seventh world of chan buddhism - Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun

Believing that human nature was inherently good and that error resulted more from
confusion than from deliberate intent, they created The Book of Change, the Yijing (I Ching),
an extraordinary instrument which, even three thousand years post-publication, remains one
of the most cunningly contrived works in all of religious literature.
On its surface, the book appears to be a divinatory almanac, the illusion of
supernatural involvement being facilitated by the random selection - through tossing sticks or
coins - of one of sixty-four hexagrams, each of which has its own specific textual advice.
To be effective, an oracle must be bold, brief and cryptic; and the Yijing is precisely
that. It identifies the nature of the inquiring person's problem in opening lines called `The
Judgment' and proceeds to suggest, in lines called `The Image,' a winning strategy.
In fact, the book is a psychological tool designed to cut through the emotional thicket
of confusing data which often confronts a person who must make a difficult decision. The
underlying assumption, of course, is that the person subconsciously knows which course of
action is preferable or morally superior but that he is unable consciously to see this choice
because the pros and cons of argument have momentarily confounded him. The Yijing,
through its cleverly ambivalent coachings, tricks him into seeing the choice he unknowingly
prefers. It does not matter which of the sixty-four hexagrams he `draws.' All of the advice is
slanted towards benign or moral conduct. In its vague but authoritative manner, the book
counsels emotional restraint, caution, respect for life, and so on, and especially to someone
who is agonizing over a decision, miraculously serves to clarify an ethical and desirable
choice.
Naturally, when employed for purposes of prophecy the Yijing is as worthless as a
cup of soggy tea leaves.
The Zhou, able now to place all military resources under one centralized command,
took the initiative in action against northern barbarians and recalcitrant neighboring tribes.
Having secured the peace, they moved immediately to undertake comprehensive irrigation
projects, to dig canals for river drainage, to build roads and many public works, and to
construct long stretches of walls along the northern frontier - not to keep out men, for men
could easily climb the walls, but to keep out horses, for without their mounts the northmen
were no threat at all.
At many places where the walls ended, garrisoned trading centers were established;
enemy northerners obtained foods, pottery and metal implements while the southerners
obtained horses for themselves. Horses were the single most prized possession in the Hua
kingdom.
For five hundred years art and science flourished: poetry, painting, medicine,
ceramics, metallurgy, textiles, astronomy, architecture. Society began to stratify: aristocratic
CHAPTER 2 CHINA
S EVENTH W ORLD O F C HAN B UDDHISM
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