Chinese Daoism and I Ching Refuted

Credit to Abu Zakariya from IERA (taken from the book “The Forbidden Prophecies”) Daoism, also known as Taoism, is a group of ancient Chinese religious and philosophical traditions. Every Daoist movement believed in the imminent end of the world – or at least the end of the greater part of humanity that had not accepted the Daoist way. Source: “William Theodore de Bary and Irene Cohen, Sources of Chinese Tradition: Volume 1: From Earliest Times to 1600, p. 406.” Much like Abrahamic religions such as Christianity and Islam, its sacred texts are rich in prophecy. The Divine Incantations Scripture is the oldest known Chinese classic text that details an apocalypse for the unbelievers, with parts of it being dated to the beginning of the fifth century. Source: “William Theodore de Bary and Irene Cohen, Sources of Chinese Tradition: Volume 1: From Earliest Times to 1600, p. 406.” The book laments the evil state of humanity: “Now, epidemic demons are killing people. The world abounds in vice and lacks goodness. The people do not recognise the truth. The Three Caverns revelations have been spreading for a long time, but the people are benighted and fail to seek out and accept them. They bring suffering on themselves.” Source: “William Theodore de Bary and Irene Cohen, Sources of Chinese Tradition: Volume 1: From Earliest Times to 1600, p. 407.” The book gives glad tidings to those who believe in and propagate Daoism. They are said to be under divine protection and will have worldly success bestowed on them “from now on”, indicating that these things would take effect immediately: “From now on, the Three Caverns revelations will be disseminated far and wide. The Realized Ones [i.e., adepts] will accept it and the unenlightened [who need it] still more. Henceforth, ghost troops will help those who accept the Three Caverns revelations. Every action will reach completion and all that is done will be harmonious. The great demon kings will protect them.” Source: “William Theodore de Bary and Irene Cohen, Sources of Chinese Tradition: Volume 1: From Earliest Times to 1600, p. 409.” The book goes into frightening detail about the consequences for those who do not convert to Daoism, oppose its teachings, and plunge society into chaos. Such people will be punished with illnesses and annihilation: “There are nine hundred eighty thousand kinds of water illness. There are thirty-two black illnesses, white illnesses, red illnesses, virid illnesses, and yellow illnesses that cannot be cured. There are ninety-six varieties of sudden death. All these happen to criminals and to the worldly who do not follow the law of Dao and who plunge the country into disorder. This is because when bad people are unwilling all their lives to consider what is good, Heaven sends divine guardians with ten thousand illnesses to annihilate them.” Source: “William Theodore de Bary and Irene Cohen, Sources of Chinese Tradition: Volume 1: From Earliest Times to 1600, p. 409-410.” Let’s now analyse the accuracy of these prophecies in light of the his- tory of China. The Daoist religion flourished during the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 CE) when it gained official status and was supported by the government. Source: “Isabelle Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a Religion, p. 184.” During the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279 CE) it was actively supported by several emperors and its scriptures were collected and even published. Source: “Isabelle Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a Religion, p. 213.” The religion started to suffer major setbacks during the Yuan Dynasty (1279 – 1367 CE) when many copies of its scriptures were ordered to be burned. The Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1912 CE) saw the religion being widely rejected in favour of other philosophies such as Confucianism. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Daoism had fallen much from favour. Source: “Kristopher Schipper, The Taoist Body, p. 220.” Things got considerably worse during the Nationalist Period (1912 – 1949 CE) which saw the embrace of modernity and Western culture, including other religions such as Christianity. The government confiscated some temples for public buildings. Source: “Kristopher Schipper, The Taoist Body, p. 18.” The advent of the People’s Republic of China (1949 –present) brought with it the greatest persecution of the Daoist religion, as the Communist Party of China, officially atheistic, suppressed Daoism along with other religions. Many Daoist temples were damaged and its priests were sent to labour camps. Source: “Kenneth Dean, Taoist Ritual and Popular Cults of Southeast China, p. 41.” Despite all of this persecution over the last century, none of the prophetic promises or threats found in The Divine Incantations Scripture ever transpired. Contrary to Daoist teachings, there was no supernatural protection of Daoist priests or temples, and their persecutors did not suffer illnesses or death. In fact, the exact opposite has occurred, as the once popular Daoist religion has declined significantly compared to other religions in the region and the atheistic Chinese communist party has gone from strength to strength, with China now being a military and economic superpower of the world. Another important book in Daoism is the I Ching, an ancient Chinese text meaning “The Book of Changes”. It dates back more than 3000 years and is thought to be one of the world’s oldest fortune-telling manuals. Source: “Allen Pittman, Walking the I Ching, p. 21.” —— The Sinologist Michael Nylan