| Preface~ .'i ~ ~ ~.~As long as there has been a China, the I Ching has helped to guideit, through prophecy and philosophy. China's oldest history book, theShu Ching, records that ancient governments, when considering animportant undertaking, placed their ultimate trust in prophecy--above the judgment of even the emperor. The great Chinese sageConfucius, in his work Ch'un Ch'iu, or "Spring and Autumn," de-scribes how dukes consulted oracles for advice on wars, marriages,and the future of newborn princes. In the Shang-Yin Dynasty (1766- 1154 B.C.), even the names emperors chose for themselves were related to the Five Elements, which were then and are now important in Chinese prophecy. In the T'ang Dynasty (n.V. 618-935), a list of predictions using the I Ching was compiled at the request of the emperor, and this list, called T'uei Pei T'u, or "Great Prophecy," still has great influence among Chinese people all over the world. This aspect of Chinese history has always enthralled me. From reading tales of the past as a boy, I became fascinated by the great statesmen, philosophers, and sages who predicted the future. Those specializing in military strategy, called Teachers of the Army, detected the situation and strategy of the enemy while devising tactics of their own; those called National Teachers were consulted by kings and governments (especially after astrological changes had occurred) on how to avoid war, famine, and other disasters. There were also those who, though not in official positions, made their living by telling people how to get good fortune and avoid misfortune in the future. Every generation had these seers, and what they knew best were the I Ching methods of prediction. Many stories exist both in historical record and in oral tradition about the strategists, prophets, and philosophers, and of their amazing accuracy. As I grew--in Peking, Shanghai, and Nanking--so did my fascination. I began to study the I Ching and to learn the arts of prediction from elders, xi |
内容加载中，请稍后...
商品评论（0条）