A question about the origin of the I ching left us groping to divine the truth behind (and within) that classic book of Chinese cosmology known variously as the Book of changes and Classic of changes. (来源：EnglishCN.com)

For starters, I ching translates roughly from Mandarin as "classic (book); the Changes." We say "roughly" not only because translating from Chinese into English is notoriously challenging, but also because interpretation of the I ching is itself so varied. Some see it as an authoritative or canonical book; others rely on it for divination. But all agree the philosophical basis of the I ching includes these two tenets: the inevitability of change and the dynamic balance of opposites. Those opposites, Sinophiles know, are incorporated in the yin-yang. In Chinese, yin names the feminine passive principle in nature that is exhibited in darkness, cold, or wetness; yang names the masculine active principle exhibited in light, heat, or dryness. Darkness and light; cold and heat; wetness and dryness: in Chinese cosmology—that is, in the branch of metaphysics devoted to the nature of the universe—combining yin and yang produces all that will come to be.