The I Ching is both a divination oracle that illuminates the opportunities of the present time, and a system of philosophy that seeks to explain how beneficial changes can be brought about in the world through the actions of wise leaders. By throwing either coins or yarrow stalks in the proper meditative mood, the user is presented with a configuration that can then be interpreted to maximize the beneficial outcomes of the current situation.
By studying the philosophy presented in the I Ching, the reader can learn the principles of wise leadership and more effectively take advantage of present opportunities to bring about a beneficial outcome through intelligent right action. The I Ching consistently points the user to the world of causes underlying present and potential future events, so that the individual can work from the level of causation to bring about desired effects, rather than being victimized by effects because of ignorance of their causes.
Also see, Books On the I Ching, Sites On the I Ching, or our home page, spiritual-paths.com
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/taoism/iching.htm
A list of sites and publications on the I Ching. Includes a terse html version of Wilhelm's translation. Home page is the Taoism Information Page at http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/taoism/index.htm and includes sites and publications on Taoist-related topics.
http://users.lanminds.com/~tlc/iching/
Contains a Hexagrams index, information on creating a mandala, and a list of frequently asked questions. Original I Ching is an attempt to capture the spirit of the Oracle as it was practiced in the time of King Wên, before the written Chinese language became representation of spoken language. Three thousand years ago the I Ching was an oral tradition that was apparently richly supported by illustrative drawings. It was these drawings that became China's legendary "First Book."
One of the FAQs:
How does the Original I Ching compare to the more traditional I Ching approaches such as Richard Wilhelm's?
Wilhelm's approach is text-based, as are nearly all of the others available today in bookstores. What I mean by that is that it is based upon a tradition of interpretation of the Chinese words commonly referred to as the I Ching text. For at least the past 1500 years, people have read these words as written representations of spoken words.
The Original I Ching approach is that the original I Ching system -- if such a thing can be said to exist -- is found mainly in the archaic drawings that only later came to be taken merely as the "names" of Hexagrams. So, the Original I Ching approach is to refer to the original drawings, or at least to what they probably were, rather than to the layers of textual material that came later.
Still, the tradition, as represented by Wilhelm and others, is a valuable source of information. In its own right it is a rich repository of human ideals and archetypes, and it should not be ignored by the serious I Ching student.
Links of interest: http://users.lanminds.com/~tlc/iching/
http://www.pacificcoast.net/~wh/Index.html
Links to I Ching resources on the Internet, including translations, traditional and unconventional commentary, software, online divination, and more. See the Transformation Metaphors page at http://www.uia.org/uiademo/met/chingndx.htm
And Genetic Code at http://www.innerx.net/personal/tsmith/ichgene6.html.
Links to every I Ching-related site they could find. Plus a page that will be used to announce timely I Ching information - NEW software releases, seminars, classes, society news, newsgroups, newsletters, etc. (It is not an advertisement page, however.)