Since the yin and yang qi that make up all things in heaven and earth are the same in terms of materiality, it stands to reason that all things in the world composed of yin and yang are also the same shape, but the reality is that there are animals, plants, non-living things and other different things in the world.
All things are born from the convergence of yin and yang qi with the same materiality, why is there such a big difference? How does Cao Xueqin look at this problem?
To understand this problem, we must first start with why Xueqin used Jia Baoyu's many times to lament that people are born as the spirit of all things.
When the author wrote that Jia Baoyu did not want his brother Jia Huan to be afraid of him, he wrote that Jia Baoyu had a stupid meaning in his heart:
He expected that he was born to be the spirit of all things, and the essence of the sun and the moon in all mountains and rivers was only devoted to his daughter, and the man with his eyebrows was just some scum and foam. ("Dream of the Red Mansion, 20th Episode")
Being born as the spirit of all things shows that man is not the same as everything in heaven and earth, and man is more spiritual than other species. Although Jia Baoyu believes that the essence of the mountains and rivers, the sun and the moon, is only devoted to her daughter, and the man is a scum and foam, it cannot be denied that Cao Xueqin wants to express the view that people are the spirits of all things. It's just that the man who is the spirit of all things has not taken his due responsibility, so Jia Baoyu will say so.
When Xue Baoqin, Xing Xiuyan, Li Wen, Li Qi and others first came to Jia's house, Jia Baoyu also sighed.
Then Baoyu hurriedly came to Yihong's courtyard and smiled at Raideren, Lu Yue, Qingwen and others: "You guys are not quick to see people!" Who knew that Sister Bao's own brother was like that, and his uncle and brother described his behavior as the same, as if he was Sister Bao's fellow brother. What's even more strange is that your Chengri family only said that Sister Bao is a stunning character, and now you look at his sister, and there are two sisters-in-law, I can't describe it. God, God, how many essence spirit shows do you have, give birth to these people! Can know that I am a frog at the bottom of the well, Cheng Rijia said that these people are unique now, who knows that there is no need to look far away, it is the local scenery, one race is like one, and now I have grown another layer of knowledge. In addition to these few, are there still a few that can't be done? (Dream of the Red Mansion, Episode 49)
Although Jia Baoyu boasted how much essence Lingxiu gave birth to a daughter, he also mentioned the man Xue Tadpole. Therefore, it is also said that the birth of heaven and earth is to give people the part of its essence and spiritual beauty.
When Xue Baochi joked to Jia Baoyu that Xiangling Xueshi seemed to be going crazy, Jia Baoyu also answered with the saying that people are the spirits of all things.
Baoyu said with a smile: "This is exactly the 'Earth Spirit Master', and the old innate people are no longer hypocritical." We sigh every day that it is a pity that he is so personal, who knows what he is today. It can be seen that heaven and earth are to the public. ("Dream of the Red Mansion, 48th Series")
Earth Spirit Renjie means mountains and rivers Lingxiu, and the characters are outstanding. The words come out of Tang Wang Bo's "Preface to the Pavilion of King Teng": "People are brilliant and spiritual, and Xu Xiao is under Chen Bo's bed." "Originally it refers to the name of the land, and later it mostly refers to the outstanding people born in the land of spiritual beauty. (1) It can be seen or said that man is the most spiritual thing in heaven and earth.
Since all things in heaven and earth are yin and yang, why are people the spirit of all things, but not other animals?
We can extrapolate from Cao Xueqin's belief that all things in heaven and earth born of yin and yang are different from good and evil because there is a distinction between good and evil in and yang, and we can conclude that the author's view is that the qi of giving birth to people is different from the qi of giving birth to all other things, and the author believes that giving birth to human qi is the most spiritual qi in heaven and earth.
Therefore, we can conclude that the degree of good and evil in the two qi of yin and yang is not the same, in the two qi of good and evil, some qi is extremely sensitive, and some qi is extremely dull. Sensitivity and dullness here refer to the degree of awareness of consciousness.
