Taoist I Ching (eBook)

Foreword

Thisvolume presents an explanation of the classic IChingbased on the teachings of the Complete Reality school of Taoism, in particularthat stream of the Complete Reality school known as the Clear Serene branch.

Taoism,an ancient mystic teaching intimately associated with the development ofproto-Chinese civilization, is believed to have inherited and transmitted theoriginal body of knowledge from which derived the technological, medical,psychological, and mystical arts and sciences of Chinese culture.

Intime there evolved numerous specializations within Taoism, and over the courseof millennia there was a scattering of the original knowledge among dozens ofschools with thousands of techniques. The Complete Reality School, which aroseduring the Sung Dynasty (tenth–,thirteenth century CE), purported torestore the central teachings of Taoism relating to elevation of consciousness.

CompleteReality Taoism emphasized the harmonious development of the physical, social,and spiritual elements of human life. It was a rigorous school, known for itsconstructive involvement in the ordinary world as well as for its production ofmystics of high attainment.

Bothmonastic and lay forms of Complete Reality Taoism arose during the Middle Ages,both playing an important role in Chinese society during times of severecrisis. Eventually the monastic forms absorbed alien elements, and naturallybecame subject to the political and economic pressures that affect any visibleorganization.

CompleteReality Taoism is alive in the present without religious associations. Itspractitioners are largely members of ordinary society, from many walks of life,who combine their worldly duties with mystical practice. In addition, a numberof its artifacts, such as the exercise system known as T'ai Chi Ch'uan andcertain meditation techniques, have long since passed into the public domain aspart of the general lore of body-mind health.

Thepresent work was written in the year 1796 by a Taoist adept named Liu I-ming toshow how the IChing,that most ancient and revered classic, can be read as a guide to comprehensiveself-realization while living an ordinary life in the world.

LiuI-ming was well versed in both Buddhism and Confucianism as well as Taoism.Eventually known as a Free Man with the epithet One who Has Realized theFundamental, during the course of his life travels he consciously adoptedvarious roles in the world, including those of a scholar, a merchant, a coolie,a recluse, a builder, and a teacher and writer.

Inhis works Liu employs the terminology of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, ofpsychology, sociology, and alchemy, of history, myth, and religion. Heundertook to lift the veil of mystery from the esoteric language of Taoistalchemy and yoga, and this commentary on the IChingis one of his major contributions to the elucidation of this ancient science.