Of course much gets lost in the translation to American English of ideas originally written in Chinese. Because it is bigger than any one culture or language, certainly a means to circumvent mistranslation of the I Ching can be arrived at. The way, of course, would be to find a means of directly interpreting or reading the hexagrams.

The problem indeed seems simple. The I Ching (right) is a 64-hexagram matrix. Each hexagram has a meaning. Each hexagram is accompanied by an ideogram, a Chinese picture that serves as its title and synopsis. Therefore there are at least two points where the reader can blunder.

First, the ideogram may not, and usually does not, translate directly into American English. Second, the original interpretation of the hexagram may not be entirely accurate.

This is to say that the original interpretation of the hexagram, made in ancient China by the more prominent shamans of the day and passed down through time, may be wrong and then, on top of that, may be mistranslated into American English.

To breathe life into the problem, let’s look at differences in readings that result from the inherited interpretation of Hexagram 23 and from the translation of the ideogram encapsulating and thus symbolizing that reading. After that we’ll put the individual hexagram in its place as a matrix within a matrix within a matrix. Each matrix is both a separate component of, and yet a perfect microcosm of, its superior, and this is the case of the individual hexagram. Finally, we’ll consider a teaching of Zen Buddhist Bodhidharma as a possible key, or at least a starting point, to directly translating the hexagrams. Were such a key discovered, the use of dubious historical anecdotes in I Ching divination can be deemphasized.

Hexagram 23, Po

Hexagram 23 (left), entitled Po, is said to represent “falling apart,” according to James Legge’s translation of the I Ching, as edited by Raymond Van Over. Meanwhile Stephen Karcher’s translation of the I Ching titles the hexagram “stripping.”

The difference is in the translation of the ideogram.

Legge asserts that “Po indicates that it will not be advantageous to make a movement in any direction whatsoever.”

Dissimilarly, Karcher reports “The ideogram (Po) portrays a knife and the sign for carving. It suggests taking decisive action to cut something away.”

Since the two authors cannot agree on the translation of the ideogram in the context in which it appears, let’s look at what they say about the inherited interpretation of the hexagram itself.

Legge reports that “We see in the figure the weak lines threatening to change the last strong line into one of themselves.”

Somewhat similarly, Karcher reports that “The hexagram figure shows the end of a cycle and the preparation for the new.”

The authors can be said to be mostly in agreement on the meaning of the inherited interpretation of the hexagrams. Legge says that the hexagram suggests “overthrow.” Karcher reports, “This is a time when the old structure dissolves so the new action can emerge.”

Accurate would be to say that the two authors mostly disagree on the translation of the ideogram and slightly disagree on the translation of the inherited meaning of the hexagram.

Better than depending on translations of ancient interpretations would be to directly interpret the hexagram itself. This would require a key. That key could be provided by Zen Buddhist Bodhidharma. To say this is to say that the I Ching transcends Chinese culture and language. It is a symbol matrix representing, quite possibly, the Gaia thought-matrix. It could represent the collective conscious of the Earth intelligence system, which in turn is a microcosm of the galactic intelligence system, which is in turn a microcosm of the universal intelligence system, the Overmind. To simplify is to say the I Ching is a symbol matrix representing reality on Earth. That reality is a microcosm of a bigger reality, that of the universe. Let’s briefly explore that reality to get a better understanding of what is meant when it is said that the I Ching is a symbol matrix of reality on Earth.

Holographic Universe Theory and the Hunab Ku

Holographic Universe Theory, as advocated by, among others, Terence McKenna, is based loosely on the concept that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration and thus everything material is really an illusion, is really just energy, which is not static but dynamic and in a constant state of perpetual flux, infinite gradual change. Pretend you are sitting in a room looking at a computer screen. While the screen may seem solid, may look and feel like a three-dimensional electronic gadget, it is in fact a complex of intersections of an infinitude of energy waves and nothing more. It appears solid and static but it is comprised entirely of nothingness because energy is essentially nothing. Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. It can only transform.

The physical universe then is a hologram. The projector of the hologram, the source of the energy, would be, some might postulate, the Diety, or the Overmind, by whatever name it goes. According to Mayan Scholar Jose Arguelles, Ph.D., author of The Mayan Factor, the lens of the projector is the Hunab Ku (right), which looks quite similar to the Yin Yang (left). The Overmind thinks the thoughts and the Hunab Ku is the construct that frames those thoughts. Filtered by the Hunab Ku, those thoughts manifest as energy.

Since the Hunab Ku is a construct, it has a shape, a configuration that can be determined and, once known, used to, among other things divine the future of the universe. In the configuration of the construct that is the Hunab Ku, the Maya created the 260-figure Tzolkin Galactic Harmony Module (below right), which doubled as their 260-day Sacred Calendar.

Arguelles asserts that the I Ching is a microcosm of the TGHM. The 64 hexagrams can be superimposed over the 64 central squares of the TGHM, he asserts. Further, he reports, the I Ching is they symbol matrix of the DNA double helix. The 64 hexagrams symbolize the 64 codons.

All this is to assert the veracity of McKenna’s concept of the holographic universe. In a holograph, each part contains the information of the whole. Shatter a holograph and each fragment will be a miniature of the whole. Shatter the fragment and, while detail may be lost, each fragment of a fragment will contain the information of the whole.