The two qi of yin and yang in the universe are half righteous qi and half evil qi. Positive qi is divided into positive qi with extremely sensitive consciousness, positive qi with extremely slow consciousness, and positive qi with different levels of consciousness in the extremely slow and extremely sensitive range of consciousness; Evil qi is further divided into evil qi with extremely sensitive consciousness, evil qi with extremely slow consciousness, and evil qi with different levels of consciousness in the extremely slow and extremely sensitive areas of consciousness.
Compared with the infinity of the two qi of good and evil, the consciousness is limited from the extremely dull to the extremely sensitive range, and all the consciousness of the yin and yang qi in the universe must have the same part. In the process of giving birth to all things in heaven and earth, the qi of the same part of consciousness is gathered according to the principle of "seeking the same qi" in "Zhou Yi" to form the same species. Different consciousness qi constitutes different heaven and earth. The difference in consciousness of qi is the most fundamental reason why all things are different.
The spirit of gathering and generating human qi is the most spiritual qi between heaven and earth, but it is not the spirit in Cao Xueqin's "Theory of Good and Evil", which said that the right qi is clear and clear, and the spirit mentioned here refers to the extremely sensitive consciousness. The righteous qi of endowed with people, clear and clear, and Lingxiu is the most sensitive qi of heaven and earth, and the evil qi that endows people is cruel and obedient, and it is also the most sensitive qi between heaven and earth. It is also the most sensitive qi in the two qi of good and evil, so the two qi of good and evil can give birth to people, so people are the clearest and most beautiful and cruel and evil species in heaven and earth.
When we understand the anger of endowment, it is easy for us to fall into the misunderstanding that the anger of endowed and born is our body. From the point of view that all things are endowed with yin and yang, the view that our bodies are formed by the two qi of yin and yang is not wrong.
If we think of the endowed human qi as our body, then a problem arises. In the process of forming a fetus, the mother absorbs substances from the outside world to form the body of the fetus. In the process of continuous growth after birth, our body grows by absorbing substances from the outside world. After death, the substances that make up the body do not disappear from the earth, but return to the earth.
All substances in the body can be found on the earth, if our body is endowed with human qi, why does the matter that gathers our body not directly from the earth and become an adult? Why do you have to be so troublesome and complicated to live people? The only explanation is that it is impossible to give birth to a person by the substances that make up the body alone.
To bring different substances together cannot be done spontaneously, then it is impossible without external forces. Therefore, in the process of human formation, there must be a mysterious force that drives these substances that make up the body to gather and become adults.
This power is considered by many people to be the creator, but Cao Xueqin does not think so, he believes that this dominant force is endowed with human qi - the most sensitive qi of good and evil in heaven and earth.
The most sensitive process of giving birth to people is just like when we build a house, some qi is like grains of sand, which is the accumulation of matter, some qi is like cement that closely connects these accumulated things, and some qi is like a wall-building person stacking bricks into the desired shape.
Because the consciousness characteristics of qi are different, there is a different division of labor in the end. Endowed with human qi is like the person who builds a house, bringing together all the multiple individuals who have been brought together by the qi of other consciousness.
The materiality of the Qi that gives birth to people is the same as all the Yin and Yang Qi, except that its Qi is the most sensitive. Therefore, it can mobilize other qi to do things according to its requirements. This is just as different people in human society have different divisions of labor.
In "What is the Origin of the World from the Theory of the Birth of Yin and Yang Qi of All Things", we analyze that the "fu" in the "Fu" born of all things in heaven and earth endowed with yin and yang qi includes active gathering and passive gathering. The lowest level of qi gathering is the active gathering between qi, and the higher level of qi is the gathering of qi controlling other qi that has already come together. These qi, which control the other yin and yang qi that have gathered, are the key to the convergence of yin and yang qi into various artifacts between heaven and earth.
So how does the qi that gives birth to people give birth to people? This has to mention the author's intention to write the story of Nuwa refining stone to replenish the sky.
It turned out that when the Nuwa clan was refining stones to replenish the sky, they practiced 36,500 stubborn stones in the Wuji Cliff of the Great Barren Mountain. The Wahuang Clan only used 36,500 pieces, and only one piece was left unused, and it was abandoned under this mountain. Who knew that since this stone has been tempered, the spirituality has been cleared, because seeing that all the stones have been replenished, and they are unable to be selected, so they sigh to themselves, and they are ashamed day and night.
