The allusions of divination

Fortune-telling with divination has been common since ancient times, especially in the Spring and Autumn Period, and it is a compulsory course for many scholars. They often take the Book of Changes to participate in research and often predict divination. Among them, the song "Bian Wei's Three Musts" comes from the story of Confucius reading the Book of Changes, which is briefly described as follows.

Books in the Spring and Autumn Period were mainly made of bamboo. Bamboo is broken into bamboo sticks, called bamboo slips, then dried with fire and written on them. Bamboo slips have a certain length and width, and a bamboo slip can only write one line, ranging from dozens to eight or nine. A book needs a lot of bamboo slips, which must be woven together with strong ropes and the like to read. Books like Yi, of course, are made of many bamboo slips, so they have considerable weight.

Confucius spent a lot of energy reading the Book of Changes and basically understood its contents. I quickly read it for the second time and grasped its basic points. Then, he read it for the third time and had a thorough understanding of its spiritual essence. Later, in order to study the book deeply and explain it to his disciples, he read it many times. After reading this way, the cowhide belt of serial bamboo slips has been worn off several times, and it has to be replaced with a new one and reused many times.

Even after reading these, Confucius said modestly, "If I were allowed to live a few more years, I would fully master the text and quality of the Book of Changes."

The source of this allusion is Historical Records Confucius Family.