About the book: 2018 / “I Ching”, or “Book of Changes”, is one of the oldest divination systems in the world. In its present form it is three thousand years old, but even then it was old, based on more primitive oracles. It remained unchanged for centuries, because learned people in all eras highly valued it as a source of deep wisdom and valuable advice and as an assistant in worldly affairs. Its elusive magic has attracted the attention of the greatest thinkers - from Confucius, who formulated the fundamental principles of traditional Chinese society, to Carl Gustav Jung. The basis of the I Ching is made up of 64 figures called hexagrams - all possible combinations of six broken and solid lines. All phenomena arise as a result of the interaction of the positive, creative, masculine forces of yang and the negative, passive, feminine forces of yin... Each hexagram is accompanied by several texts. The first text, Judgment, is considered the oldest. It was compiled by Wen-wang, the future founder of the Zhou Dynasty, after he was imprisoned by Chou Xin, the last ruler of the Shang Dynasty. The second text, the Commentary, is one of the later interpretations attributed to Confucius, although its authorship is unlikely. The Image text is another Confucian commentary designed to explain how a reasonable person who follows the advice of the I Ching (usually called a great or noble person) should act at the appropriate time. The last group of texts, describing each of the six features of the hexagram, was compiled by Wu-wan, the son of Wen-wan, who overthrew the Shang Dynasty in 1029 BC. e. These short and often cryptic commentaries were written some forty years after Wen-wang's text..