The Mandate of Heaven: Hidden History in the Book of Changes

by S.J. Marshall

The Mandate of Heaven was originally given to King Wen in the 11th century BC. King Wen is credited with founding the Zhou dynasty after he received the Mandate from Heaven to attack and overthrow the Shang dynasty. King Wen is also credited with creating the ancient oracle known as the Yijing or Book of Changes. This book validates King Wen's association with the Changes. It uncovers in the Changes a record of a total solar eclipse that was witnessed at King Wen's capital of Feng by his son King Wu, shortly after King Wen had died (before he had a chance to launch the full invasion). The sense of this eclipse as an actual event has been overlooked for three millennia. It provides an account of the events surrounding the conquest of the Shang and founding of the Zhou dynasty that has never been told. It shows how the earliest layer of the Book of Changes (the Zhouyi) has preserved a hidden history of the Conquest.

Genres: Divination

252 pages, Hardcover

First published December 15, 2000

About the author

S J Marshall is an editor for the medical journal The Lancet. More commonly known as Joel Biroco, he is a writer, painter and occultist. He lives in London, England. His paintings, which are mostly abstract, come out of a long interest in the I Ching, Taoism, Zen, and the occult. Under his birth name of S J Marshall he wrote the book The Mandate of Heaven: Hidden History in the I Ching (Columbia University Press, 2001). He now runs a website dedicated to the I Ching called Yijing Dao.

Inspired by Chinese art and philosophy, Biroco paints spontaneously to see what comes, in the spirit of wuwei, meaning "not doing" or "doing nothing", which he also practises in everyday life. A big breakthrough in his style came when he attended evening classes in Chinese calligraphy in the late 80s. The classes were taught by the Singaporean artist Da Wu Tang, then doing his masters in London, who imparted an approach to ink and brushwork that far exceeded the usual paintings of bamboo joints

Reviews

[Mordorf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning read, fascinating exploration of hexagram 55.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A groundbreaking work on the history of the I Ching oracle. The author, SJ Marshall, did extensive research using ancient Chinese texts, discovered a text describing a solar eclipse, and was able to set the date of that eclipse through scientifically sound astronomical calculations. The author shows that a solar eclipse occurring during the June solstice of 1070 BCE would have been seen as an omen that the tyrannical Shang Dynasty's Mandate of Heaven to rule had been revoked. Based on this omen, the Zhou kings set out to overthrow the Shang and establish the Zhou Dynasty. This discovery verifies that historical events described in the I Ching actually occurred and were not mythological.

Marshall's presentation of historical personages and events is far from dry. It does not read like a scholarly tome, but is both interesting and entertaining as well as informative. The author's findings bring new meaning to some I Ching passages for those using it for divination, yet it would also be of interest to readers interested in Chinese history.