I Ching. The Classic of Changes

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The Book of Changes is the oldest surviving Chinese text of divination and philosophy. Originally, the divinatory texts were passed down orally through generations of shamans and diviners during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, dating back to the second millennium BCE. They were recorded around the beginning of the first millennium BCE. The core consists of symbolic arrangements of eight trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams, formed by a clever combination of solid (yang) and broken (yin) lines. Each trigram, hexagram, and line in various positions within the hexagrams is associated with statements that provide divinatory responses to questions posed by the reader. Later, various commentaries were added to this ancient symbolic oracle, forming a foundation of Eastern thought. Throughout the twentieth century, the Book of Changes gained recognition in the West and remains one of the most popular texts of ancient thought and philosophy, sought by those looking for answers to life's complex questions and those drawn to its archaic world of images and ideas.