I Ching — Definition

The I Ching, or Book of Changes, is one of the oldest continuously used divinatory texts in the world, with roots in Bronze Age China. A reader generates a hexagram — six stacked yin or yang lines — by tossing coins or sorting yarrow stalks. Each of the sixty-four hexagrams has a commentary describing the situation it represents and the movement implied by any "changing lines." The Confucian and Daoist traditions both treat it as a wisdom text as much as an oracle.

Origin

From the Chinese yi (change) and jing (classic). The current text was redacted in the late Western Zhou (c. 9th century BCE) with later commentaries.

Example

Asking the I Ching how to handle a conflict and receiving Hexagram 6, "Conflict," is a typical reminder that the oracle answers in the language of the question.