describes the I Ching as the best-known Chinese book in the world. Source: “Michael Nylan, The Five “Confucian” Classics , pp. 204–206.” Throughout history, the I Ching has been consulted in matters ranging from politics and business to personal relationships and warfare. For example, it played a role in their overthrow of the Shang dynasty by Zhou King Wu in 1070 BCE. Source: “S.J. Marshall, The Mandate of Heaven: Hidden History in the I Ch- ing, p. 50.” It is divided into sixty-four chapters, with each of these chapters headed by a six-lined symbol, referred to in English as a ‘hexagram’. Each of the hexagrams is associated with a number of prophecies. In order to derive a reading, one has to think of a question they require guidance on and then toss a number of coins. The result of the coin toss derives a random pattern of broken and unbroken lines, which act as an index to look up one of the sixty-four hexagrams in the I Ching. The theory is that the hexagrams represent the basic circum- stances of change in the cosmos, and by consulting the book a person will be provided with guidance for the present and the future. Here are some examples of readings that can be randomly derived: “A shoal of fishes. Favour comes through the court ladies. Everything acts to further.” Source: “Hellmut Wilhelm, The I Ching or Book of Changes, see entry under hexagram 23.” “The wild goose gradually draws near the tree. Perhaps it will find a flat branch. No blame.” Source: “Hellmut Wilhelm, The I Ching or Book of Changes, see entry un- der hexagram 53.” “Darkening of the light injures him in the left thigh. He gives aid with the strength of a horse.” Source: “Hellmut Wilhelm, The I Ching or Book of Changes, see entry un- der hexagram 36.” “The companion bites his way through the wrappings. If one goes to him, how could it be a mistake?” Source: “Hellmut Wilhelm, The I Ching or Book of Changes, see entry un- der hexagram 38.” —— The I Ching is filled with such obscure and cryptic readings, so one problem is that it allows for multiple interpretations. It seems that one could do just as well, if not better, by randomly flipping through a book of English proverbs and contemplating the advice found in such sayings as: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” “Don’t bite off more than you can chew,” or that most ambiguous of proverbs, “A rolling stone gathers no moss,” whose interpretation depends upon whether the metaphor “gathering moss” is taken to be a good or a bad thing. Now that’s not to say that there is no benefit in such proverbs, as they do contain wisdom. However, it’s one thing to reflect on and derive lessons from them, and quite another to try and use them to predict the future. —— Even if the reading is clear and unambiguous, there is the issue of conflict- ing answers. Based on the random results of the coin tosses, you can end up with an overload of mutually contradictory information. On the one hand, a reading can result in a line that urges you to proceed with a course of action as it will bring good luck and success, and on the other the same reading can also give you another line which tells you to avoid proceeding as it will only bring bad luck and disaster. How can one resolve such a contradictory reading? The I Ching does not contain any instructions on how to reconcile contradictions, and when one consults I Ching experts one will find that there are numerous different approaches to resolving this problem, many of which are arbitrary. Some suggest that the lines in the hexagram should be read as a sequence or story in a particular order e.g. bottom to top. Others take the opinion that they represent alternative choices. Some even interpret the lines to be representations of different people within the situation. You can see that there are very different rules that you can use to resolve contradiction, and depending on which ruleset you prefer, you can get very different outcomes. The same reading can be manipulated to be positive or negative, depending on which approach you choose to adopt. Again, note that there are numerous different rules on how one can do this, none of which have a basis in the original I Ching. Unfortunately, one cannot rely on consulting the I Ching for an answer to this problem, because one could also get a conflicting answer on how to resolve the problem of contradiction! —— We will end this section by considering the German theologian Richard Wilhelm’s translation of the I Ching which is regarded as one of the finest, and has had a profound cultural impact in the West. The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung was so impressed by the I Ching that he wrote the foreword to Richard Wilhelm’s translation. Jung consulted the I Ching and asked the book what it thought of its introduction to the Western mind. Jung found himself moved by the significance of the reading he received. It stated, in part, “A cauldron with legs upturned. Further removal of stagnating stuff.” Jung interpreted this to mean that the I Ching resembles an unused cauldron, and when the stagnating stuff is removed it “may be utilised for a higher purpose.” Source: Carl Jung, foreword, The I Ching or Book of Changes, Translated from the Chinese by Richard Wilhelm, xxx. This seemed to confirm to Jung that the I Ching approved of its introduction to Westerners. One writer critical of Jung’s interpretation pointed out how a sceptic might interpret this reading from the I Ching. He sug- gested: “The I Ching should be overthrown, and our minds cleansed of antique superstition.” Source: Ernest Gallo, Synchronicity and the archetypes, p. 40.