Heaven, Earth, and Man in the Book of Changes

by Hellmut Wilhelm

The Book of Changes [I Ching or Chou I] was the first of the Five Confucian Classics and served as the wellspring of both Confucian and Taoist thought. Following in the tradition of his father, Richard Wilhelm, who made the best known and most respected translation of the I Ching, Hellmut Wilhelm came to be regarded as a preeminent authority on the Book of Changes. In these seven lectures, he carried forward his inquiry into its significance, both as a manual of divination and as a work of philosophy.

Genres: Philosophy, History

248 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1977

About the author

Hellmut Wilhelm was a German sinologist noted for his broad knowledge of both Chinese literature and Chinese history. His father, Richard Wilhelm, was also a noted sinologist.

Wilhelm was an expert on the ancient Chinese divination text Yi Jing, which he believed to represent the essence of Chinese thought. He also produced one of the most widely-used German-Chinese dictionaries of the 20th century. He held teaching positions at Peking University and the University of Washington.

Reviews

[Mateusz · Rating 4 out of 5]

These essays enrich the Western reader with new understandings of the I-CHING, they lend light to the proportion in which certain links between images and ideas, symbols and concepts, type, token and thought, observation and incorporation in the world were established and captured in the wings of the I-CHING corpus. Highly commendable to anyone interested in the topic from an academic an poetic perspective.