Customer Reviews

The Taoist I Ching (Shambhala Classics)

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This is a good to great book for those who have some knowledge of the I Ching and/or Taoism. Thomas Cleary has made many books available to the non-Chinese reader. However, he provides little commentary, no footnotes, and I sometimes find his translations suspect or lacking. It is important to understand that when Liu speaks of "eliminating Yin" and returning to the "pure Yang body" he is not speaking of Yin and Yang as light/dark, male/female, positive/negative oppositions, but to the simple fact that the Yang line is whole and the Yin line is broken. Thus, the goal is to heal the dualist fracture of the "latter heaven" condition and return to the integrated whole being of "earlier heaven." Understanding this, the "Taoist I Ching" becomes a fascinating guide to self transformation and transcendence.

The I Ching is considered by many a guide book for life. The book contains a sequence of 64 "hexagrams." Each hexagram is accompanied by an explanation of its meaning and sayings for each of it's 6 lines. Also, each of the hexagrams in this translation includes commentary composed by the Taoist adept Liu I-ming in 1796.
The book can be read in many ways, for example; reading one or two of the hexagrams a day. This is the type of book that is better taken in bits as opposed to being read in long sections.
Over all I am pleased with Mr. Clearys translation of the I-ching and found his introduction to be helpful. The only other version that I have read is Brian Walkers version.
I think it would be helpful if the reader was a little familiar with Taoist or
any form of meditation before reading this book. I think that even a little experience with meditation would go a long way in helping the reader grasp the point of the book. That said, I think that if you are interested you should go for it. Enjoy

"When people can see through everything, look deeply into themselves," the I CHING tells us, "and turn around to set their minds on essence and life, then in the midst of trance there will be a point of living potential that will subtly emerge." After reading his recent THE BUDDHIST I CHING, I revisited Thomas Cleary's earlier translation of THE TAOIST I CHING. The I CHING ("Book of Change") is the oldest of the Chinese classics, and is subject to many levels of interpretation. This reading was written in 1796 by Taoist Liu I-ming to reveal how the I CHING can be read as a guide "to self realization while living an ordinary life in the world." Although I do not profess to understand the I CHING--the "cryptic quality" of its sayings make it challenging reading--Cleary's translation is helpful in understanding this important text.

The I CHING is beneficial in offering clear-minded, humble insights into crossing life's great rivers, mastering life's pitfalls, and finding one's path through life's inevitable changes with equanimity of mind. It teaches us "the way to be always correct is to become empty and keep quiet, to refine the mind." For anyone interested in embracing the Tao--travelling the path of personal transformation "with adorned feet"--this translation should not be missed.

G. Merritt

This poetic, enigmatic rendering has the capacity to illuminate the difference between the human mind and the mind of Tao for the reader in situations of daily life, and offers profound Taoist methods for self awareness. I have used this book for five years and feel more than any other, this book has altered my life. For any who wish to use the Book of Changes as a guide for living with the aid of the wisdom of the Tao, I reccomend this translation of the I Ching.

There seems to be a certain amount of confusion over the purpose of this version of the Yi-Ching. The publisher's blurb leaves it equaly uncertain. Liu I-ming's text-commentary which appeared in 1796, effectively used the symbols of the Yi-Ching to indicate inner processes based on Taoist yoga. To put it another way, Liu I-ming's commentary, alludes to microcosmic energy cycles which mirror the macrocosmic cycles reflected in the Yi-Ching. Without the 'nei-kung' or inner teaching which animates the process, as it were, it is hard to see how anyone could make sense of Liu I-ming's comments. In Chinese Taoist circles, the need for such supplementary teachings would have been taken for granted.

Up to a point, Cleary's translation of 'The Secret of the Golden Flower' satisfies such a requirement. He clearly disliked Wilhelm's version - not only stylistically, but because its material was a strange composite and incomplete. But - far better than either of these, is Lu K'uan Yu's (Charles Luk) translation of Chao Pi Chen's 'Secrets of Cultivating Essential Nature and Eternal Life.' (Weiser). Chao Pi Chen (b. 1860) was a practising Taoist, who not only had access to authentic Taoist materials, but Taoist masters in remote mountain locations, who had mastered the teaching. Lu K'uan Yu (b. 1898) also practised the Taoist yoga. His command of English - combined with his experience of the Yoga, enabled him to coin understandable English equivalents, helping to make the processes involved clear. It must be said that Taoists such as Liu-I-Ming or Chao Pi Chen did not intend to make their teachings too explicit. But knowing the threat to teachings such as Taoism and Buddhism - owing to the social climate in China, Lu K'uan Yu endeavored to make them available to Western people. Hence, these translations are also invaluable to ex-patriate Chinese, who more or less face the same difficulties as Westerners, attempting to read them - in Chinese. Minus experience of the states hinted at in such texts, no translator - however gifted, can account for their meaning - and is forced to guess.

