Rudolf Ritsema (1918–2006)

To me this is The Book on I Ching, the ultimate reference. This is the book I will turn to if other interpretations are not enough, if the answers are not clear to me. It has a very thorough introduction that will teach you a lot about the I Ching and its background. The interpretation of the hexagrams are not like anything I have ever seen before or since. It gives you a translation of (Chinese) character by character of the original text, and a thorough explanation of how each word/symbol/character should be interpreted in the I Ching context. This approach also makes it possible to include a concordance, so that you can check i what other contexts a certain character appear, in order to deepen your understanding of it, the answer, and the I Ching itself. This book is not easy reading, at least not the hexagrams, but I find it well worth the effort. I have yet to find any other interpretation/translation that can give such a deep immersion into the soul of the I Ching.… (more)