Confucius's contribution to the I Ching is threefold:
First, turn divination into the way of heaven.
If a book is purely about divination, it only tells you that it is the meaning of God, and the judgment of good and evil is the will of God, and it will not tell you the master behind good and evil. Confucius tells us that the master behind the good and evil is not God, but He opens the skylight for us to see the blue sky above, that is, the way of heaven. Confucius's Heavenly Dao has opened the skylight for us, allowing us to see that behind the Book of Changes is not God, but the evolution and transformation of the Tao.
How to understand it?
For example, Qiangua's "Biography": "Dazai Qianyuan, the beginning of ten thousand materials, is the ruler of the sky." The clouds are raining, and the products are shaped. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the six times were completed, and the six dragons were taken to the sky. The main road changes, and each is life. Baohe Taihe, Nai Lizhen. The first out of the house, Xianning of all countries. This is an explanation of the hexagrams. At the beginning, it was said that Qianyuan was the beginning of all things, not that God created all things. "The end of the Ming Dynasty", pay attention, the word "big" appeared! "Shi" is the beginning. Everything starts small, like a baby is small, and then it grows into an adult; The seeds are small and slowly grow into a large plant. "Beginning" and "big" both belong to "yuan", not at the beginning of the big, but there are big factors in it, so it will become big. A seed may start small, but the seed has the potential to become a big tree in the future. This is a law of nature. Everything grows from small to big, and big is in small seeds, which can slowly become bigger. This is the Word.
Tao has many functions, and the two more typical qualities are to give space to the outside and the other to make all things grow from small to large. These two qualities work with each other, and when everything grows from small to large, there must be room for it to change. So, the grass has room for the grass, and it can grow as tall as the grass; A big tree has room for a big tree, and it will become the size of a big tree in the future. If it is said that all things are born, it must give all things space to grow. If there is no space, everything cannot grow, and this space is very important. The Book of Changes is that yin and yang should give space to each other.
It's the same with people. Each of us has room for development, that is, the destiny of heaven, and our destiny is given by God, that is, the space for development. The next is the "six times to become", and the "six" is the development of the six dragons, that is, the six dragons, and these six yangs are "the main road changes, and each is the right life". The "change of the main way" is the change of the way of heaven, which gives us life, that is, the life of our flesh; Give us sex, that is, our disposition, as in "the predicate of destiny." We want to "maintain the harmony", the harmony of the universe, harmony is good, and then all things are harmonious. This passage is to talk about the way of heaven. The way of heaven is to make all things bigger from the beginning, and the way of heaven is to give life to all things, so that all things have their space for development.
Another example is the Kun hexagram, which talks about authenticity. Kun Hexagram's "Biography": "To the Kun Yuan, all materials are born, and it is Shun Chengtian." Kun is thick and loaded, and virtue is boundless. Han Hong Guangda, Xianheng products. The horses are groundless, and the land is boundless. Soft and smooth, gentlemen. First lose the way, then go along with it. The southwest is to be friends with the like; The loss of friends in the Northeast will eventually be celebrated. Anzhen's auspiciousness should be boundless. Kun is "the life of all things", that is, the development of all things. Kun is a kind of fertility, which means that Kun follows the way of heaven. "Kun is thick and boundless", which means that Kun gives space to all things. It can be seen that the two functions of the Tao are in Qianqian and Kun, and Qianqian is to talk about all things from beginning to end, from small to large. Kun is the space, which gives all things what they need to survive. Then "Han Hong Guangda" This is the performance of the earth, the earth can contain all things, the space of the earth is large, there is something buried in the ground, it never refuses, it is endlessly hidden. We should learn authenticity and have a tolerant heart. This is Confucius who opened the skylight for the "Book of Changes", allowing us to see that behind the "Book of Changes" is not God, but the heavenly way of living beings, the earth of tolerance.
Second, turn the way of heaven to humanity.
