Intermediate Class for I Ching (易經中班) – Lecture 1

Minda and I joined Prof. Peng’s (彭泓基教授) Intermediate class for I Ching (易經中班) and Lecture 1 was held on 3^rd Jun 2023. The course has six lectures from 3^rd Jun to 15^th Jul 2023. I would like to summarize some key points for sharing below.     

In the beginning, Prof. Peng reviewed the introductory class “I Ching and the Wisdom of Life IV (易經與人生智慧)”. He reviewed Yi Xiang (易象) thinking and Yi Dao (易道). Xiang (象) / Image is metaphor and way of thinking. Hexagram (卦) is a simulation and symbol. If you got the meaning (得意) and can forget the image (忘象).

And he reminded us the Ten Wings (十翼) by Confucius (孔子) who added the Philosophy inside I Ching.

Prof. Peng said the most important to interpret the eight trigrams (八卦) is association of ideas (聯想).

He also introduced some interested hexagram. The comprehensive hexagram (綜卦) that are changed upside down after rotation. The wrong hexagram (錯卦) that yin yao (陰爻) and yang yao (陽爻) are inter-exchanged to form another hexagram.

And then he also explained the logic of Wandering Soul Hexagram (遊魂卦) and Guihun Hexagram (歸魂卦).

After that Prof. Peng briefed the history of the development of I Ching (易經). 

There are several modern genre of I Ching (近代易學流派) to be introduced. 

Finally, Prof. Peng introduced the philosophy of I Ching and science spirit. 

One of important concepts in I Ching philosophy is “Harmony between Man and Nature” (天人合一).

He also used five elements (五行) to explain the dynamic and balance society.

Another concept introduced from Buddhism (佛教) is “Life is Destiny” (人生是缘).

One innovation idea to explain divination (占卜) that he used quantum entanglement. During divination, some people believed it is random and by chance. However, some relationships may be observed. Prof. Peng said it may be telepathy between Man and Nature like quantum entanglement that two subatomic particles can be intimately linked to each other even if separated by very long distance.

Lastly, he concluded that I Ching uses a unique non-linguistic symbol system to carry out abstract thinking. It is rather than analyzed, and the world it reflects is holistic and unified like employing Fuzzy Logic. 

(Remark: My inspiration that studying I Ching like studying system engineering that we need to have holistic view to understand the relationship among all systems and sub-systems.)

Reference:

Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) - http://www.hksq.org/index.asp

彭泓基教授 - http://www.cwmhk.org/speakers_3_1.html

彭泓基教授 - https://www.master-insight.com/author/penghongji/

屈機TV (屈基論) - https://www.youtube.com/@wgtvhk/playlists

20230325: I Ching and the Wisdom of Life (易經與人生智慧) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/03/i-ching-and-wisdom-of-life.html

20230401: I Ching and the Wisdom of Life II (易經與人生智慧) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/04/i-ching-and-wisdom-of-life-ii.html

20230415: I Ching and the Wisdom of Life III (易經與人生智慧) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/04/i-ching-and-wisdom-of-life-iii.html

20230422: I Ching and the Wisdom of Life IV (易經與人生智慧) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/04/i-ching-and-wisdom-of-life-iv.html

20230525: I Ching Classmate Dinner and Introduction to Extenics (易經同學聚餐和可拓學導論) - https://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2023/05/i-ching-classmate-dinner-and.html