The Complete I Ching: The Definitive Translation by the Taoist Master Alfred Huang is both an ambitious and profoundly practical effort to convey to contemporary readers the wisdom of this most seminal of all Chinese classics.
     Huang declares the translation’s contemporary usefulness and relevance by immediately dedicating his book in these words:
     “During this great time of change this book is dedicated to those who are longing to change and ready to change to a meaningful and successful life of abundance and happiness.”
     He then quotes Confucius at age seventy to underline the classic text’s place in Chinese tradition:
     “If some years
     Were added to my life,
     I would dedicate fifty years
     To study the Book of I,
     And then I might come
     To be without great fault.”
     In his preface Huang makes it clear that the essence of the I Ching – which holds that when events proceed to their extreme they give birth to their opposites – served him well during twenty years of confinement from 1957 in China.
     By reflecting on the deliberations that led to the overthrow of the tyrannical and corrupt Shang Dynasty, the consolidation of revolution and the foundation of the Zhou Dynasty three thousand years ago, Huang’s I Ching displays profoundly the timeless, living quality of both Chinese history and this classic text.
     Huang recommends the translations of the I Ching by James Legge and Richard Wilhelm but seeks to improve on them by escaping what he identifies as their Westernised quality.
     His own background and experience in a contemporary revolutionary situation in China infuses his own work with the qualities of humility, caution and careful preparation that enabled the Zhou Dynasty founders to establish a dynastic order that survived in some sense for around eight hundred years – the longest in Chinese history. Even more important, this dynasty gave birth to the classic texts that illuminate the remarkable renaissance of Chinese civilisation at the beginning of the 21st century.
     Indeed, a careful reading of Huang’s I Ching leaves one with a sense that King Wen and his son the Duke of Zhou had a dynasty building purpose in giving the already ancient Chinese practice of divination two sets of authoritative commentaries. This was to reinforce practices of humility, caution and careful preparation that had proven fundamental in establishing their new dynasty.
     At the same time, their commentaries are open to flexible interpretation depending on individual circumstances and are a guide to wise and constructive behaviour for all who may inhabit their realm. Indeed, they demand nothing so much as considered reflection on the contingencies of the moment and provide an excellent guide to search out those factors likely to be decisive in uncertain situations.
     At the commencement of his work Huang includes a chapter headed Ten Contributions of This Translation. These are Expounding the Tao of I, Understanding the Structure and Meaning, The Sequence and Names of the Gua, Ancient Chinese Ideographs as Explanations of the Names of the Gua, Insights from the Historical Background, Unifying the Translations of the Judgements, Introducing Simpler Ways to Consult, Understanding the Situation, Present Information about Future Potential and Additional Reference information for Each Gua.
     This list of Huang’s contributions in this translation of the I Ching reflect his level of personal involvement and insight, the immense richness, complexity and diversity of the Chinese work and the almost infinite potential to discover new dimensions in a classic work without parallel in other cultures. Expounding the Tao of I conveys an insight that is never articulated in as many words in the I Ching, namely:
     “…to accept necessary change and be ready to transform, warning that one should adjust one’s efforts according to changes in time and situation.”
     This reviewer found that Huang’s Insights from the Historical Background informed and deepened almost every reading, bridging three thousand years of history to reveal a timelessness about the human condition. This has made the I Ching more accessible as a work of wisdom, an important feat given the challenging character of the work.
     In an introduction that explains the organisation of the book Huang concludes a passage headed A Book of Divination, A Book of Wisdom that tends to favour the latter with the warning, “Divine only for important questions and events, never for mean purposes or with selfish motivation.”
     Then, in a twelve page explanation titled Flying with the I Ching: Methods of Divination, Huang offers guidance on the challenging exercise of divination. He commences with brief passages headed Understand the Symbols, Revere the Book, and Frame the Inquiry before progressing to Consulting the Oracle under which he addresses The Yellow Stalk Oracle, The Three Coins Oracle, A Simple Version of the Yellow Stalk Oracle, Eight Coin Magic and Eight Gemstone Augur. He concludes with a short passage headed Gaining Insight from the Oracle, which reminds that the Chinese regard this as both a technique and an art.
     Huang succeeds also in producing a work that keeps opening up new vistas of understanding and inviting the reader to explore the many layers of discovery offered by the mathematical, visual and literary dimensions of the classic.
     His own personality and exploration can be felt as one ventures through the various readings, marvelling at the tact and resolution of the founders of the Zhou Dynasty and the way their challenges still live today.