Customer Reviews

Seeking the Spirit of the Book of Change: 8 Days to Mastering a Shamanic Yijing (I Ching) Prediction System

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First, I placed an order for the hard cover copy after I finished the book. That should say something about the book.

This was the first time I was exposed to I Ching and it has been a wonderful experience. For someone from the East, I am no stranger to shamanism, foretune teller and guys called themselves masters who claimed that they can accurately predict the future and do things to influence changes and events. However, Master Wu's book presented the prediction system in a whole new way. It is a numerical system that tells a lot about law of nature. Like feng shui, its ultimate goal is help people achieve harmony. After all, if China is full of master shamans who can predict the future, they would still be ruled by emperors and Forbidden City wouldn't be just a tourist attraction.

The book is entertaining, beside very informative. Master Wu's narrative, relaxing style makes you want to keep reading. He made I Ching easy to understand, with real life examples that the readers can relate to. An amazing fact: the binary system used in today's computers has its origin in the I Ching system (need to verify this).

The Qi Gong exercises at the end of each chapter are priceless. They are very easy to follow. Master Wu even explained each form and how it affected the organs in your body. I recognized the exerise immediately, having exposed to Qi Gong before.

It has been a wonderful experience reading the book. While you might not become a shaman after reading the book, it will certainly enrich your knowledge and who knows, even improve your health with the Qi Gong exercises.

Master Wu has a talent not only for story telling that resonates beyond the words but also for transmitting this vital information in a humble and profound way.
I recommend this book with the highest accolades as it not only educates the most practiced i jing devotee, but also will start the beginner on the path to wu wei. this book in combination with his first book "Vital Breath of the Dao" is enough to foster a lifelong cultivation in the dao and will only serve to strengthen and optimize health and well being in the practitioner. Master Wu's daoist shamanic teachings are further proof that he backs up his words with action.
this book is equally important for the beginning practitioner as well as the more "experienced" cultivationist. As a long-time student of the Dao and of Chinese Medicine, Tai ji, Qi Gong, Xin Yi and I Jing science, i am profoundly impressed with this work!

Master Wu has excited and empassioned an entire generation of Daoists around the world. Here's to the spreading of his love Qi....GAMBEI!!!!

Review of Master Wu's "Seeking the Spirit of The Book of Change: 8 Days to Mastering a Shamanic Yijing (I Ching) Prediction System."

This book represents a lifelong training program which is closely held in the Daoist Tradition. The I Ching system of prediction is clearly explained in the process and is simply about the fundamental concept of "change" representing a method for tracking the process/activity of change. The nature of "shamanism" as explained discusses the "Wu" culture tradition as possessing mastery over the material and non-material elements of the world. The ancient Wu sages, using oracle bones and other artifacts while in full possession of their mental faculties, climbed the World tree to reach the "Heaven of the Ancestors" or descended to the underworld in search of lost or trapped souls. Their processes are revealed here.

Using an eight day system to explain the Eight Trigrams of the I Ching Master Wu shows the reader how to apply that knowledge in daily life by instruction and by contrasting with real life/real world examples where the system of prediction influenced a proper outcome.

This book was a little challenging for me to grasp. I've spent some time with this book trying to wrap my mind around it. While Master Wu goes through great effort to explain I Ching to the western culture, I felt that maybe I wasn't ready for this book or it needed a better explanation.

There is a lot of pictures and diagrams. In my advance copy, the figures as related in the text was not matched up with the images. For me, in Master Wu's movements, I felt that there needed to be a better indication of his moments or more partial pictures to show movement.

I wouldn't classify this book as a "beginners" book. More so of someone who is more acquainted with I Ching.

This newest book by Master Zhongxian Wu is clear and concise while tackling the difficult job of bringing the art of Yijing prediction out from within the mystery of Chinese philosophy through a method the Western mind can understand: symbolism and numerology.
An excellent book for any student of Asian culture, and, as the book jacket says, for "those who wish to learn how to apply the Yijing for practical purposes".

