Sources & editorial method.
What the Chinese text is, how the plain-language edition was made, and how a reading is composed.
1. What this page covers
I Ching Notes separates three layers: the received Chinese text, the plain-language rendering, and the editorial note. This page records where each comes from, so a reader can check a claim instead of trusting a brand.
2. The base text
The Chinese text is the received Zhouyi (周易), including the judgment, the image, and the six line texts. The classical text is in the public domain.
Our working transcription has been normalized to Traditional Chinese and its punctuation normalized for consistent display. It is a working transcription, not a critical edition: we have not collated manuscripts or variant readings. Where a character or punctuation is disputed, a scholarly edition should be preferred.
Reference edition for spot checks: Wikisource, 周易. Each passage also carries a stable identifier such as hex47.judgment.
3. The plain-language edition
The English and Chinese plain-language renderings, the takeaways, and the editorial notes are original to I Ching Notes. They are not a scholarly translation and should not be cited as one.
They were drafted with AI assistance and edited in-house for consistency, plainness, and fidelity to the received text. The runtime reading does not call a language model: the renderings are fixed text, stored with the record, and every reading selects from them.
4. How a reading is composed
A cast produces six values (6, 7, 8, or 9). The six lines form the primary hexagram; 6 and 9 are moving lines and produce the relating hexagram. The reading is assembled from fixed passages, and every section lists its passage_id citations.
When more than one line moves, the classical text gives no single rule. This edition follows Zhu Xi's Yixue Qimeng (易學啟蒙): two moving lines are both read with the upper leading; three are read from the two judgments, the primary leading if the first line moved; four from the two unmoved lines of the relating hexagram, the lower leading; five from the one unmoved line; six from Qian's “using nines”, Kun's “using sixes”, or otherwise the relating judgment. Other traditions read these cases differently, and we say so on the method page.
5. Who edits it
I Ching Notes is an independent editorial project operated as a sole trader in the People's Republic of China. It has no academic board and no named sinologist. That is a real limitation: for textual scholarship, use a critical edition; for a plain reading that shows its work, use this site.
6. Corrections
If a passage, rendering, or citation is wrong, email support@ichingnotes.com with the page URL and the passage_id. We review corrections, update the record, and bump the content version. We aim to respond within 30 days.
7. Version
Content version: 2026.10.19.1. This page: version 1.0, reviewed 19 October 2026.
I Ching Notes · www.ichingnotes.com