Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve

As mentioned in the second chapter of this book, the Yin-Yang family comes from alchemists. According to Liu Hsin's "Qilue: Jushulue", "Han Shu Yi Shu Lue" divides alchemists' spells into six types: astronomy, calendar, five elements, yarrow turtle, miscellaneous divination, and form method. The first is astronomy. "Hanshu Yiwenzhi" said: "Astronomers, order the twenty-eight mansions, follow the five stars, the sun and the moon, to record the signs of good and bad." The second is the calendar. "Yiwenzhi" said: "The almanac, the order of the four o'clock, the festival of the season, the sun, the moon, and the five stars, to test the reality of killing in cold and heat.... The disaster of evil, the joy of Jilong, its technique All come out."

The third is the five elements. "Yiwenzhi" said: "The method also starts from the end of the five virtues, and pushes it to the extreme to reach everything." The fourth type is the yarrow turtle.These are the two main methods used in ancient Chinese divination.The latter method is that the shaman who is in charge of divination drills a circular recess on a smooth tortoise shell or animal bone, and then burns it with fire.Cracks appear around where the drilling was done.According to these cracks.It is said that you can know the good or bad of the things you ask.This method is called "bu".The former method is that Wu Shi uses the stem of yarrow to operate according to a certain procedure to obtain a certain combination of numbers, and then checks to explain and determine good or bad.This method is called "diving".The hexagrams and yao words in the poem were originally used for divination.

The fifth is Miscellaneous Accounting, and the sixth is Form and Method.The latter included physiognomy and the alchemy that came to be called "feng shui".The basic idea of ​​Feng Shui is: Man is a product of the universe.therefore.People's residences and burial places must be arranged in harmony with natural forces, namely Feng Shui. In the first few hundred years of the Zhou Dynasty, during the heyday of the feudal system, every aristocratic family and family had hereditary experts in these spells to prepare for important events.However, with the disintegration of the feudal system, many of these experts lost their hereditary positions, dispersed throughout the country, and continued to practice among the people.At this time they are called "alchemists".

Of course, algebra itself is based on superstition, but it is also often scientific in origin.Art and science have a common wish, which is to explain nature with a positive attitude and make it serve human beings by conquering nature.Arithmetic becomes science when it abandons belief in supernatural forces and attempts to explain the universe using only natural forces.What are these forces of nature.Its concept may be very simple and crude at first, but there is a scientific beginning in these concepts. This is the contribution of Yin Yang School to Chinese thought.This school strives to make a positive explanation of natural things using only natural forces.By positive, I mean realistic.

In ancient China, there were two lines of thought in attempts to explain the structure and origin of the universe.One can be found in the writings of the Yin-Yang School, and the other can be found in the "Yi Zhuan" written by anonymous authors of Confucianism.These two lines of thought appear to have developed independently of each other.The "Hong Fan" and "Yue Ling" we are going to talk about next emphasize the five elements without mentioning yin and yang; on the contrary, "Yi Zhuan" talks a lot about yin and yang, but only mentions the five elements.Later, however, the two lines of thought merged with each other.This was already the case by the time of Sima Tan, so "Historical Records" called them the Yin-Yang family together.

"Five Elements" is usually translated as FiveElements (five elements).We must not regard them as static, but as five dynamic interacting forces.The word "xing" in Chinese.It means toact (action), or todo (do), so the word "five elements".Literally translated, it seems to be FiveActivities (five kinds of activities), or FiveAgents (five kinds of motivation).The five elements are also called "five virtues", which means Five Powers (five abilities). The term "Five Elements" once appeared in "Xiashu Ganshi" in "Book of Books", which is traditionally said to be a document in the 20th century BC.But "Gan Oath" is a fake book, even if it is not a fake book, it is not sure whether the five elements mentioned in it are the same as the five elements mentioned in other books with definite dates.The earliest truly reliable record of the Five Elements can be found in another chapter of the Book of Books, Hong Fan.According to the tradition, after King Wu of Zhou defeated Shang at the end of the twelfth century BC, he asked Jizi, an aristocrat of the Shang Dynasty, about the "Great Law" ("Hong Fan") for governing the country. Jizi said this, entitled "Hong Fan" .In this speech, Jizi said that his ideas were originally derived from Yu, the legendary founder of the Xia Dynasty, said to have lived in the twenty-second century BC.The author mentions these legends in order to increase the importance of the Five Elements Theory.As for the actual date of "Hong Fan", modern academic circles tend to set it within the fourth or third century BC.

