Zhongxian Wu - Seeking the Spirit of The Book of Change: 8 Days to Mastering a Shamanic Yijing

One taste

Life is essentially a verb, not a noun. This is the first and foremost lesson in the I Ching, or Yijing , which is why its called The Book ofChange. Movement, activity, process, changethese are the basic facts of life, the fundamental forces of the universe that make the world go round, and we need to understand how they work in order to live life on Earth as it is in Heaven. Concrete objects, physical bodies, molecular matter, all composite things change their form from moment to moment, and nothing is immutable, immortal, or immune to this ongoing process. In other words, theres not a noun on earth that isnt subject to the verb of constant change. In Wisdom of the Taoists, D. Howard Smith states this point as follows:

Seeing that everything, including themselves, is in

a state of perpetual transition and change, they

concluded that nothing observable is permanent.

Nothing has a selfhood of its own. All is in process,

never remaining the same for one moment.

The second basic premise of the I Ching is that the future is a set of infinite possibilities that may be narrowed down to a few fairly certain probabilities, if you understand the dynamics of change and learn how to detect their directional signals in the present. The I Ching offers us a precise view of our present situation, identifies the key currents of change that govern it, and indicates how the situation in question is unfolding, where its leading us, and what choices we can make now in order to influence the process of change in a favorable direction.

Wu Zhongxians presentation of the I Ching is a worthy and highly original contribution to Western scholarship and English literature on this revered Chinese classic, which ranks as the worlds most ancient book. As someone who has often consulted the I Chingalways in conjunction with a well-versed masterand read most of its English translations, I am well aware that the I Ching does not lightly reveal Heavens secrets (lu tian-ji ) to those without the right foundation. It responds only to someone who has attained a sufficient degree of finesse in what the Chinese refer to as xiu-shen yang-xin , literally to refine the spirit and cultivate the mind. Only such a person is qualified as a vessel for insight and information from such a sacred source. By sacred I dont mean holythis is not a matter of religionI mean the pure, perfect, infinitely potent source of wisdom and power that abides in stillness and silence beyond the temporal world of form and function, a source which only highly polished minds can reflect. Its clear that Master Wu, who is heir to a long and venerable lineage of Tao , or Dao , masters in China, has refined his spirit and cultivated his mind to the level of wisdom and awareness required for this work, and its obvious from his discourse that he knows the I Ching like an old friend.

Master Wu deals very well with the basic principle of trinity that runs throughout Taoist philosophy and science. We see the fundamental triune nature of human life on earth manifest in the triplex unities of the Three Powers (Heaven, Earth, and Humanity), the Three Treasures (Essence, Energy, and Spirit), and of course the three lines of the Bagua , the eight core trigrams that lie at the heart of the I Ching. Modern Western science is familiar with the duality of mind and matter, the duplexity of energy and mass, and the polarity of positive and negative forcesall of which traditional Chinese science refers to as the Great Principle of Yin and Yangbut it doesnt understand the third factor, the one which brings the other two together and breathes life into the equation. That factor is consciousness. Consciousness is the missing link in modern Western science, but its always been the central fulcrum in traditional Eastern science. Consciousness is the key that unlocks the gates of mystery and magic and bridges the gap between the formless and the formed.

Consciousness is the motive power behind all creation and change, the conductor of the music to which the polar partners of Yin and Yang, Heaven and Earth, male and female dance through the universe. The science of quantum physics has recently verified the decisive role played by consciousness in the transformations of energy and matter, but the I Ching has taught this truth for thousands of years. Its pages provide us with a reliable way to foresee how the intricate interplay between the Three Powers of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity (i.e. energy, matter, and spirit) in a persons life now give rise to particular results later, and how the tides of change which mold the future may be favorably influenced by timely decisions in the present.