Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
In another discussion, someone was sharing their idea that there are or were eariler versions of the Yi - perhaps with a different hexagram order - that were likely used for different purposes than the 'version' we mostly use today. There's quite a lot of 'supposing' in their idea (which I don't need to get into, though others might want to), but this got me wondering:
There is an often-used term, 'the received text' of the Yi, and I wonder what that means? And more specifically, I'm curious which versions of the Yi have been used by various modern authors (for many of the English versions that are used by many of us today).
For example, Edward Shaughnessy's 'Unearthing the Changes' has a translation of the 'Fuyang Zhou Yi' which was excavated from the tomb of Xia Hou Zao, who died in 165 B.C.E.
And, Bradford Hatcher says that his version is based on the: Chinese Imperial Edition of 1715, the Zhouyi Zhezhong (substantially as found in the Harvard-Yenching Institute's Zhouyi Yinde (1935) and in Z.D. Sung’s The Text of the Yi King (1935)).
And I am guessing that Richard Wilhelm based his translation on another more recent (e.g. A.D. date) version, because that's what his Chinese teacher Lao Nai-hsüan was using and was familiar with.
My intent here is information-gathering - and I am not making any claims about any 'better' or 'truer' or 'more original' verisons of the Yi. I just want to know which translations of the Yi (and their dates or time period) are the versions we now use based on?
all the best, ______
I should clarify, I am talking about 'versions' of the Yijing (with commentary), or the Zhouyi (without commentary). I am not talking about any other divination or oracle systems - even ones that are seemingly related, like the Forest of Changes.If I remember, correctly, only one of the three was actually found(zhouyi) and we use today. The other 2 exists as names and mentions in some old documents, but we have no idea if they were as big as the zhouyi or what they contained, only the hexagram they started from. We can't even be sure they existed at all.
I should clarify, I am talking about 'versions' of the Yijing (with commentary), or the Zhouyi (without commentary). I am not talking about any other divination or oracle systems - even ones that are seemingly related, like the Forest of Changes.
And it is my understanding that there are different 'versions' or manuscripts of the Yi that have been discovered or unearthed that are from different time periods: the early Yi that Ed. Shaughessy writes about and translates; I believe there is another early version housed in the Shanghi Museum, and then the later 1715 version I mentioned above, and possibly other 'later' versions which serve as a basis for many of the English Yi books we know and use.
I hope that is clearer.
The Latin phrase, textus receptus, is sometimes used in other instances and may refer to "a text of a work that is generally accepted as being genuine or original
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).