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Title: The Classic of Changes by Richard John Lynn ISBN: 0-231-08294-0 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 1994 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.12 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: One for the collection
Comment: The reviews on the Lynn book appear to break down to a partisanship between John Richard Lynn and Wilhelm. There's room in the library of the I Ching enthusiast for both. I happen to prefer Lynn, but refer frequently to Wilhelm. It's difficult to imagine either of the two absent from the shelf. I'm particularly grateful to Lynn for the comprehensive footnotes and historical notes to put each item in context.
Rating: 4
Summary: Scholarship with insight
Comment: This is an outstanding blend of scholarship backed by a depth of research and expertise, melded with a sensitivity to what an oracle means to people, and how it is properly to be used. Lynn has recreated and organized the Wang Bi text of the I Ching (Wang Bi was a scholar and writer in ancient China who died at a tragically young age but accomplished extraordinary things on a truly Mozartean scale--his version of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching is still the most read and cited version of that work, and his insight into the I Ching, thanks to Prof. Lynn, deserves as much study). For those who are drawn to the ancient oracle as an insight guide rather than a parlor game or fortune-telling tool, Prof. Lynn's presentation of the Wang Bi I Ching is an essential first step. I would further recommend the work of Carol Anthony ("Guide to the I Ching") and her latest exploration of the I Ching from the perspective of helping one's inner learning to inform and enrich one's outer life, which has been written with Hanna Moog: it is called "I Ching: The Oracle of the Cosmic Way."
Rating: 4
Summary: An edition for the advanced student with some Chinese.
Comment: Richard John Lynn's scholarly edition of the I Ching appears to have been designed as a competitor to the Carey Baynes translation of Richard Wilhelm's deservedly famous edition. It has a very similar design and the same tall slim pages, though unfortunately the spine is glued and the book doesn't open flat.
Wilhelm wore his scholarship lightly, but Lynn seems determined to exhibit his. The numerous interesting footnotes are full, detailed, and unmistakably scholarly, but have been printed in a miniscule font that makes for difficult reading.
Apart from its inferior binding and minsicule typography, the main problem with the book is the extreme repulsiveness of the translation. Here is the opening line of Hexagram 1:
'Qian consists of fundamentality [yuan], prevalence [heng], fitness [li], and constancy [zhen]' (page 129).
Intelligible, perhaps, if you happen to understand the original Chinese, but hardly designed to make much sense to anyone else. Lynn's edition is very much one for the advanced student. Long-time students of the I Ching will find lots to chew on in his densely packed and heavily annotated pages (provided they can read them).
Beginners who are not so much interested in studying the I Ching as a document in the history of Chinese philosophy, but who want to try their hand at using the I Ching for divination, should most definitely avoid the Lynn. Their needs would be far better served by a book such as Stephen Karcher's 'How to Use the I Ching,' one of the finest available editions for beginners on the market.
The Lynn has its uses, but despite its pretensions I very much doubt it will ever succeed in ousting the Wilhelm from its pre-eminent position as the West's foremost edition of the I Ching. Among other things, I don't think people would be prepared to sacrifice Wilhelm's beauty.
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Title: The Book of Changes: Zhouyi: A Bronze Age Document Translated With Introduction and Notes (Durham East Asia Series) by Richard Rutt ISBN: 070071491X Publisher: Curzon Press Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $31.95 |
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Title: The Mandate of Heaven by S. J. Marshall ISBN: 0231122993 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.50 |
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Title: The Complete I Ching: The Definitive Translation by the Taoist Master Alfred Huang by Alfred Huang ISBN: 0892816562 Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: May, 1998 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: The I Ching or Book of Changes by C.F. Baynes, R. Wilhelm, Cary F. Baynes ISBN: 069109750X Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 October, 1967 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Understanding the I Ching by Hellmut Wilhelm, Richard Wilhelm, Cary F. Baynes, Irene Eber ISBN: 0691001715 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 15 May, 1995 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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