Interpreting the Book of Changes from a Philosophical Perspective

The "Yi" in the Book of Changes, as its name implies, is "simple, easy and difficult", and "Jane" is the way and method of change; "Change" is the changing process of everything such as heaven, tunnel and human nature. "Not easy" is the unchangeable law or rule of everything such as heaven, tunnel and human nature in the process of change. "

Materialist dialectics points out that everything in the world is constantly developing and changing, and each change has its own development law. Everything has the absoluteness of development and change, but it also has the relativity of maintaining stability in a certain period of time. This is the dialectical unity of dynamic and static.

From a philosophical point of view, the Book of Changes contains at least the following philosophies.

1. The philosophical thought of "the unity of man and nature". It is the most important concept in the philosophical thought system of Zhouyi. The Book of Changes regards heaven and earth as the laws of nature, which cannot be changed. Man is born from heaven and earth and has the nature of "benevolence and righteousness". Man must conform to the way of heaven and earth, that is, to follow the laws of nature, and his behavior should also conform to the way of heaven, so as to achieve an overall state, that is, the unity of heaven and man, which is beyond reproach. This is consistent with respecting the objective law in materialist dialectics, that is, we usually say that man and nature live in harmony.

2. The change of "Yin" and "Yang" embodies the law of dialectical unity of opposites. In the Book of Changes, the concept of Yin and Yang is used to explain the two opposing and reciprocal material forces in nature, and it is believed that the opposition and fluctuation of Yin and Yang are inherent in the thing itself, and then it is considered that the opposition and fluctuation of Yin and Yang is the basic law of the universe. Philosophers in ancient China further realized that all phenomena in nature are antagonistic and interactive, and all things in nature include "Yin" and "Yang", which are mutually unified. The Book of Changes holds that the unity of opposites between Yin and Yang is the fundamental reason for the occurrence, development, change and extinction of all things in nature. The law of the unity of opposites of Yin and Yang is the inherent law of the movement and change of all things in nature, and the world itself is the result of the unity of opposites of Yin and Yang. Therefore, no matter social life or natural phenomena, there are opposites, and this opposite is "Yin and Yang".

3. The law of cycle and endless life embodies the law of dialectical negation. It is the fundamental spirit of "Yi" to say that "life is easy" in cohesion. The generation process of "Yi" shows the basic existence mode and biochemical process of the universe. According to the Book of Changes, Tai Chi gives birth to two devices, two devices give birth to four images, and four images give birth to gossip. Eight diagrams are eight different symbols representing the way of heaven and earth. Eight diagrams are pushed into sixty-four hexagrams, and the last two hexagrams are "good luck" and "misfortune". Divination with "no economic benefit" means that everything in the world will be reversed, and the end of one process is the beginning of another stage, which is endless and endless. The negative law of dialectics reveals that the development of things is a process of wave progress or spiral rise. The basic direction and trend of the development of things will always be forward and upward, and the road of development will always be tortuous, not flat, and the development of things will never end.

4.？ Cohesion, the dialectical principle of "change will last forever", says: "Easy, poor will change, change will pass, and the general rule will last for a long time." The Book of Changes tells future generations that the principle of Yin and Yang it tells is constantly changing, and it always revolves around the three talents of heaven, earth and man (eight diagrams and six hexagrams). There is no routine up and down, yin and yang are transformed into each other, and there is no fixed law. Only change is its direction. Therefore, the Book of Changes holds that everything in the world is changing, because poverty is changing. Only by following the law of the change of heaven and changing under the guidance of the law can we be smooth and smooth. Then people should follow the example of heaven, not go against nature, and keep pace with the times in order to last long.

5. The principles of "time" and "neutrality" in natural change. It is not difficult to find from the explanations of Cohesion Biography and Preface of Eight Diagrams that everything in the Book of Changes must follow the principles of "time" and "middle" in the process of expounding the changes of heaven, Taoism and human beings, with special emphasis on the moral principles of "time" and "middle" in the process of learning from Taoism. "Zhong" refers to the golden mean, which runs in the middle of the natural way of heaven and earth, neither exceeding nor surpassing. "Time" means keeping pace with the times, observing and moving, knowing and doing, and observing and changing. As the saying goes, "He who knows the times is great". ?

Therefore, I ching philosophy is rich, and it is a very effective method of thinking, decision-making and judgment. Studying the prediction method and action principle of Yijing number can improve our thinking method and judgment ability.

In the process of learning the Book of Changes, people easily fall into a misunderstanding, that is, learning the Book of Changes well can predict the future and even Oracle Bone Inscriptions. In fact, I Ching tells us that there are many unpredictable factors in the future. So what can I ching predict? The Book of Changes can predict that "two instruments set four images, four images set eight diagrams, and eight diagrams set sixteen hexagrams". This is a judgment of regularity and inevitability, not a prediction of contingency and uncertainty. For example, there is a dynamically balanced biological chain in an ecosystem. If every creature in this biological chain changes, it will inevitably lead to changes in the survival and development of other related creatures. This change may be better or worse, but we are not sure. We can only predict the possible development trend through a large number of statistical analysis of past events. With the development of science and technology, the development and application of big data and cloud computing technology have greatly improved the accuracy of this prediction. Therefore, we say that the Book of Changes provides us with a method of thinking, decision-making and judgment, rather than a specific prediction result. We can't blindly believe someone's prediction. More precisely, the Book of Changes provides us with a scientific way of thinking. Just like other philosophical systems, we should treat it scientifically, understand it, master it and apply what we have learned.

At present, with the upsurge of Chinese studies, there are more and more people studying the Book of Changes in the society, which can be roughly divided into two types. One kind is people who recite the Book of Changes. They can plausibly tell a lot of truths, such as "a gentleman strives for self-improvement" and "going up without arrogance, going down without rashness". In real life, I believe these people often find famous sayings and aphorisms. Another kind is keen on predicting the unknown, also known as fortune tellers or magicians. These people can't recite the Book of Changes. I ching is just a reference book. You can open it in your bag at any time to check the information. These warlocks, mixed together, are soldiers and Buddhists, like Zhuge Liang and Li; Generally speaking, he is a senior consultant and jester, just like Dong Fangshuo; If you don't mix well, you are just a quack, just like Shao Yanhe. Liu Bowen is a master of Yi-ology, but at the same time, he is proficient in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, absorbs its essence, and is finally respected as a literary Sect. Ceng Shiqiang, a master of modern management, also made an in-depth study of the Book of Changes. He regarded the Book of Changes as a kind of wisdom, and applied its philosophy to modern management, so he was called "the father of management in China".

The Book of Changes is a kind of wisdom, a philosophical system and a way of thinking. We should grasp it scientifically and use it correctly, and never ignore it, misinterpret it or abuse it.