Anyone read Blofeld's I-Ching ?

[jocho711]

Dear Friends,

I picked up a bargain price copy of John Blofeld's I-Ching
last week. I really like the introductory chapters which are
quite philosophical and relate a lot to Zen thinking.

Has anyone else read it, and do you know how reliable his
interpretations are ? He was a Buddhist traveller of the
far East and his book was written partly to 'correct'
Wilhelm's, and is intended for practical use in divination,
though (as a Zen person), he states that his opinion is
that without meditation and intuition one can't make much
sense of the I Ching's answers.

Best regards,

John.

 

[bradford]

This has been one of the standards for many years.
It's great for its simplicity. It's a little bit dated now
but I'd still put it in my top twelve (out of 150)

 

[kady]

Blofeld's

Hi, John. Sorry this comes so late but I just today dropped in on the
forum. Funny coincidence I spot I question about Blofeld's translation-
I wondered if anyone else had heard about it as I rarely hear it mentioned anywhere. It happens to be the translation I began with when I started learning I Ching, about 6-7 yrs ago. I agree with you re- garding the introductory (& other) portions- he does give much insightful & philosophical information. I can't say I have always found
it an easy translation to use and understand, although I think there is
some real beauty and poetry he captures that others miss-particularly with hexagram 20. So many translations I've consulted overlook the whole Kuan Yin aspect of 20-and so much is
lost by that, I feel. I actually consult the several translations I have
(& 3 of those, in particular) when I do a reading-time consuming and all, but I feel I get a more complete picture that way. (I guess a lot of people do that.) My newest of my favorite 3 is by Brian Browne Walker (subtitled, 'A Guide to Life's Turning Points'). Are you familiar with this one? I find it comes at I Ching from it's own
unique angle, too, and can be quite illuminating. (I sound like some
kind a pro-NOT! Still consider myself a beginner....)

Sorry for the long post-just can't seem to write anything short.Let me know what you think about Walker's trans. if you check it out.

 

[jesed]

Hi

Just in case the comment could be useful

I like Blofeld's translation. But about his calendaric references, at least in my limited experience with that, I find them unuseful. But, I have only experiment with that only 5 times.

Best wishes