The author's only function of refining the heavens with the mythical Nuwa refining stone is to make the stubborn stone spiritually clear after training. Combined with Jia Baoyu's many lamentations that innate man is the spirit of all things, the spirituality of the stubborn stone has given it the characteristics of endowing and generating human qi. Nuwa refining stones to replenish the sky is the qi that makes the stubborn stone the most spiritual. Therefore, after the stubborn stone came to life, it was Fu who gave birth to Jia Baoyu's qi.
In "How to Explain Time and Space by Combining Cao Xueqin's Views with Zhou Yi", we demonstrate that all things in heaven and earth must have yin and yang, and yang must have yin. If only the design gives birth to Jia Baoyu's qi, Jia Baoyu is male, that is, yang. There is only yang and no yin, which is absolutely impossible, so the author designed to give birth to Lin Daiyu's qi, and the qi of Lin Daiyu is pearl grass, which is yin. Therefore, the stubborn stone and the pearl grass form a yin and a yang, and the two have a relationship with wood and stone. Cao Xueqin's design is a view of yin and yang.
Perhaps many people will conclude from the story of Zhuzhu returning tears that Jia Baoyu was born of the qi of Shen Ying's attendant, if this is the case, yin and yang cannot be united. Because Shen Ying's attendant is endowed with the qi of people, and the pearl grass is endowed with the qi of grass. Of course, it is impossible for people and grass to form a yin and yang pair. Therefore, the Shen Ying attendant, who truly has the qi of endowed and born of people, must be endowed with Zhen Baoyu after the next life. The author's profound intention in designing the story of Zhuzhu Tears will be demonstrated in a later article.
Since the stubborn stone and the pearl grass are endowed and born of human qi designed by Cao Xueqin, we can derive the characteristics of endowed and born human qi through the author's description of the characteristics of stubborn stone and pearl grass, and figure out how to endow and give birth to people.
After the stubborn stones were tempered to be spiritual, seeing that all the stones went to mend the sky, and he could not bear to be selected, he sighed to himself, and cried out day and night with shame. The stubborn stone of spiritual understanding already has consciousness, isn't this consciousness our human consciousness?
Since the stubborn stone that has been spiritual has been mastered, it represents the most spiritual qi of the endowed person. Therefore, Cao Xueqin: The design intention here is to give birth to human qi, and there is already human consciousness at the micro level.
So we see the author continue to write:
One day, just as he was mourning, a monk from Russia came from afar, born with extraordinary bones, rich and different, talking and laughing to the bottom of the peak, sitting on the edge of the stone and talking quickly. First he talked about the mysterious things of the clouds, mountains, mist and sea gods, and then talked about the glory and wealth in the red dust. When this stone heard this, he did not feel that he was moved by mortal hearts, and he also wanted to go to the world to enjoy this glory and wealth, but he hated himself for being stupid, so he had no choice, so he spat out words and said to the monk: "Master, disciple is stupid, you can't see the ceremony." The two of them talked about the glory and prosperity of that world, and their hearts admired it. Although the disciple is rough and stupid, his sex is a little clear, and when he sees the immortal-shaped Taoist body of the second master, he will have the material to replenish the heavens and the world, and the virtue of benefiting people. If you receive a little compassion, carry your disciples into the red dust, enjoy a few years in that rich and noble field, in the gentle village, and always admire Hong'en, and never forget all calamities. ("Dream of the Red Mansion: The First Time")
Being able to understand the dialogue of a monk shows that the stubborn stone has ears and can be touched by it, it shows that the stubborn stone has a heart, can spit out words, and shows that the stubborn stone has a mouth. From this point of view, the stubborn stone that is endowed with human qi is not the slightest difference from us.
From this, we can conclude that Cao Xueqin believes that the qi that gives birth to people is our macro-level people at the micro level.
