I. What Kind of Book Is This$1

Among all the books of China, the Zhouyi is the most ancient; later generations honored it as the foremost of the Classics. But its original form did not look much like a "book" -- it was sixty-four symbols, together with brief statements appended beneath them.

First, the word yi (Change). Yi means transformation, flux, alternation, generation: the sun departs and the moon arrives, cold recedes and heat comes -- that is yi. The Xici says, "What is called yi is the ceaseless generating of life" (shengsheng zhi wei yi): generating and generating again, changing and changing again, ever renewing without end -- this very process is yi. Yet yi also carries the meaning of ease and simplicity. The Xici opens by saying, "Qian knows through ease, Kun acts through simplicity" (Qian yi yi zhi, Kun yi jian neng) -- Heaven and Earth bring forth all things not by laborious means but by the simplest constancy. Restlessly moving, yet its principle is simple; myriad phenomena in profusion, yet its Dao is one throughout. The single word yi shoulders both these meanings. Why is this book called Zhouyi$2 Zhou is the Zhou dynasty. Three thousand years ago, around the transition from Shang to Zhou, this book gradually took definitive shape, hence the name. Later scholars also read zhou as "all-encompassing" or "universal," saying the Dao of Change is vast and all-embracing -- though this reading arose later, it is not without a certain beauty of extension.

The entire Zhouyi is divided into two parts: the Jing (Canon) and the Zhuan (Commentaries).

The Jing consists of the hexagram figures, hexagram names, and the prognosticatory statements appended beneath the hexagrams and their individual lines. The hexagram figures are symbols: an unbroken horizontal line "⚊" is called a yang line; a broken horizontal line "⚋" is called a yin line. Three lines stacked together yield eight possible arrangements -- these are the Eight Trigrams (bagua). When two trigrams are placed one atop the other, six lines stacked together yield sixty-four possible arrangements -- these are the sixty-four hexagrams. Each hexagram has a name -- Qian, Kun, Zhun, Meng, Xu, Song... Each hexagram has a general judgment called the hexagram statement (guaci); each individual line likewise has its own statement called the line statement (yaoci). For example, the hexagram statement for Qian is the four characters yuan heng li zhen ("originating, penetrating, beneficial, steadfast"), and the line statement for its first line is "The dragon lies hidden -- do not act" (qian long wu yong): the dragon still lies submerged in the depths; the time is not yet ripe for rash movement. These phrases are extremely ancient and extremely spare, like inscriptions on bronze vessels -- every character carries weight.

The Zhuan comprises the later commentarial texts explaining the Canon, ten texts in all, traditionally called the "Ten Wings" (shiyi) -- wings in the sense of flight and support, meaning these ten texts give the Canon wings, enabling its meaning to take flight. The Ten Wings are: the Tuanzhuan (Commentary on the Judgments), Upper and Lower, explaining the hexagram statements; the Xiangzhuan (Commentary on the Images), Upper and Lower, explaining the hexagram images and line statements; the Wenyan (Commentary on the Words of the Text), devoted exclusively to elaborating the two hexagrams Qian and Kun; the Xici Zhuan (Appended Statements), Upper and Lower; the Shuoguazhuan (Discussion of the Trigrams), on the natures and imagery of the eight trigrams; the Xuguazhuan (Sequence of the Hexagrams), on the order in which the sixty-four hexagrams are arranged; and the Zaguazhuan (Miscellaneous Notes on the Hexagrams), pairing them for comparison.

The name Xici itself deserves a word of explanation. Xi means to tie, to attach, to append. Originally, xici referred to the statements tied beneath the hexagrams and lines -- after the sage observed the images, he "appended statements to determine good fortune and misfortune" (xi ci yan yi duan qi jixiong), hanging written words beneath the symbols, like tying a label to a medicine pouch, or fastening a kerchief to a traveler's bag. Later, the commentarial text that explains these hexagram and line statements and provides a general discussion of the Canon's grand meaning also inherited this name and became known as the Xici Zhuan. Thus xici has two referents: in the Canon, it means the statements on the hexagrams and lines; as a commentary, it means the general treatise we are about to read. Western translations most often call it the Great Treatise, or transliterate its older name as Ta Chuan (Great Commentary) -- "Great Commentary" is indeed its ancient appellation, reflecting its status as the crown of all the commentaries.

The Xici Zhuan that our series will expound holds a unique place among the Ten Wings. The other commentaries all follow the Canon line by line; the Xici alone departs from that verse-by-verse format, rises to a higher vantage point, and offers a comprehensive account of the principles of the entire Zhouyi: how this book came to be, why the sages created it, what kind of language the hexagram images and statements constitute, what the principle of change is, and how human beings should conduct themselves between Heaven and Earth. One might say that the other commentaries escort us into the hall; the Xici leads us into the inner chamber. The other commentaries gloss the words; the Xici illuminates the Dao. The earliest and most complete expression of China's fundamental thinking about the cosmos, change, language, and human life is to be found in this single text. It is divided into an Upper and a Lower section; the conventional reading since later times divides each into twelve chapters. Our twelve lectures follow the twelve chapters of the Upper Xici, one chapter per lecture.