I Ching
The I Ching in 30 Pages
One page at a time, from “like sitting with your parents” to “delight in Heaven, know your lot, and do not worry”: treat a reading as a sincere consultation, and learn how to move when things begin, when they get hard, and when you walk with others.
Start with page oneFour steps of reading the Changes
- Ask · get the question clearDon't cast what common sense can settle. Ask “what should I watch for?”, not “will it work?”
- Cast · one sincere readingThe first casting answers; asking again and again muddies it. One question, once.
- Read · study the line textsGetting a hexagram is easy; reading it is hard. Look at the time, the position and the conditions behind “good” or “bad”.
- Reflect · come back and decideLike asking a wise elder: listen, check the facts, then own the decision.
To study the I Ching, learn to cast. It was not made only to be read: casting the stalks goes alongside the study, and the line texts begin to make sense when you bring a question of your own to them. Practise casting step by step at Fifty Stalks →
I · How to Consult the I ChingYin and yang, trigrams, six lines, and how to ask a reading sincerely
II · When Something BeginsHiding, sprouting, waiting, heading off conflict: going up step by step
III · When Things Are HardYou can't choose the situation; you can choose the response
IV · Walking with OthersModesty, fellowship, response, constancy, trust, and a mind at peace
Notes from the Margin
A free letter, twice a month, with what the pages leave out: a moment in history when one of these ideas was put to the test, and a question the books still argue over. Never a repeat of the site. Unsubscribe anytime.