Is that true? Of course, yes, because we can also use the pearl grass that gives birth to Lin Daiyu's qi to make an argument. In the story of Zhuzhu returning tears, Cao Xueqin wrote:
The monk smiled and said, "This is funny to say, it is a rare thing that has never been heard of in the long past. Just because on the bank of the Western Spirit River, there is a pearl grass on the bank of the three living stones, and sometimes there are the attendants of the Red Flaw Palace Shenying, and they are irrigated with manna every day, and this pearl grass has to be extended for a long time. Later, after being nourished by the essence of heaven and earth, and nourished by rain and dew, he had to get rid of the grass and wood, changed his human form, only cultivated into a female body, and wandered outside the world all day long, eating honey and green fruits for hunger, and drinking sorrowful sea water for soup when he was thirsty. ("Dream of the Red Mansion, First Time")
The pearl herb is a grass, and in the end, it can become the qi of endowment and vitality, because it obtains the essence of heaven and earth, and is nourished by rain and dew, so it removes the wood of the grass fetus, so as to have the spirituality of endowing and giving birth to human qi. Only then can he become the qi of Lin Daiyu in the next life.
The grass fetus wood and stubborn stone of the pearl grass themselves said that its "quality is rough and stupid", which means that the qi of the stubborn stone and the qi of the endowed pearl grass are not as spiritual as people. Pearl grass is nourished by the essence of heaven and earth, nourished by rain and dew, and the spirit of stubborn stone has been understood under the exercise of Nuwa, it is said that the spirituality of endowed with human qi is different from the spirituality of endowed with the qi of other species, and the qi of endowed and born of man is the most spiritual qi between heaven and earth.
The grass is given to the grass and the wood is replaced by a human form, which means that the qi of the pearl grass is born because the spirit has been communicated, so it forms a person, which is the same as the stubborn stone can hear, speak, and think. It is all Cao Xueqin's view that the qi of endowed people already has the shape of a human at the microscopic level and is not different from the macroscopic person. The author uses two people together to clarify the characteristics of the qi that gives birth to people, which is also the idea of complementarity of yin and yang.
At this time, there is a question in front of us, is it the qi that gives birth to people originally has the shape of a person, or does the qi that gives birth to people gather together to form the shape of a person? The latter, of course. Because we have already demonstrated that all the yin and yang qi in heaven and earth have the same material properties and are still in the shape of a ball.
If the qi of endowed with human beings is a single qi with such a shape, this shape is the same, and the person born from it should also be exactly the same; If the shapes are different, then our world does not have the unity of matter. Therefore, the qi that gives birth to people must be composed of many of the most spiritual qi, good and evil, which constitute the shape of a person at the microscopic level.
Because the degree of sensitivity and dullness of the two qi of good and evil is not the same. Therefore, different qi plays different roles like the division of labor in our human society.
Yin and yang are endowed with all things, one kind of qi brings together other qi, and if the other qi has no consciousness, how can it gather. It's like the boss telling the employee to do something, if the employee doesn't have a little awareness, can he listen to the boss? Can he understand what his boss wants him to do? Therefore, the breath that is given to form must have knowledge and knowledge.
Because the qi endowed with artifacts has knowledge and knowledge, all things in heaven and earth that have gathered and formed have knowledge and knowledge. This view is not said by the author, but by Cao Xueqin.
When the attacker persuaded Jia Baoyu to promise three things, Jia Baoyu put forward the idea that he wanted to turn into ashes.
Baoyu hurriedly smiled and said, "You say, those few pieces?" I depend on you. Good sister, good sister, don't say two or three pieces, it's two or three hundred, I also follow. I only ask you to look at me and guard me, until one day I turn into flying ash, fly ash is not good, ash still has traces, and knowledge. When I turn into a puff of smoke and the wind blows away, you can't control me, and I can't care about you. Then I will go there, and I will go there by your love. (Dream of the Red Mansion, Nineteenth Episode)
This large paragraph seems to be nonsense in the mouth of Jia Baoyu Xiaoer, but it is the embodiment of the author's philosophical thoughts. Jia Baoyu originally wanted to turn into ash, but immediately denied that flying ash is not good, because flying ash has tangible traces and knowledge.
