What began in gadgetry developed into an effort to create a set of contemporary poetic responses to the I Ching.
The project, the process:
The I Ching in its rawest form is comprised of short, quite opaque sayings that have been much expanded and commented upon by later authors. The binary nature of the I Ching has been a source of continuous interest over the centuries.
My wife bought me a new cell phone, which I immediately re-purposed as an .mp3 player that takes photos and the occasional call or text. One of its features is a little yellow box into which one can type messages with a maximum of 100 characters.
The pairing of digital phone with I Ching-inspired poetry seemed natural. My first efforts were of random responses to the I Ching, based on my daily readings. The only rule was that these responses were limited to 100 characters.
In my continuing search for yet more restrictive forms of creativity, I settled into the haiku form for these responses, expanding into full sets of commentaries rather than random outbursts. Despite my use of the Japanese poetic form, what follows here are not by any stretch a translation of Japanese developments in the Chinese I Ching.
Further down this road, my intent shifted toward bringing the I Ching into a form whereby the theme or metaphor of a hexagram and its lines could be grasp in a single view, as it seems likely that they were in their earliest forms. This quality has generally been lost beneath many centuries of commentary.
For source material I generally settled on two fairly obscure texts: The Buddhist I Ching by Chih-hsu Ou-i (composed about 1640 CE) and The Taoist I Ching by Liu I-ming (1796 CE). Both are translated by Thomas Cleary, both reflect relatively late developments in Chinese thought before Western influences began to significantly intrude, both were in my collection through chance encounters in used book stores. The Tao works in mysterious ways.
I also take a perverse amusement in attaching ridiculously long titles to short poems.
What follows are not interpretations of the I Ching in any conventional sense. Thus they’re entitled “responses” and tend to reflect my emotional state at the time of their composition. These states are not always consonant with Taoist-Confucionist-Buddhist ideals.
For those generally unacquainted with the I Ching — please see links in the comment section below for explanations on what is and how the hexagrams are generated. For those with a casual acquaintance: each of the 64 hexagrams inspires a Judgment (an overall comment on the meaning) followed by commentaries on the six individual lines. Hexagrams are traditionally read from the bottom up.
Hey, I like these!!! I’m not very familiar with the I Ching, only its function–but this is inspiring me to dig deeper. Thanks! :)
Thanks. If you want to go a bit deeper you might look at http://ichingonline.net/ to get an initial reading. This site sorts out which line among several changing lines is the one to pay attention to. Don’t spend too much time on the interpretations here, though, as these tend to be bombastic when they should be whispered.
This site also links into the “classic” Richard Wilhelm translations, which are sort of the King James Bible of the I Ching — of variegated value, mostly utilitarian, sometimes insightful and poetic, sometimes not so much. My first encounter with I Ching was the James Legge translation, which turned me off to the whole affair for a good 10 years… Avoid this!
Recommended for newbies: R.L Wing’s The I Ching Workbook — a good introductory text if you want to get a bit more serious. and keep track of your readings.
A site I just discovered is http://onlineclarity.com/ Some very interesting interpretations and discussion, very friendly to beginners. To navigate I find it easiest to go to Google and type in the hex number you want, which will open into discussions. Hilary Barrett, who runs the site, also has a most excellent book I Ching: Walking Your Path, Creating Your Future If you only buy one book on I Ching, buy this one!
A rather idiosyncratic blog that can be very insightful is http://www.yijing.nl/i_ching/index.html.
On questions: For some specific current or future issue or action ask “What will be the consequence of…” To sort out some past issue, ask “What is the gift (or lesson) of…. ” For a snapshot of where you are right now, ask about “This day” or “This time.” Overall, avoid yes-no or leading questions. You can ask for further clarifications, but if you try to elicit a preferred response by repeated queries you’ll end up with some devastating or senseless replies….
Thanks for stopping by!
just lovely and insightfull. I enjoied every word.
Thanks. I update fairly regularly — please stop back again.
