Chapter 4 The Fancy Five Elements Theory

The "Book of Changes" became the later Confucian classic, and many eccentric things have been mixed into it in the past dynasties, and its main body will not be earlier than the early Western Zhou Dynasty at the earliest, and will not be later than the Spring and Autumn Period at the latest.The Five Elements Theory appeared tens to hundreds of years later than the "Book of Changes". During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, the wonderful Five Elements Theory began to appear on the stage of philosophy. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period, "a hundred schools of thought contend" (in fact, there are less than one hundred schools, and thirty or fifty schools are the top of the sky), among them is the "Yin-Yang Family", which is based on the theory of Yin and Yang in "Book of Changes", which studies the universe and the origin of all things, An idler of elements.It has been impossible to verify which of the yin and yang masters finally came up with the Five Elements Theory which is very close to the Western Theory of Four Elements after long-term research, meditation or simply slapping their heads.

The original meaning of the word "Xing" is the road. The so-called five elements probably refer to the five forms of things that can lead to the final state of Tai Chi.The five elements are metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. We can compare the four-element theory in the West. Water and fire are shared by both, and earth is of course the earth. We don’t have wind in the west, but we have metal and wood. Earth, water, fire, and wind can be understood as solids, liquids, the most common way of violent release of energy, and gases.Interestingly, there is no room for gas in the ancient Chinese theory of the five elements, because people at that time did not know what air was. As for wind, they recognized that it was a phenomenon of changing things, but they did not think it represented or reflected things. itself.Gold can be understood as inanimate, while wood is alive. The ancient Chinese believed that they are also the basic elements that constitute the universe.

The four-element theory of ancient Greece and ancient India is naturally incomparable with the later periodic table of elements. It is rough and vague, and full of inexplicable mysticism.The same is true of the theory of the five elements in ancient China, but the Chinese have made another contribution by combining the five elements with yin and yang. With such a mess, even the general public can basically understand the theory of the five elements. Of course, even if the yin, yang and five elements are combined, if you want to find out what is going on with God, what is the relationship between Tian Laozi and Tianzi's son, you still need to do a lot of desk work or take a few more shots. second forehead.But if these two important issues cannot be resolved, no matter how much you study the composition of the universe, the official will not sponsor it, because they don’t care, and your name cannot appear in the official history books. ——The author of "Zhouyi" and The inventor of the Five Elements Theory has rotted all his names and bones, which is a clear proof.In order to obtain official recognition, support, and sponsorship, and to prove that his theory is useful for consolidating the rule, a great yin and yang family who inherits the past and the future came into being. His name is Zou Yan.

From the Spring and Autumn Period, when the feudal lords fought for hegemony, history has unknowingly entered the Warring States Period, when the fights were more cruel, and the ones who sought were not hegemony but kings or even emperors.Among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period, the most prosperous and most peaceful one is the Qi State—except during the reign of the deadly King Qi Min.The state of Qi is close to the sea and benefits from fishing and salt, so it is rich, and it is the farthest away from the state of Qin, so it is peaceful. In addition, the sad experience of King Qimin has educated the people of Qi, fighting outside is courting death, and it is safest to guard the original territory.So Qi was the last one to be wiped out by the Qin army, and basically did not fight any battles. As soon as the Qin army arrived, the "leading party" directly opened the city gate.

So, if you're not busy fighting wars or building land, what is Mr. Qi busy with most of the time?Turns out they were sponsoring academic research.The contention of a hundred schools of thought evolved from a state of disunity in the Spring and Autumn Period to the gradual improvement and integration of various theories in the Warring States Period. The contribution of Qi State cannot be underestimated. I can even pat my chest and guarantee that among the hundred schools of thought in the Warring States Period, nine out of ten won it. Sponsored by Mr. Qi.What is the form of sponsorship?That is to open a school, invite lecturers, provide venues and funds for everyone to sit down and study and debate together.

The school opened by Qi State is called Jixia Academy.The word "Ji" refers to a city gate in Linzi, the capital of Qi State, and "Jixia" means near the gate of Ji.This institution of higher learning was built in the period of Tian Wu, the third monarch after the Tian family replaced Qi. Tian Wu did not succeed to the throne legitimately, but killed his elder brother Qi Hou Tian Shan and his nephew Tian Xi, and usurped the throne. of.After Tian Wu died, his posthumous title was Huan, and he was called Duke Huan of Qi in history (not Duke Huan of Qi, the overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period more than 300 years ago), Duke Huanwu, or Duke Huan of Cai——the idiom "sickness and avoidance of medicine" came from his deeds. Because he didn't listen to the good advice of the famous doctor Bian Que, he finally became ill and died.

