Editor's note: In order to promote scientific atheism, from September 10, we will serialize Li Shen's monograph "History of Atheism in China". Li Shen, born in April 1946, is a native of Mengjin County, Henan. He graduated from the Department of Atomic Physics of the Harbin Military Engineering College in 1969; in 1986, he graduated from the Department of World Religion Studies of the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences with a doctorate degree in philosophy; in 2000, he became a researcher, doctoral supervisor, and director of the Confucian Research Office of the Institute of World Religions of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In 2002, he became a professor at the Department of Philosophy of Shanghai Normal University. He is currently an advisor to the Chinese Atheist Society, an advisor to the International Confucian Federation, and a vice president of the China Anti-Cult Association.
Chapter Five: A New View of the Relationship between Gods and Men in the Qin and Han Dynasties and the Negation of the Old Concept of Gods
Sixth, the struggle against theism in the field of the calendar
The formulation of the calendar was originally a scientific event. In ancient times, however, it was painted with a layer of theological oil paint. In the Han Dynasty, due to the unification of the country and the stability of society, this layer of theological oil paint also became increasingly thick.
Beginning with the suggestion of Gongsun Chen, a Lu person in the early years of the Han Dynasty, to "correct Shuo, yifu color", the famous Confucians Jia Yi and Dong Zhongshu both regarded "correcting Shuo, changing clothes" as the basic measure to honor Confucianism. The courtiers of the Han Dynasty believed that the meaning of "correcting Shuo" was to indicate that they had accepted the appointment of heaven:
Emperor Wu was seven years old, and Han Xing was one hundred and two years old. Gongsun Qing, Hu Sui, Taishi Ling Sima Qian, and others said: The calendar is bad and wasted, and it is advisable to correct Shuo. "It was shi yushi dafu Ni MaoMingjing. Shang Nai Zhao Yue and the doctor discussed, now why should I think it is Zheng Shuo, and what is the color of the clothes? The Emperor and the Doctor of Wisdom agreed, saying, "The Emperor will correct Shuo and change his color, so Ming is ordained by Tianye." (Book of Han and Chronicle of the Laws)
Therefore, it is a major scientific plus political-religious activity. The so-called "correction of Shuo" is to correct the deviation between the calendar Shuo day and the actual Shuo day. Because the ancient calendar is inaccurate, after a period of time, the new day of the month, that is, the first day of the first month of each month, does not correspond to the actual celestial phenomenon, so it is necessary to modify the calendar and correct the deviation. This was originally a scientific activity. However, in the eyes of the ancients, the calendar was the work of describing the operation of the heavens, so the formulation of a new calendar and the correction of the New Day were considered to be an activity that inherited the will of the heavens and indicated that they had re-accepted the mandate of heaven.
Under the guidance of this ideology, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty organized outstanding calendar talents throughout the country, and after several years of observation and measurement, formulated the first calendar of the Han Dynasty: the "Taichu Calendar". The famous almanacs Deng Ping, Luo Luohong, and Sima Qian all participated in the work of making calendars.
Decades later, in the last year of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xinzao's "Three Unified Calendars" came from the "Taichu Calendar". The data of the "Taichu Calendar" was painstakingly observed and calculated, but Liu Xin said that the data of the "Three Unified Calendars" were all calculated based on the number of heavens and earth in the "Zhou Yi".
The number of heavens and earth in the so-called "Zhou Yi" is actually ten natural numbers from 1 to 10. Five of the odd numbers are called "days" and five even numbers are called "earth numbers". Thus, these ten natural numbers have a sacred significance. To say that calendar data is calculated from the number of heavens and earth, the calendar has a more sacred significance.
For example, there are seven leap months every nineteen years, which is the data that has been calculated after years of observation and painstaking calculation. Liu Xin said that this was obtained by "the final number of heaven and earth". The so-called "end of heaven and earth" means that the number of days is finally 9, and the number of earth is finally 10. 9 + 10 = 19, which is the basis for seven leap months in nineteen years.
Another example is the so-called "reality of the monthly law", that is, there are 29 and 43/81 days of the month, which is also the data obtained after painstaking calculation. 29×81＋43＝2392。 The implication is that if the time of day is divided into 81 points, there are 2392 points per month. Divide by 81 to get 29 and 43/81 days, which is a little more than 29 days in each month. Liu Xin was reluctant to simply explain the source of 2392, saying that it was the result of pushing the "big derivative number" in the Zhou Yi.
