ABSTRACT
This chapter explains first the redaction history, the structure, and general themes of the Book of Changes. The Commentary of the Appended Phrases usually called “Great Commentary”, is philosophically the most important part in the Book of Changes. The Great Commentary attempts to explain sixty-four hexagrams of the Book of Changes as a whole providing an ideal system. In other words, while Great Ultimate provided the metaphysical ground of ethical norms for the Neo-Confucians, the Daoists identified the Great Ultimate with the primal life force of the Dao, which is also called the “Energy of Dao”. The second cosmogenic interpretation by the Daoist is more compatible with Christian vision that God created the universe with God’s breath of primal life, and so the whole creation is full of vital energy and order. In Spring and Autumn period, Chinese intellectuals started to understand divination not as a kind of irresistible destiny but as a divine sign letting us know the circumstances.
