Abstract
From James Legge’s first attempt to translate the Yijing in the English speaking world in 1854, to the latest translation, The Original Meaning of the Yijing, by Joseph A. Adler in 2019, the process of translating the Yijing into English has been continuing for nearly 170 years, and there are countless translations by numerous translators. Historically, these English translations of the Yijing reveal five trends: first, the translations rely on the authoritative, traditional commentaries on the Yijing; secondly, some translations rely on the personal help and interpretations of Yijing scholars in China; thirdly, some translations depend on recently unearthed documents of the Yijing; fourthly, Yili and Xiangshu are more or less involved in these translations, although the focus of each translation is not always the same; fifthly, most translations strive for the “original” meaning of the Yijing, especially with the unearthed documents of the Yijing since the 1970s. It could be safely concluded that the ultimate goal of the English translators of the Yijing is to provide English readers with the Yijing that is closest to the original/authentic meaning so that people in the West can truly understand the essence of Chinese philosophy represented by the Yijing.
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Notes
- 1.
Zhou 周 usually has two meanings. It refers to the Zhou dynasty on the one hand. On the other, it relates to the sentence in the Ta zhuan 大传 (the Great Treatise), 知周乎万物, 道济乎天下, 故不过, meaning “embrace”, “immerse”, and “universal(ly)”. James Legge’s translation is “His knowledge embraces all things, and his course is (intended to be) helpful to all under the sky; and hence he falls into no error.” (See Legge, James trans. The Yi King [The Texts of Confucianism from Sacred Books of China, vol. 16, Part II]. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1892: 354) Richard Wilhelm’s translation is “His wisdom embraces all things, and his tao brings order into the whole world; therefore he does not err” (See Richard Wilhelm, trans. I Ching or Book of Changes. Rendered into English by Cary F. Baynes. Penguin Books. 1989: 295) Edward L. Shaughnessy’s translation is “Knowing universally among the ten-thousand beings, the Way is equal with all under heaven; therefore, it does not go too far.” (See Shaughnessy, Edward L. I Ching: The Classic of Changes. New York: Ballantine Books. 1996: 191).
- 2.
According to Biographies of Confucian Scholars (Ruilin liezuhan 儒林列传) in Sima Qian’s 司马迁 Grand Scribe’s Records (Shiji 史记), Shang Qu 商瞿 from the State of Lu learned the Yijing from Confucius; after the death of Confucius, Shang Qu taught the Yijing thereafter and this tradition of interpreting the Yijing passed on six generations to Tian He 田何, and then Tian He passed on this tradition to Wang Tong 王同, and then from Wang Tong to Yang He 杨何. (See Sima, Qian. Biographies of Confucian Scholars from Grand Scribe’s Records. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. 2010: 7172).
- 3.
Some Yijing scholars disagree with Li Xueqin’s observation, i.e., Liu Dajun thinks that the most important and valuable aspect is that the excavated Silk Manuscript of the Zhouyi, including the text of the sixty-four hexagrams and the texts of the Appendixes such as A Couple of Disciples (Er san zi 二三子), Commentary on the Appended Statements (Xici 系辞), and The Essentials (Yao 要), etc., retained completely the original text of the Zhouyi in the New Text scholarship in the early Han Dynasty in the clerical script, which has been dust-laden for more than 2,000 years. After careful investigation, we firmly believe that the Mawangdui Silk Manuscript of the Yijing is exactly the Yijing in the New Text scholarship which was passed on from Tian He 田何 in the early Han Dynasty. (See Liu, Dajun. The Mawangdui Silk Manuscript of the Yijing and the Yijing in the New Text Scholarship in Han Dynasty. Study on Confucian Classics and Thoughts. 2009: 1). Shaughnessy also holds that Commentary on the Appended Statements is the only one of the manuscript commentary texts that is also found in the received text of the Yijing. (See Shaughnessy, Edward L. I Ching: The Classic of Changes. New York: Ballantine Books. 1996: 20).
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This paper is supported by funding from the Foundation of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Hunan Province (Project Number: 21YBA031).
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Li, W. (2022). Striving for the “Original” Meaning: A Historical Survey of Yijing’s English Translations. In: Qi, L., Tobias, S. (eds) Encountering China’s Past. New Frontiers in Translation Studies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0648-0_10
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