What are "River Map" and "Luoshu"?

"River Map" and "Luoshu" are two mysterious patterns handed down from ancient China, which have always been regarded as the source of Chinese civilization and known as the "Cosmic Rubik's Cube". The mystery contained in these two pictures has attracted countless future generations to study. But so far, although each has its own rhetoric, there is still no very certain result that convinces everyone. So what are the "river map" and "Luo Shu", and what kind of mystery does it contain?

According to legend, in ancient Fuxi, the dragon horse appeared from the Yellow River in Mengjin County, northeast of Luoyang, bringing a "river map" to Fuxi. Fuxi became a gossip on this basis, which is the source of Zhouyi later. According to legend, when Dayu was born, a turtle appeared in Luohe, Luoyang, carrying a "Luoshu" on his back and giving it to Dayu. Dayu succeeded in controlling the water according to this, so he decided that the world was Kyushu Island, and the Nine Chapters of Dafa was set to govern the society, which was spread in the history books and named Hong Fan.

The Book of Changes says, "Rivers paint, Luo writes and sages write", which refers to these two things. On the "river map", black spots and white spots arranged in several arrays contain infinite mysteries; The sum of the three numbers on the vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines in Luo Shu is equal to 15, which is very wonderful. Scholars at home and abroad have conducted long-term exploration and research on this issue, believing that it is the crystallization of the spiritual thinking of Chinese ancestors and the first milestone of ancient civilization in China.

Nowadays, many people think that River Map and Luo Shu are the origins of the Book of Changes. Kong Anguo in the Western Han Dynasty said, "When a river map is drawn by Fu Wang and a dragon and a horse, it is written to draw eight diagrams;" Luo Shu', when Yu was in charge of water control, the turtle was ranked last, and the number was nine, so it was the first, which was divided into nine categories. "Liu Xin, a scholar of ancient Chinese classics in the Western Han Dynasty, said:" Fu is the queen of heaven, painted by the' river map', and gossip is also true; Yu Zhi Shui, Xi Luo Shu, Fa and Chen, all nine realms are also. River map' and' Luo Shu' are longitude and latitude, gossip and nine chapters, and they are both inside and outside. "

In fact, however, the "sacred objects" carried by the dragon horse and the "tortoise" from Luoshui of the Yellow River are just legends. "River Map" and "Luo Shu" are recorded in detail in history. They are actually maps and Oracle inscriptions of Luoyi decided by the Duke of Zhou in Zhou Chengwang on March 1st and 7th.

Luoyi is located in "the world, and all directions enter the tribute road". Zuo Zhuan records that "Wu Wang succeeded in business and moved to Jiuding in Luoyi". At this time, Zhou Wuwang had the idea of establishing Luoyi as its capital, and after Zhou Chengwang ascended the throne, together with Duke Zhou and Zhao Gong, he planned and implemented the construction of Luoyi as a major event.

It is recorded in Shangshu Zhoushuluogu: "Zhao Gong was in the mansion, and Duke Zhou went to camp for a week, so he sent a telegram to write about Luogu. Duke Zhou bowed down and kowtowed, saying,' I recovered my son Ming, and Wang Rufu dared to become attached to the sky, and gave Nai Yinbao, which was in the east and had a clear foundation. Give it to Yi Mao, and then go to Roche. I am not in harmony with Aquarius; I'm Bu Jianshui Dong. Hubei water is west, but Luo eats it; I bet again? There is water and food in the east. ? Earth? This is a scam! ? /p & gt；

According to these records, we can know that "River Map" is the location map of Luoyi city site and its surrounding rivers, such as Luoshui, Yishui, Aquarius and Jianshui, which was drawn by Zhou Gongdan when he built Luoyi in Zhou Chengwang, so it is called "River Map". It is the earliest geographical map of Luoyang city; The city site selected by Zhou Gongdan's Oracle Inscriptions is the so-called "Luoshu" in later generations. Shortly thereafter, "maps" and "books" were carved on beautiful jade. They were called "river maps", which were Zhou's treasures. When Kang Wang ascended the throne, it was displayed as a national treasure.

Then why is there a saying in the Book of Changes that "rivers paint, Luo writes, and saints write"? In today's Book of Changes, it is recorded that "natural gods are things, and saints do it." The change of heaven and earth is also the work of saints. The sky hangs like an elephant, seeing good or bad, the sage looks at it. Draw a picture of the river, write a book, and be a sage. "This is actually a word advocating Shinto divination. Judging from the written language, the sentence "River drawing, Luo writing, sage writing" is not written by the same person as the previous article, but is obviously a sentence added by later generations on the basis of the previous article.

In the Song Dynasty, the world began a debate about the authenticity of the Book of Hutuluo and whether the gossip was painted according to Heluo.

The Book of Changes puts forward the theory of "river drawing, Luo writing and sage writing", which is basically held in the documents from the pre-Qin and Han dynasties to the Tang Dynasty. But the Heluotu style has long been lost, at least in the late Tang Dynasty. In the early Song Dynasty, Chen Tuan was handed down from generation to generation with Hetu, Luoshu, Congenital Map and Taiji Map, which caused a debate between the affirmative school and the ancient prose school.

Both factions firmly believe that "a river draws a picture, a book is published, and a sage draws a divination." The difference is that ancient skeptics regarded the Book of Hutuluo as absurd and attacked it. Its founder was Ouyang Xiu in the Northern Song Dynasty, and his Yi Tong Wen Zi denied the theory of Fuxi River Map, thinking that "River Map" was not before Yi. Huang Zongxi's image number theory of Yi-ology and Huang Zongyan's Bian Shu in Qing Dynasty also think that the theory of Hutuluo Shu actually comes from Taoism and has nothing to do with Yijing.

At the same time, the affirmations strongly advocated Hutuluo, which not only refuted the opinions of ancient skeptics, but also made many achievements in the research and interpretation of Hutuluo. Wang Anshi, Su Shi and others all disapprove of Ouyang Xiu's point of view. There are many works analyzing the Book of Hutuluo in Qing Dynasty, among which Li Guangdi's Book of Changes Compromise, Xu Hu's Book of Changes and Jiang Yong's Heluo Essentials are excellent works.

From the Republic of China to liberation, the two factions struggled constantly. In modern times, Gu Jiegang is a representative of the ancient skepticism school. He completely denied the Book of Hutuluo in Huang Sankao's Letter of Letters to Hutuluo. 1in the spring of 977, Taiyi Jiugong Zhanpan was found among the cultural relics unearthed from the Western Han tombs in Shuanggudui, Fuyang County, Anhui Province, and its schema was completely consistent with Luo Shu, indicating that the books of the Song Dynasty were by no means fabricated.

Up to now, it is generally believed that Luo Shu existed at the latest in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, but there are still disputes about the source of the river map and who comes first with the book of changes.