Reading and understanding of "The Book of Changes" in past and present lives

The past and present life of "The Book of Changes"

Zhou Shan

"The Book of Changes" is the first systematic explanation of the book "The Book of Changes" because ***There are 10 texts, so it is also called "Ten Wings". The "Book of Changes" and the "Book of Changes" are not a homologous relationship, but a species relationship.

Since the yin and yang lines were classified and abstracted from numbers, they were naturally fixed into sixty-four six-line hexagrams. These hexagrams were arranged in an orderly manner and each was given a hexagram name. , the first "Book of Changes" was born. According to historical legend, the first "Book of Changes" was produced in the early Xia Dynasty and was named "Lianshan". Before the Xia Dynasty, there were floods, and people might be like fish and turtles; Dayu controlled the floods, and the floods stopped. Shun abdicated the throne to Yu and established the Xia Dynasty. Due to the long-term floods, people are grateful for the mountains they rely on for refuge; after the floods, fishing and hunting, the wild fruits and birds and animals abundant in the mountains have become people's main source of livelihood; worship of the mountains has become a necessity. Therefore, when ranking the sixty-four hexagrams, it is logical that the "Gen" hexagram, which symbolizes the mountain, ranks first. The six-line heavy hexagram "Gen" is formed by the overlap of two sutra hexagrams "Gen", which resembles mountains connected to mountains. Therefore, the "Book of Changes" formulated in the Xia Dynasty with "Gen" as the first hexagram was named "Lianshan". The earliest totem object in my country is "mountain", so it can be confirmed.

The shift from a fishing and hunting society to an agricultural society also occurred during the Xia Dynasty, when "mountains" were the object of worship. The reason is obviously that after the flood subsided, people came down from the mountains and set up camp on the plains. The long-term agricultural activities have made people have feelings for the land where "one grain of millet is sown in spring and ten thousand grains are harvested in autumn". Therefore, the concept of empathy from "mountain" to "land" was established with the in-depth development of agricultural activities.

Shang Tang replaced Xia Zheng, and the "Book of Changes" as a policy for governing the country must also be adapted accordingly. Due to the incompleteness of ancient book materials, we are no longer able to know the full content of the adaptation. However, from the name of the second "Book of Changes" born in the early Shang Dynasty, "Gui Zang", it can be determined that the first hexagram of this "Book of Changes" has been changed to "Gen". "Changed to "Kun". Kun is the earth, and "Gui Zang" with "Kun" as the first hexagram expresses the worship of the earth by the ancestors of the Shang Dynasty, and our ancestors entered the second era of totem worship.

The eight hundred years of the Shang Dynasty were a stage in which agricultural society gradually matured. Mature agricultural production made our ancestors realize that the quality of crop harvests does not depend on the land, but on the weather: good weather and abundant grains; floods and droughts, poor harvests or even no harvests. As a result, the ancestors' concepts began to undergo a third change, that is, from the worship of "earth" to the worship of "heaven". At the end of the Shang Dynasty, Ji Chang, the leader of the Zhou clan, was imprisoned in Youli by King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty. In prison, he made a new compilation of the second "Book of Changes", namely "Gui Zang", which is known as "Yi Yi" in history. This third "Book of Changes", re-edited by Ji Chang, was officially named "Book of Changes" after the Zhou Dynasty replaced the Shang Dynasty, which is the "Book of Changes of the Zhou Dynasty".

Due to changes in concepts and the birth of "Book of Changes", "Gui Zang" began to decline from the Zhou Dynasty, but it was still possible to be completely preserved until the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. According to the "Book of Rites", in order to understand the Yin and Shang society, Confucius went to the Song Dynasty, where the Yin Shang aristocrats gathered, to search for and study "Gui Zang"; from Confucius's "I want to observe the Yin Dao... I can understand the Qian Qian Yan" " According to the revelation, we also obtained the information that the first hexagram of "Gui Zang" is "Kun" and the second hexagram is "Qian". During the Han Dynasty, there may still be more content in "Gui Zang", so there is a discussion by Yi scholar Jiao Hong that "the most important thing for lecturers in the Shang Dynasty is tranquility". Confucian scholar Zheng Xuan said in the commentary of "Book of Rites": "Yin Yin Yang" Among the surviving books is "Gui Zang", so "Gui Zang" is also regarded as the Yin Yi."

The lost text of "Gui Zang" that we see now is included in "Tao Zang", and the second is the bamboo scrolls excavated from the Chu tomb in Wangjiatai, Jingmen, Hubei a few years ago. These lost texts provide information about the background of Ji Chang's "Yi Yi".

