ENLIGHTENED SOCIETY A Shambhala Buddhist Reading of the Yijing: Volume III, The Sixty-four Hexagrams

The Yijing’s concise, exquisitely structured presentation of social wisdom can inform the essential inquiry of our time: how to envision a good human society in the face of today’s spiritual, social, and ecological chaos.

The ＂enlightened society＂ described in the Yijing is not a utopian vision. It presents a practical view of societal evolution that addresses the full spectrum of social and personal wakefulness and confusion. The vision of enlightened society encompasses the whole of society, bringing ignorant and evolved beings into relationship with the sacredness of the natural world.

The social path described in the text supports people’s journey from fear to fearlessness and from confusion to wakefulness rather than fostering selfishness, competition, and materialism. This sacred path of social harmony and integration with the natural ecology of the world is both profound and intensely practical.

The Yijing understands basic goodness and sacredness to be inherent in humanity, the natural world and society, whether or not beings recognize it. The 64 hexagrams describe a process of social integration generated by this goodness, resulting in a society in which diverse people’s lives can resonate with sacredness according to their maturity, characteristics, and aspirations.

＂Volume III: The Sixty-four Hexagrams＂ is a translation and commentary on the sixty-four hexagrams, not including the changing lines, (which will be presented in Volume IV). Over the history of the Yijing, the structure and meaning of the received sequence of the hexagrams has been an enigma. Understanding the structure of the sequence, the meaning and function of the hexagrams is clarified and the overall narrative of the book becomes clear. This translation is based on a rigorous analysis of the structure of the trigrams, the hexagrams, and, most importantly, the sequence of the hexagrams.