If we only preach the way of heaven and only the way of the earth, what does it have to do with us? What's the use of you talking about the way of heaven in a big way? There is no connection with people. The greatness of the Tao is that it completes itself through man, that is, we often say that heaven and man are one, and the combination of heaven and humanity can change the Tao and the way of heaven is useful. Among the ten wings, there are "The Legend of the Elephant" and "The Legend of the Little Elephant", and the "Legend of the Elephant" is mixed in the sixty-four hexagrams, which explains that the two gossip are stacked together to produce an effect. This image is the image of gossip, and gossip is the way of heaven and nature. The six yang lines of the Qiangua are two stems together. What is the image that these two dry together get? Confucius said: "Heaven is strong, and a gentleman is constantly striving for self-improvement." "The six pure yang pillars are Tianxingjian, the operation of the Heavenly Dao, and they are endless. Seeing this way of heaven, we have to think of life, and applying the way of heaven to life is "a gentleman who strives for self-improvement".
It can be seen that "The Legend of the Elephant" talks about the moral and political issues of life from the way of heaven. Looking at the six yin lines of the kun hexagram, it is two kun together, which refers to the authenticity. "The terrain is good, and the gentleman carries things with virtue", this sentence is often quoted, the earth is thick and can carry all things. You don't have to look at the earth as infinite space, but it can carry everything in the universe. Qian, Kun "The Legend of the Elephant", I see them as two virtues, one is sincerity, the other is humility; "Self-improvement" is sincerity, and "virtue" is humility. How humble the earth is, it is under our feet, but it can carry all things. Confucius's "The Legend of the Elephant" is to transfer the cosmic way of heaven and earth to life, so that we can prove the way of heaven through the practice of life.
Third, establish the philosophical theory of the Book of Changes.
Confucius's philosophical theory of establishing the Book of Changes is mainly embodied in the "Biography of the Book of Changes", which is divided into two parts. The Biography of the Dictionaries can be said to be a very important chapter in Chinese philosophy. Many scholars do not necessarily read the 64 hexagrams, but most of them read the "Dictionaries", so that they can understand the ideological structure and philosophical spirit of the "I Ching". Therefore, the "Dictionaries" is a set of philosophical theories established for the "Book of Changes". There are three characteristics to be clarified:
The first is the virtue of life. The first "life" refers to the birth of all things in the way of heaven, and the way of heaven gives life to all things; The second "birth" refers to the fact that human beings continue to develop the way of heaven and redevelop our lives. The philosophy of the I Ching is the philosophy of life. But there is life and there must be death, and some people will ask, why is there death? In the philosophy of the Book of Changes, death is not the end of life, but the turning point of life. When we talk about life, we are talking about a period of life, and the human body is a period of life and death, but the Book of Changes talks about the infinite life of nature, so it is an endless life, not a period of life. Just as the Qing Dynasty poet Gong Zizhen's poem said, "Falling red is not a ruthless thing, turning into spring mud is more protective of flowers." ”
Chinese philosophy is different from the Western cosmology, which only talks about the changes of matter, and also studies some abstract issues of time and space. However, Chinese cosmology is about the development of life between heaven and earth, which is also the characteristic of Chinese philosophy.
The second is the way to sensibility. The I Ching is the philosophy of induction. Let me first explain the word "sensing", "sense" is different from "should", "sense" is that we have knowledge and affection to feel all things, it is active, "should" is the object of the sensed can react, we often say that the response, "should" is outside, it is passive, it may also be ignorant. "Upload of Words" says that "Yi has no thoughts, no actions", no thoughts, no thoughts, no goals, no actions, it is "silent", no desire, this is its ontology. "Feeling and then leading to the world", with a sense, there is yin and yang, so the whole "Book of Changes" is inductive.
