Ep. 186 | The History of Chinese Philosophy (Part 3)

Although covered before in an old CHP episode, Laszlo takes the Yi Jing (I Ching, sometimes called the ‘Book of Changes’) off the shelf for a total makeover and freshening up.

In this brief detour along the history timeline, Laszlo picks the Yi Jing apart and offers up both a history of this timeless classic as well as a brief intro about how it works and the role it plays in the life of some people.

The Yi Jing is a book with a lot of staying power and has been kept as a handy reference guide for hundreds of millions of people over the millennia. Listen to what it’s all about and see for yourself if the Yi Jing can serve you.

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Terms in Episode

Pinyin/Term	Chinese	English/Meaning
Bā Guà	八卦	The Eight Trigrams
Duke of Zhou	周公	Son of King Wen, brother of King Wu
Dà Zhuàn	大专	The Great Commentary from the Ten Wings
Dào	道	The Way, The Tao
Fú Xī	伏羲	Mythical Sovereign who lived fro 2953 to 2838 BCE
Fēng Shuǐ	风水	(in Chinese thought) a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy (qi), and whose favorable or unfavorable effects are taken into account when siting and designing buildings
guàcí	卦辞	A judgment, defines the meaning of the hexagram in the Yi Jing
Huáxià	华夏	The people and culture of ancient core China
Hàn Wǔdì	汉武帝	Han Emperor who reigned gloriously from 141-87 BCE
Hé Tǔ	河图	The Yellow River Map
Hénán	河南	Ancient province of China
Jī Chāng	姬昌	King Wen's name (surnamed Ji)
King Wén	周文王	Founder of the Zhou Dynasty
Kūn	坤	The second hexagram Kūn is six rows of broken lines....pure Yīn
Liùshísì Guà	六十四卦	The Sixty-four hexagrams
Luò Shū	洛书	The Luo Shu Square
Luó Zhènyù	罗振玉	One of the first scholars to decipher the ancient oracle bone script
Lún Yǔ	论语	The Analects of Confucius
Mǎwángduī	马王堆	Ancient Han Dynasty tomb discovered intact in 1973
Nǔwá	女娲	Wife (or maybe sister) or Fuxi
Qián	乾	The first hexagram Qián is six rows of solid lines.....pure yáng.
Shàng Shū	尚书	Book of Documents
Shí Yì	十翼	Ethical commentaries to the hexagrams written by Confucius (or so it's said)
Shùn	舜	Legendary Sage King who followed Yao and ruled 2356-2255 BCE
Shāng	商	The Shang Dynasty 1600-1046 BCE
Shāng King Zhòu Xīn	商纣辛	The venal final king of the Shang Dynasty
Shī Jīng	诗经	Book of Odes
Sòng Dynasty	宋朝	One of the great dynasties of China 960-1276
Sānhuáng Wudì	三皇五帝	The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (see CHP episode 60)
Tiān Dì Rén	天地人	Heaven - Earth - Humans
Tài Jí symbol	太极图	The Yin Yang symbol, the Supreme Ultimate
Wong Tai Sin Temple	黄大仙庙	Temple located in Hong Kong located at the Wong Tai Sin MTR stop
Wáng Yìróng	王懿荣	Discoverer of the Shang Dynasty Oracle Bones
Wǔ Jīng	五经	The Five Classics
Xià Dynasty	夏朝	A mythical dynasty that preceded the Shang
Yáo	尧	Legendary Sage King who it's said ruled 2356-2255 BCE
yáo cí	爻辞	The individual line statements of the Yi Jing, two to thirty characters in length
Yì Jīng	易经	The Book of Changes, also known by many other names including the I Ching
Yīn and Yáng	阴阳	The opposing forces of Yin and Yang
Yǔ the Great	大禹	Mythical founder and Sage King of the Xia Dynasty
Zhōu Dūnyí	周敦颐	One of the Five Founders of Neo-Confucianism
Zhōu Yì	周易	The Changes of Zhou
Zuǒ Qiūmíng	左丘明	Writer of the Commentaries on the Chūn Qiū, a.k.a. the Zuǒ Zhuàn (左传)
Ānyáng	安阳	Capital of the Shang Dynasty

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