I Ching (Classics of Ancient China)

What are the most widely read and commented upon works in history? The Bible? The Vedas? The Quran? How about the I Ching? Every major thinker in Chinese history has had something to say about it. Passed down from generation to generation, it has been admired, studied, and put into practice. In 1973, archaeologists unearthed a number of silk manuscripts dating back to 168 B.C. Included in the find was a version of the I Ching and four commentaries previously lost. The text itself differed in places from the accepted version, especially in the arrangement of the hexagrams. Scholar Edward Shaughnessy has translated the entire text, along with the four commentaries and an additional commentary (the Appended Statements) that traditionally accompanies the text. The newly discovered commentaries offer a variety of interesting opinions, one of which appears to be Taoist, while another has Confucius explaining what the I Ching means to him. Shaughnessy includes the Chinese text of both the received version and the excavated version, although, unfortunately, the notes are buried in the back, making it difficult to follow the subtle differences. --Brian Bruya