What is the Book of Changes?
Simply put, the Book of Changes is generally also known as the Book of Changes. There have always been multiple interpretations of the character “Zhou” in the Book of Changes. Some people believe that “Zhou” means “all things are prepared in the Book of Changes”, because the Book of Changes covers all things with “64 hexagrams and 384 lines”, and the meaning of the hexagrams and lines must have extremely broad universality. Some people also believe that “Zhou” specifically refers to the Zhou Dynasty, which means era. There are more explanations for the word “Yi”, mainly including three viewpoints: “Yi” is an overlapping of the two characters “day” and “month”, with the day above and the month below; Yi is the image of a flying bird; Yi is a lizard, and lizards change their color due to their environment, which is Yi – change.
Most scholars today believe that the term “yi” contains three types of content:
1、 Easy: Although “easy” encompasses everything, there is a simplified formula or pattern in which all things and phenomena can be incorporated and explained using this pattern.
2、 Change: “Yi” is about the way of change. Everything is changing, and the changes are very complex but have rules to follow. The Book of Changes provides a theory for finding the laws in change.
3、 Not Easy: Although “Yi” emphasizes change, the Tao is eternal, and the path of change remains unchanged. After studying the Book of Changes, people can apply the rules to “respond to all changes with immutability”.
