Does knowledge of Yi Jing benefit us TCM specialists when treating patients? Absolutely, says expert René van Osten after 50 years of studying the subject. He would even welcome it if Yi Jing had a permanent place in TCM training programmes.
René van Osten emphasises that the Yi Jing is omnipresent in the most important and oldest texts of the ancient TCM masters. When we asked him, rather naively, whether he could name the passages where the Yi Jing is mentioned, he immediately gave us an answer that gave us an idea of his great knowledge on the subject. Here it is:
This can be found above all in the classic "Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen", also known as Neijing. It is translated as the "Yellow Emperor's Book of Internal Medicine" or the "Inner Classic of the Yellow Prince", the basic work of TCM. In the first nine volumes in particular, Huangdi deals with the laws of nature between man, nature and heaven and how these forces can be harmonised. It also appears again and again in the texts on Shanghan Lun, to be read in the translations by Heiner Frühauf and others. It is without doubt the textbook of the movements of yin and yang and Chinese medicine is based on it!
In its trigrams and hexagrams, it contains the complete concept of the six paired layers - whereby it must be clearly stated that in the concept of healing, the healer may be healed first of all. This is the fundamental claim of the Yi Jing. It reflects the laws of the world, life and the cosmos, which is why there is nothing that does not find its highest explanation in it. I particularly emphasise its polar-synchronistic structure of eternal balance, which does not work causally, which is particularly confirmed by the changes within the codes. The one is inherent in the other. Each side has a flip side that is simultaneous. Everything is aimed at the core of the essential, a centre that forms the individual centre.
The Yi Jing cannot be reduced to utility and purpose. You look into its images and always find yourself and here too you must not forget - with everything that goes with it. No level, no area is left out. Whether we call it health or illness, happiness or unhappiness, harmony or disharmony, the Yi Jing resolves it into another, higher level. Progress and waiting complement each other equally and simultaneously. It is a matter of time conformity, which is why progress cannot be made, but happens - despite all subjective perceived endeavour. We cannot not make an effort if this effort is necessary for individual fulfilment. It is a thoroughly "healthy" presentation of all events and circumstances that leads to a deep recovery of the mind bound in all kinds of patterns, which removes illness and health from a purely subjective level of comparison. I would like to draw attention to Lao Tzu's Wu Wei (non-action) and, by extension, his Wei Wu Wei (action through non-action). Who is it that does something, who is it that heals something? The sage does not live his life, but lets life work through him.
I could write a lot more about this and hope that you can read what it is all about. What I have written about this is certainly also what Huangdi wants to say. This is a challenge for people who think purely conceptually, but one that they will definitely face at some point. This is certainly the reason why the Book of Changes is not suitable for the masses, but is enjoying increasing interest. It gilds the existing (knowledge), which makes its true value transparent. It only comes to life through the living.
René van Osten will start a regular masterclass on Yi Jing in Trimbach near Olten from January 2026. You can find the programme here: Masterclass programme
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