"Hong Fan" lists the "nine domains": "One and five elements: one is water, the other is fire, the third is wood, the fourth is metal, and the fifth is earth. Water is called moistening, fire is called upward, wood is called straight, Gold is called Congge, and scholars are devoted to Jiarong.” “Two and five things: one is appearance, the other is speech, the third is seeing, the fourth is listening, and the fifth is thinking. Cong, Si means Rui. Respectful means Su, Cong means righteousness (no word: ocr), Ming means philosophy. Cong means planning, and Rui means sage.” Let’s skip to the eighth: “Eight. Yang (no word: ocr) is called 燠, which is called cold. It is called wind, which is called time. Said su, when the rain is like; saying long, when the yang is like; If it is constant yang; if it is called Yu, it is if it is constant; if it is called urgent, it is if it is constant cold; if it is called Meng, it is if it is constant wind.”

The so-called "common signs" are all kinds of symbols.These symbols are: rain, sun, heat, cold, wind.They all have to be timely.If these five are adequate in their normal order, every plant will grow luxuriantly and abundantly.Any one of them, if there are too many or very few, will cause disasters.The following are the symbols of auspiciousness; the seriousness of the monarch will be followed by timely rain; the monarch's order will be followed by timely sunshine; the monarch's wisdom will be followed by timely heat; The cold; the sageness of the monarch will be followed by the timely wind.The following are ominous signs: the rampantness of the monarch will be followed by continuous rain; the monarch's rites will be followed by continuous sunshine; With continuous cold; the ignorance of the monarch will be followed by continuous wind.

In "Hong Fan", we see that the concept of the five elements is still rough. When the author of "Hong Fan" talks about the five elements, he still thinks about practical objects, such as water, fire, etc., rather than the abstract forces named after the five elements, such as the five elements mentioned by later generations.The author also tells us that the human world and the natural world are interconnected; evils on the part of the sovereign lead to the emergence of anomalies in nature.This theory was greatly developed by the later Yin-Yang School, and it is called the theory of "interaction between heaven and man".

Two theories further explain the reason for this induction.One is teleological.It believes that the evil deeds of the monarch make "Heaven" angry.This kind of anger is an abnormal natural phenomenon, which represents the warning from "Heaven" to the monarch.The other is mechanistic.It holds that the evil deeds of the sovereign automatically create chaos in nature and thus mechanically produce anomalies.The whole universe is a mechanical structure.When one part of it fails, other parts must be affected mechanically.This kind of theory represents the scientific spirit of Onmyoji, while the former theory reflects the origin of Onmyoji's magic.

