@秦楚刊号
Please pay attention to the next issue.
As an ancient cultural and ideological phenomenon, the original role of the Book of Changes was to maintain the primitive existence of human beings and solve the background of such a big issue as the primitive pursuit of human beings.
With the development of history, there have been too many deformations in the culture of the Book of Changes. After the Tang and Song dynasties, the Book of Changes became a pure knowledge of divination, and the way of divination was too much different than when it first happened.
Let's look at this picture, called "Bagua Palmistry Diagram", which puts the number of "I Ching", that is, the relationship between the number of Bagua, on the three fingers of the hand's index finger, middle finger and ring finger, and then you can pinch it. As you know, the money hexagram came later, and it was completely different from what I was talking about.
How does it pinch the hexagram? Let's take a look at the "Bagua Mathematical Table", in the Middle Ages, people later made an arrangement and regulation of the hexagram of Bagua in numbers, such as Xun hexagram represents four, leaving hexagram represents nine, Kun hexagram represents two, Zhen hexagram represents three, Hui hexagram represents seven, Gen hexagram represents eight, Kan hexagram represents one, and Qiangua represents six. It doesn't make sense for everyone to listen to this arrangement.
Because as we said earlier, Qianquan is yang, and it should be marked with nine, but here it has become six of yin. Why is it making up numbers so unreasonably? Please take a look at this number table, its mysterious structure.
As I said earlier, the ancients thought that numbers were very mysterious, in order to cause the suggestion effect of fortune telling, what is the suggestion effect? We'll talk about that later. So he made a special arrangement of the hexagrams and a number. If you look at the way you look at this list, you add it up to fifteen horizontally, you add it up to fifteen vertically, and you add it up to fifteen on two diagonals. He consciously made it into such a mysterious symmetrical structure to express the power of the apocalypse brought out by the number, which is the result of posterity.
Again, I have repeatedly said that the Book of Changes is the first of the Five Classics. Because it is the lowest level of East Asian ideology and culture, it has had a foundational and penetrating influence on other ideas and theories that have occurred in later generations. For example, since the Chinese I Ching orientation map is all focused on the south, the orientation map of ancient China is the opposite of today's Western map. The western map we use today is up to north, down to south, left west, right east; But in ancient China, the orientation map is upper-south, down-north, left-east, right-west, just the exact opposite. In the Warring States Period, the Five Elements Doctrine appeared, and after the Five Elements Doctrine occurred, it also corresponded to the original Chinese I Ching orientation map.
Therefore, the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth are arranged according to the orientation map of the I Ching, which is very reasonable in terms of figuration and intuition. For example, fire represents the south, water represents the north, wood represents the east, gold represents the west, and earth represents the middle. It is very consistent with the general relationship between China's geography and geographical phenological conditions. The south is hot, the north, the Yellow River, vegetation grows in the warm and humid east, and metal mining takes place in the west of China. The Central Plains is the land of Middle-earth, and this arrangement occurs with the arrangement of the I Ching.
As we all know, before the Middle Ages, from ancient times to China, and even after the Opium War, China's timekeeping unit used the heavenly stem and the earthly branch, which is called the stem branch system.
"Tiangan", everyone is very familiar with, ten words: A, B, C, D, E, G, G, XIN, NON, and DEC. The twelve characters of "earth branch": Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai.
Why has the sexagenary branch become an important symbolic expression system for timing and bearing in China? This is because the ten characters of the heavenly stem and the twelve characters of the earthly branch are never separated. We explained the "tenkan" on the first day of the lesson. When we talk about the ten characters of Tiangan, they are the tool totem symbols of the big tribes when the ten major tribes of the Shang Dynasty took turns to govern or take turns to preside over sacrifices. Why are the twelve words of the earthly branch always connected? What exactly are the meaning of the twelve words of the earthly branch? In the past, ancient Chinese character studies have been very confused about this aspect, and Mr. Tang Han, a contemporary oracle bone scholar, has a systematic explanation of it, which is quite explanatory.
I'll give you a little bit of an introduction. Mr. Tang Han believes that the reason why the 12 characters of the earth branch are always connected and inseparable is because it expresses the whole process of a mother giving birth.
