[.ca] The Buddhist I Ching (ISBN 0877734089)

Like wind in the mountains.:
This book is an insightful reading of the I CHING ("Book of Change") by Buddhist Chih-hsu Ou-i (1599-1655). "Arousing the people is like wind, nurturing virtue is like mountains" (p. 88), he writes, and Thomas Cleary's new translation of this classic is just like that, "wind in the mountains." In his Introduction to the book, Cleary comments that Ou-i intended to "elucidate issues in social, psychological, and spiritual development" (p. vii) through the I CHING, as well as to lead to a better understanding of the interplay between society and spiritual practice. I don't profess to understand the I CHING, and I'm not qualified to comment on Cleary's abilities as a translator. While the text of his translation is easy to read, the concepts are often quite challenging. Like Cleary's previous translation, however, THE TAOIST I CHING (1986), this new reading is quite useful in finding meaning in the I CHING. It sets forth "the path of developed people" to "cultivate their inner qualities" seriously, and "to regard the faults of others as their own" (pp. 96; 154). It also offers us wisdom for navigating that path's unexpected twists and turns with "centeredness, balance, and correctness" (p. xiv). I recommend this book for anyone interested in travelling that path with "adorned feet." G. Merritt