How to get started with the Book of Changes

Learning Zhouyi is the same as learning any scientific subject. If you want to get started, you must first understand the basic concepts of the subject. Concept is the most basic and core thing, and it is also the basis of all kinds of deduction. Therefore, we must understand it carefully and not ignore it. Before I tell you, I have a simple analogy. As we all know, there are various chemical elements in chemistry, and different elements have different valences and unique properties. Various chemical elements make up various compounds, which can produce ever-changing chemical reactions according to various chemical equations under different conditions, and there is chemistry everywhere in life. Not only chemistry, but also physics, mathematics and other scientific disciplines are similar. They all have their own concepts and symbol systems, as well as their own formulas, axioms, theorems and laws.

The same is true of Zhouyi, there is nothing mysterious, so everyone should study with a normal heart and overcome all kinds of common misunderstandings. For example, when he saw that Zhouyi could be regarded as divination, he thought that some ghosts and gods were manipulating it in the dark, which made him secretive and at a loss. An inevitable problem in the study of Zhouyi is a concept I mentioned before: ultimate questioning (that is, questioning the ultimate decisive force of everything in the world). In other words, why can I use Zhouyi to predict the future? I believe most people will have this question. Speaking of ultimate questioning, in fact, various scientific disciplines are everywhere, not just Zhouyi, such as the law of universal gravitation. Why does an object fall when it is thrown into the sky? Who let it down? You may say it's because of gravity, but I want to ask you, who designed or decided this law of gravity? Who is the ultimate decisive force behind all kinds of laws?

Answering this question must involve philosophy or religion. If you are interested, you can study it further in the future. I won't discuss it here for the time being. Please let go of this ultimate inquiry. Let's study Zhouyi as a general subject, just like physical chemistry. In short, let go of all mysteries and study with a normal heart! We can imagine that if you travel to the primitive society and tell people there that there is a kind of knowledge called "chemistry", if you learn it well, you can make a fire, boil water, split mountains (explosives) and cook the sea (distillation, salt making, etc. ), then primitive people will find it mysterious, just as we think Zhouyi is mysterious.