The I Ching Handbook: Decision-Making with and without Divination

by Mondo Secter

In The I Ching Handbook, author Mondo Secter presents an overview of the historical and cultural significance of the ancient Chinese philosophical text, with clear Daoist advice for developing greater self-awareness. His New Three-Coin Method is the only coin method that is mathematically compatible to the ancient yarrow stalk casting. And his Transitional Hexagram Theory has proven exceptionally useful for incorporating the element of transformation that occurs when one hexagram transitions into another through two or more changing lines. Secter also offers an original way to use the I Ching for strategic planning, decision-making, and problem-solving by introducing an innovative method of correlating hexagrams to situations and relationships without using divination. Students at all levels will discover an abundance of readily accessible material that will deepen their understanding and appreciation of the I Ching.

Genres: Divination

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2002

Reviews

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll start by saying that I'm a complete novice when it comes to the I Ching. I'd heard of it and knew about John Cage's use of it in his work, but had never investigated further than that. This is the first book on it I've ever read, so my perspective is that of a total novice.

I have to say, for a first-timer, this is pretty approachable. True, when I first started reading it, I got a bit bogged down in the introductory detail and gave up before trying a casting, but when I came back to it, with a specific situation to cast in mind, it all started to come together. There's a wealth of information in here, but the actual instructions on how to cast (both with coins and yarrow-stalks although I've only tried the coin method so far) are very clearly presented and really make it easy to test it out. Once you start casting, the other stuff in the front of the book starts to make sense, so I'd recommend at least skimming through the earlier part so you've got an idea of the concepts and know where to go back to once you've started to cast.

I understand that Secter's work on transitional hexagrams is a new interpretation, and I have to say it made a lot of sense to me and provided some really interesting perspectives on my questions. He also includes a section at the end on how to use the I Ching without going through the divination process, so if you're a sceptic and don't believe in any of this universe-responding-to-questions business, there's an I Ching option for you too :-) I understand that his coin-based casting method is also an innovation, as it returns the same probabilities as the yarrow-stalk method.

So if you're thinking about trying out the I Ching for the first time, I can highly recommend this book as a clear guide.

[Seung · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second edition of Mondo's earlier book: "The I Ching Clarified." The major addition to this second edition is an additional chapter on using the I Ching without the divination aspect and a paragraph on opposite hexagrams. I didn't know the second version existed so I bought the first edition which came with his hexagram cards in a punch out format (which this version lacks). I think this is an important book along with Wilhelm and Baynes translation along with the Understanding the I Ching compilation of lectures. But I think this second edition could just have been a blog post or an article.

TL:DR. The content is great and approachable. I recommend it for anyone interested in the I Ching. His framework for multiple changing lines helped immensely in my own work. However, I think with the only major changes being a small paragraph and a chapter, I don't see the value in publishing a whole second edition. Unless, the first edition has been sold out. In which, I change my rating to a 5 out of 5.