Change: Eight Lectures on the I Ching

From back "No Chinese Classic is more puzzling than the Book of Changes . . . . There has been a dire need for a study which treats it as a book of both divination and philosophy, and explains its significance in a scholarly yet intelligible manner. The book under review is such a study. . . . Throughout the book there is an amazing combination of profound scholarship and transparent clarity. It is made clear to the reader, with both seriousness and delight, that the Classic is intended to teach men to control their own destiny rather than to submit to the wishes of mysterious beings. It is no collection of myths or revelations but a naturalistic approach to the whole man and the whole world."—Wing-tsit Chan, Journal of Asian Studies". . . a systematic exposition which is lucid, concise yet comprehensive, and very readable. For anyone wishing to enter into the spirit and Weltanschauung of one of China's most influential ancient texts, this little book is in many ways the best introduction available. Particularly good is its treatment of ideological matters, such as the above-mentioned concept of change."—Derk Bodde, Journal of the American Oriental SocietyHELLMUT WILHELM, professor at the University of Washington (Seattle), now retired, was born and educated in China and grew up in an atmosphere of Chinese classical tradition. During the winter of 1943, he delivered these lectures to a group of Europeans, isolated in Peking under Japanese occupation, who wished to study the I Ching .