The Mark of the I Ching in Western Culture and Art

Introduction: An Unexpected Journey

How did a 3,000-year-old Chinese book of divination become a creative tool for the Western avant-garde? The I Ching, or Book of Changes, has a remarkable story. It is a text known more for fortune-telling than for its deep philosophical system. This system explores chance, change, and the hidden patterns of the universe.

This article explores its surprising influence on Western art. We will focus on two major figures of 20th-century modernism: Jorge Luis Borges and John Cage. While both were drawn to the I Ching, they used its power in very different ways. Their approaches show the text's flexibility and its connection to modernism's main concerns.

The Oracle's Code

To understand its influence, we must first understand how it works. The I Ching contains 64 unique symbols, called hexagrams.

Each hexagram has six stacked lines. A line can be either yin (broken, - -) or yang (solid, —). When consulting the oracle, a person tosses three coins six times. Each toss creates one line, building a hexagram from bottom to top. This process combines structure with randomness.

This practice is based on several key ideas. First is the principle of Change (變易), which says the universe always flows and shifts. The second is the balance of Yin and Yang that drives all things. Finally, there is Synchronicity. This term, later used by Carl Jung, suggests that the random coin tosses create a meaningful link to the universe at that exact moment.

A consultation gives you a hexagram that represents your situation. For example, you might get Hexagram 50, 鼎 (The Cauldron), which symbolizes transformation and new beginnings.

Borges: A Labyrinth of Realities

Jorge Luis Borges found the I Ching through Richard Wilhelm's famous translation. He didn't use it to tell fortunes. Instead, he saw it as a model of reality.

Borges viewed the I Ching as a symbol of a divine book. Through its system of combinations, it could contain all possible stories and all possible realities.

Deconstructing a Garden

This idea appears most clearly in his 1941 short story, "The Garden of Forking Paths." When read carefully, the story shows the I Ching's core principles in fiction form.

The story centers on a strange novel written by the main character's ancestor, Ts'ui Pên. This novel is described as a "labyrinth of symbols." When you read "The Garden of Forking Paths" with the I Ching in mind, you see new meaning. The character Stephen Albert explains that Ts'ui Pên didn't believe in just one timeline. He believed in many parallel times that branch out endlessly.

His novel tried to capture this network of possible futures. In one timeline a character dies, in another he lives. All outcomes exist at once.

This mirrors how the I Ching works. Each coin toss creates a different path. Changing just one line transforms one hexagram into another, leading to a completely different future. Ts'ui Pên's complex book is the I Ching turned into literature.

Other Infused Themes

This idea of finite elements creating infinite possibilities appears throughout Borges's work.

In "The Library of Babel," the universe is a library with every possible book made from 25 symbols. Most books make no sense, just as the 64 hexagrams can represent anything but need careful reading to find meaning.

In "The Lottery in Babylon," chance rules society completely. Random drawings decide if a person becomes powerful or faces death. Here, Borges takes the I Ching's core idea—structured chance—and makes it the engine of reality itself.

Cage: A Method for Liberation

Where Borges saw a model of reality, John Cage found a practical tool. In the late 1940s, Cage faced a creative problem. He was tired of music that expressed personal feelings. He wanted to "let sounds be themselves," free from his own preferences.

The I Ching gave him the answer. Unlike Borges, Cage used it as a practical tool for making music. His goal was to remove his own will from the creation process.

The Sound of Chance

His most important work using this method is Music of Changes (1951). The title directly refers to the Book of Changes.

For this piece, every musical decision came from consulting the oracle. Cage's method was careful and disciplined, mixing ancient ritual with modern thinking.

His process had clear steps:

1. Create Charts: Cage made 8x8 charts, matching the 64 hexagrams. These charts contained musical options: notes, durations, volume, and so on.

2. Toss Coins: Following tradition, he tossed three coins six times to get a number between 1 and 64.

3. Consult Chart: This number pointed to an entry on one of his charts. For example, number 23 might select a certain note, while the next toss might decide how long it lasts.

4. Transcribe: He carefully wrote these chance-determined results into a musical score. The work was slow and detailed.

Cage had a deep purpose. He wanted to be just a channel, letting sounds arrange themselves according to chance. He used the I Ching to break down the composer's control. This freed sound to exist on its own terms.

A Tale of Two Visions

Borges and Cage both used the same ancient book but in very different ways. Their approaches show how flexible the I Ching can be.

Borges focused on ideas. Cage focused on process.

This key difference can be seen in a direct comparison:

Basically, Borges looked at the I Ching and saw a map of an endless universe. He used its structure as a blueprint for stories about time and infinity.

Cage looked at the same text and saw a decision-making tool. He used its method to create music that went beyond his personal taste.

The Ripple Effect

The influence of the I Ching spread far beyond Borges and Cage. It touched many areas of Western culture.

• Literature: Philip K. Dick used the I Ching as a key plot element in The Man in the High Castle (1962). In this alternate history where the Axis powers won World War II, characters use the oracle to navigate their world. Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game (1943) shows a similar spirit—a complex game that combines all human knowledge.

• Psychology: Carl Jung helped introduce the I Ching to the West. He wrote the foreword to Wilhelm's translation, helping Western readers understand it. To explain how random processes could give meaningful insights, he developed his concept of synchronicity, or "meaningful coincidence."

• Art & Film: The hexagrams have appeared in many other works as visual elements and philosophical ideas.

An Enduring Resonance

The journey of the I Ching from ancient China to Western art studios is a powerful story of cross-cultural exchange.

This ancient wisdom book found new life inspiring modern innovation. It offered a system of structured randomness that fit perfectly in a century questioning old certainties.

Borges used it to imagine infinite possibilities. Cage used it to organize sounds in new ways.

Their shared interest shows that the human search for meaning and creativity can cross thousands of years and vast distances. A great idea never dies, and its message is universal.