What does "Three Graves and Five Classics" mean?

Words Three Graves and Five Classics

Pronunciation sān fén wǔ diǎn

Interpretation Legend has it that this is the earliest ancient book in China.

Origin Zuo Zhuan (左传-昭公十二年)："It is the one who can read the Three Graves, the Five Canons, the Eight Suo, and the Nine Qiu."

The Three Graves and the Five Classics are known to several people Inheriting Chinese civilization should start from the source

Promoting China's excellent traditional culture should start from the little by little

The history of mankind's invention of the use of writing can perhaps be traced back to 10,000 years ago, which has to do with the criterion on how to judge what kind of symbols belong to the writing, and of course, with the progress of archaeological excavation work, and it also has to do with the durability of ancient written information carriers. The fact is that human civilization is an existential process, and the information and its carriers that record that process are varied.

Generally speaking, the information record of human civilization includes two major parts: subjective record and objective record. The so-called subjective record means that human beings use symbols to record information about their own existence and use physical objects to retain information about their own existence. The so-called objective record is the survival information unintentionally left by human beings, such as abandoned stone tools, traces of fire, leftover animal bones, and perceptible changes to the natural environment and the species structure of its living creatures as a result of human survival.

For China, a considerable number of written symbols or writing-like drawings, patterns, and symbols already appeared during the Pre-Summer period (4,200 to 10,000 years ago). However, we are usually able to see these symbols of civilized information today only on durable carriers such as pottery, bone, jade, bronze, rocks, etc.; however, this does not mean that the ancient ancestors did not leave symbols of civilized information on other carriers, as many of the non-durable carriers may have disappeared. For example, ancient myths and legends are a kind of early human record information carrier, in China's ancient myths and legends are recorded in the Fu Xi era created a complex system of symbols (Bagua symbols), the Yellow Emperor era to create a complete system of writing (Cang Jie made words).

In the memory of the Chinese nation, there are four very famous works in China during the pre-summer period, which are known as the Three Graves, the Five Classics, the Eight Suo, and the Nine Hills. Zuo Zhuan. Zhaogong 12 years" recorded that the king of Chu Ling praised the left history Yixiang: "It is a good history, son of good vision, is able to read the "Three Graves", "Five Canons", "Eight Suo", "Nine Qiu"." In other words, in 530 B.C., Zuo Shi Yixiang of Chu was famous for being able to read and understand ancient masterpieces, but unfortunately the Zuo Zhuan did not explain the content and form of these ancient masterpieces.

The "Preface to the Book of Shangshu," which is said to have been written by Confucius, states, "The books of Fo ?m?2 (Xi), Shen Nong, and Huang Di are called the Three Graves, and they speak of the Great Way. Shao Hao, Zhuan Xu, Gao Xin, Tang (Yao), Yu (Shun) of the book, called the "five canons", the word is also the way. As for the summer, business, the book of the week, although not set up to teach incoherent, elegant enjoin Ouyi, its return to a premise, it is the treasure of the generations, as a great training. Eight gossip, called the "eight So", for its meaning. Nine states of the Zhi, called the "Nine Qiu"; Qiu, also gathered, said all the nine states, the land is born, the wind and the appropriate, are gathered in this book also."

The question is, why was the book of the Three Emperors' era called "Tomb", the book of the Five Emperors' era called "Dian", the book of Fuxi's era called "Suo", and the book of Emperor Yu's era called "The answer to the question in the Preface to the Book of Shangshu is The answer given in the Preface to the Book of the Shangshu is that "grave" means "big", "dian" means "constant", "suo" means "seek", and "qiu" means "gather". and "qiu" means to gather. Obviously, this is from the meaning of the words used above to explain, and does not involve these ancient texts used by the carrier is what material.

For quite some time, the author has accepted the statement of the Preface of Shangshu without thinking, or simply did not pursue whether this statement is reasonable or not, let alone exploring whether there are other explanations. However, with deeper reflection on semiotics (see the author's book The Mystery of Symbols, China International Broadcasting Press), especially the examination of the Shan Hai Jing since 1997, as well as thoughts on the information carrier that might have been used in the drawing of the Shan Hai Tu during the Emperor Yu era (with the aim of re-drawing the Shan Hai Jing art geographic restoration map today, a task that has already been accomplished and which includes the 42-square-meter "Emperor Yu Mountain and River Map), the author began to realize that "grave," "dian," "suo," and "qiu" may refer to different book symbol carriers.

