The "I Ching," or Book of Changes, a common source for both Confucianist and Taoist philosophy, is one of the first efforts of the human mind to place itself within the universe. It has exerted a living influence in China for 3,000 years, and interest in it has been rapidly spreading in the West.

The Book of Changes [I Ching or Chou I] was the first of the Five Confucian Classics and served as the wellspring of both Confucian and Taoist thought. Following in the tradition of his father, Richard Wilhelm, who made the best known and most respected translation of the I Ching, Hellmut Wilhelm came to be regarded as a preeminent authority on the Book of Changes. In these seven lectures, he carried forward his inquiry into its significance, both as a manual of divination and as a work of philosophy.

The West's foremost translator of the "I Ching, " Richard Wilhelm thought deeply about how contemporary readers could benefit from this ancient work and its perennially valid insights into change and chance. For him and for his son, Hellmut Wilhelm, the "Book of Changes" represented not just a mysterious book of oracles or a notable source of the Taoist and Confucian philosophies. In their hands, it emerges, as it did for C. G. Jung, as a vital key to humanity's age-old collective unconscious. Here the observations of the Wilhelms are combined in a volume that will reward specialists and aficionados with its treatment of historical context--and that will serve also as an introduction to the "I Ching" and the meaning of its famous hexagrams.

One of the five classics of Confucianism, the I Ching or Book of Changes has exerted a living influence in China for three thousand years. Beginning in the dawn of history as a book of oracles, it became a book of wisdom--a common source for both Confucianist and Taoist philosophy. The I Ching was little known in the West before James Legge's English translation (1882), and the appearance of the late Richard Wilhelm's poetic translation into German in 1923 made to work available to a wider public. This was in turned published in Bollingen Series (1950) in the translation of Cary F. Baynes. Now Professor Hellmut Wilhelm, of the University of Washington, carries on his father's work with a group of related studies of the Book of Changes. Born and educated in China, Hellmut Wilhelm grew up in an atmosphere of Chinese classical tradition. During the winter of 1943, he delivered the first version of these lectures to a group of Europeans, isolated in Peking under Japanese occupation, who wished to study the I Ching. Besides presenting a lucid explanation and interpretation of the I Ching, Professor Willhelm brings forward new scholarship and insights. Mrs. Baynes is again responsible for the translation. Originally published in 1960. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

One of the five classics of Confucianism, the I Ching or Book of Changes has exerted a living influence in China for three thousand years. Beginning in the dawn of history as a book of oracles, it became a book of wisdom--a common source for both Confucianist and Taoist philosophy. The I Ching was little known in the West before James Legge's English translation (1882), and the appearance of the late Richard Wilhelm's poetic translation into German in 1923 made to work available to a wider public. This was in turned published in Bollingen Series (1950) in the translation of Cary F. Baynes. Now Professor Hellmut Wilhelm, of the University of Washington, carries on his father's work with a group of related studies of the Book of Changes. Born and educated in China, Hellmut Wilhelm grew up in an atmosphere of Chinese classical tradition. During the winter of 1943, he delivered the first version of these lectures to a group of Europeans, isolated in Peking under Japanese occupation, who wished to study the I Ching. Besides presenting a lucid explanation and interpretation of the I Ching, Professor Willhelm brings forward new scholarship and insights. Mrs. Baynes is again responsible for the translation. Originally published in 1960. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.