The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Confucianism, Part II: The Yî King

Introduction, Chapter I — The Yî King from the Twelfth Century B.C. to the Commencement of the Christian Era: Discusses the existence of the Yî King in Confucius’ time, its preservation, early references, authorship traditions, and historical formation. Introduction, Chapter II — The Subject-matter of the Text; The Lineal Figures and the Explanation of Them: Explains the sixty-four hexagrams, their lineal structure, symbolic meanings, relation to King Wăn and the Duke of Kâu, and the interpretive use of trigrams. Introduction, Chapter III — The Appendixes: Reviews the number, nature, authorship, and doctrinal role of the Appendixes, including their relation to Confucius, symbolism, divination, Yin-Yang terminology, and trigram theory. The Text, Section I: Presents hexagrams I–XXX, from Khien to Li, with judgments and line explanations. The Text, Section II: Presents hexagrams XXXI–LXIV, from Hsien to Wei 3i, continuing the symbolic interpretation of moral, social, and political situations.