Review

"This is without doubt the most interesting edition of the Zhou Yi that has come out in years. Many books promise to reach back into the mists of antiquity to shed light on the mysteries of the Yi, but Field actually follows through. After an excellent introduction he organizes the work as precisely what it is: a divination manual; thus making this edition both a great starting point for scholars of early China and those with an interest in using divination. The notes on the Chinese and its connection with are well sourced and will provide many, many hours of enjoyable scholarship to the serious anglophone Zhou Yi Studies community. His basis for this work is immediately controversial--viewing the texts of the Yi from the specific context of the early Western Zhou rulers, particularly the Duke of Zhou. I still have not made up my mind on how much of the Yi is really related so tightly to the affairs of the Ji clan and the first kings and nobles of the Zhou Dynasty, but the idea is gaining momentum and I find it fascinating." - Christopher J. Gait

 

The Zhouyi, Bronze Age progenitor to the Yijing (I Ching), or Book of Changes, was a divination manual created and utilized by the early rulers of the Zhou dynasty (founded 1046 BCE). This new translation dispenses with 20th century attempts to discredit tradition and endeavors to recover the context of its early Zhou dynasty origins. As such, interpretation of its language is based strictly upon pre-Confucian sources to avoid the anachronistic readings that accrued to the text in its evolution from a book of divination to a book of philosophy. For the first time in the book's translation history, its judgment and line texts have been clearly labeled according to their content - either omen, counsel, or prognostication - in order to clarify their divinatory function. Furthermore, each hexagram is accompanied by a line-by-line commentary providing detailed background for the situations presented in the texts and explicating metaphorical language and technical syntax. The general public will appreciate the narrative cohesion of the commentaries, while the specialist will welcome the appended Chinese text. Finally, the book also provides the reader with explanations of the myth, legend, and history in the formative stages of the Zhouyi's creation and gives comprehensive information on how to cast the oracle and interpret the resulting reading.

About the Author

Stephen L. Field is the J. K. and Ingrid Lee Professor of Chinese and Co-Director of the EAST Center at Trinity University, San Antonio.