And an update– http://daoloatse.wordpress.com/ is offline. His/her images were slipping away for a while, and I wonder whether some copyright issues, which have bedeviled another blogger friend, intruded here. I miss this blog quite a bit ….
Hi! I really love these. Always great to read new interpretations – sometimes the key that unlocks a certain mystery of a hex or line. And how they apply. I guess that’s what we’re doing – trying to cut through the ambiguity.
I made a note as I read of the ones I particularly like or found useful:
Hex 6, 43, 33, 1.4, 17, 47 (haunting), 49 (wonderfully visual – creation through transformation), 50, and 52 – the ‘thinking heart’ – excellent. I had that hex today. Seems to come up when you’re feeling a lot but are unable to act on those feelings so you must try and still yourself inside too. And 61.3: ‘Must you be reflected in another’s eyes in order to exist?’ – straight to the point. Excellent. And 61.6 also cutting and funny. And 64/17 is brilliant – great way to apply the imagery of hex 64 to love.
Keep em coming!! :)
Thanks, em! I often find that when I can’t make sense of a reading it’s useful to get outside of the mainstream and see what else is there. Although there’s a danger of cherry-picking whatever suits your mood, you might also stumble onto something that really illuminates. LiSe does that for me sometimes, and Chih-hsu Ou-i, who is way out there on interpretations but rich in animal imagery. I’m (obviously) addicted to Carol Anthony, though she gets no respect at u-know-where…
I ‘spect some of your observations will be recycled here one day ;->
These are marvelous! I willl definitely check back for more … I love aphoristic thoughts, and they are perfectly suited to the I Ching, yes?
Thank you :-)
From another cat-person on the windy side of 50, thanks very much. You’re site is great! I’ve passed through a few times while looking for an interpretation, and finally stayed a while to savor things. Very elegant and creative. I took the liberty of linking in, hope you don’t mind….
Hi, like your new additions. Especially hex 28/62 – empowering, 35.4 – cute but pitiful :), 41 – pretty image, 1.4 – fun, 3.5 and 6 – rang true (sadly).
Keep em coming! They can be so confusing sometimes it’s good to have a condensed interpretation!
Thanks! I appreciate your comments and inspirations. Looking forward to more punches on your blog :-)
Attend to neither
that big bright screen nor
the little man
behind the curtain.
See beyond structure
- for me has echoes of hex 55? Always an ambiguous one for me – a time when you have to adjust from a lot to a little, so try and see the bigger perspective!?
Love all these, maybe you should pitch an I Ching book in haiku form? Sure there’d be a market!!
hrmmm… I hadn’t made the connection with 55, but you’re right… I suppose 1 & 2 are about sorting thru the myriad possibilities in the time of creation; the mid-day sun in 55 about the inevitable decline of things at their apex. In either event, adjusting downward, as you say.
About a book — that would require going about this in some sort of organized fashion =:-O Anyway, that was my intent when I started the rune project a year ago, then got sidetracked by that I Ching Thing….
Glad you like them. I really appreciate your comments. Have you attempted any interpretative writing along this line? Your poems would seem to fit this sort of project also.
Hmm… yeah I reckon one day there’s a possibliity I’ll start doing that :) Well you don’t need to be organized now, perhaps once they’ve all come (in their own time) – when you have the 64 or more (384??), covered all bases, you collate them all together! Granted that bit needs order…
Yeah I guess hex 2 = lots of non-action. Hex 1 = lots of action-action. Hex 55 lots of action if you’re quick? Is the big bright screen hex 2? the little man hex 1? bright screen as blank space – nothingness being what’s intimidating whereas the little man is ruffling feathers? Getting you thinking, imagining? a la hex 1?
LoL! I dunno, I just write ‘em… ;->
Hilary just posted some interesting thoughts on Hex 55, if you haven’t seen them — http://onlineclarity.co.uk/answers/
Hello, well done on your full sets so far! Very succinct. Poetic but straight-talking. I now have somewhere else to turn for help with a reading!