The complete I ching
Subtitle: the definitive translation
By: by the Taoist Master Alfred Huang.
Contributors: Huang, Alfred.
Publisher: Inner Traditions
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Rochester, Vt
Language: eng
Number of pages: 539
Description: "The Complete I Ching marks the first time that an eminent Chinese scholar has translated the original ideographs of the I Ching into English. For more than three thousand years the I Ching has been the most important book of divination in the world. Revered by billions of Chinese as the Classic of Classics and consulted as a source of ancient wisdom, it has been embraced by the West in the last fifty years but always translated by Westerners who brought their own cultural biases to the work, distorting or misunderstanding its true meaning. Master Alfred Huang is a professor of Taoist philosophy and former Dean of Students at Shanghai University. He studied the I Ching--a forbidden book at the time--in secret with one of China's greatest I Ching masters, only to be imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution in 1966 and sentenced to death. While in prison for thirteen years he continued his practice of Tai Chi and meditated on the I Ching, and found the strength to survive.^

Released in 1979, he emigrated to the United States, where he discovered that no I Ching existed in English that emphasized the unity of Heaven and humanity and the Tao of Change, as the Chinese text does. The Complete I Ching is the product of his desire to bring authentic the authentic Classic of change to the West. To the Chinese the I Ching is nothing without the commentaries on it by Confucius, their most revered sage. Previous editions have not paid proper attention to these commentaries, known as the Ten Wings. But the Chinese say at the I Ching needs the Ten Wings to fly. With the Ten Wings restored to their central place by Master Huang, the I Ching at last flies in English.^

Other contributions of this translation include a new emphasis on the intricate web of interrelations among the names and sequence of the sixty-four hexagrams, the preservation of the original poetic style, the introduction of several new methods of divination, and special information on the historical events out of which the I Ching was born." -- Publisher's description

A modern translation of the ancient Chinese oracle emphasizes the unity of Heaven and humanity and the Tao of Change, and, even includes translations of the Ten Wings, the commentaries by Confucius, that are essential to the I Ching's insight.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.