Yi Jing Ethics: Lessons of a Daoist Master from the Wudang Mountains by Xing De, Translated by Johan Hausen
It is always a treasure when a pure Daoist lineage reveals the inner workings of an aspect of their Art. And this is exactly what you receive when reading Yi Jing Ethics. As Westerners, we often come from a culture of excess. Spiritual practices are taken very lightly and devoid of the concepts of cultivation which are so foundational to Eastern schools of thought. And so, anyone approaching the Yi Jing, can gain a lot of insight into the preliminary practices necessary before consulting the Yi Jing Oracle.
In the Art of Ninzuwu we use a particular transmission of the Yi Jing Hexagrams entitled the Yi Jing Apocrypha of Genghis Khan. However, Warlock Asylum has instructed us that before we can work with the Yi Jing Apocrypha in earnest, we must first walk the Ivory Tablets of the Crow and receive the Armor of Amaterasu Ohkami. Much like Onmyodo, Ninzuwu is a fusion of Shinto, Daoist and other Shamanic practices. So the purity aspect comes to Ninzuwu through the Shinto elements received in the Armor of Amaterasu Ohkami.
Li Shifu (Xing De) reveals his experience, leading with the right mentality and approach needed before receiving proper guidance from the deities of the Yi Jing. Revealing the highest objective of the Yi Jing to be in the healing of illness and preventing negative karma, it is demonstrated that the aim to to realign the patient with the Dao as opposed to material pursuits. The Yi Jing will show you what to lose as much as it will show you what to incorporate. While the lower natures of men will seek to use the Yi Jing for personal gain, Li Shifu warns us against such pursuits of fame, pleasure and commercialization of the Yi Jing Oracle. The main use of the Yi Jing is to be revealed as a Healing Art. Such is the Art of Ninzuwu.
A novice or typical Westerner may learn of the Yi Jing through casting and reading the Hexagrams, and think they are doing it properly, yet there is a procedure and proper order of going about receiving a divination. Li Shifu list 9 requirements, among them incantations, prayers and the lighting of incense (one or three) held in a particular manor as they are placed. The deities, or as we would say in Shinto, the kami are to be revered and attuned to before a Yi Jing casting is performed. This is why for practitioners of the Ninzuwu Lineage it is proper to perform the preliminary rites of the Ivory Tablets, the Armor of Amaterasu, as well as call on the Ninzuwu (The Magicians of the Yi Jing who came before us) all before divining a singular or pair of Hexagrams.
The importance of purification is emphasized by Li Shifu as preliminary 3 day or even 7 day periods. Therefore, the fluent diviner would live a lifestyle of purification is what is derived from Yi Jing Ethics. The more attuned one is to the kami which correspond to the Yi Jing, the more accurate one’s divinations will stand. This is partly off the basis that ones intentions will also be coming from a pure place. Intentions to better society, healing and bringing people together is the purpose for which we work as Magicians of the Yi Jing. The later chapters are warnings from the Master to avoid casting oracles that will lead to conflict between neighbors, friends and family.
Instrumental to the incantations revealed by Li Shifu is that the 8 Trigrams are understood to be 8 living principles, spirits. In the Yi Jing Apocrypha our spirits corresponding to the 8 Trigrams are the same names of the 8 Months in our Nyarzirian Calendar, which is a living movement of the Yi Jing through the Moon Phases.
Fire = Amaterasu Ohkami, Water = Oho Watatsumi, Heaven = Johuta, Earth = Nudzuchi, Mountain = Xuz, Lake = Shamhat, Thunder = Yuvhoa, Wind = Sheba.
This reveals that to work with the energies of a particular Trigram and the Hexagrams that fall under that ruling Trigram, we have specific deities to commune with in order to bring about the change needed to realign with the Dao, as the Yi Jing prescribes. For instance, if a patient receives Water over Water, which is ruled by Lord Watatsumi, then it is Oho Watatsumi that they are to work with to embody the energies and lesson of that Hexagram. Likewise, one who received Mountain over Mountain is on the journey of Xuz, likewise and so on.
Any practitioner of the Art of Ninzuwu should read and keep a copy of Yi Jing Ethics: Lessons of a Daoist Master from the Wudang Mountains. In order to make the best of what the Yi Jing has to offer, a lifestyle of purification, love and communion with heavenly and earthly elemental forces is necessary. As Li Shifu states; all is pointless without the practice of gong, or some form of energy work and cultivation as a part of one’s lifestyle.
We are thankful to Li Shifu and the people of Purple Cloud Press for publishing this jewel of Daoist practice. Yi Jing Ethics is the perfect title for this book, and likewise it is understood to be the first book of a series by Li Shifu on proper use of the Yi Jing as a Healer’s Art. The Art of Ninzuwu is looking forward to the future releases of this Yi Jing series and will be studying and incorporating these ethics into our lives. Thank you Li Shifu (Xing De), Johan Hausen and the people of Purple Cloud Press for your contribution to the Earth’s Healing Arts.
Sincerely, Asutah (student of Warlock Asylum Sensei) of the Art of Ninzuwu
