Shenzhen will hold a "Shenzhen Reading Month" event every year, during which the top ten books of the year will be selected. Then I found this book from this year's top ten books, because I usually study the Book of Changes, and I am also interested in Shang Zhou, so I bought it and read it.
In my impression, the word Jian Shang should come from the Book of Songs: the grandson of Houji, the king of Shiwei, the yang of Juqi, and the beginning of Jian Shang. Jian is to exclude, in popular terms, it is to overthrow the Shang Dynasty. What is the content of the book "Jian Shang"?It's roughly "those things in Shang Zhou", I won't spoil the specifics, interested friends can take a look for themselves. But if you want to write about the Shang and Zhou periods, you can't avoid divination, so I want to talk about the content related to the I Ching.
We often use two-character words to describe one meaning in Chinese, but in fact, in ancient times, one word was one meaning. For example, a house, in ancient times a house and a house were different things. Another example: life, sex is sex, life is life, and it is also different things, but we often say it together now. This is a question of the evolution of the Chinese language, so I will not go into details.
Nowadays, we often think of "divination" as a word, but in fact, divination and divination are two different things. Occupy refers to the use of yarrow deduction for **. Bu is carried out with animal bone armor**.
During the Shang Dynasty, it was popular to use the shell of a turtle, and after the fire was burned, the good luck and evil were determined by observing the cracks. Only princes and nobles could divination, and the size of the turtle shell used was different depending on the rank. The Shang Dynasty was a theistic period, and it can be seen that the turtle Bu method completely relied on the will of heaven, that is, to ask God. Because the turtle shell can burn cracks, no one knows what it will be like, it is all up to God's will.
The use of yarrow to occupy is the addition of human factors, in short, I don't believe in "providence" so much. The turtle divination is to ask the heavens, and the Zheng Zhan is the conspiracy of heaven and man, which can be seen that this is the progress of human wisdom.
Of course, in the Shang and Zhou periods, complete and complete atheism was impossible, after all, knowledge was limited. Although the production of "Zhou Yi" is a kind of thinking progress, it still does not completely get rid of the thinking of gods and ghosts.
Turtle Bu is the first way of the Shang Dynasty, and Zheng Zhan is the first way of the Zhou Dynasty. But many things don't mean they will disappear overnight. At that time, turtles and turtles were often used together, and there was also a saying that "turtles are short and turtles are long", which means that turtles live longer than grass, so it is more agile to use turtle shells for divination.
Historical Records recorded a deed: When Emperor Xiaowu was in power, he gathered to occupy the family and asked, one day can he take a womanThe Five Elements family said that it was okay, the Kanyu family said that it was unlucky, the Jianjie family said that it was unlucky, the Congchen family said that it was a big murderer, the Li family said that it was a small murderer, the heavenly family said that it was a small auspicious, and the Tai family said that it was a big auspicious. The argument is indecided, and the complaint is heard. The system said: Avoid death taboos, and take the five acts as the mainstay. People are taken from the Five Elements also.
Emperor Xiaowu is Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, this story is about how he wanted to marry a certain woman, and called many fortune tellers to calculate whether he could marry this woman. The masters had different opinions and debates, and finally Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty said that the Five Elements were the mainstay.
The Han Dynasty was almost 800 years away from the Zhou Dynasty, and there was not only one way of divination, so it can be imagined that the Shang and Zhou dynasties would not use only one way of divination.
According to the records of the "Book of Shang", during the Yin Shang period, major events needed to be questioned and decided: seeking and Ruxin, seeking and ministers, seeking and servants, seeking and gui, and seeking and occupying;Think about it first, and then make a decision. You are from, from the secretary, from the common people, from the turtle, from the Xiao, called Datong, Daji.
In fact, this method is similar to our current voting decision, for example: the king himself thinks this thing is feasible, his subordinates also think it is okay, the people also think it is okay, Gui Buji, Zheng Zhan Yeji, this is Datong Daji, this thing can be done. If the majority disagrees with the bad luck, and the minority is good, then don't do it.
Judging from the cultural relics unearthed now, the Book of Changes did not have hexagrams and hexagrams at the earliest, and only later did it have hexagrams. This is the manifestation of the further improvement of thinking wisdom, in the past, divination only looked at symbols to determine good fortune and evil. Then there are hexagrams, not only to observe the symbols, but also to rely on the will of heaven and evil, and many times to rely on their own efforts. Such as litigation hexagrams, the sixth day of the first month, not forever, small words, the end of auspicious. If you can't persevere, you'll be verbally reprimanded. If you can persevere, isn't it good?This is the addition of human initiative.
The earliest "Zhou Yi" only has hexagrams and epigrams. Then in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the princes contended and began to have various interpretations of Zhou Yi, and these interpretations of the article are "Yi Chuan", Zhou Yi and Yi Chuan are combined into one, which is the "Book of Changes" we see now. Qin Shi Huang burned books, because the I Ching was used for divination, so he escaped a catastrophe. From the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the Book of Changes entered the hall and became the head of the Six Classics and the first of the Thirteen Classics. Those who study the I Ching are called Yi Xue. At the same time, the five elements of yin and yang are also combined with the I Ching Bagua, so that the I Ching has become the source of our culture.
What kind of book is the I Ching?The jury has not been settled since ancient times.
Some people say that the I Ching is a book of divination and fortune-telling. Some people say that the I Ching is the book of philosophy. Some people say that the I Ching is an encyclopedia. Some people say that I Ching is poetic literature. Some people say that the I Ching is an astronomical calendar book. Some people say that the I Ching is an alien civilization ......
In the book "Jian Shang", the author believes that the I Ching records history. Zhou Yi is a history book, and this view has long been known. Mr. Huang Fan's work "Zhou Yi - Historical Records of the Intersection of Shang and Zhou" believes that "Zhou Yi" is a history book, and the entire "Zhou Yi", like a chronicle of historical records, records "from the end of the Shang Dynasty 'ordained' seven years (1058 BC) in May Ding Wei, to the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty King Cheng succeeded to the throne, and the third year of the regency of the Duke of Zhou (1050 BC) on April Bingwu, a total of 2,880 days of the Zhou royal family" events.
According to teacher Li Ziyao's "The Secret of Zhou Yi", Qiankun actually refers to bows and arrows, while Zhou Yi is a history of slave and maid resistance.
So at present, there is no conclusive conclusion as to what kind of book the I Ching is, and in my opinion, it is impossible to be conclusive. You think it's okay to do anything, think big, but be cautious about verifying. Just like the book "Jian Shang", the author uses archaeology and historical materials to rationally argue his ideas. Whether this conclusion is correct or not, at least the logic is rigorous and worth reading.
Although the interpretation of the word "Fu" and the word "Zhen" that often appear in the hexagram in the book are not novel, they are at least rigorous and can withstand scrutiny. The second is the understanding of the Gen hexagram and the salty hexagram, which is very innovative and logical.
If you want to see a bolder interpretation of the I Ching, I recommend reading "I Ching Interpretation of Dreams", which will definitely open your eyes.
What is the Book of Changes, I think it is better than what Teacher Feng Youlan said: Zhou Yi philosophy can be called cosmic algebra. Algebra is a department of arithmetic, but there are no number words in it, it is just a formula, and these formulas are represented by some symbols, and the numbers can be set in. I say that Zhou Yike is called cosmic algebra, and that's what I mean. Zhou Yi himself does not pay attention to all things in heaven and earth, but only talks about some empty sets, but anything can be put in, which is called "God has no way and Yi has no body".