A Question, No Single Answer
The question of who wrote the I Ching, or Book of Changes, is one of the great mysteries of world literature. No one person created this important text.
The I Ching is not a book written by one author at a specific time. It grew and changed over nearly a thousand years through many hands.
A Collaboration Across a Millennium
To understand where it came from, we can look at a traditional Chinese saying: "人更三圣，世历三古." This means, "The Men were three sages, the Ages were three ancient ones."
This idea gives us a way to think about the book's creation. Three legendary figures from three different time periods helped shape the I Ching: the mythical Fu Xi, King Wen and the Duke of Zhou, and the philosopher Confucius.
Let's explore what each one did to create this famous book.
The Mythical Dawn
The I Ching begins not with words but with symbols from ancient China. Its basic elements come from a legendary figure from long ago.
The Legendary First Sage
Stories say Fu Xi was the first of the three sages. He was a mythical hero believed to have lived nearly 5,000 years ago.
The legend tells how Fu Xi watched the world very carefully. He studied patterns in the sky and on the earth below. He noticed markings on animals and turtle shells.
One famous story says he saw a "dragon-horse" come out of the Yellow River with a special pattern on its back that gave him an idea.
The Birth of the Bagua
From these patterns in nature, Fu Xi created eight symbols called trigrams, or Bāguà (八卦).
These simple but powerful symbols each have three lines. The lines are either solid (Yang) or broken in the middle (Yin).
The eight trigrams and what they represent are:
- ☰ Heaven (乾 Qián)
- ☷ Earth (坤 Kūn)
- ☳ Thunder (震 Zhèn)
- ☴ Wind (巽 Xùn)
- ☵ Water (坎 Kǎn)
- ☲ Fire (離 Lí)
- ☶ Mountain (艮 Gèn)
- ☱ Lake (兌 Duì)
At this early stage, the Bāguà was just a system of symbols. These symbols showed the basic forces of the universe. The I Ching would later grow from this foundation.
The Classic's Core
Many years after Fu Xi, the Bāguà symbols became part of a written classic. This important change came from two historical figures at the start of a new dynasty.
A Time of Upheaval
We now move from myth to actual history: the change from the Shang Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty around the 11th century BCE.
The Western Zhou Dynasty lasted from about 1046 to 771 BCE and was very important in Chinese history.
This story centers on Ji Chang, later known as King Wen of Zhou. He led the Zhou people while they were under Shang rule. The last Shang emperor was a cruel ruler who feared King Wen's power and put him in prison.
From 8 to 64 Hexagrams
The story goes that while in prison, King Wen spent time thinking deeply about Fu Xi's eight trigrams.
He made a breakthrough by stacking the trigrams on top of each other. By combining the eight trigrams in every possible way (8 x 8), he created 64 hexagrams that form the structure of the I Ching.
King Wen did more than just create these symbols. For each of the 64 hexagrams, he wrote a short, often poetic text. These are called the Judgments or Hexagram Text (卦辞, Guàcí).
Each Judgment captures the meaning of its hexagram and gives insight into its nature.
The Duke of Zhou's Lines
The next part of the text came from King Wen's son, Ji Dan, known as the Duke of Zhou.
The Duke of Zhou was a respected leader who helped establish the Zhou Dynasty after his father died. People remember him as very wise and good.
His addition to the I Ching added more detail. He wrote what are called the Line Statements (爻辞, Yáocí).
Each hexagram has six lines. The Duke wrote specific text for all 384 lines (64 x 6), giving advice about different situations. These texts often tell whether actions will bring good luck or bad luck.
The Ancient Zhouyi Structure
Together, King Wen and the Duke of Zhou created the original core of the book. This ancient text is called the Zhouyi (The Changes of Zhou).
It was a tool for divination, a collection of statements connected to abstract symbols. Here's how these parts fit together:
| Component of the Zhouyi (The Classic) | Attributed Author | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 64 Hexagrams (Structure) | King Wen | Created by combining the 8 trigrams. |
| Judgments (卦辞, Guàcí) | King Wen | A short text for each of the 64 hexagrams. |
| Line Statements (爻辞, Yáocí) | The Duke of Zhou | A specific text for each of the 384 lines. |
This core text was powerful but also old and hard to understand by itself. It needed one final sage to unlock its deeper meaning.
