Chapter 29 Section 4 Hongfan Five Elements and Calendar

Scholars after the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period hardly talked about Hong Fan Wu Xing anymore. It may have appeared relatively early, so it also withdrew from the stage of history earlier, making it the most difficult for future generations to understand its true colors. Hongfan Five Elements is a special arrangement, because it is recorded in China's earliest history book "Shangshu·Hongfan", so it is called Hongfan Five Elements.Jizi, a virtuous official at the end of the Yin Dynasty, told King Wu of Zhou that God gave Xia Yu nine laws to govern the country, the first of which was the Five Elements.According to this statement, it should have been used in the Xia Dynasty.Its arrangement order is water, fire, wood, metal, and earth.

According to Jizi's explanation, each of the five elements has its own characteristics.Water can moisten the soil underground, so as to facilitate the water absorption and germination of seeds; fire can transpire, raising the temperature of the ground to help plants grow; wood can be made into straight shapes, which symbolize the growth of plants; gold symbolizes the maturity of plants and harvest; earth symbolizes the storage and replacement of plants.In short, the five elements of Hong Fan symbolize a harvest season.From Jizi's explanation, it can be seen that the arrangement of Hongfan's five elements is completely different from that of Shengshu's five elements. Although the five names are the same, their meanings are different.It's not tied to how warm or cold it is on Earth.Is a harvest a year old or half a year old?No more instructions.Therefore, the true face of Hong Fan and the Five Elements, if there is no more literature evidence, it may be a mystery that can never be solved.

However, almost all the predecessors admitted that "Book of Changes", Hetu and Luoshu belonged to the Hongfan system.So, what is the meaning of ten mysterious numbers in "Book of Changes"?Kong Yingda commented on the ten mysterious numbers: one and six are called water, one is masculine, and six is ​​feminine; two and seven are both called fire, two is feminine, and seven is masculine. ; three and eight are corresponding, both are called wood, three is positive, eight is negative; four and nine are corresponding, both are called gold, four is negative, nine is positive; five and ten are corresponding, both are called earth, Five is masculine and ten is feminine.

From this we can draw a conclusion that the ten numbers in "Book of Changes" correspond to the two weeks of Hong Fan's five elements, the first week is from one to five, and the second week is from six to ten.Chen Tuan (tuan Tuan), a master of Yi studies in the Northern Song Dynasty, explained the meaning of the ten mysterious numbers in "Zhouyi" in "Heluo Lishu": "Every one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine The number of ten is the solar terms of the four seasons of heaven and earth." These ten numbers are actually the ten solar terms in a year, that is, the ten seasons, that is, the ten solar calendar months of the October solar calendar.

It can be seen from this that the Hongfan Five Elements is an ancient calendar that divides one year into two harvest seasons. The first half of the year is called the wheat season, which is the year of birth or the sun year; cloudy year.Regardless of whether it is a Yang year or a Yin year, it is divided into five solar months: water, fire, wood, metal, and earth, each of which has 36 days.Each of these months has the characteristics of yin and yang.