On acquiring your first copy of the I-Ching

Yeah! I always thought of it as a kind of binary...Solid and broken lines...everything is built on that!

Have you found the chart at the back of your book. It shows the trigrams in a graph. On a folded page of heavy paper.

all eight horizontally across the top and all eight vertically down the side. It will ID a hexagram for you, you just pick the lower trigram you received then look across the horizontal line up to find the upper trigram. Where they meet you will find the hexagram you drew.
For some reason they folded the page inward. I reverse the fold it so to make it more available.

Ok this just me and my opinion. I'm NOT a very intuitive guy. It is my view that for the truly intuitive a complete familiarity with the trigrams and all the attributes assigned to each of them is needed

But for myself...honestly, I try to take note of the explanation given as to how the Judgment and Image were arrived at. But I have come no nearer in my life to being able to make such interpretations for myself.

That said...I have done much better applying those explanations to my question, rather than trying to interpret from the trigrams and nuclear trigrams. I see what they are saying, but lack the intuitive grace to see that in the trigrams for myself.
Fortuity for me this isn't a necessity. Just a really nice advantage to have.

The important thing is to see what they are saying. How they came to know what they are saying really isn't that important. Weather what they are saying is true is really all that matters.

Me? I would pull together the basics, how to toss the coins and gain an answer. From there I would ask the oracle for guidance in undertaking it's study. What was important for me in my approach may not be all that important for you.
In a way the book rewrites itself for each one of us, tailored to teach each of us.

The I-Ching may just been the worlds first interactive book as well as the oldest.

Oh! One thing.You might wish to read Hexagram 4 Youthful folly. There you find the guidelines that must be followed by both student and teacher. Youthful folly gives consul to both.
 
As I've said before you don't have to do this for me. Like you fine as you are.
This may not be for you, only you can decide. Baby steps when you feel like it or not at all.":O}
 
The "baby-ist" of steps is required. The difference between the Occidental of "we are here NOW" and the Oriental of "the change taking place NOW" is gigantic. Hopefully I'll have a better grasp of this upon the re- and re- reading of pages l and li.
"Deep meaning" is difficult to grasp, even with baby steps.
 
Thank you for your unwavering help with this project, Daniel! Making no progress today, the stomach ache from nearly hell is wrecking my day.
 
Not a problem. There is absolutely no point in doing this if you simply don't feel an affinity for it. Lots of other paths, this is just the one I know. But don't sit in the cross roads to long as T.R. points out, we grow old..Especially me. It's like with the coins, let your heart guide you. Would you marry a woman you had no feelings for?

Same same. Once you've had a chance to look it over you will either be drawn to it or no.

Just do what you feel.
Why makes mistakes where you have no interest? It's like making a mistake when playing Music. If it's your music you gain from it. If it's just me messing about everything will be a mistake and I won't gain a thing!

I simply have no calling for it. To try a force it would just frustrate me and waste my time. In all things practical, we must go with out gifts and talents.
 
Haven't come to the point of understanding it enough to know whether I can do it or not. This is very deep stuff--at least for me. It's fascinating, I will persevere with it. I understand(I hope!) a bit more of it upon re-reading the same explanations for the tri-grams again and again. I would miss important facets if I read it only twenty times. The hexagrams are a complete mystery so far, (as in changing one line means so much. And the numbers make no sense to me at all so far)so repeated tri-gram reading is necessary.

Speaking of music, my talent for it is quite limited. I needed to work very hard for a long time with it. This was a good thing.
 
Upon re-reading the very beginning(prefaces, introductions) of the I-Ching I discover more and more concepts. And perhaps understand them a little better as well. It's becoming exciting and very humbling too.
 
Would I sell you anything that wasn't first class A number one tried and proven washed and rises then aged in the hearts of the sages snake oil?
 
If there is any snake oil in the I-Ching I don't think I'll be smart enough to find it. Or maybe I'm saying that the tranquility of mind needed to accept the manifold wisdoms therein may not be attainable for me. I'm proceeding with the study and I hope my good intentions will win out.
 
I'm still way lacking in tranquility. But there is some small satisfaction in believing oneself to be doing the good.
 
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