Our personal heart is originally thoughtless, you have a thought, you want to ask the Book of Changes, divination, other methods, as soon as you open the Book of Changes, you will enter a hexagram, touch each line, either yin or yang, or have induction. "Thoughtless and inaction" is the ontology of the Book of Changes, the book of the Book of Changes is placed there, and the sixty-four hexagrams are placed there, do you say that it is thoughtful and promising? No. As soon as you open the book for divination, you will have thoughts and actions, and your questions will be related to the sixty-four hexagrams. The Book of Changes itself is placed there, and it is thoughtless and inaction, so we must understand that "thoughtless and inaction" is the ontology.
What is Sense? Feeling is internal, feeling is active, feeling is sentient. What should be? It should be external, intentional, passive, and natural, such as natural resonance. This kind of induction is based on heaven and earth, and everything in heaven and earth has induction, but we can't see it. The two gossip in each of the sixty-four hexagrams are induction, and each hexagram is induction. The induction of heaven and earth as the main body is developed with the essence of life. Induction is a function that focuses on transformation, such as yin and yang induction, which should be able to be transformed, rather than standing still. It must be transformed, absorbed and fused with each other, so the way of induction is transforming. Induction is the beginning of the Tao deriving all things. Lao Tzu said that "the Tao gives birth to one, and the life of two", after giving birth to two, it is inductive, and only then can all things be born.
If there is no "Book of Changes" containing 64 hexagrams and 384 hexagrams, do we have any sense? Yes. Because life in the universe is a web of induction, and every time we do something, we will touch this net. entered the net, and this net is the six yin and yang rigid and soft net. Even if we don't have the I Ching, we will be influenced by many of the principles of the development of the yin-yang-rigidity and softness, and although we don't know it, we are still in the senses.
"The Biography of Words" talks about induction, and talks a lot, such as "one yin and one yang is the Tao, the one who follows is good, and the one who becomes is sexual." The "successor" is that yin and yang can follow each other. If yin and yang cannot be sequential, it is useless, just as the solitary yin does not give birth, and the solitary yang will not develop. Speaking of yin and yang, it is necessary to "harmony" in order to be able to continue, in order to be able to give birth to all things. "The next one is good", not moral goodness, but endless goodness. "The one who achieves it is also sexuality", and what is achieved in our body is sex. This is a set of Yin and Yang in the Book of Changes, and Chinese philosophy talks about goodness, which is also derived from the combination of Yin and Yang, which is different from the original sin of Catholicism.
Third, the "Yi" in the Book of Changes has three meanings. One is easy, one is not easy, and the other is simple. Change refers to our phenomenal realm, everything in our lives, which is near you. Because the sermon it preaches is the changes in the universe that we see in front of our eyes, and all the changes are as stated in the "Biography of the Chronicles", "The changes are not lived, and the six voids are circular", and the six voids are the six pillars, and the six voids are waiting for the void. There are also two words "impermanence up and down", "impermanence", which Confucius has been using for a long time, and later used to talk about the impermanence of Buddhism. "Rigidity and softness" refers to the two lines of yin and yang, and there is no one thing that does not change, so this is talking about change.
Originally, the Book of Changes had only two meanings, one was change, and the other was simplicity. As for "not easy", it was added by later scholars. Is there any "not easy"?The Book of Changes is a philosophy of change, and "not easy" is not to stand still, but to say the eternity of its change. It is not easy to change, and it is not easy to change at any time.
Regarding "simplicity", the method of Chinese philosophy is simple, not complicated, and simple can be implemented. Western philosophy is very complicated, and Indian Buddhism is also very complicated, and when it comes to China, it becomes simple. Chinese Zen Buddhism is so simple that it doesn't have words. Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching is only 5,000 words, which is very simple, and Confucius's Analects is also very simple. Confucius said at the beginning of the "Biography of the System": "Dry is easy to know, and Kun is simple to be able." Easy is easy to know, simple is easy to follow. If it is easy to know, it is pro, and if it is easy to follow, it is meritorious. ”