Chapter 6 chapter Five

When I set my sights on the distant and vague ancient times, after careful searching, the final point of view had to be concentrated on Zhou Wenwang.Projected on the screen of ancient Chinese history, his figure is too tall and prominent.When I took him as the starting point and sorted out the continuous politics and culture of China for thousands of years, I had to sigh with emotion that the influence of King Wen of Zhou on Chinese history was too great and deep. And profound often produce a strong sense of shock in my heart! Politically, the Western Zhou regime established by King Wen of Zhou was the herald of thousands of years of feudal autocratic centralization in China, which has been discussed before.Now, let's take a look at the profound influence and great changes of "Book of Changes" on ancient Chinese traditional culture.

"Book of Changes" is originally a book of divination. Its cultural base is magic and witchcraft. It is the crystallization of the wisdom of Chinese witchcraft culture and the representative and symbol of the third period of man-made witchcraft.This is a fact that we have to admit and face up to! "Book of Changes" has been worshiped as a god since the day it was born, and until today, Chinese traditional culture has not made a breakthrough and surpassed it as a whole.In other words, the culture and history of the Chinese nation have been shrouded in a strong "witchcraft" for thousands of years.This "witch energy" is mixed in the air, penetrates in the soil, and accumulates deep in the hearts of the nation. The powerful infiltration and influence have led to various unexpected consequences.

Witchcraft, after all, is a sign of ignorance.Its social function is to enable the helpless, desperate, and suffering people to obtain some kind of illusory psychological satisfaction.The cultural roots of witchcraft and religion both originate from the barren soil. They both believe in gods and worship miracles, revealing a mysterious atmosphere, with certain taboos and precepts, to relieve and comfort the painful soul, etc. Wait.However, they are quite different. Witchcraft is the prelude to religion and science.When witchcraft develops to a certain height, humans will discover in the process of maturation that witchcraft such as divination and divination are not omnipotent in production and life. They often fail and "miscarriage" and cannot solve practical problems. question.Therefore, they transitioned from unconditional belief to unresolved doubts, and they must face a new choice, and there are only two ways out before them: one is to establish a religion and completely convert to God; Walk out of the mysterious atmosphere, overcome ignorance with reason, and move towards the journey of science.

However, the road of cultural wisdom in ancient China was unexpected. It neither realized the transformation of witchcraft into religion, nor entered the road of science full of rational light.A fact that we need not deny is that the religious wisdom and scientific wisdom in ancient my country were not very developed. What is the reason?Its root lies in Chinese witchcraft, especially "Book of Changes".The third period of Chinese witchcraft symbolized by "Book of Changes" is a combination of revelation and man-made, and the crystallization of the wisdom of gods and men.The sixty-four hexagrams are the creation of saints and at the same time the revelation of gods. Once "Book of Changes" is created, it becomes a system of self-containedness, which is neither attainable nor reformable by future generations. Its sixty-four hexagrams and three hundred and eighty-four lines seem to have exhausted human beings. all aspects.It itself is a universe, a mysterious "universe" created by man and god that can encompass everything.

"Book of Changes" is a kind of trust that people have in God. For things that they cannot understand, grasp, or control, they can pray to God in the dark; at the same time, it is a manifestation of human self-consciousness. , hoping to get rid of the shackles of gods, obtain human thoughts and behaviors, and enter a state of self-sufficiency.It is a magnificent childhood dream of the ancestors, and it is also the dawn of an oriental civilization. The realm of witchcraft in "Book of Changes", the most respected is the unity of man and nature.Here, there are neither alien gods that humans can fully entrust to, nor human beings that stand completely.Believe in God but also push away God, rely on yourself and worship God at the same time.Man and God are inseparable and seem to be integrated into one.The cultural quality of religion is to strictly implement the "separation of God and man" and "opposition between God and man". Man is man, and God is God. They are two different bodies that cannot be "unified". Doubt, let alone rejection, only unconditional conversion and obedience; in science, there is neither the "unity of man and nature" of witchcraft, nor the alien god of religion. No matter how small or tall human beings are, they only believe in themselves. , Create a world full of "popularity" through your own practice and hard work.

"Book of Changes" provided neither religion nor science with sufficient air, soil and nourishment.Later, people treated the "Book of Changes" like a god, so the transformation of Chinese witchcraft into religion or science has not been completed.Ordinary people's belief in "Book of Changes" is largely due to its "practicability". The original essence of "Book of Changes" is a book of divination. King Wen of Zhou used it to divine the date of his release from prison.Later generations treated the "Yi" mostly for practical purposes. For production and living activities such as weddings and funerals, ground breaking and travel, farming and harvesting, good and bad fortunes must be predicted in advance.People's vision only pays attention to "practical", and it is impossible to surpass in ideology. The practicality of "Book of Changes" was valued and used by Confucius later. In this way, Chinese people have consistently stayed at the level of "practical rationality" for thousands of years, only focusing on the other side and the foot, so they can't be on the ground. Pure thought and real science have been deeply explored and developed.

