The advanced thinkers among the Song Synasty (976-1279 AD) would leave commentary on the I Ching that still resonates with us today. The two scholars of the I Ching from this time period are: Ch'eng I, 1033-1107:, a principal proponent of the Li or pattern method. This approach is the path that strengthens intuition and other clairvoyant abilities. Seeing the pattern without defining the way things are was a belief of Ch'eng I, scholar of the Sung Dynasty (c.1200 AD). He calls it "seeing the Li." "Li i erh fen shu," " The pattern is unitary, its divisions multiple." But more important was the thought of Ch'eng I: How is Li
(pattern) used to define things?


"The pattern does not define
what things are,
the pattern refers
to the ways things
function and interact.

The Li or Pattern method emphasizes direct and immediate experience. He is famous for the idea Chu Hsi 1130-1107, is known for the idea that a student of the I Ching must work their way back from the T'uan commentary of Confucius to the laconic hexagram statements of King Wen, back further to bare hexagrams recorded by Fu-hsi, and ultimately to the same unmediated reading of the world that Fu-hsi himself engaged in. Although his writings are academic in style, you may further read about Chu Hsiwith Prof Adler, author of Song Dynasty Uses of the I CHing.
http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln471/Divination.htm

Aiding the Gods in Governing the world

Once while holed up in a third world country with only one book to read (which I read about 14 times) was Professor Adler's book. I don't think otherwise some of the important concepts would have sunk in. It made me realize that the Song treasured the wisdom of the I Ching and thought that one first had to master the text, especially the Wings but also the hexagrams and line statements but there was a second part to use of the I Ching- the professor called it "co-creating with the Universe" in the Wings this idea is referred to a "aiding the gods in governing the world."

***This means that learning the I Ching has two parts 1) Knowing the future and

2) changing the future where it is possible and necessary to avoid misfortune. (misfortune never being the will of heaven). The concept was widely considered by the Sung intellegensia and in even wider circles with the Sung invention of woodblock printing.

Taken from MidaughtersList

One of the advantages of centuries of Science is the ability to now look 'in here' to see the source of such material as the traditional "I Ching". What we find is that the ancient Chinese perspectives were but a part of the whole; the grounding of universals in a local context that adds local colour and local terms for universal qualities - as covered in such pages as:

http://www.iimetro.com.au/~lofting/myweb/icstruct.html

where the traditional IC is shown to be a sub-set of a set of universals that are metaphors for something 'deeper' - qualities derived from our neurology with which we, as a species, categorise, conceptualise, symbolise.

In the modern work we recognise (a) the REACTIVE and (b) the PROACTIVE, the latter showing how situations can be 'mapped' and the individual then plan how to deal with it - to get involved or to
assert one's own context, or to move on.

That perspective does not use coins etc, it uses questions -

http://www.iimetro.com.au/~lofting/myweb/lofting/icplusProact.html


Chris.

<font size="-2">Quote:</font>
<font size="-2">In summary, Chu Hsi understood I Ching divination to be an instrument for the detection of incipient psycho-physical activity, both in external events and within oneself. Incipience is the critical point at which the pattern of the Way begins to manifest itself, but has not yet become actualized in concrete phenomena. Divination focused internally can contribute to self-knowledge; focused externally it allows one to harmonize one's activity more effectively with the flow of events. One can also more effectively exercise control or mastery (chu) over events in their incipient phase.


In Chu Hsi's system, therefore, the I could contribute to self-cultivation in the following ways:

(1) It could enable one to "settle doubts" about one's behavior by indicating which course of action would be auspicious and which inauspicious. This, of course, was the most basic function of the I, the one most directly implied by Fu-hsi's original intention: "The Sage created the I to teach others to act when prognostications are auspicious, and not to act when inauspicious."(111) In terms of the methods of self-cultivation outlined at the beginning of this chapter, this corresponds with "practice" (hsing).

(2) On a deeper level, the I could serve to heighten one's sensitivity or moral responsiveness (ying) to one's environment by teaching one how to detect, interpret, and respond to incipiencies external to oneself. In other words, moral responsiveness is the internalized capacity to choose correct courses of action. This involves self-knowledge as well as knowledge of external events, for moral responsiveness to the social and natural environment must be based on an integrated understanding of self and world. The cognitive aspect here corresponds with "investigating things and extending knowledge" (ko-wu chih-chih).

(3) The I also provided a means of acquiring self-knowledge (corresponding with "self-examination," hsing-ch'a), i.e. learning to become aware of one's ideas, intentions and feelings in their incipient phases, by means of divination, and

(4) morally purifying these mental phenomena by learning--with the guidance of the sages' interpretations of the hexagrams--how to distinguish the good ones from the bad, and how to "preserve and nourish" (ts'un-yang) the former and "conquer" or extirpate the latter (k'o-chi).

Thus Chu Hsi defined the legitimate uses of the I Ching in the context of the pursuit of Confucian sagehood, and more specifically in the context of "rectifying the mind." While in the Northern Sung the I, along with the Four Books, had begun to receive greater philosophical attention than it had previously,(112) Chu Hsi refocused attention on the practical use of the I as a manual of divination, reinterpreting this ancient ritual in terms of his theory of mind and incorporating it into his religious-philosophical system.</font>


The work of Chu Hsi is, a dualism between li and chi - a dichotomy of Body/Mind?

The contributions of Chu Hsi have been at least two fold: First, he emphasized looking to nature to discover the pattern. In the spirit of this idea of looking to nature we can look at the rich sensory and spiritual world of the hunter-gatherer:

" In discussing the theme of living closely with the land as a hunter-gatherer, the writer and field naturalist, Barry Lopez writes of the spiritual aspiration of the hunter-gather society: 'Their aspiration has been "to achieve a congruent relationship with the land, to fit well in it and to achieve occasionally a state of high harmony or reverberation. The dream of the transcendent congruency including the evolution of a hunting and gathering relationship with the earth, in which a mutual relationship was understood to prevail.' This mutual relationship with the land and waters was the basis of their spiritual landscape. It gave them their myths and their place in the cosmos."

It has been a long-standing Chinese tradition of crazy Taoist hermits living in nature in order to sharpen their senses and find the tao in its most powerful natural state. One is Han Shan, poet of the Tao of the 6th Century who wrote::

" When men see Han-shan They all say he's crazy And not much to look at- Dressed in rags and hides. They don't get what I say & I don't talk their language. All I can say to those I meet: "Try and make it to Cold Mountain." (When he talks about Cold Mountain he means himself, his home, his state of mind and the shining mind of Tao)

Poets and artist excelled in having layers of meaning to their work, the idea being that the underlying cosmic pattern would only be revealed to those in harmony with Tao. In fact this idea is a literary convention in China, Japan, and Korea.

The I Ching also has these layers of meaning that reveal themselves only reluctantly. Chu Hsi wanted to remind us of that the authentic Yi was to be found in nature not in the hexagrams and line statements; that we can delve deeper into the Yi by immersing ourselves in nature as Fu Hsi had done and by trusting our original nature- by letting go of our logical mindset for a time. By lifting our sails in this way we can ride a favorable wind and enrich our experience of the I Ching immeasurably"

Chu Hsi's other contribution (and there are more as explained by Yly2pg) was to say that this experience of the Yi is for anyone who can experience it not just the ruling and intellectual classes. Not bad for the 11th century.