The Shih I, or 'The Ten Wings'. The descriptions of each line in each hexagram are rather sparse, and have given rise to a group of commentaries which have become formally associated with the I Ching, and which have become known as the Ten "Wings." Over the years different editors have rearranged this accompanying material in a variety of ways. Sometimes the comments on each hexagram are split up and included with each sign (as they generally are in this hyperbook).
[From Legge's Introduction to his translation]
"2. They are reckoned to be ten, and called the Shih I or 'Ten Wings.' They are in reality not so many; but the Text is divided into two sections, called the Upper and Lower, or, as we should say, the first and second, and then the commentary on each section is made to form a separate Appendix. I have found it more convenient in the translation to adopt a somewhat different arrangement.
"My first Appendix, in two sections, embraces the first and second 'wings,' consisting of remarks on the paragraphs by King Wen in the two parts of the Text. [Here constituting the 'Commentary' on each hexagram.]
"My second Appendix, in two sections, embraces the third and fourth 'wings,' consisting of remarks on the symbolism of the duke of Chou in his explanation of the individual lines of the hexagrams. [This constitutes the Great Symbolism, and the second part of the remarks on the individual lines (indicated by <€LS>)].
"My third Appendix, in two sections, embraces the fifth and sixth 'wings,' which bear the name in Chinese of 'Appended Sentences,' and constitute what is called by many 'the Great Treatise.'' Each wing has been divided into twelve chapters of very different length, and I have followed this arrangement in my sections. This is the most important Appendix. It has less of the nature of commentary than the previous four wings. While explaining much of what is found in the Text, it diverges to the origin of the trigrams, the methods pursued in the practice of divination, the rise of many arts in the progress of civilisation, and other subjects.
"My fourth Appendix, also in two sections, forms the seventh 'wing,' It is confined to an amplification of the expositions of the first and second hexagrams by King Wen and his son, purporting to show how they may be interpreted of man's nature and doings.
"My fifth Appendix is the eighth 'wing,' called 'Discourses on the Trigrams.' It treats of the different arrangements of these in respect of the seasons of the year and the cardinal points by Fu-hsi and King Wen. It contains also one paragraph, which might seem to justify the view that there is a mythology in the I.
"My sixth Appendix, in two sections, is the ninth 'wing,' ‹ 'a Treatise on the Sequence of the Hexagrams,' intended to trace the connection of meaning between them in the order in which they follow one another in the Text of the King Wen.
"My seventh Appendix is the tenth 'wing,' an exhibition of the meaning of the 64 hexagrams, not taken in succession, but promiscuously and at random, as they approximate to or are opposed to one another in meaning."
...
"It will be well to observe here also how much older the Text is than the Appendixes. Supposing them to be the work of Confucius, though it will appear by and by that this assumption can be received as only partially correct, if indeed it be received at all, the sage could not have entered on their composition earlier than 483 B.C., 660 years later than the portion of the text that came from King Wen, and nearly 630 later than what we owe to the duke of chou. But during that long period of between six and seven centuries changes may have arisen in the views taken by thinking men of the method and manner of the I; and I cannot accept the Text and the Appendixes as forming one work in any proper sense of the term. Nothing has prevented the full understanding of both, so far as parts of the latter can be understood, so much as the blending of them together, which originated with Pi Chih of the first Han dynasty. The common editions of the book have five of the Appendixes (as they are ordinarily reckoned) broken up and printed side by side with the Text [as they are presented in this computer edition]; and the confusion thence arising has made it difficult, through the intermixture of incongruous idea, for foreign students to lay hold of the meaning."
[From Legge's Introduction to his translation]
"2. They are reckoned to be ten, and called the Shih I or 'Ten Wings.' They are in reality not so many; but the Text is divided into two sections, called the Upper and Lower, or, as we should say, the first and second, and then the commentary on each section is made to form a separate Appendix. I have found it more convenient in the translation to adopt a somewhat different arrangement.
"My first Appendix, in two sections, embraces the first and second 'wings,' consisting of remarks on the paragraphs by King Wen in the two parts of the Text. [Here constituting the 'Commentary' on each hexagram.]
"My second Appendix, in two sections, embraces the third and fourth 'wings,' consisting of remarks on the symbolism of the duke of Chou in his explanation of the individual lines of the hexagrams. [This constitutes the Great Symbolism, and the second part of the remarks on the individual lines (indicated by <€LS>)].
"My third Appendix, in two sections, embraces the fifth and sixth 'wings,' which bear the name in Chinese of 'Appended Sentences,' and constitute what is called by many 'the Great Treatise.'' Each wing has been divided into twelve chapters of very different length, and I have followed this arrangement in my sections. This is the most important Appendix. It has less of the nature of commentary than the previous four wings. While explaining much of what is found in the Text, it diverges to the origin of the trigrams, the methods pursued in the practice of divination, the rise of many arts in the progress of civilisation, and other subjects.
"My fourth Appendix, also in two sections, forms the seventh 'wing,' It is confined to an amplification of the expositions of the first and second hexagrams by King Wen and his son, purporting to show how they may be interpreted of man's nature and doings.
"My fifth Appendix is the eighth 'wing,' called 'Discourses on the Trigrams.' It treats of the different arrangements of these in respect of the seasons of the year and the cardinal points by Fu-hsi and King Wen. It contains also one paragraph, which might seem to justify the view that there is a mythology in the I.
"My sixth Appendix, in two sections, is the ninth 'wing,' ‹ 'a Treatise on the Sequence of the Hexagrams,' intended to trace the connection of meaning between them in the order in which they follow one another in the Text of the King Wen.
"My seventh Appendix is the tenth 'wing,' an exhibition of the meaning of the 64 hexagrams, not taken in succession, but promiscuously and at random, as they approximate to or are opposed to one another in meaning."
...
"It will be well to observe here also how much older the Text is than the Appendixes. Supposing them to be the work of Confucius, though it will appear by and by that this assumption can be received as only partially correct, if indeed it be received at all, the sage could not have entered on their composition earlier than 483 B.C., 660 years later than the portion of the text that came from King Wen, and nearly 630 later than what we owe to the duke of chou. But during that long period of between six and seven centuries changes may have arisen in the views taken by thinking men of the method and manner of the I; and I cannot accept the Text and the Appendixes as forming one work in any proper sense of the term. Nothing has prevented the full understanding of both, so far as parts of the latter can be understood, so much as the blending of them together, which originated with Pi Chih of the first Han dynasty. The common editions of the book have five of the Appendixes (as they are ordinarily reckoned) broken up and printed side by side with the Text [as they are presented in this computer edition]; and the confusion thence arising has made it difficult, through the intermixture of incongruous idea, for foreign students to lay hold of the meaning."
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