It is well known that the orthographic form of "坟" consists of 土 (earth) and 贲 (ben), while the heterographic form consists of 土 (earth) and 文 (text). According to the Dictionary, it has various meanings: grave, the high one of the earth, the end of the water, big, smooth appearance, the appearance of the earth being loose and rising, a kind of books. Therefore, the Preface to the Book of the Shangshu interprets the character for grave in the Three Graves as big, which is rather reluctant. In the author's opinion, the word "grave" in the Three Graves actually refers to the fact that the book carriers and text carriers at that time were made of earth, which may be a kind of clay plate similar to that of the Two Rivers Basin, or it may be a pottery plate (including pottery utensils). In a broader sense, earth also includes stone, so the book of the Three Graves may also have used a stone tablet carrier. As a matter of fact, human beings have been drawing and writing on earth and stones for a long time, for example, carving directly on clay (the invention of Chinese writing was inspired by the tracks of birds and animals), drawing on caves and rocks, and writing on pebbles (this kind of stone with words is called a talking stone), while the ancient Greeks meant by hieroglyphics the holy words carved on stones by the Egyptians, and Moses' writing on Mt. Sinai from the God, the Ten Commandments, which Moses received from God, were also inscribed on stone tablets. From this perspective, the graves of Chinese characters can also be interpreted as clay tablets with writing on them.

The Chinese character "dian" has the following meanings: "routine", "code", "canon", "master", "pawn", "family name" (Tai Hao married the Shaodian Clan), and "canon" (the original refers to the books of the five emperors, but only Yao and Shun canons are known to us today). So, what was this book called "dian" really like? This can be traced back to the pictogram of the character "dian" (典). In the Chinese characters, the characters dian, ****, for, with, soldier, its, six, as well as the original orthographies of Ji, Huang, Yi and Yi, all have a **** the same symbol, i.e., two supporting dots underneath the one horizontal, the pictogram of which is a display shelf or a table with legs for displaying objects; of course, this is not an ordinary table, but a utensil used for displaying important objects, which is usually used in major ceremonies or religious sorcery rituals. religious and witchcraft ceremonies.

Thus, the original meaning of "dian" is an instrument of great significance displayed or placed on a table, which is equivalent to a bulletin board, a convention board, an oracle tablet, an instrument of statute, and a notice of code of conduct. It may be evolved from the contract, that is, the compact collection of compact large, public, solemnized, the material can be wood, bamboo, slate, may also be leather, silk (attached to hard materials). The inventor of this instrument, should be the Shaodian clan tribe. Deng's further evolution is the book, the history of Yin ancestors, "there is a book", the book is the later bamboo or wood slips, they are by Deng's continuous miniaturization, lightweight, folding, curling and the formation of the.

The meaning of the character "Suo" is: big rope, twist, method, alone, exhaustion, search, pull, desire, need, snotty appearance. However, Suo, as an instrument or information carrier, should refer to a system of symbols for knotting ropes to record events, and perhaps also include instruments carried on silk or other woven fabrics (writing and drawing on silk or weaving symbols with patterns that can convey information). Indeed, the Chinese were the first to invent sericulture and silk, and thus were in a position to use silk as a carrier of information; a similar example is that the Chinese were the first to invent the kite, thanks to the production of thin, long, light, and strong ropes, as well as light, thin, and strong silk and paper. From this point of view, the original name of Bagua, Eight Soles, is logical. The so-called "eight rope" is silk paper, which originated from the rope record and rope divination (trigrams of the meaning of the word originally refers to the measurement of time, one of the functions of the rope symbols is also time); this is the "preface to the Book of Shangshu", "the ancient king of ?s?3's king of the world, also began to draw eight trigrams, make the Book of Deeds, in order to substitute for the rule of the rope, by the book of literature from the source of the "origin.

The meaning of the word "mound" are: foo, mountain, the soil of the high (or that the four sides of the high, the center of the low for the mound), the market, the large mound, tomb, empty, large, gather, area (four euphonious for the mound). In terms of glyphs, mound refers to a topographical feature with a gentle slope. The question is, why did the character for Bing also use the character for mound? In fact, the word "Bing" is actually jin and display table several of the combined form, that is, the "jin" this weapon (jin is an axe, with the shape of the slant) displayed on the table, which is rumored to be invented by the first Chi You, the so-called "Chi for the military," i.e., the Chi tribe was the first to the weapon as the God to worship.

