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The I Ching, which modern people often say, includes the I Ching and the I Chuan by default. The I Ching is similar to a dictionary in that it is a specific explanation of the sixty-four hexagrams, while the I Ching is an exposition of methods and principles.
The ancient I Ching was based on yin and yang, which was expressed as eight trigrams, but at first there were no five elements. However, cultural ideas are also constantly evolving like rivers, and there will always be some suitable ideas - the concept of the five elements is superimposed in the later stage.
"Lianshan" and "Returning to Tibet" have been lost, and now the so-called "Book of Changes" is "Zhou Yi". But "Zhou Yi" is not generated out of thin air, the river has not been broken, "Zhou Yi" is the inheritance and innovation of "Lianshan" and "Returning to Tibet" - Shanghai people do not have to regret not being able to drink the water of the Min River and the Jinsha River, which have long been merged into the Yangtze River.
On the whole, the traditional "Zhou Yi" is a book of divination (shì), and the method of "divination" of course involves all aspects of military, agricultural affairs, and daily life decision-making, so the I Ching gives people an all-encompassing feeling. To this day, the I Ching is still often used in three areas: divination, feng shui, and academic research.
Some modern people may think that the Book of Changes is superstitious, but "Zhou Yi" was also the revolutionary banner of ancient culture and a great cultural innovation! In the Shang Dynasty, the mainstream culture of mankind still worshiped God and generally practiced the system of human martyrdom -- "If you do not make a decision, kill someone to solve it", praying for God's blessing and alms; while "Zhou Yi" calls on everyone to focus on personnel and people-oriented, people's behavior can be changed, things are constantly changing, there is no need to pray for God's alms through murder and sacrifice.
I think the greatest value of the I Ching to the ancients and the present lies mainly in its way of thinking!
1. Gradual change
Change produces movement, and movement promotes change. Change will not stop, but change is regular, simple, and has its "not easy" principle. The core of the simplicity of the I Ching lies in the fact that it is based on the change of yin--yang-".
"Qianzhi is the beginning, and Kun is the thing. It is easy to know, and it is easy to know. Easy is easy to know, simple is easy to follow...... It is easy to simplify and the reason of the world can be carried out, and the reason of the world can be in place. ”
The gossip is drawn from the bottom to the top, the so-called high-rise buildings rise from the ground, and all the hexagrams are based on the Qian ☰, Kun ☷ hexagram as the program, easy to know and easy to follow.
Regardless of the name of each hexagram, we see a yang rising from left to right, which is called "to", and from right to left, it is a yang descending, which is called "coming". Isn't it very similar to seeing a person work hard and constantly improve the process of rank and treatment?
And with the team to attack the city and plunder the land, the sphere of influence continues to expand, and the effect of accumulation is obviously very different. ↑
Look at this yang sheng again, two yang, three yang... Until the pure yang, then the yin qi grows gradually, and gradually to the pure yin, exactly twelve hexagrams. Is the increase of yang into dissipation and the increase of yin into interest in line with our reality of 12 months of the year? If you form a circle, you can also say that it corresponds to the yin and yang changes of the 12 hours. You don't need to memorize every hexagram name and meaning to intuitively understand the simplicity of this hexagram change. In fact, this group of hexagrams has a special name called "Twelve Hexagrams", which probably has the meaning of opening up and dividing the month, also known as Hou Hexagram and News Hexagram.
Rice to eat one bite at a time, the road to go step by step, all changes are one, two, three, four, five, six Yao gradually unfolded, either change by yourself, or change with everyone, quantitative change leads to qualitative change...... The effectiveness of gradual, long-termism is evident here.
It should be noted that when used in daily use, people will avoid "things must be opposed", that is, there is a degree of gradual change, and the kun hexagram usually does not change directly to the dry hexagram.
Let's look at Kun Ling's changes first. From the beginning of the hexagram change, each time the corresponding yin line is changed to yang line, and the fifth hexagram is only a little yin left, and it cannot continue to change upwards - and then it becomes another extreme pure yang "dry" hexagram. The ancients did not approve of extremism, which can also be understood as the shell at the top, the shell cannot be changed, or the personnel cannot be changed into "heaven". In short, the successive changes can only change inward and downward, so the next to the fourth line changes from the yang line back to the yin line—the hexagram painting travels back, and this change is collectively called the wandering soul hexagram.
