowledge naturally deepens. (The same is applicable for Daoist and Confucian students.) Do follow the wisdoms contained in the Yi.

“The superior man acquaints himself with many sayings and many deeds of the past, in order to strengthen his character thereby.” (Hexagram 26 The Image [W/B]) ‘The way to study the past is not to confine oneself to mere knowledge of history but, through application of this knowledge, to give actuality to the past.’

The West is spoiled for choice with so many available Yi translations in bookstores or in the web. However, few translators have the required depth of knowledge in Chinese culture and history to translate something as great and profound as the Yi, compared to the Richard Wilhelm/ Cary Baynes translation and commentary where the dedicated Wilhelm was assisted by his teacher, Lao Nai-hsuan an acknowledged scholar in China of his time. According to Carl Jung, even the translation by the renowned sinologist James Legge, a copy of which he has used for years, was ‘inadequate rendering’ compared to Wilhelm’s. Therefore to start with, it is important to select the good translations to use for your studies.

Lately, it has been apparent that some students of Jung, a respected master both in the West and the East, have cause to remember his teachings and what he has said. In his 1930 address to the memory of Wilhelm he mentioned by passing ‘how a prognosis obtained by Wilhelm, was fulfilled to the letter and with unmistakable clearness “in less than two years”. This fact could be further confirmed by many parallel experiences’, he said.

As translators of the Yi, Jungian ‘students’ could at least be firm and not evasive in the introduction to their translation. They cannot assume what the Yi can or cannot do nor whether the Yi can tell the future or not. Like Jung, they could have easily written from their divination experiences. Not assumptions. Do they really want Yi students to learn divination by assuming on assumptions or work on guesswork?

If you have not done so recently, it may be time to reread the Yi again. You may learn something new, as the memory is refreshed. Back to basics by reading and rereading the right books and translations, shall we?