The Philosophical Heart
For several hundred years, the Zhouyi was mainly used as an oracle by kings and fortune-tellers. Its change into the philosophical I Ching is credited to China's most famous teacher and his followers.
The Sage's Commentary
The final major addition is a collection of writings called the Ten Wings (十翼, Shí Yì). These are seven different commentaries that were added to the core Zhouyi text.
Most people believe Confucius (孔子, Kǒngzǐ), who lived from 551 to 479 BCE, wrote the Ten Wings.
The Ten Wings changed everything. They took the ancient, cryptic statements of the Zhouyi and explained them, revealing deep ethical, metaphysical, and cosmological wisdom.
For anyone studying the I Ching, the Ten Wings are essential. They work like a user manual and philosophical guide, explaining the symbols and showing the deeper principles at work. They changed the book from a fortune-telling tool into a guide for understanding life and living wisely.
A Look at the Ten Wings
You don't need to memorize all the Ten Wings, but understanding their purpose helps appreciate the I Ching's depth. They count as ten works because some are split into two parts.
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Tuan Zhuan (彖傳, Commentary on the Judgments), Parts I & II: These explain King Wen's Judgments for each hexagram.
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Xiang Zhuan (象傳, Commentary on the Images), Parts I & II: These explain the symbolism of the hexagrams. The "Great Image" discusses the whole hexagram, while the "Small Image" explains the individual Line Statements.
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Wenyan Zhuan (文言傳, Commentary on the Words): This is a deep philosophical look at the first two hexagrams, Qian (Heaven) and Kun (Earth).
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Xici Zhuan (繫辭傳, The Great Treatise), Parts I & II: This is the most important philosophical text in the I Ching. It discusses the book's metaphysics, cosmology, and its relationship to human affairs.
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Shuogua Zhuan (說卦傳, Explaining the Trigrams): This part explains the attributes and symbolism of the original eight trigrams.
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Xugua Zhuan (序卦傳, The Order of the Hexagrams): This explains why the 64 hexagrams are in their specific order.
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Zagua Zhuan (雜卦傳, Miscellaneous Hexagrams): This brief section discusses hexagrams in contrasting pairs.
With the Ten Wings added, the I Ching was complete. The work of the Three Sages was finished, and the book became a cornerstone of Chinese thought.
Legend vs. Reality
The traditional story of the "Three Sages" is a powerful tale. Modern research, however, shows a more complex picture of how the I Ching came to be.
Questioning the Sages
Most scholars today see the traditional story as symbolic rather than literal. The story honors the stages of the text's development instead of naming actual single authors.
The claim that Confucius wrote the Ten Wings is questioned the most. While Confucius knew and respected the Zhouyi, scholars now believe the Ten Wings were not written by him alone.
Instead, they were likely written over several centuries during the late Warring States and early Han dynasties (roughly 475-206 BCE). They represent the work of many generations of Confucian scholars who studied and interpreted the ancient classic.
Archaeological Evidence
This scholarly view is supported by solid evidence. Amazing archaeological discoveries in the late 20th century have given us a direct look at the I Ching's early development.
The most famous finds are the Mawangdui Silk Texts, discovered in a tomb sealed in 168 BCE. This included an almost complete version of the I Ching. The hexagrams in this version are in a completely different order than the version we know today, and its commentaries differ from the Ten Wings. This suggests the text was still changing and not yet standardized.
Even earlier texts, like the Shanghai Museum bamboo slips from around 300 BCE, contain a version of the Zhouyi. These finds confirm the book's ancient existence but also show it changed over time. The I Ching was a living document, not a fixed one.
A River of Wisdom
In the end, we have a text whose origins are as deep and complex as its contents.
The Composite Legacy
The question "who wrote the i ching" is best answered not with a name, but with an understanding of a process. The book was written by many anonymous people over many generations.
The I Ching is not a stone tablet carved by one person. It is more like a great river of wisdom, fed by many streams over a thousand years. It carries the mythical insights of prehistory, the oracular wisdom of an ancient dynasty, and the deep philosophical thoughts of generations of scholars.
The legendary attributions to Fu Xi, King Wen, the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius remain important. They are best understood as a way of honoring the foundational, historical, and philosophical stages of the I Ching's magnificent and mysterious creation.
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