What book is Zhouyi?

Speaking of Zhouyi, some people will say that it is a historical book, one of China's earliest classic works, ranking first in the Five Classics, which has exerted great influence on China and even the world. Others think it is a philosophical work, which contains simple materialism and dialectical thought; But more people will say that it is a divination book that talks about Yin and Yang gossip and promotes superstition. In fact, it is an important theory that affects the traditional culture of China.

Judging from the emergence and early application of Zhouyi, Zhouyi is a divination book. In China's early society, due to low productivity and underdeveloped science, the ancestors could not give scientific explanations to natural phenomena, social phenomena and human physiological phenomena, so they attributed them to mysterious unknown forces, which led to the worship of God and thought that there was a supreme God behind things and dominated everything in the world. When people are repeatedly hit by unexpected natural and man-made disasters, they will sprout a desire to try to predict the sudden disasters and the consequences of human behavior with the help of providence, so as to achieve the purpose of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages. Based on this, in their long-term practice, they invented various prediction methods to communicate between man and god, and Zhouyi is one of the achievements. Together with Lianshan in Xia Dynasty and Tibet in Shang Dynasty, it is called "Three Changes" and is a book of divination.

Zhouyi was mainly used for divination for a long time after it came into being, providing guidance for people's behavior. There are several cases of divination using Zhouyi in Chunqiu Zuozhuan and Guoyu.

Judging from the interpretation of Zhouyi in Yi Zhuan, Yi Zhuan attaches great importance to the divination function of Zhouyi, and repeatedly emphasizes that learning Zhouyi well can help us understand the theory of life and death, the theory of seclusion, the feelings of ghosts and gods, break the doubts of the world, communicate the aspirations of the world, become a world affair, and clearly tell people that Zhouyi makes people obey God's will and stand firm. At the same time, the Book of Changes contains a relatively complete divination method-Dayan method.

After the Han Dynasty, the nature of Zhouyi changed. On the one hand, it retains the original nature of divination, on the other hand, it also expands new functions. Because the Book of Changes contains profound philosophy of life, especially after the interpretation and development of the Book of Changes, its philosophical level has reached a new height, and the Book of Changes has become a profound philosophical classic. It is for this reason that the Book of Changes was favored by the rulers of the Han Dynasty. From the original divination book to the official philosophy book of governing the country. Known as the head of the Five Classics and the source of the Tao. The thought of Zhouyi penetrated into all fields of social life at that time and became the theoretical basis for rulers to govern the country. Since then, Zhouyi contains duality: on the one hand, under the seal of rulers of past dynasties, its theoretical guiding role is increasingly exposed and distinct; On the other hand, folk magicians constantly update and improve the system of divination. Until today, the duality of Zhouyi is still very obvious.