The last change is called the Soul Returning Hexagram, which means that the entire internal hexagram below returns to its original position and is restored to the Kun hexagram ☷. The upper outer hexagram maintains the form ☵ of the wandering soul hexagram, and forms the upper kan (water) and the lower kun (earth), that is, the water and land hexagram. The soul returns, it seems that it is the same as the Qi Kun hexagram, after all, it is different, and a qualitative evolution has taken place.
The Qian, and all other hexagrams, can be changed in this way. When you change to the sixth line, don't move the last stroke, but swim back (Wandering Soul Hexagram), and then restore the inner hexagram as a whole (Returning to the Soul Hexagram).
2. Exponential thinking
Linear change is just the basics, and Bagua diagrams also involve exponential thinking.
Therefore, "Yi" has Taiji, which is to give birth to two rituals, two rituals to give birth to four elephants, four elephants to give birth to gossip, gossip to determine good fortune and evil, and good luck and evil to give birth to great cause. Therefore, the Dharma is as great as heaven and earth, and the flexibility is as great as the four hours, and the hanging image is as great as the sun and the moon......"
Yin and Yang - > Four Elephants - > Bagua, which is a change in numbers, is usually used in the process of practical application such as day selection and divination. How did these 64 hexagrams come about? That is, the 8 basic hexagram rounds overlap, resulting in 8 × 8 = 64 variations.
For example: ☰ + ☰ = ䷀; ☰ + ☷ = ䷊; ☰ + ☶ = ䷠ ......
If we combine the above hexagrams again, how many variations can be produced?64×64=4096 variations.
If we further recombine the hexagrams, we can produce 4096×4096=16,777,216 hexagrams......
Of course, the processing power of the human brain is limited, and too many hexagrams do not conform to the original intention of the ancients to "control complexity with simplicity" - gossip itself is an abstract expression of the complex world, and hexagram changes are also a reflection of the laws of the operation of real things. If the exponential growth of hexagrams is enough to mark every second of every person's life, enough to mark every change in every space, then the complexity of the hexagram must have exceeded reality and lost its basic function of "guiding the maze", so usually sixty-four hexagrams are enough.
3. Hierarchical thinking
The form of each hexagram and the meaning it expresses have the characteristics of hierarchical thinking.
The basis of the Book of Changes is the eight trigrams, as mentioned earlier, the weight is sixty-four hexagrams, each hexagram is composed of two hexagrams, the lower hexagram is called the "inner hexagram", and the upper hexagram is called the "outer hexagram". When starting the hexagram, it is from the bottom up, and when reading the hexagram name, it is first outside and then inside, for example, the legend below is called "Water and Fire Healing Hexagram".
The yang line is called nine, also called rigid, and the yin line is six, also called soft. Ninth / Sixth, Ninety-two/Sixty-two, Ninety-three/Sixty-three, Ninety-fourth/Sixty-fourth, Ninety-five/Sixth, Upper Nine/Sixth, respectively in the position of the sixth.
The upper and lower hexagrams are divided into three hexagrams, one inner, two and three outside. The lower hexagram is opposite to the upper hexagram, the lower hexagram is opposite to the upper hexagram, and the lower hexagram is opposite to the upper hexagram. If the two opposite lines are opposite, they can be sympathetic, which is called "responding", and if yin and yang are the same, they cannot be sympathetic, which is called "non-response", or "enemy".
In fact, there are two kinds of "medians" in these six hexagrams, namely the middle of the inner and outer single hexagrams, the second and fifth hexagrams, and the other refers to the median of the whole six hexagrams, that is, two, three, four, five. Two and five are the opposite, and it is best to call "just in the middle and respond". It is generally believed that the upper part is the sky, the lower part is the earth, and the middle is the human being.
At the same time, the beginning, third, and fifth (135) of the six are in the yang position, and the second, fourth, and upper (246) are in the yin position. If the yang is in the yang position and the yin is in the yin position, it can be judged as "in the right position", and if the yang is in the yin position and the yin is in the yang position, it is "not in the right position". The yang line in the outer hexagram (95) is better than the yang line in the inner hexagram, and the yin line in the inner hexagram (62) is better than the yin line in the outer hexagram.
Judging from the relationship between the two adjacent lines, the relationship between the yin is "multiplication", the upper line is multiplied by the lower line, and the relationship between them is "inheritance", the lower line inherits the upper line, and the yin "inherits" the yang. For example, the picture above is both Ji hexagram, 62 is Yin Cheng 93, and 4 Rou is multiplied by 3 Gang (64 times Ling 93).