The matrix within the matrix within the matrix

Accordingly then, the thoughts of the Overmind are projected through the Hunab Ku (Universal Collective Conscious) and, telescoping down, through the I Ching (Earthly Collective Conscious), to the hexagram itself (Human Collective Conscious). Each hexagram, then is a symbol matrix representing a thought fragment of the Overmind that contains in itself the whole of the Overmind. Each line in the hexagram is a symbol. According to the Ancient Chinese, the line is either a yin or a yang.

The Chinese break each hexagram into two trigrams. Each hexagram has a bottom trigram, which is the foundation, and a top hexagram. To interpret the hexagram the reader goes line by line, each line having meaning according to its place. Where debate arises is what that meaning is. Bodhidharma, one might assert, provides the key.

The Bodhidharma key to interpreting the physical universe

Bodhidarmha was born in India and moved to China to which he brought Buddhism and tea. Legend has it that he cut off his eyelids so he wouldn't drift off to sleep while meditating. Where the eyelids landed, tea plants grew. Upon his death he was entombed but later he was seen on a mountain passage, carrying one slipper dangling from a rod. His contemporaries then broke into his tomb to, some legends have it, find it empty. He is thus pictured with bulging eyeballs and carrying a rod over his shoulder and from that rod hangs a lone slipper. Bodhidharma is noted for his curt lessons. He teaches that you are the buddha. To illustrate this he says that for those who are unaware and who seek them, buddhas exist. For those who are aware, buddhas don't exist.

One specific quote from the Zen Master reveals how thought manifests the physical universe. According to Bodhidharma, “An uninhabited place is one without greed, anger, or delusion. Greed is the realm of desire, anger is the realm of form, and delusion is the formless reality. When a thought begins, you enter the three realms. When a thought ends, you leave the three realms. The beginning or end of the three realms, the existence or nonexistence of anything depends on the mind. This applies to everything, even to such inanimate objects as rocks and sticks.”

Bodhidharma may be saying that everything exists because the Overmind thinks it exists. He says not to differentiate between what seems to be the individual mind and the Overmind. They are one and the same.

Let’s break the quote down word for word to understand how the material manifests from thought. Thought is dynamic, not static. Like energy, it is in a constant state of motion. Personal experience reveals this. One cannot stop a thought. A thought moves through the mind. Again similar to energy, it has a beginning, a mid-point and an end. Because matter is merely energy condensed, it is a product of the same action and all matter has a beginning, a mid-point and an end. All of manifestation, the physical universe, begins as a thought and that thought moves along a specific course, Bodhidharma reports. “When a thought begins, you enter the three realms,” he says.

The first listed realm is greed. Greed is the realm of desire. For matter to manifest it is first desired, one might conclude. The Overmind, the universal collective conscious, which should not be differentiated from your mind, first desires manifestation and thus manifests. “This applies to everything, even to such inanimate objects as rocks and sticks,” Bodhidharma reports.

Bodhidharma says that “Anger is the realm of form.” As matter is desired, it becomes the object of lust. Lust, according to Prabhupada, figurehead and foremost proponent of the Krsna Consciousness Movement, gives rise to anger, vengeance and hatred. Therefore it could be concluded that the mind’s lust for control of the whole of manifestation gives manifestation its form. Our collective lust for manifestation, or the material universe, shapes manifestation, or the material universe.

The final realm is one of delusion, where the manifestation of all of creation, the physical universe, due to lust for the physical universe -- in whole or in part, because each part is a microcosm of the whole -- combined with the anger arising from failure to lord over the physical universe perpetuates the manifestation of the physical universe via something of a feedback loop.

Bodhidharma reports, “When thought ends, you leave the three realms.”

Bodhidharma does not specify whether one leaves those realms in the reverse order by which one entered them. This, of course would make sense and would be the way to total detachment, or Zen.

The Bodhidharma key to interpreting the hexagrams

One could indeed postulate that the first, or foundation, trigram of any hexagram would be thought beginning by entering the three realms. The top trigram would be thought ending by leaving the three realms.

If this were the case, the first line (the bottom line) would symbolize the desire that spawns manifestation. The second line (from the bottom) would symbolize the realm of form. The third line would be the embrace of the realm of delusion that results from the various forms. The fourth line would be dissolution of the realm of delusion that results from the transmutation of the various specific forms that gave rise to the specific realm of delusion. The fifth line would be the quieting of the emotions that give those old forms meaning. The emotions are quieting due to the transmutation of the forms on which they are centered. The sixth line would be the dissolution of desire for the old, original forms, being that they are no longer exactly what they originally were.

As usual, the yin (or broken line) means passive and the yang (or solid line) means assertive.

Use of this key or one similar too it could free the reader from history. Referencing a historical event when interpreting a hexagram births particulars from the abstract. Doing this projects a shape on the otherwise largely formless. It creates boundaries. And it allows the diviner to speak in metaphors, which helps the mind to grasp the abstract. Certainly use of historical anecdotes when explaining the interpretation of hexagrams aids in conveying the possible applications of a divination, but such should be deemphasized in favor of direct interpretation through use of a key, such as the one mentioned above and taken from Bodhidharma.