The so-called "great yan number" is the data used to draw the gua in the "Zhou Yi": "The number of the great yan is fifty, and its use of forty has nine.". Liu Xin said that the "monthly method" of 2392 is deduced from this "large derivative number". The method is:
It is the beginning of the yuan that there is an image, and there is also one. Spring and autumn, two also. Three unifications, three also. Four o'clock, four also. It all comes down to ten. into five bodies, multiplied by five by ten, and the number of great yan also. And according to the Tao, the remaining forty-nine, should also be used, so the zheng is counted. Like two or two, like three or three, and like four or four. And the addition of the miracle leap nineteenth and the basis of the other, because to cut two more is the reality of the moon law.
The calculus steps are: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10, that is, "combined into ten"; 10×5 = 50, that is, "the number of the great yan"; 50-1 = 49, that is, "the road according to one", "the number of the reeds"; 49×2×3×4 = 1176, that is, "like two two, like three three, like four four". 1176 + 19 + 1 = 1196, that is, "return to the miracle leap nineteen and the basis of one plus"; and finally "two more", that is, 1196×2 = 2392, thus completing the calculation of the "truth of the monthly law".
Using the number of heavens and earth or the number of large yan in "Zhou Yi", Liu Xin even deduced the rendezvous period of five stars and so on. This is a big, complex calculation.
Following Liu Xin's method, some people have further painted the scientific numbers on the calendar with various theological oil paints. One of the most common is to associate the calendar with the weft, or even to modify the calendar according to the weft.
During the Yongping period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, because of the inaccuracy of the calendar, the emperor asked Zhang Long of the Taishi Bureau to clarify the lunar eclipse and the related upper and lower strings and the sun according to the method of the "Quaternary Calendar". Zhang Long said that he could figure out the lunar eclipse and related situations according to the method of zhou yi's fortune-telling. After the data came out, jia kui, a Confucian, reviewed it. As a result, none of them are accurate. Zhang Long's data and methods were negated.
This is a real use of data from "Zhou Yi" to calculate calendar events. When Liu Xin used the calendar to append the easy numbers, that is, the numbers in the Zhou Yi, but only painted these data with theological oil paint, the calendar data itself, is still accurate. But when Zhang Longzhen believed Liu Xin and thought that the calendar data was calculated based on the so-called easy numbers, the harvest was failure.
The second thing is that Feng Guang and Chen Huang want to revise the calendar according to the Book of Sayings.
The calendar yuan, also known as the calendar yuan, is the day when the calendar starts. The Han Dynasty believed that the winter solstice sun reached the southernmost point every year, and then migrated northward, so the winter solstice was also the day when the weather began to warm up, and it was the day of the year when the climate began to cycle. The time is counted from midnight, which is now zero hour. This day, according to the dry branch counting system, should be the day of the koshi. According to the operation of the sun and the moon, this day should be the day when the sun and the moon meet and the moonlight is not visible at night, that is, the first day of the month, which was called "New Year's Day" in ancient times.
Shuo, as the ancients explained, is the meaning of "Su". This day is the day when the moon begins to "wake up", so it is set as the beginning of the month. In the Analects, Confucius criticized Zigong for not abolishing the sheep of Shuo. The so-called "Shuo Shuo" means that on every New Year's Day, the princes will go to the Zongmiao Temple to hold a small sacrifice with a sheep and issue various decrees for this month. Therefore, The New Year's Day is also an important political-religious holiday.
In this way, the beginning of the calendar should be in the middle of the night when it is both the winter solstice and the New Year's Day and the Koshi Day, which is what the ancients called "the half winter solstice of the night of the Koshi Shuodan". There are 60 cycles of koji, about 30 cycles once a month, and about 365 cycles once a year on the winter solstice. Extrapolating the days when they happen to be together is a very difficult calculation. Liu Xin's "Three Unification Calendars" pushes from the Shangyuan of the "Jiazi Shuodan Night Half Winter Solstice" to the Shang Tang Dynasty, which has 14,1480 years; to the Wu King's Harvest, which is 14, 2109; to the establishment of the Han Dynasty, it is 14,3025.
The larger number in the calendar is to calculate the operating cycles of the five planets. At that time, people believed that the sun and moon and the five stars were originally gathered together, but later gradually separated due to the different routes and speeds of their respective operations. Therefore, the day when the sun, moon and five stars gather together is the earlier beginning of the Yuan, which Liu Xin called "Taiji Shangyuan". Tai Chi is the biggest and earliest "limit". Liu Xin pushed that the number of years on tai chi was 2363,9040.
