Reading the Series of Chinese Studies —— Introduction to the Book of Changes

We should learn from Mr. Ceng Shiqiang, remember his development of Chinese quintessence and pass it on!

The greatest charm of the Book of Changes lies in "holding books to change".

The sun, the moon and the stars rise and fall in the west, the plants and trees bloom and fall, the world is enriched by change, and everything is wonderful because of change.

However, changefulness also makes us confused, worried and afraid. We often sigh at night when we can't see the stars: "If we can foresee the future, it shouldn't be so difficult!"

Foresee the future? The Book of Changes is such an existence. But it is different from what folk customs think is fortune-telling and feng shui. If it is limited to the art of "divination", the ancestors will be very sad to know.

What I ching said is actually the truth of future changes-"change with constancy". However, if you want to "change", you need to "hold the scriptures" and pass them on.

Unfortunately, few people are willing to stop and read the Book of Changes carefully. And few people can apply it after reading it, and a generation of treasures has been dusty, alas.

I want to open a series, focusing on the connotation of the Book of Changes. I hope this quintessence of Chinese culture can be spread and integrated into our lives to guide our lives! I am also willing to learn and communicate with friends who read the Book of Changes!

To understand the Book of Changes, the prophet is Yin and Yang.

What is Yin and Yang? Outward expansion is Yang, inward contraction is Yin, odd number is Yang, and even number is Yin. Active is called Yang, inactive is called Yin. Although yin and yang are just two words, they cover all things and are inexhaustible.

According to the most primitive cognition, it is sunny during the day and cloudy at night. I think everyone should agree with this statement. During the day, the sun rises and everything begins to move, which is a feature of outward expansion; And at night, we hide back in the house, which is called yin.

Therefore, 1357 is Yang and 2468 is Yin; The head is yang and the feet are yin; The sky is Yang and the earth is Yin. ...

To test you, palm, who is yin and who is yang? (Reply in the comment area)

Everything can be divided into yin and yang. What are the characteristics of Yin and Yang?

Yin and Yang are relative, but at the same time they are integrated. Often there is yin in the yang and yang in the yin, and the two are unclear.

For example, the sun rises at dawn and the day slowly changes from night to day; At dusk, it is a continuous process from day to night. It's not like a switch. One click is daytime, and another click is night. There is no clear dividing line.

For example, if you reach out, your thumb is Yang (odd number is Yang) and your four fingers are Yin (even number is Yin). But the thumb has two joints, which are yin; All four fingers are composed of three joints, and these three joints are Yang. It is also a common phenomenon that there is yin in yang and yang in yin.

Let's test you again. We often say that men are yang and women are yin. So is there a clear dividing line between Yin and Yang? How to understand that there is yang in yin and yin in yang? (Reply in the comment area)

What is the practical use of understanding yin and yang? Let's take an example to use it.

In this world, China people are people who speak two words-the word on their mouth is Yang (which is revealed outward, and the external feature is Yang), and the word in their hearts is Yin (which is hidden inside, which is Yin).

For example, we will say "don't judge heroes by success or failure", but we will say in our hearts that "the winner is king and the loser is the enemy". Say "comity first", but say "do your duty" in your heart. Perhaps you have also found that some things are said directly and some things are said in the opposite direction, whether it is old or modern. You should be confused. What should you do?

So when we see so many seemingly contradictory words around us, in fact, we only say them out of politeness, or to appease each other, or for other reasons, and we seldom think about them.

So, what you hear is one-sided, but you can't believe it all. Everything you hear must be thought through. what do you think? Think of its yin. Know yin and yang without confusion. So there is "think twice before you act" as the Analects of Confucius said!

The two methods of "Yin and Yang" in the Book of Changes are undoubtedly the most advanced dialectics in the world. It is not difficult to say that it is difficult, but it is definitely not easy to say that it is easy. If you want to be transparent, you need to constantly "realize" and use it constantly!

To understand the Book of Changes, we still need to understand gossip.

The word gossip, like yin and yang, is not uncommon in life. But few people know what this means.

As early as ancient times, Fu took out eight elements from everything in the universe: heaven, earth, water, fire, wind, thunder, mountains and harmony.

Although there are all things in the universe, all things can be covered by these eight elements, which is called "all-encompassing", that is, the image of all things in gossip is omnipotent.

At first, the image of "Eight Diagrams Deciding to Dry Kun" was taken from the images of "Heaven" and "Earth". Why heaven and earth? Because everything around us is turning, but we never leave the word heaven and earth, which is the foundation of our existence and the foundation of the growth of all things.

Then some people will ask, with the development of science and technology, people can run out of outer space and even land on the moon and Mars. Does the expression "the foundation of heaven and earth" still apply? (Reply in the comment area)

At that time, Fu's writing was not as developed as it is now, so innate gossip (called innate gossip created by Fuxi and Eight Diagrams created by Fuxi) was composed of basic figures and elements. The above eight elements correspond to eight symbols respectively.