This illuminating book is an invitation to take a transformational journey through the Book of Changes. The author, Master Wu, energetically takes each reader on as a student; as you read the book, it is as if you were in a room with Master Wu himself, savoring the deep flavor of tea and listening to ancient legends told in a lyrical tone. Hence, the process of reading this book initiates one into the realms of classical Daoist instruction; it is within these realms that the spirit of the Yijing may truly be encountered.

Most of the Yijing books published in English on the market today are translations of the Zhou Yijing with some commentary by the translators. Surely such books are quite useful in many ways. Yet it is unfortunate that, for the most part, the Western audience at large is limited to such books when it comes to the vast universe of Yijing studies. Master Wu's book brings the reader a completely different look at the Book of Change, a different perspective and in some ways a deeper insight into its inner workings.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in connecting with the Yijing on a deep level.

This is easily one of the best books on Taoist (or Daoist) philosophy or Chinese shamanic practices I have read. It is well written, clear, and uncluttered by obscure references and terms. It is intended to explain some of the deeper history and meaning of the Yijing, or Book Of Change (not "Changes," as is often translated). It is also meant to instruct in the way of viewing the Universe as did the ancient shamans who created Yijing and what became formalized as Taoism (Daoism).

The book is organized as a series of eight lessons presented as if one were spending time with Master Wu at a retreat. Each lesson includes drinking tea, discussion of the history and meaning of certain aspects of trigrams, numbers, etc., as they relate to Yijing ("I Ching" in the Wade-Giles system). Qigong exercises to aid in the study are also included in each lessons.

I found the text remarkably refreshing and bursting with clarity and insight missing from every other text on the subject I have read. Not only are we treated to lessons on the historical derivations of trigrams and hexagrams, but also on deeper meanings in the bagua, numerology, and the interesting diagram called "hetu."

Master Wu's writing is clear and informative without being obscure or pedantic. One really gets the flavor of sitting with a genuine Master in pristine settings and absorbing the knowledge as one would absorb sunlight and a good meal. It is relaxed but instructive, and while not organized in "cookbook" fashion, there is a great deal of information here that would require (and deserves) long and in depth study. This is not a book one simply reads, this is a book to study and review, over and over again.

The qigong exercises are also interesting, and I intend to add them to my practices.

I was intrigued in particular by some of the numerology and the hetu, which I find closely linked to advanced physics, math, and the work of people like Viktor Schauberger. There is indeed much which remains forgotten in the mists of time...

If you are interested in Yijing, Chinese (or Asian) religion, philosophy, or culture, then I would heartily recommend this book. If what you are after is a quick, New Agey cookbook for playing with prediction, don't bother. This book is for serious students of these topics and does not lend itself to instant party trick kinds of things. (On the other hand, it may also lead you into more serious study.....)

A great book. I look forward to more of Master Wu's work.s

I plucked this book out of the Amazon Vine offerings based on some previous personal experience with the I Ching, and I was not disappointed with the choice. This particular book approaches the I Ching in a fairly non-traditional fashion, focusing less on the mechanical aspects of working with the trigrams and hexagrams in favor of a more fluid and intuitive interpretation.

The I Ching (or Yijing as used in this book) is one of the Chinese classics, widely used as an oracle by both the Taoist and Confucian schools of philosophy. Most English translations have tended to focus on the trigrams and hexagrams as an end to themselves. You're taught to throw coins or yarrow sticks in order to obtain a hexagram which can then be decoded to allow insight into a particular question posed at the beginning of the process. As such, I've often found most Western translations of the I Ching to be somewhat dry, with an almost "paint by numbers" feel about them.

Author and Yijing Master Zhongxian Wu thankfully avoids that approach in this book. He instead sheds light on the Yijing as a shamanic system for prediction and insight. He combines tea ceremony, meditation, history, and Qigong movement into a methodology for deeper understanding of the Tao and the I Ching itself. Master Wu does a good job of presenting the I Ching as a living system of philosophy and insight that can be used for advice in any number of different situations. If you're looking for a dry interpretation of the 64 hexagrams, this is not the book for you.

Master Wu also dispenses with the traditional methods for obtaining a trigram/hexagram. His method involves thinking of a 3 digit number and then dividing to get a trigram. That's certainly not a system that I've ever seen or practiced before, so it will take some getting used to if you decide to use that methodology.