The Chinese nation is indifferent to religion, and only has ethics and quasi-religion with ritual as the core; there is no science in the strict sense, only pseudoscience for practical purposes.Therefore, all the Chinese can do is how to "be a human being".The so-called "human beings" must follow a set of "rules" taught by Confucius, such as "monarch, ministers, father, son, son", "three cardinal guides and five constants", "three obediences and four virtues" and "don't see anything wrong, hear nothing wrong, speak nothing wrong , Do not do anything wrong with etiquette" and other strict implementation.I don't believe in gods, I don't believe in myself, I only believe in "quasi-gods" like adults, saints, and ancestors on the ground.Individuals have lost their ego, lost their personality, and exist only in those complex networks of interpersonal relationships.This situation has continued to this day, and there is still a vast "market".

Without the universal illumination of the light of the gods, without the brilliance of the light of science, "Zhouyi" has long been shrouded in a thick oriental mysticism that is difficult to dissolve. In his era, when King Wen of Zhou was imprisoned in a butt-sized site to deduce "Book of Changes", he was constrained by insurmountable time and space. ", the "black box" that can't be opened, he can't explain it, can't understand it, can't clarify it, he can only pray to the gods, rely on intuition, rely on inspiration, and use mystery.But what he didn't expect was that this mysterious, lingering cloud has been entangled and hovering over the Chinese nation, so depressing that people can hardly lift their heads: Laozi's philosophy originated from "Book of Changes", its core "Tao" is a It is an indescribable mystery; the philosophical basis of Chinese medicine, the Five Elements Theory, diagnostic methods, acupuncture, and medication are mysteries that cannot be clarified; various non-religious sects such as Taiping Taoism, Wudou Rice Sect, White Lotus Sect, Yihequan, etc. Today's various exercises—including Qigong, which was once popular in China, all inherit the word "mysterious"; the political methods and policy strategies adopted by the monarch to govern the country and officials to govern the people are all mysterious "black box" operations. There is no transparency at all, and it is difficult for ordinary people to see its secrets; many historical inventions and discoveries have also been lost due to various mysterious factors such as "unrevealable and foreign surnames and foreign clans"... Chinese people seem to have a special hobby for mystery, as if the more The more mysterious, the greater, the superior, and the shrouded in a dazzling halo.However, mystery has a natural blood relationship with superstition, narrow-mindedness, and ignorance. If we cannot clarify the entanglement of mystery, lift the veil of mystery, and clarify the shroud of mystery, we will not be able to be transparent, democratic, and a modern society. Sexual legal society.

Not only that, "Book of Changes" also has a non-negligible influence on the national psychological quality, life attitude, and value orientation. In the sixty-four hexagrams constructed by King Wen of Zhou, the part of the hexagrams and lines cannot be changed since the date of construction, and it is impossible to change it in the future.This solidified hexagram and yao symbol is a condensed vast and boundless world, which corresponds to the universe we are in.What future generations can do is to add or delete some corresponding hexagrams and lines. work.In this way, the vitality and creativity of the nation are virtually fixed and bound in a narrow circle.Once almost every discipline in ancient China was born, it was already accomplished, and future generations could only do piecemeal work such as "filling in the blanks".At the same time, Chinese people do not seem to be very interested in creating and constructing a complete system. All natural and social sciences in ancient China do not seem to pay attention to large, rigorous and complete systems. The limitations and constraints brought about by the creation of an all-encompassing "universe" are not unrelated.

The created "universe" is really like a "magic basket", which seems to hold everything and have everything.That is to say, in terms of some scientific achievements of modern civilization, for example, the sixty-four hexagrams strictly correspond to the sixty-four DNA code symbols in the genetic code, and the concept of "everything changes" is completely applicable to the laws of the atomic and subatomic world, The binary system of one yin and one yang leads to the invention of calculus, which makes the creation of computers possible... In fact, they are not derived from the text of "Book of Changes" or through its divination method, but after the invention of Western scientists. Finding some kind of correspondence and observation in "Zhouyi" is a typical "afterthought".However, Chinese people have been fascinated by it for a long time, thinking that Chinese traditional civilization is really all-encompassing, and our ancient society is almost all-encompassing, resulting in an unrealistic and arrogant "Heavenly Dynasty Mentality".The so-called celestial mentality is blind self-confidence, elevating oneself to the status of "god" on the basis of a fantasy, looking down on the world from above, always thinking about the beauty of the world, looking down on others, and having nothing to create and contribute to .