From this point of view, the ancients viewed the sky, and the place where the sky was round was an arc. But the sky is not a thin layer, "there is a sky outside", so it is three arcs. The symbol of the sky in gossip is

Correspondingly, the vast expanse of the Earth should also be a symbol similar to the sky. But unlike the sky, which is a whole piece, the earth is divided into pieces by rivers and valleys, so the earth symbols in the gossip are all broken.

The sky is yang, the earth is yin, and the other six elements are all evolved from heaven and earth. Let's talk about the elements of the sky first.

The sky is represented by three horizontal lines, which are temporarily divided into "upper, middle and lower" from bottom to top. Let's look at the symbols below. Based on the symbol of the sky, the lowest straight line becomes "broken", which can be understood as "moving", and the lower part of the sky is moving (different from the upper part of the earth). Of all things, what moves under the sky is regarded as the wind, so this is the symbol of the wind.

Similarly, the symbol below is that the middle of the sky is moving, and this element is fire. Why does fire move in the sky? This is about the background at that time. In ancient times, people learned about fire and learned to use it because of mountain fires caused by lightning, but unlike small fires now, they are often full of flames and clouds, that is, the sky moves.

And the movement in the sky is more ingenious. How does the sky move? There was no spaceship at that time, so it was impossible to really go to the sky to see how it moved. On the surface of the pond, the ancients saw the reflection in the sky and the clouds were unpredictable, so it became "moving in the sky", so the symbol was "Ze".

Therefore, the four basic elements, namely, sky, wind, fire and ze, sum up everything dominated by Yang. Accordingly, the ground also includes underground movement, ground movement and ground movement.

Underground movement-thunder. Why did the thunder move underground? Because there was no scientific theory that the speed of sound propagation was slower than the speed of light at that time, thunder sounded immediately after lightning flashed in the sky, and the surrounding objects would also vibrate. The so-called "earth-shattering" came from this.

Ground motion-water

Ground motion-mountain

Why these elements? Can't you change it?

Of course, it can be changed, but later generations have experienced a lot of trouble in interpretation. On the basis of reading, it seems that adding an element or removing an element will destroy the original connotation, so it is still the original gossip for thousands of years. Later generations can add a sum of money, which is absolutely immortal in history.

The congenital eight diagrams are as follows. Eight directions, namely heaven and earth, wind and thunder, are arranged in clockwise order. Water and fire; Mountain, Ze.

But if you are careful, you will find that these eight elements are all in the gossip, and they also have names, namely, dry, Kun, smoked, true, Kan, Li, Gen and Dui.

Dry, it means strong, and in popular terms, it means enduring strength, representing the sky. Regardless of wind, rain, thunder and lightning, the sky has never been as ravines as the ground, and it is still intact and full of vitality.

Kun, on the other hand, means obedience and represents the land. Everything comes from the ground and depends on the land for survival, so the land can accommodate everything, allowing you to dig and fill holes, soft and inclusive;

Xun stands for the wind, which means the wind is everywhere.

Earthquake, representing thunder, thunder is earth-shattering;

The ridge stands for water, but it is short of soil. When water came, the soil was washed away. In addition, water, like the ups and downs of life, you are afraid of it, but you need it, so only when you face the ups and downs can you have a good ending.

From, on behalf of fire, fire can burn people very much, but in the end it often ends in mutual destruction, and fire will eventually disappear, which is called from;

Gen, for mountain, means stop. It is easy for people to stop in front of the mountain. Even if you cross the mountain in front of you, there are mountains outside. You can't cross it forever, and neither can life. You should learn to "enough is enough"; But that doesn't mean stopping when you encounter obstacles. "Rest is to walk a longer way!" .

Exchange stands for Ze When you meet Shui Ze, you feel happy, but when you meet him, you feel happy. As the saying goes, "Ze is everything", when you face elegance, you will feel happy.

These eight elements have been renamed, on the one hand, because these names represent the natural attributes of these elements, but on the other hand, these elements also reflect the similarities between natural phenomena and human society.

After understanding these, the hexagrams used in the Book of Changes can actually be understood.

Eight diagrams have eight elements, corresponding to eight symbols, which are divided into two attributes: yin and yang, and yin and yang are two combinations, totaling 8864 kinds, corresponding to the sixty-four hexagrams in the Book of Changes.

The horizontal line of each symbol represents one, which is the content of the Book of Changes.

How to interpret the hexagrams in the Book of Changes? What is its real intention? How should we use it to guide life? Please refer to the next tweet for these contents.

Due to the lack of experience and knowledge, there are some inappropriate places in the article, please criticize and correct me!