This is the original meaning of the I Ching (
Yijing
or I-Ching) based on the Mawangdui silk manuscript that is the oldest version of the I Ching known to us. It is for I Ching users who want an alternative and more advanced translation of the sixty-four hexagrams than what they already have, and who also wish to understand
why
certain unexpected phrases or images appear in each line. This is due to hidden inner trigrams overlapping each line in conjunction with special patterns of yin or yang that must be followed for the sentences. The I Ching hexagrams are actually stories or commentaries on 64 topics of human interest that are heavily weighted toward politics, warfare, government affairs, marriage, raising children, the phases of human life, self-cultivation and the typical human affairs of the people within China's Shang and Zhou dynasties. The hexagram lines follow five large patterns that determine how each hexagram's commentary will unfold. The lines within each hexagram are not disjointed random occurrences but are related to one another in a gradient or story sequence, and over the centuries subsequent generations have lost various sentences or changed the original meaning of many lines by altering them to promote moral training. In many cases the sentence lines of a hexagram relate to the same line placements in opposite, reverse and paired hexagram complements and now you'll be able to see all these secret correspondences that makes this the most advanced translation possible for you. This is a vastly different translation than what you usually find because it shows that you should be reading the
like a book. In many hexagrams it serves as a public relations piece for the Zhou dynasty while criticizing the Chinese state of Shang. It is probably the most accurate I Ching book you can obtain until others start using its insights to produce superior translations.