Change, Unchanged and Simplicity

The progress of mankind takes a long time to advance. So do the development of culture and wisdom. The Book of Change (Yi Jing 易经) was first written in symbol or sign language before the invention and finalisation of Chinese characteristics. It only uses 2 simple signs: __ and - - . From these, they develop into a collection and explanation of happenings between the environment and mankind in the world.

By the time the Book was written by Zhou Wenwang （周文王）in early Zhuo dynasty, it had already had in existence for several thousand years. Several hundred years later, near the end of Zhou dynasty, Confucius and his followers provided explanations (Yi Zhuan 易传) to the Book so that people can have a better understand of Yi Jing and the meaning of the simple descriptions written by Zhou Wenwang in Yi Jing.

Wisdom is not and cannot be created overnight. It takes few thousand years for civilization to progress. Hence, it will come to a stage, with the support of environment (spring-autumn and warring periods), that a breakthrough would take place: Hundred schools of thought. The past wisdom before and during Zhou dynasty had finally put into many debates among different scholars, in search of better and meaningful life as well as the right way of government.

The Book of Change provides predictions on possible happenings in the world. It describes the relationship between environment and human beings. The changes in environment have its pattern and are represented by Sky (天tian) and Earth (地di). Hence, no matter it is earth quake, flood, drought, or hurricane, it has a principle of operations. It is like a cycle, just like the rotating of spring, autumn, summer and winter.

Man, in between of Sky and Earth, seeks to live with the environment in harmony. The environment takes its own path and way and has no concern about the living things in the world. Man in this case has to adjust to the changes, to enjoy or suffer from the happenings in the environment. This may also explain why in the process of Chinese civilization, Chinese seek peace and harmony with the environment. There is no destruction to environment, such as industrial revolution.

Perhaps, the Book of Change is not a proper name. The Yi in Yi Jing has 3 meanings: Change, Unchanged and Simplicity. Change means man and living things need to make changes to the changes of Sky and Earth, for example coping with disasters. The disaster itself is another change. Unchanged refers to the permanent principle or pattern of the movement of Sky and Earth or the basic value for human beings, for example, the rise of sun and moon, to be a kind person (向善). Simplicity means the origin of all the happenings in the universe; for example, God is the creator of all mankind.

The Book of Change has great influence on Chinese people, from one dynasty to another dynasty and from one generation to another generation. In philosophy, the Hundred Schools of Thought and other philosophical developments in all the dynasties have their origin traced back to Yi Jing. For religions, Daoism, Buddhism and other local Chinese religions were greatly influenced by Yi Jing. The most interesting part of all may be fortune telling. Fengshui 风水and others can also be traced back to Yi Jing. One important contribution or use of Yi Jing is to use the Book of Change to predict the future. Hence, it is able to tell the fortune of a person.

In management, change management is an important subject for leadership development. However, it should also include unchanged considerations and factors.
Every change in situation, for example, a new recruit, new equipment, will result to an improved or bad overall performance. Simplicity is another area that management is looking forward to improve performance, how to cut down the bureaucracy, how to have faster and direct feedback etc.