Probably in order to cover up his notoriety of usurping the throne, this Huan Gongwu founded the Jixia Academy, searching all over the world for thinkers of all schools, hoping to gain a good reputation for himself by engaging in academic sponsorship.This official college was established and lasted until the fall of Qi State. During this period, a large number of famous professors who were famous all over the world and influenced later generations were produced, such as Meng Ke and Xun Kuang of Confucianism, Shen Buhai of Legalism, Lu Zhonglian of political strategist, There is also Zou Yan, a yin and yang family.

Zou Yan, you can tell by his name that he is a descendant of the public clan of Zou State. Although Zou State was destroyed by Chu, but the land was close to Qi and Lu, and the land finally fell into the hands of Qi State, so he can also be regarded as a Qi State.The year of his life and death is unknown, but according to the data, he was probably slightly later than Mencius, and he was a contemporary of Lu Zhonglian and the famous Gongsun Long.It is said that Zou Yan has thoroughly figured out the mysteries of heaven, the so-called "talking about everything in heaven", so people gave him a nickname at that time, "Talking about Tianyan" - of course, it means that he specializes in explaining the principles of heaven, not that He likes to gossip, saying that the weather is nice today and things like that.

This "Tan Tianyan" synthesized the research results of his predecessors on Yin-Yang and Five Elements, and launched his own brand-new theories, one called "Great Kyushu Theory" and the other called "Five Virtues Ending and Beginning Theory". The "Great Kyushu" has nothing to do with the subject of this book, let alone, this "five virtues always say" sounds very powerful, what exactly is it talking about? The theory of the Five Elements in ancient China is very fancy. As the basic elements of the universe, the Five Elements are not static. They are interacting and transforming each other anytime and anywhere, just like Yin and Yang are complementary and interpenetrating.The Yin-Yangists say that the five elements have birth and restraint. The so-called birth means that if one element condenses a lot, another element will emerge from it; the so-called restraint means that one element will affect or even restrain another element.The five elements generate and restrain each other, and various complex relationships are formed from each other, so all things in the universe are produced because of these births and restraints, and continue to exist, or evolve, until they perish.The law of birth and restraint of the five elements is:

Metal produces water, water produces wood, wood produces fire, fire produces earth, and earth produces metal; gold overcomes wood, wood overcomes earth, earth overcomes water, water overcomes fire, and fire overcomes metal. Some of these relationships are well understood.For example, when water grows wood, it must be watered so that vegetation can grow; when fire grows soil, if the fire burns the wood and turns it into ashes, isn’t that earth?Another example is that earth restrains water, floods must be blocked by earth embankments and earth barriers; water restrains fire is simpler, and everyone knows that water can put out the fire.But some relationships are not so smooth, why does earth give birth to gold?It is true that most minerals are buried in the soil, but how can they be regarded as born from the soil?Also, how did the wood overcome the soil?Theoretically, if the vegetation is well maintained, the water and soil will not be lost.But all in all, the theory came out just like this, the five elements are mutually generated and restrained, forming two complete cycles, which not only seem to be self-consistent academically, but also contain a harmonious artistic beauty.

After the theory of the Five Elements came out, the Yin-Yang School began to apply them to all things in the universe. Needless to say, those who can be applied directly, if it seems that they cannot be applied, then simply falsify the facts to prove the correctness of the theory .For example, use the five elements to set the five directions: gold represents the west, wood represents the east, water represents the north, fire represents the south, and earth represents the center, which can be perfectly applied.For example, gold represents white, wood represents blue, water represents black, fire represents red, and earth represents yellow. In addition, taking the five elements of the human body, it is said that gold represents skin, nose, lungs and large intestine, wood represents tendons, eyes, liver and gall, water represents bones, ears, kidneys and bladder, and fire represents pulse. , tongue, heart and small intestine, soil represents the meat, mouth, spleen and stomach. And not only the things that can be seen and touched in the universe follow the five elements, but even some virtual concepts, they also openly apply the five elements.For example, the mysterious and mysterious gossip, the yin and yang experts said, Qian and Dui are gold, Zhen and Xun are wood, Kun and Gen are earth, Li is fire, and Kan is water.Another example is the calculation of the heavenly stems and earthly branches of the calendar, which are also divided into five elements.The ten heavenly stems can be divisible evenly, and two match one; the twelve earthly branches cannot be divisible, so three groups of one pair of two, two groups of one pair of three—what fortune-telling terms such as Jiayimu, Bingdinghuo, Renguishui, etc. come from this way . In this way, the theory of the Five Elements has been largely perfected by successive generations of Yin-Yangists and racked their brains. When Zou Yan, a senior professor at Jixia Public University Hall, came out, he immediately directly put the way of the universe and the affairs of the world, that is, Tian Laozi The relationship with the emperor's son was finalized.The far-reaching "Five Virtues Always Say" was released hotly.