I have several editions of the i-Ching, but this is the one I would take to a desert island. This iteration of the text and commentary is relatively recent -- 18th century -- and very well developed.

Each book in Cleary's i-Ching trilogy -- Buddhist, Taoist and the Tao of Organization -- offers something unique and appealing. The Taoist i-Ching is the most metaphysical of the three and the most developed. Although the Buddhist i-Ching is a bit more human and friendly, Taoist thinking tends to mesh better with the underlying concepts.

The Taoist i-Ching is based on Complete Reality Taoism, which is very adaptible to beliefs from all walks of life. The processes of yin and yang rising and falling are most prominent in the commentaries. Overall, the edition reads as a very modern take on the ancient text.

The Taoist I Ching, translated by Thomas Cleary, was written by Liu I-Ming in the eighteenth century. It is an application of Taoist energetics to the 64 hexagrams and 384 lines of the I Ching. When used as a tool for self-cultivation, this work can aid the practitioner in an immediate understanding of the requirements that given energy formations place on one's daily life.

If you are a serious student of the I Ching, seeking insight into the subtle operation of yin and yang, this text can aid in your search for understanding by illuminating a pathway through a given situation to balance and harmony. It is less of a divination oracle than many I Ching texts, but is one of the most applicable to engaged daily cultivation.

The Taoist I Ching may seem a little wierd to use at first (it's definately different!) but has proven to be wholly rewarding in my life. Use it in conjunction with another translation - look for the commonality between the two - and gain the understanding that Master Liu encrypted within the pages.

Ancestor Lu, the immortal Lu T'ung Pin, wrote of the I Ching in the ninth century " The shallow may take the I Ching to be a book of divination, but the profound consider it the secret of the celestial mechanism." Liu I-Ming's "Taoist I Ching" is most certainly a rendering of Ancestor Lu's vision. Thomas Cleary's gifted translation of this work must certainly echo his virtue all the way to the Subtle Origin.

Not the easiest book to read (you have to stop and think fairly often about what is being said), but is one of the best i ching books I have read. Compared to many online i ching guides, it's interpretation of the various i ching signs is clearer and more specific. A great reference.

I have been a student of the I Ching for forty-two years. For forty-one years I consulted Richard Wilhelm's translation. Last year I discovered this, Thomas Cleary, translation, and it is now the book I consult. This I Ching was written by the Taoist adept, Liu I-ming, "to show how the I Ching.....can be read as a guide to comprehensive self-realization while living an ordinary life in the world." (Thomas Cleary, Forward to The Taoist I Ching). Thus The Taoist I Ching simply best captures the essence of the teaching of the I Ching.

The book opens you to understanding yourself in dangerous positions, positions you may not otherwise be aware of. It is nothing close to conventional wisdom of the west. But I have found it is a necessary tool for my house design and understanding the changes present in it according to the Heaven or upper trigrams, studied in their placement on my birth chart, and the Earth or lower trigrams as the rooms are in different positions of the home, direction-wise. If you were to consult this book without a house design but out of curiousity of your present situation, all you need is coins to develop the yin and yang. Landing the coins either heads or tails will bring you to your answer, so this is an oracle. I just sometimes stick to the more conventional translations, perhaps I will buy the Buddhist I-Ching, but this is the most professional one you can find. If you were to utilize astrology in your house design, formulate a birth chart first and be sure to include the karmic paths discussed in The Secret Language of Destiny, which by far has been the best source in all my studies and the applications I have used it for. Perhaps you could journal your memories and find answers there as well and write a memoir. As Pema Chodron discusses "pulling the rug from under your feet" the Taoist I-Ching does make me feel uneasy, though really the I-Ching is a literal map through all these things toward higher learning. But knowledge is power, and I don't like that aspect of it. If you aren't already in these studies, the place to start I would say is feng shui. Intuition is a tricky thing, and maybe it would be a mistake to go too deep in this if you are already happy with your life. There's just the feeling we should be more than what we are with these studies sometimes. Without them, I wasn't balancing myself between good and evil, but training in meditation may help. Don't become Meryl Streep's character in Devil Wears Prada. This isn't a fashion show as far as I know.