Book Discussion Best I Ching Primer and resources

[Kalajadu777]

Greetings,
What would be the best primer for someone absolutely new to I Ching?
Also any suggestions regarding resources in print or online are welcome.

Thanks

 

[HoldAll]

Just uploaded my favourite, the classic Richard Wilhelm translation. I think the I Ching doesn't lend itself easily to being simplified for the sake of beginners so you might just as well get your teeth into the rather scholarly Wilhelm book ("perseverance furthers", like the I Ching says in every other hexagram). Its judgements are enigmatic because, well, the I Ching itself is enigmatic, and any 'dumbing down' would ruin its mystery and wisdom, in my opinion.

People also seem to like Benebell Wen's book, and I've just re-uploaded this one, haven't taken a look at it yet though.

 

[theil]

Just uploaded my favourite, the classic Richard Wilhelm translation.

Thanks for making it available.

 

[Kalajadu777]

Thanks...I have the Alfred Huang version..I didnt find it too friendly!
Ill check your recommendations out

 

[ztenic]

For a beginner’s primer, I second the Richard Wilhelm translation recommendation – it’s dense but the commentary is pure gold and gives cultural context. If Wilhelm feels intimidating, another great intro is “The I Ching Workbook” by R.L. Wing – it’s more concise and has exercises for interpretation (I started with that one and found it very accessible). Online-wise, you might check out

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, a website where you can cast hexagrams and it provides multiple interpretation styles (helpful to see different perspectives side by side). It’s free and can supplement your reading by giving you quick practical guidance. As for print resources, some other favorites: Huang’s “The Complete I Ching” (simpler language, from a Tai Chi master’s view) and Benebell Wen’s I Ching course/book (if you can find it, she has a modern take integrating Eastern and Western esoteric ideas). With these, you’ll have a solid foundation. Enjoy your journey with the Book of Changes – it’s truly rewarding

 

[therootbeersprite]

Online-wise, you might check out

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, a website where you can cast hexagrams and it provides multiple interpretation styles (helpful to see different perspectives side by side). It’s free and can supplement your reading by giving you quick practical guidance.

This website confused me to the point that I ended up doing a LOT of other research just to figure out what the heck I was missing, only to come to the conclusion that it's literally just spitting out random wrong information. When I tried to figure out what was going on with that wrong information, it became really REALLY obvious that it's just ai slop. I can't figure out how to directly show here the screenshots that I took, but

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

a link to a tumblr post I made while trying to figure it out, showing multiple of these randomly generated nonsense configurations. I'm not a programmer, but I know enough of them to say with confidence that the right programmer could really easily code a small program that ACTUALLY converts the already identified changing lines into the correct new hexagram instead of just randomly generating a completely unrelated new one, and uses the hexagram base information to show the pre-assigned correct upper and lower trigrams instead of, again, just spitting out hallucinated nonsense. I'm really frustrated that this rot took up so much of my time. I was really feeling bad about myself for not understanding why some lines were changing and some were not, and just being unable to figure out what rules I was missing. It turned out that I wasn't the one missing the rules, the garbage ai was. I'm embarrassed that it took me so long to figure out that it was ai ditritus instead of an actual conversion program. Be wary of this website, and do not let it do your thinking for you!