The Book of Changes: A Modern Commentary

When I first entered university, I resolved to devote myself to applied physics and dreamed of becoming a physicist. But once I set foot on campus, I plunged straight into the mysterious library. I was young then, drawn to the literature of Dostoevsky and Pushkin and captivated by the philosophy of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. I explored the sea of knowledge to my heart's content.

As graduation approached, realizing that I had not mastered physics well enough, I decided to prepare for the graduate entrance exam in finance instead, in the hope of finding a job. During that time, I began studying Marxist philosophy on my own, and my connection with philosophy grew stronger.

In graduate school, the philosophical foundation I had built came in handy. I could hold my own in conversation with classmates who had studied philosophy, and occasionally even dared to lecture them on their own subject.

After graduating, I worked at a bank. Fortunately, five years later, I was able to return to university as a teacher. The best part of going back was getting to step once again into the library, so familiar and yet so strange.

This time, Chinese philosophy captured my keen interest, and Notes on the Book of Changes was just the thing to help me organize what I had studied and thought about. Dialectical materialism and historical materialism, the ideas at the heart of Marxist philosophy, had long been reflected in classical Chinese philosophy. The Book of Changes had already expressed these ideas in ancient, captivating language. In The Book of Changes, our ancestors had long ago drawn on their wisdom to offer methods for analyzing and solving problems through the dimensions of time and space. They had also provided the world with a mature set of values, outlook on life, and worldview. I am also grateful for the depth and guidance of Feng Youlan's A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, The Four Books and Five Classics, Wang Bi's Commentary on the Book of Changes, Cheng Yi's Yichuan Commentary on the Book of Changes, Zhu Xi's Original Meaning of the Book of Changes, and other works. We should carry on their legacy and build upon it.