More than 20 million years ago, would the five stars of the sun and moon gather together? Is it necessary to extrapolate such days for the calendar? It's all a matter of scientific activity itself. You can agree with it or you can disagree with it. Later, the Book of Proverbs described the shangyuan of the calendar as the day when heaven and earth were opened.
Liu Xin's "Three Unified Calendars" is inaccurate after a period of time because the number of days calculated each year is greater than the actual number. During the Period of Emperor Zhang of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the "Four-Point Calendar" handed down from the Warring States was used, that is, the number of days calculated each year was 365 and 1/4 days, which was slightly smaller than the number of the "Three Unified Calendars". The errors of the calendar are corrected to a certain extent. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, errors appeared again. This was the day a new calendar should have been made. However, Feng Guang and Pei Xiang Shang Ji Chen Huang jointly said that the error of the calendar was only the error of the calendar. If the proverb is used, with Jiayin as the calendar, the error can be corrected. And believe that at that time, "demons rebelled" and "thieves continued" because the calendar used was not correct. If we use the Jia Yin Yuan mentioned in the Book of Sayings, we can make society stable and the world peaceful.
The emperor referred Feng Guang and Chen Huang's proposal to the ministers and Confucians for discussion. Cai Yong spoke (paraphrased as follows in modern Chinese):
The error of the calendar has been a matter since ancient times, so it should be modified frequently. The calendar used is also different. The six calendars before the Qin Dynasty included the Yellow Emperor calendar, the Huang Dynasty calendar, the Xia, Shang, Zhou, and Lu calendars. These calendars are all prescribed by the saints, and the calendars are not uniform.
The Qin Dynasty inherited the Yuan Dynasty calendar. More than a hundred years later, Emperor Xiaowu created the "Taichu Calendar", and the calendar was Ding Ugly. Nearly two hundred years later, Emperor Xiaozhang switched to the "four-point calendar", the calendar Yuan Gengshen. It was all a question of which was absolutely correct and which was absolutely wrong, according to the circumstances of the time. But Feng Guang and Chen Huang argued that only Jiayin was correct. In fact, what they advocate is only the calendar of the Shang Dynasty. They argue this only because this almanac is found in the Book of Proverbs.
Although the calendar was not found in the Book of The First Heaven, it was more consistent with the celestial signs at that time. After a while, King Zhang Shou, who was serving as the Taishi Ling at the time, demanded that the calendar of the Taichu Calendar be abolished and that Jia Yinyuan be used instead. After comparison, the "Taichu Calendar" is more accurate, and Zhang Shouwang's opinion is denied. Emperor Zhang changed to the "four-point calendar", and although the calendar is not found in the Book of Sayings, it was more precise than the "Taichu Calendar" at that time. During the Yanguang years, there was a man named Qi Shu who asked for a change to Jiayin Yuan, but was not recognized.
Feng Guang and Chen Huang quoted the Book of Sayings, arguing that the opening of heaven and earth to the Spring and Autumn Harvest Incident was 275, 9886. This number does not correspond to the number calculated by the calendar. Their other figures, derived from the book, are not the same as those calculated by the officials.
If Feng Guang and Chen Huang could create a new calendar according to their own methods, which conformed to the book on the one hand, and the actual celestial phenomenon on the other hand, and were more precise than the current calendar, then it should be adopted. But during the expedition, they only said it was based on the proverbs. Such a reason is unconvincing.
In the past, Yao Shun, all the way to the Tang and Wu revolutions, had created a new calendar. Their calendars, their calendars, were correct at that time. But they also had floods and droughts, rebellions, barbarian invasions, and the rise of thieves. Therefore, these phenomena are not caused by the errors of calendars and calendars. However, Feng Guang and Chen Huang believed that "the discord between yin and yang, the adulterers and thieves" were all mistakes of Li Yuan, which was really unreasonable. Moreover, they said that since the establishment of the Han Dynasty, they have used the calendar yuan that inherits the Qin Dynasty, but they do not know that since the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the calendar has changed three times. Academically, they are also ignorant.
Cai Yong's opinion was adopted by the courtiers, who demanded that Feng Guang and Chen Huang be punished for "disrespect". The Emperor pardoned them.
Cai Yong's opinion is a correct statement in the field of calendar science, a comprehensive and profound criticism of theological concepts. It still has reference significance for theological invasions that we are taking place in the field of science today.