Let's take a look at the meaning of these twelve characters in the oracle bone inscription, the first word of the earth branch "Zi", it draws a child, this character is "Zi", and the first word indicates that it is a word related to childbirth.
The second word is "ugly". As I mentioned earlier, the right side of this symbol in traditional Chinese is an image of a hand drawn. Draw this character in the form of a fist, and this character is "ugly". What does it mean? People who have observed newborns know that the child is just born, and the hands are clenched, which is the first sign of viviparity, and it is just the opposite of the performance of a person's death. Therefore, "ugly" expresses the first sign of having a child.
"Yin" draws the direction of a person's movement in the oracle bone inscription, and draws a birth canal in the middle, which is the origin of the word "Yin", indicating the process of the child being born from the mother's birth canal.
"Mao", in the oracle bone inscription, is this image, this word is "Mao". What do you mean? The child has just been born. In the next twenty or thirty minutes, the placenta is gradually produced from the birth canal along the umbilical cord, and the child and the placenta are placed side by side on the delivery bed, which is the origin of the word "Mao".
Let's look at "Chen" again, it first drew a stone knife, the ancients did not have scissors, next to the painting of a person, with his two hands to catch the stone knife, what for? Cut the umbilical cord. This character is the origin of the word "Chen".
"Wu" I mentioned in a previous lecture that the word "Wu" and the word "Xuan" are the same symbol in the oracle bone inscription, and the drawing is the child's umbilical cord, the umbilical cord that has been cut. This is "noon".
"巳", everyone looks at the oracle bone inscription of "巳", draws a child, but does not draw his hands and feet. What is it? This is a form in which a child is wrapped in swaddling clothes and a small quilt after birth. This is "巳", and "noon" is an umbilical cord.
"No" it is this symbol drawn in the oracle bone inscription. This is the child's full moon before and after the swaddling swaddling, the child's hands and feet can wave and kick the action, this word is the source of the word "Wei".
Let's look at "Shen", "You", "Xu", and "Hai".
The word "Shen" is this symbol. This is "Shen". What do you mean? A woman gives birth to a girl called "Shen", everyone thinks about it, I once talked about "牝" in Lao Tzu's class, I said that "牝" is to draw a cow horn, next to the drawing of a cow's tail, on the top of an indicator symbol, on behalf of the cow's genitals, uncover the cow's tail, you can see the cow's genitals. Note that this symbol is where the word "dagger" comes from. Block this side, this is the "牝" side, the source of the word "dagger", and there is an indicator symbol at the bottom, expressing that a woman gives birth to a girl called "Shen".
Everyone must know that after Confucius and after the Middle Ages, the Chinese must have sons to be satisfied. But what was the most important thing for human beings in ancient times, in matriarchal societies? It's about giving birth to girls. Because only girls can have children, men are of limited use.
For example, if you raise chickens, you always raise a large group of hens and only one rooster, and you will never raise a flock of roosters and raise a hen, then you must be done playing. Because only women have the ability to have children, the number of women in a clan and tribe and the number of girls are the most important things. Therefore, in ancient times, the birth of a girl by a woman was the most celebrated event. So there is the word after "Shen", which is called "unitary".
As we all know, the word "酉" is actually a wine jar drawn in the oracle bone inscription, and this character is the source of the word "酉". Later, three points of water were added, and the word "wine" was transferred. What do you mean? When a woman gives birth to a girl, the whole tribe celebrates it with a drink, called "unitary".
"Shen", "You", "Xu", "Hai".
Let's start with the word "hai". What is the word? Draw a man and then draw his male reproductive organs very long. This character is where the word "hai" comes from. What does it mean? A boy was born. Therefore, please note that in ancient Chinese characters, the word "child" for a child only refers to a boy, not a girl, but only a daughter. "Hai" means boy. Giving birth to a boy was of limited use in ancient times, so it was calibrated for its purpose.
This is the "戌" of "Shen", "酉", "戌", and "Hai". What is it? Draw an ancient weapon "Ge", in the place of the hand to play an indication symbol, this word is "Shen", "You", "戌", "Hai" of the "戌", it shows that the boy born has only two functions, holding a weapon, either hunting, or fighting, this is the source of the twelve characters of Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai, these earthly branches.