What are the attributes of Yao in the Book of Changes? Why do they have these four attributes? What do they represent?

The original meaning of Yao is knot. In the era of knotting to record events, knots were tied in sections on a rope to express a certain meaning. When observing the changes in the sun's shadow with the original corona, eight ropes were used, each of which was divided into three sections and knotted in the middle. Because eight ropes were used, Bagua was once called "Eight Ropes". Eight ropes are hung in a row, and the "eight hangings" lead to the "Bagua". The three sections of the rope become the three lines of the hexagram, representing the three elements of an observation record. "Yao" has the same pronunciation as "Yao" and can be understood as "elements". King Wen of Zhou Dynasty performed Yi, not necessarily with ropes, but with fingers or palms to express the three yin and yang information of the hexagram. It was not until the Song Dynasty that Yao and Bagua diagrams were represented by straight lines. The three-line hexagram is called the Jing hexagram, and the two Jing hexagrams form the other hexagram. The Jing hexagram in the lower part of the Bye hexagram is the main hexagram, representing the host party; the upper part is the guest hexagram, representing the guest party.

About the origin of Yao:

(1) The theory of Guibiao recording the sun scene: Liu Jue proposed in 1946 that the Eight Diagrams originated from the sun shadow recorded by Tu Gui. Liu Jue believed: From The dayscape trajectory from sunrise to sunset can be divided into three stages: "dan, noon, and dusk", which are similar to the first noon, noon, and afternoon in weather forecasts; the dayscape trajectory is drawn with a thick solid line on a sunny day, and When there is no scene or the image is unclear, it is represented by two thin solid lines; the thick solid line is the Yang Yao━, and the thin solid line is the Yin Yao¨; in this way, the three Yao representing Dan, Noon and Dusk are overlapped to form Gua represents the record of a day's weather.

(2) Bamboo yarrow theory. It is believed that the yin and yang lines are the symbols of bamboo or yarrow used in divination. One section of bamboo or one yarrow is "---", two sections of bamboo or broken yarrow are "--", Gao Heng's " This is what the authors of "Modern Notes on the Ancient Book of Changes" said.

(3) The theory of tortoise omens holds that in ancient times, divination was performed by burning tortoise shells and determining good or bad fortune based on the omen patterns. The yin and yang lines were formed by summarizing the tortoise shell omen patterns. Qu Wanli's "Yi Gua Originates from Turtle Divination", Yu Yongliang's "The Era and Authors of Yi Gua Yao Ci", Japan's Honda Shigeyuki's "Chronology of Yi" and others hold this view.

(4) On the theory of knotting ropes, "Book of Changes Xi Ci Xia" states that Fu Xi "knotted ropes to make nets, used them as tenants for fishing, and covered them with various things." "In ancient times, people knotted ropes to rule. The sages of later generations will change it with written deeds; hundreds of officials will govern it, and all the people will monitor it, and they will take advantage of it. "Zheng Xuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty guessed that in ancient times, big things were recorded in one big knot, and small things were tied in one small knot. Li Jingchi and others believe that the Yang Yao and Yin Yao are reflections of the lack of knotting and knotting of ancient knotted ropes. Or think that "---" is one big knot, and "--" is two small knots. "三" means three major knots. "Three three" is the six summary. The specific method is discussed elsewhere. Li Jingchi's "Exploring the Origin of the Zhouyi", Fan Wenyuan's "Introduction to the Book of Changes", and Chen Daosheng's "Revisiting the Origin of the Bagua" hold this view.

(5) Regarding the theory of sun, moon and astrology, Meng Kangyun is quoted in "Annotation of Historical Records", "The essence of the five stars is scattered into sixty-four, which cannot be remembered." In modern science, the Yi School mostly thinks of Yang Yao "-- -" originated from the solar phenomenon, and Yin Yao "- -" originated from the lunar phenomenon.

(6) Theory of male and female genitals. It is believed that the yang line "---" symbolizes the male root, and the yin line "--" symbolizes the female yin. This view is held by Zhang Dayan's "Lun of Changes", Qian Xuantong's "Reply to Mr. Gu Jiegang", Guo Moruo's "Research on Ancient Chinese Society" and others.

(7) Calculation theory. It is believed that the Yao is the shape of a chip used by the ancients, and the Yang Yao represents five. The Yin Yao represents one, which is similar to Roman numerals, and is formed by adding and subtracting five as the basis. Western scholar Bard believes that Bagua originated from the ancient calculation tool calculation tool, and the Yao is the shape of the calculation tool. Japanese Yoshio Mikami's "Characteristics of Chinese Arithmetic" also advocates this theory.

The symbols that make up the hexagrams in the Book of Changes. 〖lineineighttrigrams〗 "—" is the yang line, and "--" is the yin line. Every three lines are combined into one hexagram to get the eight trigrams; if two hexagrams (six lines) overlap each other, there are sixty-four hexagrams, which are called different hexagrams. Yao contains the meaning of interlacing and change

If you are familiar with the six Yao, you will be proficient in the Eight Diagrams. ——"Yao Zhu Xian Comments - Mingzhu Yuan"

Yao is a person who changes his words. ——"Book of Changes·Xici"

Another example: Yao rhythm (changing rhythm); Yao image (the image and trace of things represented by the intersection of six Yao lines to form a hexagram in "The Book of Changes")

The provincial name of Yao Ci is〖explanationsofdiagramsfordivination〗

Although I embrace the Yao of "Zhongfu", I am still tired of seeing the brocade poems.

——Xie Lingyun, Southern Song Dynasty, "The First Emergence of Shishou City"

Another example: Yao painting (referring to the hexagrams of "Yi"); Yao system (Yao Ci); Yao Ci (explaining the sixty-fourth chapter of "Yi" The diction of each line of hexagram); Yaobian (change of hexagram)