The misconceptions of Robert G. Benson

"I am highly critical of almost all popular I Ching books available today. My successes using the I Ching, and the dismal state of this area of knowledge, have compelled me to produce this book. (...) recent research leads to the conclusion that no translation can accurately represent what the I Ching truly is. None of the I Ching books currently on the market shows how the I Ching is actually a comprehensive philosophical statement about how our lives undergo change. Perhaps even worse, none are an effective practical guide to using the I Ching. I wrote this book to say what hasn't been said before. I wanted this book to open new doors -- to be a breakthrough book for novice users, but to also be filled with critical insights for experienced users".

I have not bought his book, nor do I intend to. After all, when a writer states that none of the Yi books currently on the market "are an effective practical guide to using the I Ching", he is definitely not up to date with this field of study, and that makes me lose all interest in his work (see also Hilary Barrett's point of view). But that is not my major concern here. A writer can write what he wants, as long as it is backed up by facts or reasonable arguments. But more than thirty years of studying (who knows what) does Benson make false statements about a subject he is obviously not very familiar with:

A Warning about "Astrology of the I Ching"

There are a few websites which contain computerized versions of Shao Yung's Astrology of the I Ching. The information for these comes from two published work by Chu and Sherrill (in The Astrology of I Ching and An Anthology of I Ching). I have done extensive research into this system and inspected it in both these sources. This is indeed a remarkable system, but unfortunately I've found that there are two "transmitted errors" in one of the key tables. (I use this term because the error is egregious, and clearly cannot come from the originators, who were experts in the I Ching). Using this table UNCORRECTED means that the system CANNOT EVER give answers using hexagrams 30, 38, 49, and 58, and will give incorrect answers SOMETIMES using hexagrams 10, 13, 14, 17, 19, 21, 22, 28, 31, 35, 36, 37, 41, 43, 45, 47, 50, 54, 55, 56, 60, 61, 63, and 64. Thus, 28 of the 64 hexagrams (44% by number) are being incorrectly or inconsistently reported! I have communicated this fact to authors of some of these programs, but I have no knowlege if they've researched this, or used the correction (which I've published in a footnote in my book). This fact is very significant, because these programs cost money, and yet are worthless. Also, unfortunately both Chu and Sherrill are deceased. Therefore, I DO NOT recommend using ANY programs based on Chu and Sherrills materials for the "Astrology" system unless this correction has been applied to that table. As always, caveat emptor (buyer beware)!

His statement contains several errors. First, although a lot of divinatory systems (including Meihua Yishu, plum blossom numerology) are attributed to Shao Yong, none of them are to be found in Shao's work. The attributions are apocryphal. But this is a minor error.

What is worse is that he claims there is an error in table 13 of Chu & Sherrill's Astrology of I Ching, 'The earthly numbers and trigrams' (as said in e-mail correspondence). You need this table to calculate one of the two trigrams that make up your 'birth hexagram'. In this table there are the even numbers 2 to 60, and each number is assigned a trigram. 2 = Earth, 4 = Wind, 6 = Heaven, 8 = Mountain, 10 = Water, etc. Number 20 and 50 are also assigned the trigram Earth.

And that, says Benson, is wrong. They should have the trigrams Lake and Fire, he says. He wrote in an e-mail to me how he found out about this error: he calculated the hexagram of a person, and the outcome was.....wrong. And because he found the answer was wrong, the system had also to be wrong.

That is odd. How could the answer be 'wrong' when it is only a hexagram you get and which you have to interpretate? A hexagram can hardly be called 'wrong', the only trouble you may have is with the interpretation. It is possible you may not understand the answer. Also, by now millions Chinese have used this system with satisfaction. Also in the West many find the system does work and gives accurate results. They are able to work with the answers they get, but at some point Benson was not. Does that make the system 'wrong'?

But the table in S&C's book is not wrong. The original Heluo Lishu document contains no table, but rules for the calculation of the Earth trigram. The table in the book is based on these rules (in this order):

1. If the Earth number is larger than 30, substract 30. If it is still larger than 30, again substract 30.
2. If the Earth Number can be divided by ten, discard the zero.
3. If the Earth number is larger than 10, substract 10.

S&C put these rules in a simple table. Let's try these rules with the numbers 20 & 50. 20 can be divided by ten, therefore we discard the zero. The result is number 2. For number 50 we substract 30, which leaves 20. We discard the zero, which leaves 2.

To find the corresponding trigram you have to look at the houtian trigram circle combined with the Luoshu (see this image). Number two corresponds with the trigram Earth. In other words, the table in S&C's book is correct.

Benson also says "Using this table UNCORRECTED means that the system CANNOT EVER give answers using hexagrams 30, 38, 49, and 58, and will give incorrect answers SOMETIMES using hexagrams 10, 13, 14, 17, 19, 21, 22, 28, 31, 35, 36, 37, 41, 43, 45, 47, 50, 54, 55, 56, 60, 61, 63, and 64". This is not quite true. It is true that it is impossible to get hexagram 30 and 58. That is not a flaw in the system, it is simply the consequence of the rules because the calculations for the Earth trigrams only use even numbers, and the trigrams Fire and Lake have numbers 7 and 9. It is impossible to get 7 and 9 as final outcome of the Earth trigram calculations, and the consequence is that you can never get hexagram 30 and 58. But it is a consequence with a reason behind it. Heluo Lishu deals with human matters, it tells about people's character and how they will function in society. Hexagram 30 deals with Knowledge & Wisdom: according to the Chinese vision nobody is born with K&W, you have to acquire it during your life. The same goes for hexagram 58: Happiness in its most essential and fulfilling form is something you have to learn, you do not get it on a silver plate when you are born (after all, being born is very traumatic, that's when the trouble starts). Hexagram 30 & 58 are impossible to get, but all the other hexagrams Benson mentions are possible as outcome.

It is easy to say that a table is wrong when you don't know the rules behind it. Instead of writing that the system (or a part of it) contains errors, just because he doesn't know or understand the background of it, Benson should better have checked his findings with someone who is acquainted with the original Chinese material.