This is a very interesting book. My gripes are all small ones, but I'll outline a couple of them for you. First off, the author can get a bit bogged down by detail (Day 7 on the Hidden Immortal Lineage just blew my mind). There is also no way that you will be able to "master" the concepts outlined in this book in 8 days. I know people who have been practicing I Ching prediction for years and still struggle with it. It's also hard to do the meditations and movements alone. It helps to work with another person when studying these concepts.

Still, this is a good effort and a fresh approach to the I Ching. It's well worth your time and effort if you're interested in understanding why this is one of the undisputed classics of Chinese thought and culture.

This book offers valuable context and a powerful approach to the I Ching. The methods shared by Master Wu facilitate direct connection with one's "intuitive field" which is the basis for a meaningful I Ching reading. In this review, I would like to share a practical account of Master Wu's I Ching system at work. This experience occurred before I read "Seeking the Spirit of the Book of Change", so I will recount it from that perspective without describing the methods that Master Wu applied (... for that, you can read the book).

After hearing Master Wu speak at a book signing for "Seeking the Spirit of the Book of Change", I approached him and asked if he could apply the system in order to help me find something of value that I had lost. Master Wu simply replied, "let's see". He then asked me to think of a three digit number. The number that came to mind was 746. So, I gave him that number. He seemed to stare into space for a moment and then said, "the object you lost was metal, right?". I confirmed that the object was indeed metal and asked if I should tell him more. He said, "no, don't tell me more". Again, after a period of silence he stated, "this problem has something to do with water". Master Wu made a few more general inferences and then provided the following guidance: "You should look for the object on the north side of your house. I think it could be hidden beneath something dark... and soft. Maybe it's under a dark cloth, or in a bag."

Then, Master Wu asked me to provide more background on the missing object. I explained to him that for more than a month I had been looking for a very nice watch (metal) that my wife had given me on a special occasion. I had always kept the watch in a special place whenever it was not on my arm. My wife and I had looked every place we could imagine. After listening to this background, Master Wu simply added, "I think you will find the watch".

As soon as I returned home, I began focusing my search on the north side of the house. I found myself looking again in some of the same places, but used the I Ching's guidance to have a fresh look in places I might have previously disregarded. After about 30 minutes I found my watch. It was located in the upstairs bedroom closet (against the northern wall of the house), hidden within a small, rarely used pocket of a green and black duffle bag (dark, soft material) that I had taken on a trip to the beach (water) about six weeks prior. This experience gave me advanced validation that "Seeking the Spirit of the Book of Change" would be a valuable read.

Using guided imagery (imagination and experience), Master Zhongxian Wu transports the reader through an 8-day experience of the Ba Gua, the Eight Trigrams essential to Chinese traditional Taoist culture and thought. The reader begins with a constructed image of a Ba Gua shaped teahouse high on a mountain, sitting with Master Wu, Pinming Lundao -savoring tea and discussing the Dao/Tao. This is a Way followed by the Wu, sometimes translated as magician and here as shaman.

There are many layers each day, using metaphor and story, cultural artifacts, numerology, symbolism, calligraphy (some very beautiful examples of this, including ancient forms), and finishing each day with a physical form of Taiji Qigong to integrate the learning of mind and spirit into the body. Each day one takes a different position on the Ba Gua, savoring a different tea, learning a new lesson on approaching the Yijing.

I am an utter neophyte to the Dao, but even in my severely limited understanding, I can see there are so many layers to work through, that one can return over and over to this book, each time improving and integrating the experience, savoring the tea-chings (I know! Sorry! A terrible pun! ;-) ) shared by Master Wu. There is much of great value here, whether one is on the path as a student of the Dao, or one simply wanting to get a sense of the complexity, beauty, and usefulness of Chinese traditional culture.

The practices of Taoism are all connected: calligraphy and art, traditional medicine (herbalism, acupuncture, etc.), music, martial arts, feng shui, etc. I look forward to reading more of Master Zhongxian Wu's work, and hearing his music as well. I hope he continues to develop more books for westerners that take this integrated approach to the Taoist Practices. This is the best way to begin understanding, unless one is fortunate enough to be able to study directly with a master.