What Jia Baoyu wants is a state of ignorance and ignorance, since it has turned into the tiniest ash, there is still knowledge. Isn't this the disproving of tangible signs and knowledge? From this, we can conclude that Cao Xueqin believes that all things that come together and form have knowledge and knowledge.
The consciousness of good and evil is continuously distributed from the most dull to the most sensitive. The most dull consciousness is actually the state of not being able to produce consciousness, that is, the state of ignorance and ignorance. Since the gas can only be conscious, then this part of the sluggest qi will not give birth to tangible and visible things, this part of the qi only constitutes the space of the universe, which is what we call the vacuum. So the universe is material, and the vacuum is not without matter, but we can't perceive it. Other qi is the qi of knowledge, but the degree of knowledge and knowledge is different.
From the fact that the largest space in the universe is the vacuum, we can conclude that the universe has the largest amount of ignorant and ignorant gas. The second content is the qi with a little knowledge and understanding, and the qi with the least content is the most spiritual qi in heaven and earth, that is, the qi that gives birth to people. The distribution of the proportion of good and evil qi with the same degree of consciousness in the universe is shown in the figure below.
In the picture, the left side of the yellow line is all righteous qi, and the right side of the yellow line is full of evil qi. The proportion of yin and yang qi in the same consciousness in the right qi and the evil qi is the same, and the two are symmetrically distributed.
The yellow line in the middle represents the ignorant and ignorant yin and yang, which has the highest content.
On the left endpoint is the most spiritual righteous qi, and on the right endpoint is the most spiritual evil qi, both of which have the same content and the least amount of qi compared to other consciousnesses. The proportion of the two qi of good and evil is close to zero, but it is not equal to zero. Because the total qi in the universe is extremely large, although the proportion of the most spiritual good and evil qi is extremely small, the number is still quite huge.
In addition to the most ignorant and ignorant qi, all other qi can sense each other, so how can qi and qi be induced to give birth to all things in heaven and earth?
Let's use the brick wall analogy to analyze. If we divide consciousness into three levels, the qi with consciousness 1 is like sand, the qi with consciousness 2 is like cement, and the qi with consciousness 3 is like people.
Sand is made from rocks, and the process of turning rocks into sand is like the process of splitting yin and yang into two to form yin and yang. In order for cement to bond sand together, cement must also become a very small powder, and the subdivision of cement is like the process of splitting the yin and yang qi with consciousness 2 into two to form yin and yang.
When making bricks from sand, we assume that cement and sand form bricks that are shaped not according to human consciousness, but according to the consciousness of cement. The Qi with consciousness 2 controls the Qi with consciousness 1 to form a new whole, just as cement controls the shape required for sand to form.
After being made into bricks, the bricks are built into different walls under the action of people. The shape of the bricks that a person will assemble according to the consciousness of cement is equivalent to the qi of consciousness 3 bringing together multiple individuals combined according to the qi of consciousness 2 to form a new individual.
Qi and Qi are formed by the formation of a higher consciousness Qi formed by individuals who are combined by a higher consciousness Qi controlling the Qi of a level lower than it, and thus continue to combine. Such combinations are all the passive aggregation of one type of qi controlling another.
We say that "all things in heaven and earth are born of yin and yang" and "endowment" have passive gathering and active gathering. Active gathering is the process of dissipating qi and returning to a yin qi and a yang qi to form a yin and yang qi. Active gathering also includes the gathering between all the qi of the same kind of consciousness, such as gathering between the qi of the endowed person, which is the active gathering after its own being triggered.
The gathering of microscopic qi mentioned here must be a yin and yang qi that is first divided into a yin qi and a yang qi and then gathers, so that yin and yang are divided. For example, the qi of giving birth to people is a yin and yang two qi, in the process of giving birth to people, one of the yin and yang two qi is separated into yin and yang, and then yin and yang are combined into new individuals, so that men and women are formed, and after the world's first male birth, there must be a female generation. The men and women at this time are endowed with human anger, not people on our earth.
