Chapter 28 Section 3 Intergeneration of Five Elements and Calendar

The five elements are born together, also known as the sequence of five elements, which means that the next line is born from the previous line, so that they are born one by one, forming a cyclical series, which goes round and round.Intergeneration of the five elements is the most commonly used and most mature arrangement among the five elements. According to "Spring and Autumn Fanlu · The Meaning of the Five Elements", wood is the beginning of the five elements, water is the end of the five elements, and soil is the middle of the five elements.Wood produces fire, fire produces earth, earth produces metal, metal produces water, and water produces wood.This order is like father and son.Wood resides in the east and governs spring, fire resides in the south and governs summer, metal resides in the west and governs autumn, water resides in the north and governs winter.Therefore, wood governs birth, gold governs killing, fire governs heat, and water governs cold.This is a common statement about the definition of the five elements of life in various ancient literatures. It can be seen that the ancients established the five elements not to solve philosophical problems at the beginning, but to use the names of the five substances as the names of the five seasons in a year.The wood line is the first season of the year, which is equivalent to spring; the fire line is the second season, which is equivalent to summer; the earth line is the third season, between summer and autumn; the gold line is the fourth season, which is equivalent to autumn. ; Water acts as the fifth season, which is equivalent to winter.

Some people may find it difficult to understand, since there is a division of the four seasons throughout the year, why do you need to create another division of five elements, that is, five seasons?Since wood, fire, metal, and water are equivalent to spring, summer, autumn and winter, why is there another earth element between summer and autumn, that is, long summer?According to research, the four seasons and the five elements belong to two different calendar systems.The four seasons are compatible with the twenty-four qi in December 8th, which belongs to the yin-yang calendar system.In ancient times, a year was divided into four seasons according to the lunar calendar: spring, summer, autumn and winter; and the four seasons were divided into eight festivals: Lichun, Vernal Equinox, Lixia, Summer Solstice, Liqiu, Autumnal Equinox, Lidong, and Winter Solstice. Two months, each month contains two solar terms.The so-called yin and yang combined calendar means that the month uses the lunar month (synodic month), the year uses the solar calendar year (return year), and the solar terms are adjusted with the leap month.The five elements belong to the pure solar calendar system, which divides a year into five seasons, each with 72 days.Each line can be divided into two parts, yin and yang, and each part is 36 days.There is still controversy in the academic circles about when the two specific terms of yin and yang began.But there is no such word as yin and yang, and other equivalent nouns can also be used. For example, "Huainanzi · Tianwen Xun" calls it rigid and soft, and the Liangshan Yi people call it male and female.

"Guanzi Five Elements" has the following records: When the day arrives, see Jiazi, and the wood will go to the imperial court, and it will be completed in seventy-two days. Bi; See Gengzi, Jin Xingyu,...It will be completed in seventy-two days; See Renzi, Water Xingyu,...It will be completed in seventy-two days. There are similar records in "Huainanzi Tianwen Xun" and "Chunqiu Fanlu".From these records, it can be seen that the epoch of this five-element calendar is set at the winter solstice, and the wood line is counted from the winter solstice. The first day of the wood line is always the Jiazi day. The first day is Bingzi day, the first day of earth travel is Wuzi day, the first day of metal travel is Gengzi, the first day of water travel is Renzi, the five elements count 360 days, plus five to six days for New Year’s Day, which is combined into one year old.These five to six days do not use the Ganzhi calendar, so the first day of the new year still starts from Jiazi Day.This method of recording dates is completely consistent with what we know from the Yi people.

As a match with the yin-yang and five-element calendar, there is also a method of dividing one year into 30 solar terms in "Guanzi·Young Official".The names of these 30 solar terms are: Earth Qi Fa, Xiao Mao, Weather Xia, Yi Qi Zhi, Qing Ming, Shi Mao, Zhong Mao, Xia Mao, Xiao Ying, Jue Qi Xia, Zhong Ying, Zhong Jue, Great Summer Arrival, Heatstroke, and Slight Heat Final, Qifengzhi, Xiaomao, Bailuxia, Fuli, Shijie, Shimao, Zhongmao, Xiamao, Shihan, Xiaoyu, Zhonghan, Zhongyu, Hanzhi, Dahan, Dahanend.The book clearly stipulates that each solar term is 12 days, and 30 solar terms are exactly 360 days.In the past, people did not understand that Yin Yang and Five Elements are a calendar system, and they were puzzled by the division of a year into 30 solar terms.Since the 30 solar terms and the yin-yang and five elements belong to the same system, a solar month is exactly three solar terms and 36 days, and a row is six solar terms and 72 days, which are very neatly coordinated.