From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, "The Book of Changes" was not only the outline of the governance of the Zhou Dynasty, but also a tool for the court and nobles to solve problems. The more than 20 divination items in "Zuo Zhuan" and "Guoyu" or the citation of the "Book of Changes" are the direct expression of the authority and practicality of the "Book of Changes".

At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, it became a trend that "those who are good at Yi will not take advantage of it". In his later years, Confucius loved "Yi" so much that he "Wei compiled three masterpieces". He taught "Yi" to students and left several texts interpreting "Yi". Together with several informative texts left by his predecessors, they were compiled into "Yi". "The Book of Changes" made "The Book of Changes" even more powerful, entering every scholar's study room, and then became the "universal textbook" for the imperial examinations in later generations.

(Excerpted from "Wenhui Po" on March 11, 2013, with some deletions)

1. Regarding the understanding of the "Book of Changes", which of the following statements is correct ( )

A. "The "Book of Changes" and the "Book of Changes" are not identical, but have a genus relationship." From this, it can be seen that the "Book of Changes" includes the "Book of Changes", and the two have a genus relationship.

B． "Confucius was fond of the Book of Changes in his later years." He compiled several texts on the interpretation of the Book of Changes together with the texts of his predecessors to form the Book of Changes, a systematic interpretation of the Book of Changes.

C. The full text talks about three works related to the "Book of Changes", namely "Lianshan", "Gui Zang" and "Book of Changes", and these three works reflect the development of the "Book of Changes" in different periods.

D. As the "Book of Changes" is constantly updated and developed, the first hexagram is also constantly changing. From the early Xia to the early Shang Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, until now, its first hexagram is still changing.

Analysis A． The "Book of Changes" is the "Book of Changes of the Zhou Dynasty", so the "Book of Changes" belongs to the "Book of Changes". B. "Book of Changes" is the first systematic explanation of the book "Book of Changes", while "Book of Changes" is not. D. Create something out of nothing. After the first hexagram of the "Book of Changes" was designated as "Qian" in the "Book of Changes", there is no information in the text whether the first hexagram has changed until now.

Answer C

2. Among the following statements about the first hexagram of the Book of Changes, the incorrect one is ( )

A. Before the Xia Dynasty, there were floods, and the mountains were rich in wild fruits and birds and animals, which became people's main source of livelihood. The worship of mountains made the "Gen" hexagram symbolizing mountains rank first among the sixty-four hexagrams of "Lianshan".

B． After the Xia Dynasty, long-term agricultural activities made people have feelings for the land. Therefore, the shift from "mountain" to "land" caused the first hexagram of "Gui Zang" in the early Shang Dynasty to change from the "Gen" hexagram to the "Kun" hexagram.

C. In the 800th year of the Shang Dynasty, the agricultural society gradually matured, which made the ancestors realize that the harvest of crops depended more on the weather. Therefore, by the time of the "Book of Changes", the first hexagram had been updated to the "Qian" hexagram representing heaven.

D. In every change in the first hexagram of the "Book of Changes" at different stages, changes in living environment, changes in food sources, and changes in people's ideas and beliefs all play a decisive role in the changes.

Analysis of the three reasons why the first hexagram of "Lianshan" is "Gen" and the first hexagram of "Guizang" is "Kun"; when the first hexagram of "Zhouyi" is "Qian", The living environment and food sources have remained basically unchanged, mainly because people's ideas and beliefs have changed.

Answer D

3. Among the following understandings and analyses, one of the following is consistent with the content of the original text: ( )

A. "Lianshan", which was born in the early Xia Dynasty, has "Gen" as its first hexagram, which provides an important historical basis for us to now identify the earliest totem object in my country as "mountain".

B． Shang Tang replaced Xia Zheng, and the "Book of Changes" as a policy for governing the country was also adapted accordingly. Through the analysis of the entire content of the adaptation, it is known that the earth has been worshiped.

C. Ji Chang, the leader of the Zhou clan, made a new "Yi" of "Gui Zang" in prison, which was later named "Zhou Yi" by King Wu of Zhou Dynasty. It was not until this time that the third volume of the "Book of Changes" was finally settled.

D. During the Han Dynasty, the second "Book of Changes" - "Gui Zang" still had a lot of content in existence, so there was a discussion by Jiao Hong, a scholar of Yi, that "the most important thing for lecturers in the Shang Dynasty was tranquility."

Analysis B. "Through the analysis of the entire content of the adaptation" is wrong, it can be seen from the original text that "it is impossible to know the entire content of the adaptation". C. Made out of nothing, it cannot be seen from the original text that "it was named "Book of Changes" by King Wu of Zhou Dynasty". D. The original text is "Gui Zang" from the Han Dynasty and "maybe" there are more contents still extant.

Answer A