What is Change (I Ching) (易)?
The core principle of the I Ching: reality is dynamic and constantly changing. Understanding the patterns of change allows one to act in harmony with circumstances. The I Ching has been consulted for over three thousand years. Its core insight is that change follows identifiable patterns -- by understanding them, one can act at the right time.
The Creative works sublime success, furthering through perseverance.
— The I Ching or Book of Changes, Hexagram 1 Judgment (Wilhelm/Baynes)
Key Takeaways
- The I Ching uses 64 hexagrams, each built from six solid (yang) or broken (yin) lines.
- Qian 乾, the opening hexagram, is made of six yang lines; its Judgment joins success with perseverance.
- A later interpretive tradition reads 易 through transformation (变易), constancy (不易), and simplicity (简易); this three-part formulation should not be presented as a single sentence from the received Zhouyi.
- A reading can use yarrow stalks or coins to identify a hexagram and moving lines, then consider the resulting pattern.
Understanding Change (I Ching)
The I Ching gives change a readable structure: 64 hexagrams made from six yin or yang lines, with judgments, images, and line texts. In a traditional reading, yarrow stalks or coins identify a hexagram and any moving lines; those lines can form a resulting hexagram that describes how the situation is shifting. This is a language for reflecting on timing and response, not a promise of fixed prediction. The received Zhouyi and its commentarial history discuss change and constancy in several layers. A later three-part explanation of 易 as 变易 (change), 不易 (constancy), and 简易 (simplicity) is preserved in materials associated with 易纬·乾凿度 and in the Zheng Xuan tradition as transmitted and discussed in 周易正义. The 系辞 also speaks of 易简 and change, but this page does not collapse those passages into a claim that the Great Commentary alone formulates the later three-term scheme. Oriens uses the three terms as a historical interpretive framework, not as settled whole-text authorship or a prediction method. Wilhelm and Baynes's English translation first appeared in 1950, while Richard John Lynn's translation follows Wang Bi's third-century philosophical commentary.
Related Concepts
- Taiji — The I Ching's philosophy of change is grounded in the movement of Taiji
Sources
Further Reading
Related Guides
- What is Yin Yang? — Yin-yang is the foundational polarity underlying the I Ching's account of change
- What is Taiji? — Taiji names the generative movement from which the I Ching's patterns unfold
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Change (I Ching) in Chinese Philosophy?
The I Ching treats change as patterned movement rather than random flux. Its 64 hexagrams give recurring configurations of yin and yang a vocabulary, while the judgments and line texts ask how a person should respond to a particular moment.
What does 易 mean?
The three related senses 变易, 不易, and 简易 belong to a later interpretive tradition associated with materials such as 易纬·乾凿度 and the Zheng Xuan tradition as transmitted in 周易正义. The 系辞 discusses 易简 and change in related passages, but the three-term scheme should not be presented as a single formulation from the Great Commentary.
How is Change (I Ching) related to Taiji?
Taiji names the generative unity from which differentiated yin and yang are understood, while the I Ching gives their movement a symbolic grammar through trigrams and hexagrams. Qian 乾 and Kun 坤 present the opening creative and receptive poles of that grammar.
Why is Change (I Ching) important?
The I Ching has given Chinese philosophy a durable language for timing, transformation, and situated action. Its hexagrams have been read in divination and philosophical reflection, helping readers ask what a changing circumstance calls for rather than treating the future as fixed.
Also Known As
Chinese: 易. 易, Yi, Yijing