The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1063 page)

I-Ching
(Jap., Gij
;

635–713).
Chinese Buddhist monk and traveller. He entered the religious life when young, and travelled to India in 671. His journey took him through more than thirty countries, and he returned in 695 with relics and images, and also with texts which he set about translating, completing fifty-six works before he died. He also wrote a record of his travels,
Nankai-kiki-den
. He was given the title of
sanz
(
san-tsang
), one well-versed in Buddhist teaching.

 
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(Scripture of Change(s)). One of the three pre-
Confucian Classics
. It seems originally to have been a diviners’ manual, built on the symbolisms of eight trigrams (each composed of broken and unbroken lines, standing respectively for
yin
and
yang
). These trigrams were later expanded to give sixty-four hexagrams. Confucius is supposed to have added commentary, called the Ten Wings, which gave philosophical depth to the work.

 
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(Gk., ‘fish’). An early emblem of Christianity, since the Gk. letters form the acronym of ‘Jesus Christ, God [
theos
] and Saviour [
s
t
r
]’.

 
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I-ch'uan
(neo-Confucianist of the Sung dynasty)
:

see CH'ENG HAO.

 
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(Gk.,
eikon
, ‘image’ or ‘picture’). Sacred pictures of the
Orthodox
tradition. They are usually flat pictures, and painted in egg tempera on wood; but metal, ivory, and other materials may be used, and bas-relief and even high-relief icons are known, especially in Russia. They are used to decorate churches, where they are found on walls, ceilings, and stands (the
iconostasis
separating the sanctuary from the nave being particularly prominent), and portable icons are used in private devotions. They depict
Christ
, and the saints and mysteries of the Church. The symbolism of the icon is held to effect the presence of the saint or mystery depicted, and in that presence prayer and devotion are made. The painting (or ‘writing’) of the icon is itself a religious act, prepared for by prayer and fasting, and was usually reserved for monks: such was Andrei Rublev (
c.
1370–
c.
1430), the greatest of all icon-painters. Suspicion of icons as idols led to
iconoclasm
.
The word ‘icon’ also appears as a technical term in semiotics, with a transferred use: see SYMBOLS.