If you think the above statement is too complicated, you can skip it. The core meaning is that each line has its own unique meaning, and there will be different meanings between the lines according to the adjacency and interval relationship. Entering the middle position, there are unique changes and meanings, and exiting, according to the upper and lower splits, also has its meaning. The overall "packaging" is not only a hexagram, but also has its overall meaning. (What exactly does it mean, look at the dictionary "I Ching" to make it clear)
Can this be regarded as the end? We can continue to macroscopic and analyze the different positions of the hexagram in the innate and acquired trigrams, and we can implicate more connotations and applications.
From macro to individual to micro, each level has its own changes and meanings. What do you want to gain? At what level do you exert your efforts? What does it cover? How far can it be affected? Some people may think that it is more tedious or even messy, but in fact, mastering hierarchical thinking is the key to keeping many things organized.
4. Reverse thinking
The overall change of the hexagram involves a variety of reverse thinking, such as relative, positive and negative.
For example, the person standing opposite seems to be upside down, and it becomes 夬 (guài) hexagram, and this "夬" is the comprehensive hexagram of "姤". This is an objective change caused by the difference in position and position, and the relative space.
The second change is the opposite meaning. Only the first line is yin, and the other five lines are yang; for the yin and yang, the first line becomes yang, the remaining five lines are yin, and the six lines are all reversed, you can get a mine repetition, and this "fu" is the staggered hexagram that is facing the "concubine".
And the "complex" hexagram also has its comprehensive hexagram, which is reversed vertically, and you can get the mountain "peeling" hexagram. The stripping hexagram happens to be intertwined with the positive and negative of the hexagram.
Above are the four forms that are drawn from a hexagram "姤". There is also a change in the internal form, that is, the interactive hexagram: the 234 hexagram is taken as the inner hexagram and the 345 hexagram is used as the outer hexagram, and the resulting hexagram is rearranged. It can be seen that the interaction hexagram of the concubine is Qianling, and the interaction hexagram of the landmine hexagram is Kun Ling.
For example: this hexagram is thunderous and unvain, and the interactive hexagram is windy and mountainous;
本卦 ䷵雷泽归妹，交互卦 ䷾水火既济。
The core principle is that the status of the day remains unchanged, and the personnel structure is reorganized in the median.
Drawing lots or divination itself is a random variable, and after these random variables are divided, they can trigger so many mental deductions. Look at it head-on, look at it backwards, look at it backwards, look at it again, and look at it again......
The mental and mental energy of "Yi" is because of the flexibility of these thinking models. For the ancients, it may have been a source of fun, making people unaware of the passage of time and easily immersed in it.
Confucius is old and good "Yi", read "Yi", Wei compiled three uniques. The Analects of Confucius says, "Add me a few years, and it will be easy to learn in fifty years, and you will be able to do it without a big deal." ”
Most of the ancients did not read Yi for divination and prediction, "those who are good and repentant are also born to move" - they understood that any change in movement is good and bad. "Those who live and settle down in the gentleman's place are also in the order of change, and those who play in pleasure are also in the words of the gentleman. Perhaps, as Confucius said, "Play with the rope and get it."
Those who are good at changing are uncertain, follow the path, and play hexagrams, which are these thinking games.
5. Simple Divination:
Divination was originally two different ways of predicting. Divination uses animal bones, preferably tortoise shells, to take the spirit of animals to spy on the divine machine, and the Zheng is the stem of the plant, the ancients believed that the most effective is yarrow, and the spirit of the plant is used to obtain the oracle. When we were children, it was popular to use sorghum stalks or bamboo slices instead of fortune tellers on the streets.
Nowadays, people believe in science and are no longer obsessed with the selection of divination materials, and I think coins are very convenient.
The obverse is yang, and the reverse is yin. Each time a coin is tossed, it corresponds to a line, and six times it is tossed to form a hexagram.
Then open "Zhou Yi" and use a dictionary to look up the explanation of the hexagram.
If you can memorize all the explanations of each hexagram and write it smoothly, then you are a "mysterious" master of easy learning.
As for using the Book of Changes to read Feng Shui, in fact, after the Bagua fused with the Five Elements Doctrine, the changes in Shengke increased, and in detail, it was tens of thousands of words. There will be a chance to renew it later.