The second important document of Yin Yang School is "Yue Ling".It was first seen in "Lu Shi Chunqiu" at the end of the third century BC, and later included in "Book of Rites". The "Moon Order" got its name because it was a small almanac, which told the monarchs and people in a nutshell what they should do on a monthly basis in order to keep in harmony with the forces of nature.In it, the structure of the universe is described according to the theory of Yin Yang School.This structure is spatio-temporal, that is to say, it is both a space structure and a time structure.Being located in the northern hemisphere, the ancient Chinese quite naturally thought that the south was the hot direction and the north was the cold direction.So the Yin Yang family coordinated the four seasons with the four directions.Summer matches the south; winter matches the north; spring matches the east, because the east is the direction of sunrise; autumn matches the west, because the west is the direction of sunset.Onmyoji also believe that the change of day and night is a small manifestation of the change of four seasons.Thus, the morning is a minor manifestation of spring, noon is a minor manifestation of summer, evening is a minor manifestation of autumn, and night is a minor manifestation of winter. Both the south and the summer are hot, because the heat is in the south, and in the summer "the fire flourishes".It is cold in the north and in winter, because in the north and in winter, "the virtue of water is abundant", ice and snow are connected with water, and they are all cold.In the same way, "Mu Desheng" is in the east and spring, because all trees grow in spring, and the east matches spring. "Jin Desheng" is used in the west and autumn, because gold and autumn have a chilling nature, and the west matches autumn.In this way, four of the five elements (five virtues) have been mentioned, and only Tude has not yet determined its position and season.However, the "Moon Order" says that soil is the center of the five elements, so it is in the center of the four directions in terms of orientation, and it is at the turn of summer and autumn in terms of seasons. Onmyangists try to use this cosmology to explain natural phenomena from both time and space, and further believe that these phenomena are closely related to human behavior.Therefore, the "Moon Order" stipulates.What should the emperor do on a monthly basis, in order to conform to the name. "Moon Order" tells us: "The moon of Mengchun,...the east wind thaws, and the stinging insects begin to vibrate...it is the moon, the weather drops, the earth's atmosphere rises, the heaven and the earth are in harmony, and the vegetation sprouts." Human behavior must be consistent with this. Coordination, so in this month, the Son of Heaven "commands the Prime Minister to promulgate peace orders, celebrates and gives benefits, and descends to the people of Zhaomin. ... It is forbidden to log, and do not cover the nest. ... It is also the month. It is not possible to call soldiers, and soldiers will be a disaster. You can't afford to fight, don't start with me."If the emperor does not act in a way suitable for this month every month, it will cause abnormal natural phenomena.For example, "When Mengchun observes the summer order, the rain will be frequent, the vegetation will fall early, and the country will be in danger. If the autumn order is followed, the people will be plagued by severe epidemics, storms will always come, and weeds, weeds, and basil will prosper. If the winter order is followed, the flood will be defeated. The snow and frost are great, and the first species will not enter." (See "Book of Rites·Yue Ling" for both) In the third century before Gong Wu, the main figure of Yin-Yang family was Zou Yan.According to Sima Qian's "Historical Records", Zou Yan was a native of Qi State (now central Shandong Province), not long after Mencius.He wrote more than 100,000 words, all of which have been lost.However, Sima Qian gave a detailed explanation of Zou Yan's theory. According to "Biography of Mencius and Xunqing" in "Historical Records", Zou Yan's method is "to examine small things first, and push them to make them bigger, so that they are boundless."His interests seem to center on geography and history. Regarding geography, Sima Qian wrote: Zou Yan "first listed China's famous mountains and rivers, connected valleys, animals, water and soil, and treasures, so it was extended to overseas, and people could not see it...Those who think that Confucianists call China, then The world is eighty-one divided into one ear. China is called Chixian Shenzhou.... There are nine out of China that are like Chixian Shenzhou, which is the so-called Kyushu. Therefore, there is a Bohai Sea surrounded by people and animals that cannot communicate with each other, such as a district The one in the middle is a state. The nine in this case have the Great Yinghai, which surrounds the outer world." (Ibid.) Regarding Zou Yan's historical views, Sima Qian wrote: Zou Yan "prefaced to the present and up to the Yellow Emperor and scholars have shared their art, and the great prosperity and decline of the world, because of the auspicious (no word: ocr) auspicious degree system, pushed far away, Until the heaven and the earth are born, the mystery cannot be tested, but the original is also ", "it is said that since the analysis of the heaven and the earth, the five virtues have been transferred, and each treatment has its own appropriateness, and the accord should be like this." (Ibid.) The above quotations show that Zou Yan established a new philosophy of history, explaining historical changes with the transfer of the five virtues.The detailed content of this philosophy was not recorded by Sima Qian, but it was mentioned in the chapter "You Shi Lan·Ying Tong" of "Lu Shi Chun Qiu", but Zou Yan's name was not mentioned in this article. "Ying Tong" says: "Every emperor and king will be prosperous, and the sky will first see the auspiciousness of the people. In the time of the Yellow Emperor, the sky will see the big worms and mole. The Yellow Emperor said: The earthy spirit is superior. The morale is superior, so its color is still yellow, and its affairs are earthy. " "At the time of Yu, the heavens saw that the grass and trees would not be killed in autumn and