What exactly does Zhouyi mean by "four images"?

In the Book of Changes, the four images refer to the four characteristics of the ups and downs of yin and yang, namely, the sun, shaoyang, Taiyin and Shaoyin, and can also be extended to four seasons, four directions and four countries.

After Tai Chi gave birth to two devices, adding a yin and a yang to each device produced four images. The four images refer to the sun, shaoyang, Taiyin and Shaoyin. The sun is called Lao Yang, and the Taiyin is also called Laoyin.

The sun refers to the time when the yang spirit reaches its peak and the yin spirit begins to be contained; Taiyin is the time when Yin reaches its peak and Yang begins to be contained. Shaoyang is the intermediate state that Yang gradually increases, and Shaoyin is the intermediate state that Yin gradually increases.

The four images represent spring, summer, autumn and winter respectively. The sun is the solstice in summer, the lunar calendar refers to the solstice in winter, less yang refers to the vernal equinox and less yin refers to the autumnal equinox.

Our traditional calendar divides each month into four parts, with the new moon, the first quarter moon, the full moon and the last quarter moon as the dividing points. The new moon generally refers to the first day of the lunar calendar, the first quarter refers to the seventh or eighth day of the lunar calendar, the full moon refers to the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, and the second quarter refers to the 22nd or 23rd day of the lunar calendar. Specifically, the new moon is lunar, the first quarter moon is shaoyang, the full moon is sun, and the second quarter moon is shaoyin.

As four images, also known as the four seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter are the most common in the Book of Changes and its related works. Li Dingzuo's Notes on Zhouyi said: "Four elephants are also four seasons. Two musical instruments are called Gankun. Kun, who made the 25 th Five-Year Plan, became a hurdle, left, wavered and exchanged. Earthquake, spring, summer, autumn and winter, so two instruments give birth to four elephants. " He thinks that four images are four seasons-spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Confucius' Book of Changes Justice says: "Two instruments give birth to four images, which means fire and water, so two instruments give birth to four images in the cloud. The soil is divided into four seasons, and the land is different, so there are only four clouds and four elephants. " He said that the four images are gold, wood, water and fire in the five elements. So: "Shocking wood, leaving fire, exchanging gold, drowning, every master is an instant." Shock wood is spring, away from fire is summer, against gold is autumn, and water is winter.

In addition, in the traditional culture of China, hope, new moon and twists and turns; Meridian, hair, unitary; East, south, west and north; Dragon and white

Tiger, Xuanwu and Suzaku are often called the Four Elephants.