Chapter 1: Ancient Beginnings

To the early Chinese, wind and water (feng and shui) were important matters. Gentle winds meant good harvests and healthy livestock. Springs and rivers provide food and ensure the survival of a settlement against drought. On the other hand, harsh winds destroy crops, stagnant waters cause disease, and wild waters are a poor source for food. Wind, water, rain, fog, sun, and clouds were believed to be the energy of heaven and earth. Energy that moves is nourishing, and energy that is stagnant is destructive.

The early Chinese tribes were led by shaman-kings who knew the ways of the wind and water, and possessed power over the elements. One such shaman-king was the sage Fu Hsi, who is recognized as the patron of the divinational arts of China because of his discovery of the Ho-t'u (the pattern from the river Ho), the prototype of the Earlier Heaven pa-k'ua. However, Fu Hsi was also knowledgeable in the ways of animals. In paintings he is often shown wearing a tiger's skin and accompanied by animals such as the tortoise and the snake. It was probably Fu Hsi's mastery of animal lore that led him to the discovery of the Ho-t'u. The Earlier Heaven pa-k'ua was inscribed on a horse that rose from the depths of the river Ho to reveal itself to Fu Hsi. The Ho-t'u describes the underlying nature of all things. To understand the Ho-t'u is to understand the underlying structure of the universe and humanity.

Another such shaman-king was Yü. Legend said that Yü was ugly and crippled. When Shun, the aging leader, asked for a hero to drive back the floodwaters that threatened to wipe out the tribal villages, Yü was probably the most unlikely candidate. When several nobles, including Shun's own son, failed, Yü stepped forward. Yü was trained as a shaman and was designated by heaven to be the leader of his people. It was said that Yü received The Book of Power over Waters from an immortal. He quickly organized the villagers to build canals and dikes, and, aided by Yü's magical powers, the floodwaters subsided. As the rivers calmed down, Yü saw a tortoise emerge from the water. On the tortoise's shell was a pattern. This pattern was later known as the Lo-shu, the pattern from the River Lo, and it is the prototype of the Later Heaven pa-k'ua. Whereas the Ho-t'u's Earlier Heaven pa-k'ua described the ideal order of things (the permanent underlying reality), the Lo-shu's Later Heaven pa-k'ua was used to predict the phenomena of flux and change. Thus, when Yu became king after the death of Shun, he also had the power to understand changes in the skies and earth, the wind and water, and the cycle of the seasons.

Under the continuing guidance of the shaman-kings, the Chinese gradually settled and built large cities. Yu founded the Hsia dynasty, and his descendants ruled for over four hundred years before they were overthrown by the family of Shang. The Shang dynasty, after six hundred years of rule, became corrupt and decadent. By then, the emperor had lost all connection with the rites and rituals of his ancestors. So arrogant was Shang Ts'ou, the last Shang emperor, that he considered himself an equal of the gods and insulted and mocked the ancient deities. At that time there was a nobleman by the name of Ki Ch'ang. Ki Ch'ang would be later known as King Wen, who defeated the Shang and founded the Chou dynasty. Ki Ch'ang was adept at divination. In his hands, the Ho-t'u and Lo-shu became powerful tools for predicting the course of events. Ki Ch'ang used his understanding of the cyclical nature of the universe to expand the Lo-shu's pa-k'ua, the eight trigrams, into sixty-four hexagrams. It was said that Ki Ch'ang was able to predict his imprisonment, his son's death, his return to his homeland, and the eventual defeat of the man who imprisoned him and killed his son. In Ki Ch'ang's efforts against the Shang tyrant, he was aided by his minister Kiang Sheng, a master of magic and divination who had powers over the sky and earth. It may have been owing to Kiang Sheng's influence over King Wen that the system of divination now recorded in the I-ching was developed.

Today there are three I-chings documented by the Chinese historians. The Lin-shan-i of the Hsia dynasty was attributed to Yü. The Kuei-chuang-i was believed to be written by the first emperor of the Shang dynasty around 2200 BCE. Legend has it that in this effort he was aided by an advisor, the shaman I Wen. The Chou-i was written around 1100 BCE by King Wen, who was no doubt influenced by his minister Kiang Sheng. The I-ching we have today are fragments of the Chou-i collected by Confucius in the sixth century BCE. Of the Lin-shan-i and the Kuei-chuang-i, the only knowledge is from references made by the historians of the Han and Chin dynasties.

The ancient shaman-kings' mastery of the elements can also be attributed to their knowledge of landforms and weather. Fog, cloud, mist, and rain are associated with certain geographical features, and the king was expected to lead his tribe safely through treacherous terrain. One legendary king who became a master of terrestrial features was Huang-ti, the Yellow Emperor. Legend says that Huang-ti lost his way when he was fighting a bandit chief whose magical powers caused fog to envelop the mountain valleys. The Lady of the Nine Heavens came to his help and gave him the knowledge and technique of the compass. Using this device, Huang-ti outwitted the bandits and captured their leader.

The knowledge and technology of the compass were enhanced in the Chou dynasty by the emperor Shing, the grandson of King Wen. As a young man, he had seen the value of the compass when his uncle Chou Kung made a compass for tribute bearers from the south who were lost while journeying home. The emperor combined the knowledge of the compass with that of the I-ching and set up a theory of terrestrial and celestial divination. This was the legendary Lo-ching, which is no longer extant. Lo means "encompassing all the knowledge of heaven and earth," and ching means "classic." Through the use of the compass and the Earlier Heaven pa-k'ua, ideal locations for building a city or a palace can be determined. With these divinational tools locations where "earth ch'i" (the vapor of life) is gathered can be identified and the path of the sha-ch'i (destructive energy) can be avoided. This is understanding the Way of Earlier Heaven. Using the knowledge of landforms, the movement of the stars, and the Later Heaven pa-k'ua, one can design countermeasures to combat adverse conditions. This is understanding the Way of Later Heaven. Armed with the knowledge of the Ways of Earlier Heaven and Later Heaven, the kings knew the secrets of the designs of heaven. They recognized the locations favored by the deities and possessed knowledge to counteract destructive forces. They were indeed the masters of I, or change.

The early emperors of China were not only masters of earth lore. They also observed the skies, charted the course of the stars, and encoded this knowledge in the calendar system. Legend says that Huang-ti ordered his celestial ministers to study the stars. A primitive calendar system named chia-tzu was invented. Several hundred years later, during the Hsia dynasty, another, more sophisticated calculation of the sun, moon, and constellations was made and the calendar was revised. In the Shang period (between the eighteenth and twelfth centuries BCE), a sixty-day cycle was used. The movement of the constellations was now organized into the Ten Celestial Stems and the Twelve Terrestrial Branches. Each day was designated by a combination of one stem and one branch taken in serial order. The sixty-day cycle was then applied to the year, making six cycles per year of three hundred and sixty days.

In the Chou dynasty (twelfth–third centuries BCE) the Celestial Stems were matched to the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth), and the Twelve Terrestrial Branches were applied to the twelve solar months. By about 600 BCE (the time of Confucius and Lao-tzu), twelve animal symbols were attached to the Twelve Terrestrial Branches.

Thus, by the Spring and Autumn Period (eighth–fifth centuries BCE) the compass, the I-ching, and the calendar—the three building blocks of the divination arts—became part of the Chinese science.