winter. Yu said: "The energy of wood prevails. When the energy of wood prevails, let it look green, and do things like trees." "At the time of Tang, the heavens first saw that the golden blade was born in water. Tang said: The energy of gold prevails. The energy of gold prevails, so its color is still white, and its work is gold." "At the time of King Wen, the sky first saw the fire, and the red book titled Dandan was collected in the Zhou Society. King Wen said: The fire is superior. The fire is superior, so its color is still red, and its actions are fire." "The one who replaces fire must use water. Heaven sees the victory of water vapor. Water vapor prevails, so its color is still black, and its work is water. When water vapor arrives, you don't know it. If you prepare it, it will be in vain." Yin-Yang School believes that the five elements are in a certain order, mutually generate and restrain each other.They also believed that the order of the seasons.It is consistent with the order of the five elements.Wood flourishes in spring, wood produces fire, and fire flourishes in summer.Fire produces man, and earth flourishes in the center; earth produces gold, which flourishes in autumn; metal produces water, which flourishes in winter; water produces wood, which flourishes in spring. Judging from the above quotations, the order of dynasties is also consistent with the natural order of the five elements.The Yellow Emperor of King Yimude was conquered by the Xia Dynasty of King Yimude.The Xia Dynasty of King Mude was conquered by the Shang Dynasty of King Jinde.The Shang Dynasty with King Jinde was conquered by the Zhou Dynasty with King Huode.The Zhou Dynasty of King Yihuode will be conquered by the dynasty of King Yishuide.The dynasty of King Yishuide will be overcome by the dynasty of King Yitude.This completes the cycle. What is described in "Lu Shi Chun Qiu" is just a theory, and soon after, it will produce effects in actual politics.In 221 BC, Emperor Qin Shihuang unified China and established the Qin Dynasty.He "deduced the biography of the five virtues from the end to the beginning, thinking that Zhou gained the virtue of fire. In the Qin Dynasty, the virtues of Zhou were invincible, and now the virtue of water is the beginning." His color is still black, and his work is water, so he renamed the Yellow River "Deshui". "Think of the beginning of water virtue. Resolute and profound, everything is determined by the law, and there is no benevolence and righteousness, and then the number of five virtues." (See "Historical Records: The Chronicles of Qin Shihuang") Just because of the cutting of Shaoen, the Qin Dynasty lasted for a short time and was replaced by the Han Dynasty.The emperor of the Han Dynasty also believed that the emperor inherited the fate of the transfer of the five virtues and became king, but there is quite a debate about what kind of virtue the Han Dynasty was king of.Some people say that the Han Dynasty replaced the Qin Dynasty, so Yitude was king.However, some people say that the Qin Dynasty was too cruel and short-lived to be regarded as a legal dynasty, so the Han Dynasty actually replaced the Zhou Dynasty.Both sides have auspicious support, and these auspicious signs can be interpreted differently.Finally, in 104 BC.Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty decided to officially declare Han Yitude king.Even so, opinions were divided later. After the Han Dynasty, people did not pay much attention to this issue.But until the 1911 Revolution abolished the imperial system, the official title of the emperor was still "Fengtian Chengyun Emperor".The so-called "carrying transport" refers to the transfer of the five virtues. The Five Elements Theory explains the structure of the universe, but does not explain the origin of the universe.The theory of yin and yang explains the origin of the universe. The character Yang originally refers to sunlight, and the character Yin originally refers to the absence of sunlight.Later, yin and yang developed to refer to two cosmic forces or principles, that is, the way of yin and yang.Yang represents positive, active, hot, bright, dry, rigid, etc., and Yin represents negative, passive, cold, dark, wet, soft, etc.Yin and Yang interact to produce all phenomena in the universe.This kind of thinking is still prevalent in the Chinese theory of the origin of the universe until modern times.As early as in "Guoyu" (its writing may be as late as the fourth or third century BC), the way of yin and yang has been mentioned. "In the second year of King You (780 B.C.), there was an earthquake in the western Zhou Dynasty. Father Boyang said: "The sun cannot come out, and the yin cannot steam (no such word: ocr), so there is an earthquake." ("Zhou Zhou") language one") Later, Yin and Yang are fundamentally combined with each other.The basic composition of the scriptures is the so-called "eight trigrams", each hexagram is composed of three connected or broken lines, namely three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three (cannot be displayed: ocr).Take any combination of the two hexagrams to get sixty-four hexagrams, that is, three or threefold.etc.The original text only includes the Fengci and Yaoci of the sixty-four hexagrams. According to tradition, the gossip was drawn by Fuxi.Fuxi is the first son of heaven in Chinese legend, even earlier than the Yellow Emperor.Some scholars say that it was Fuxi himself who combined the sixty-four hexagrams; others say that it was King Wen of the twelfth century BC who combined the sixty-four hexagrams.Some scholars say that both the hexagrams and the lines were written by King Wen; others say that the hexagrams were written by King Wen, and the lines were written by Zhou Gong, the distinguished son of King Wen.Whether these statements are true or not, they show that the Chinese attach great importance to the eight trigrams and the sixty-four hexagrams. Modern academic circles put forward a theory that the eight trigrams and the sixty-four hexagrams were invented in the early Zhou Dynasty to simulate the divination cracks on the tortoise shell and animal bones. The divination methods used are described at the beginning of this chapter.It is to burn the oracle bone, cracks appear, and judge the good or bad fortune according to the cracks.But such