The qi of giving birth to people is the most spiritual qi in heaven and earth, so all other qi in heaven and earth can be given to give birth to human qi. After the two qi of good and evil form the human form, we feel the tangible things formed by other qi and combine them according to their desired shape to form our macroscopic person. Other substances that have gathered and formed form part of the eyes, part of the ears, part of the nose, part of the mouth, part of the tongue under the action of giving birth to human qi, and different qi forms different organs after being sensed by the most spiritual qi. The microscopic shapes formed by the most spiritual qi are gathered at the macroscopic level. Therefore, all the structures of human beings are macro expressions of the microscopic characteristics that give birth to human qi.
In layers of combinations, the less conscious qi eventually combines into protons, neutrons, and electrons. The consciousness of qi higher than it controls these protons, neutrons, and electrons to form different atoms after spontaneous combination.
Qi with higher consciousness combines atoms into molecules according to the microscopic shape of its own composition, and higher consciousness Qi combines molecules into different substances according to the microscopic shape of its own combination. So there is heaven and earth. The role of gas with higher consciousness in the process of aggregating and forming other gases, such as the integration of electric energy to make mobile phones work normally.
We found that the same protons, neutrons, and electrons will form different atoms, indicating that there are many different consciousnesses on them that control protons, neutrons, and electrons to form different atoms. From this, it can be concluded that consciousness is controlled from above is not a one-to-one relationship, but a many-to-many relationship, and multiple consciousnesses at the previous level control multiple consciousnesses at the next level.
So there is a hierarchy between different consciousnesses, and different consciousnesses at the same level can control all consciousnesses at the next level. For example, the qi of endowed with human beings and the qi of other animals are at the same level, and the substances that constitute the human body are basically the same as the substances that constitute the bodies of other animals and belong to the same level, so the qi of endowed and born of people and the qi of other animals can control the substances formed by the qi of the next level. It's just that the spirituality of the human qi and the qi of various animals are different, and the combined bodies are different.
This is too similar to our social structure, where people at a high level manage people at a lower level, multiple leaders at a higher level manage multiple employees at the next level, and so on. This is why Confucianism emphasizes the homeland.
The least conscious Qi has the most content and the largest amount spontaneously combined into new individuals. The content of qi with the most consciousness is the least, and the amount of new individuals spontaneously composed is also the least, because the qi with higher consciousness is the combination of individuals with less consciousness than its qi into new individuals, so the content of consciousness from low to high must be a pyramid structure. This idea can be verified by the transfer of energy in the biological food chain. Humans are on the same level as higher animals, at the top of the energy pyramid, and their amount is the least.
Our universe circulates endlessly in the process of dispersion. But the formation of heaven and earth is not so simple, it must be in continuous trial and error, constantly evolving forward, so that we have the perfect earth we live on today.
To produce people, to produce all species on the earth, this is an extremely difficult process, especially when qi first senses the form of a human or other shape, its conditions are extremely harsh, and various conditions are interrelated and indispensable.
So the earth we live on now is the result of countless evolutions, which is the best result, we must protect our earth, don't think about destroying the earth to find a new planet for human beings to live on, which is tantamount to the rebirth of heaven and earth.
Although we do not have the idea of migrating other planets, we will continue to explore the universe, and the ultimate goal of human exploration of the universe is to put all qi on its correct orbit, although this is impossible to achieve, but we must have such a lofty goal, otherwise we will be in vain to the title of the most spiritual qi of heaven and earth.
Of course, it is good to have lofty goals, but we still have to base ourselves on the present, how to make our human life better, is what we should do, this is the true meaning of Confucianism. It was also Cao Xueqin's original idea to write "Dream of Red Mansions".
From the above argument, it can be seen that Cao Xueqin believes that there is no creator in this world, and that everything in heaven and earth is just born from the different feelings of qi consciousness.
Notes: (1) Feng Qiyong and Li Xifan, eds., "Dictionary of the Dream of Red Mansions (Expanded Edition)", Culture and Art Publishing House, 2010 edition, page 21 "Earth Spirit Renjie" entry
Note: This article is original by Zhang Yan'an (Yuzhiming), welcome to reprint and retain copyright.