With the help of "Book of Changes", people can discover many unexpected people and things through it, and achieve the effect of asking for God rather than asking for themselves. Therefore, they seem to think that they have become a god with high wisdom, and they can reach the realm of gods and do some things. Things beyond the reach of manpower, slowly, formed a kind of blind optimism. The practical purpose of people using "Book of Changes" is to seek good luck and avoid bad luck, which is manifested in the view of life and death, always clinging to life. "Zhouyi" biography has the so-called "the great virtue of heaven and earth is life". Confucius also said in it: "If you don't know life, how can you know death?"Perseverance in life includes not only the tenacity of endless life, but also the concept of "more children, more blessings" formed by the worship of reproduction.More births, more children, and more blessings still occupy a very important position in the hearts of Chinese people, especially farmers. Every hexagram and every line in "Book of Changes" has its strict positioning, and its basic "elements" consist of only two different symbols, namely, the yin line and the yang line.But they have completely different meanings and functions in different hexagrams and lines.In the text of "Book of Changes", the good and bad results of divination are often closely related to the position of the line.For example, the ninety-five lines of the Qian hexagram have become the "patent" of the emperors of all dynasties after a lot of interpretation in the "Book of Changes".Therefore, at the beginning of the "Book of Changes" biography of "Zhouyi", it said: "Heaven is respected and the earth is humble, and the universe is determined. The high and the low are the old, and the high and the low are the ones." There is an orderly hierarchy, and there is a place for high and low.Therefore, Chinese people pay attention to positioning and returning to their position in everything they do. Everyone has his own level and circle, and he should not overstep. "Zhouyi" mentioned "zhong" many times, emphasized "zhong", and held a worshipful and aesthetic attitude towards "zhong". Therefore, "zhong" has evolved into an extremely important ethical category, and even our The country is also called "China".Even if it is China, it also thinks that it really lives in the center and center of the world.In this regard, Shi Jie of the Song Dynasty wrote in his book "On China": "The sky is at the top, and the earth is at the bottom. Those who live in the middle of the world are called China, and those who live in the side of the world are called Siyi. Outside the Siyi Also, the interior of China. Heaven and earth are related to the inside and outside, so they are limited.” This concept of centering has had a major impact on the layout of ancient Chinese buildings. And the totem of the Chinese nation—the dragon, a fictitious creature that has never existed before, its cultural information is also recorded in "Book of Changes", such as "Qianlong", "Seeing the Dragon in the Sky", "Flying Dragon in the Sky" , "Yun Cong Long" and so on. The dragon mentioned in "Book of Changes" is a kind of witchcraft omen created by the ancients who worshiped their own reproduction. It is a combination and fusion of natural celestial phenomena such as clouds, rain, thunder, and electricity.On this basis, it slowly developed into the concrete image of the dragon as we know it today - "horns like a deer, head like a camel, eyes like a turtle, neck like a snake, belly like a mirage, scales like a fish, claws like an eagle, Palms like a tiger, ears like a cow." ... Needless to say, the influence of "Book of Changes" is too profound. It is the source of culture of the Chinese nation, it has changed the trajectory of ancient cultural development, and it has affected our cultural matrix today... All of these are It is the fruit of ancient witchcraft wisdom that plays a certain decisive role.Over the past 3,000 years, descendants have interpreted and explained the "Book of Changes" almost every year, which is undoubtedly the cohesion, encouragement, increase and strengthening of this potential energy. If we can be more calm and objective, and examine the "Book of Changes" in the cultural landscape of the whole world, we will find that the "Book of Changes" is just a unique way for the ancient Chinese to understand and penetrate the world. The product of the living environment, production mode, and living conditions.This unique way of cognition can only be suitable for a certain space in a certain era, and there is no eternal one-size-fits-all.To develop and coexist in the conflict, dialogue and integration of multiple cultures is the best coordinate that "Book of Changes" should have. The Chinese nation is a precocious nation, and the Chinese civilization is also a precocious civilization, and "Book of Changes" is a precocious fruit of wisdom.Precisely because of prematurity, it is inevitable to be a little bit green and regretful.Precocious maturity is also a kind of "overdraft", the price of which must be paid by future generations.Should we be grateful for the precocity of our national culture, or feel sad?From another perspective, can it be said that "Book of Changes" is a pot of "cooked rice"?In this regard, I often fall into deep confusion. In any case, the vast land under our feet and the survival and development of our nation were determined by a pair of invisible "hands of God" more than 3,000 years ago. A fact of the future that cannot be ignored and cannot be changed!