The Young I Ching

Rainer Jauernig

About this app

The YOUNG I CHING 太玄經 ORACLE

To avoid any misunderstandings, it is emphasised that The YOUNG I CHING (often called ‘The Second I Ching’ or ‘The Alternate I Ching’ in English) is not a new edition of the original I Ching. In obvious contrast to the six strokes of the hexagrams of the I Ching, THE YOUNG I CHING is characterised by the four strokes of the tetragrams. See also: ‘THE ELEMENTAL CHANGES’, The Ancient Chinese Companion to the I Ching, translated by Michael Nylan, SUNY, New York, 1994.

This language game, developed as a computer programme and modelled on the T'ai Hsüan Ching (太玄經, English: Canon of Supreme Mystery), reflects the structure of the original I Ching, but its coherent system and different line texts make it something completely independent.

THE YOUNG I CHING is not a divination programme in the usual sense, but it can provide you with food for thought for coping with difficult situations.

Start playing THE YOUNG I CHING (Mystery) as follows:

1. Contemplate your question before typing it in, starting with something like why, how come, etc., avoid questions that can only be answered with yes or no.
2. The computer provides the current date and time.
3. You’ll get an immediate answer including a number (more on these later), - done!

Historical:

It is believed that the Chinese scholar Yang Hsiung (also Yang Xiong, 53 B.C. - 18 A.D.) gave his T'ai Hsüan Ching ( 太玄經 Mystery) to the I Ching.

The tetragrams of T'ai Hsüan Ching are made up of an upper and a lower
bigram (element from two lines). From the four lines of T'ai Hsüan Ching, each with 3 possibilities result in 3 ^ 4 = 81 possible tetragrams, to which 9 appraisals (altogether 729) were then added.

In addition to these appraisals, you will receive two numbers as the answer, a) that of the trigram and b) that of the appraisal, so that you can read the full version at Michael Nylan's correct translation. (Remember that the appraisals are read from top to bottom!) I have added the original texts in Chinese characters to the answer pages, with the title (always the first character) of the tetragrams and the three-part main text at the top and the relevant of the nine possible appraisals at the bottom.

Method:

a) An alphabetical code (a=1, b=2, and so on) is used to convert the letters in the question into numbers, which are then added. The sum is transformed into the upper bigram, according to Shao Yong, a Chinese philosopher of the Sung Dynasty.

b) The hour, month, and year are automatically obtained from the computer. A specific algorithm is applied in order to combine these with the day and convert them into the lower bigram (again according to Shao Yong).

c) The numerical values of the lower and the upper bigram are the coordinates for finding the tetragram with the nine appraisals, one of which is determined as the answer by transforming hour and minute (freely according to Shao Yong's method).

Texts:
The basis of this app is that T'ai Hsüan Ching.
Instead of my own words, without exception I have used proverbs and quotations from all over the world, whose fields of meaning either coincide or at least overlap with the key words of the appraisals.

This eventually results in a relatively autonomous canon of answers, a Mystery- wordplay, so to speak, reminiscent of T'ai Hsüan Ching and I Ching and mimics its systematics so stringently so that I believe that it is justified to access it according to Shao Yong's guidelines.

In any case, this interplay of oracles-quotes-wisdom-proverbs from different sources and different epochs, shows once again that people all over the world and at all times, were not only similarly involved in the same conflicts, but also evidently—despite all cultural differences—sought to master their lives with a similar kind of common sense.

For further information please visit https://www.jaui.net


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Ratings and reviews

Very cool, this oracle gives uncanny advice and the accompanying pictures are beautiful. It's great for being pensive in solitude and equally fun to discuss with others. I love it!

Very very awesome app filled with positivity

Love the app. I like how you explained what it is and how it works in the app info.

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