cracks are neither regular in shape nor fixed in number, so it is difficult to explain them with a fixed formula.This divination method seems to have been supplemented by another method in the Western Zhou Dynasty, which is to harvest the stems of yarrow and form various combinations to produce odd and even numbers.These combinations are limited in number and can therefore be explained by fixed formulas.People now believe that the connecting lines (indicating odd numbers and yang lines) and broken lines (indicating even numbers and yin lines) of the eight trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams are the images of these combinations.The fortune-teller uses this method to obtain each line, and then compares and reads its hexagrams and lines to determine the good or bad fortune of the divination. This may be the origin of the book, and it also explains the "Yi" in the title of the book, which is the "Yi" of "Change", which means that the combination is changeable.But many auxiliary explanations were added later, some moral, some metaphysical.Some are cosmological.These explanations were not compiled until the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, or even as late as the Western Han Dynasty, and they are called "Ten Wings", and they can all be called "Yi Zhuan".This chapter only discusses cosmological explanations, and the rest are discussed in Chapter 15. In addition to the concept of yin and yang, another important concept is the concept of number.Since the ancients generally believed that divination is a method of revealing the secrets of heaven, and since divination with yarrow is based on the combination of different numbers, it is no wonder that the unknown author of "Yi Zhuan" tends to believe that the secrets lie in numbers.According to them, yang numbers are odd and yin numbers are even. "Yi Chuan" said, "Heaven is one and earth is two, heaven is three and earth is four, heaven is five and earth is six, heaven is seven and earth is eight, heaven is nine and earth is ten. The number of days is five, the number of earth is five, and the five are related and each has its own combination. The number of days Twenty is five, the number of earth is thirty, and the number of heaven and earth is fifty and five. This is why ghosts and gods are transformed." ("Xi Ci Zhuan" 1) Later, the yin and yang family tried to use numbers to connect the five elements with yin and yang.They say this: the number of days, one, water; the number of earth, six, make it.The number of the earth, two, makes a fire; the number of the sky, seven, makes it.The number in the sky, three, gives birth to wood; the number in the earth, eight, makes it.The number of the earth, four, produces gold; the number of the sky, nine, becomes it.The number of days, five, gives birth to earth; the number of earth, ten, makes it.In this way, one, two, three, four, and five are the numbers that give birth to the five elements, and six, seven, eight, nine, and ten are all the numbers that make up (see "Book of Rites Yueling" Meng Chunzhiyue "the number eight" Note by Zheng Xuan, and Shu by Kong Yingda).So using this statement, it explains the above-quoted sentence "the sky is five, the earth is five, and the five are compatible and each has its own harmony".This is actually strikingly similar to the theory of Pythagoras in ancient Greece. According to it, the four elements of Greek philosophy: fire, water, earth, and air are all indirectly derived from numbers. But in China, this theory came out relatively late, and the Five Elements were never mentioned in the "Book of Changes". "Yi Chuan" believes that each hexagram of the Eight Diagrams symbolizes certain things in the universe. "Shuo Gua Zhuan" says, "Qian San is heaven, Yuan, king, and father"; "Kun San is earth and mother"; "Zhen San is thunder"; "Three is wood and wind" ; "Kan three is water" and "moon"; "Li three is fire and sun"; The connecting line in each hexagram is a symbol of yang, and the broken line is a symbol of yin.The Qian hexagram and the Kun hexagram are purely composed of connected and broken lines respectively, so each is a model of yang and yin.The other six hexagrams are assumed to be born from the intercourse of Qian and Kun.In this way, Qian and Kun are the father and mother, and the other six hexagrams are often said to be the children of Qian and Kun in "Yi Zhuan". The first line of Qiansan (from the bottom) is combined with the second and third lines of Kun to form Zhensan, known as the "eldest man".Kun's first line is combined with Qian's second and third lines to form three.Known as the "eldest daughter".The second line of Qian is combined with the first and third lines of Kun to form Kansan, which is called "Zhongnan".Kun's second line is combined with Qian's first and third lines to form Lisan, which is called "middle girl".The third line of Qian is combined with the first and second lines of Kun to form Gen San, which is called "Young Man".Kun's third line is combined with Qian's first and second lines to form Duisan, which is called "girl". The combination of Qian and Kun to give birth to the other six hexagrams, this process is also a symbol of the process of the combination of yin and yang to give birth to all things in the world.The combination of yin and yang to produce all things is similar to the combination of male and female to produce living things.It can be seen from this.Yang is male, and Yin is female. "Xi Ci Chuan Xia" said: "Heaven and earth are dense, and all things are mellow; men and women form essence, and all things are born." Heaven and earth are the material manifestations of yin and yang, and Qiankun is the symbolic expression of yin and yang. "The Tao of Qian becomes a man, and the Tao of Kun becomes a woman. Qian knows the beginning, and Kun makes things." ("Xi Ci Zhuan") The process of yin and yang forming all things is completely similar to the process of male and female forming creatures. In the religion of the primitive Chinese, it is likely to imagine a father and mother god who gave birth to all things.However, in Yin-Yang philosophy, the Tao of Yin-Yang is used to replace or explain such anthropomorphic gods.Although the way of yin and yang is also compared to the way of men and women, it has been understood as a completely impersonal force of nature.