So, "nine mound" of the book, why choose to use the word mound to describe or refer to it? The meaning of "gathering" in the Preface to the Book of the Shangshu should be said to be somewhat justified, but not entirely. This is because qiu also has the meanings of mountain and river, region, huge, empty ruins, and a large mound (usually rich in burial goods). Interestingly, the combination of these meanings is very much like a simulated physical map, i.e., there are products symbolizing the geographic location on different simulated areas, or in today's terms, there are products displayed on the five-colored soil of the altar of the Gods of Jikji in the corresponding location. On a deeper level, the use of the word "qiu" in the Jiuqiu also indicates that the ruling power of the central government extends to all regions of the world, east, west, south, north and south.

With this in mind, the so-called "Preface to the Book of the Shangshu", which refers to the "nine states" as the "Nine Mounds"; "Mounds" is also a collection of all the states in the nine states, all the land, all the winds and the weather, all of them are gathered together in this book, which is in fact the "Classic of the Mountains and the Sea", an alternative version of the "Classic of the Five Hidden Mountains". Wuzang Shanjing", or another version of "Wuzang Shanjing". According to the author's more than twenty years of research on "Shan Hai Jing", I realized that the book "Shan Hai Jing" was compiled from "Wu Zang Shan Jing" of Emperor Yu's era, "Overseas Four Scriptures" of the Xia Dynasty, "The Great Desert Four Scriptures" of the Shang Dynasty, and "Five Scriptures of the Sea" of the Zhou Dynasty, which was compiled in the last year of the Spring and Autumn Period, and edited and rewritten by the scholars from the former Zhou royal library and archives or their descendants, who had followed the Prince Dynasty and carried Zhou's books and documents to Ch'u in 516 BCE. Moreover, "Wuzang Mountain Scripture" has the basis of geographic survey and national resources investigation, its geographic location is basically traceable, and its topography is basically in line with the landscape of China 4,200 years ago, which is the first historical treasures of Chinese civilization and culture, and is also the cultural heritage of human civilization*** with the human civilization.

Therefore, "Nine Hills" is a physical map geography book, which is laid flat on a holy ground (no need for table or stand), somewhat like today's model sand table, or perhaps a huge painting, painted with five districts of the nine states of the mountains, rivers, landforms and products, as well as humanistic landscapes there. Perhaps it is the heart of the heart, on September 9, 1999, the author and his wife Sun Xiaoqin spent many years, and finally created a 42 square meters of giant painting "Di Yu Mountains and Rivers Map", will be recorded in the "Wuzang Mountain Scripture" of the five regions of the East, West, South, North and Central 447 mountains, as well as 258 rivers, 348 places, minerals 673, plants 525, animals 473 (many of them) Many of the magical animals are dressed by people), 95 scenes of human activities and so on all painted. For this reason, the author was pleased to write a poem saying, "The floodwaters receded after the completion of the work, and Emperor Yu set up the nine states, surveying both at home and abroad, and collecting all the maps of the ancient times." If the spirit of Dayu, when the shock map come back out carry on!

In summary, it can be seen that the "three graves", "five canonical", "eight Su", "Nine Qiu" is indeed the oldest canonical books of the Chinese nation, inheritance of traditional Chinese culture, it is necessary to start from the source, carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture, it is necessary to start from a little bit by little bit, it is the text.

Zuo Zhuan "Zhaogong twelve years, the king of Chu praised the left Shi Yi said:

It is a good history. In the good vision, is able to read the three graves, five canon, eight Suo, nine Qiu.

What is the three graves and five canons, the later generations argued. Jia Kui of the Eastern Han Dynasty said that the three graves are the books of the three kings. Ma Rong said: the three graves are the three qi; yin and yang began to produce the three qi of heaven, earth and man. Zhang Heng said, "The three graves are the three rites. The rituals are the "great defense", and the tombs are also the "great defense". The "Great Defense" is the fundamental principle and the main boundary of today's world. Zheng Xuan, a student of Ma Rong, thought that the three graves and five canons were the books of the three kings and five emperors, according to the Rites of Zhou, which said that the external history was in charge of the books of the three kings and five emperors. But who are the Three Emperors? Again, there are many different opinions. Zheng Xuan said it is the Foqi, Nuwa, Shennong, some say it is Foqi, Suiren, Shennong, some say it is Foqi, Zhu Rong, Shennong, some say it is the Emperor of Heaven, the Emperor of the Earth, the Emperor of Man. But it is not clear who the Emperor of Heaven, the Emperor of Earth, and the Emperor of Man are. The Three Graves and Five Canons are the oldest books in China, long lost. The original meaning of grave is a tall mound of earth, not that the grave of a dead person is a grave. When a person died and was buried in a place, he had to make a mark to prevent him from coming back to sweep the grave later and not being able to find it, so he piled a mound of earth on the ground and called it a grave, but this is not the original meaning of grave.

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