What are the contents and ideas of the Zhou Yi, which was regarded as a universal classic in ancient times?

It is generally believed that the I Ching is a book of divination, a collection of divination records. It is a collection of divination records. It was created by a group of sorcerers and diviners at the time of the Yin and Zhou dynasties, based on the divination data accumulated over the generations, together with the natural and social knowledge of the people at that time, and was gradually revised, summarized, and organized. The I Ching was produced at a time when the level of social production and scientific knowledge was low. It was a reflection of people's understanding of natural phenomena and of the relationship between human beings and nature in the form of Wiccan theology, and contained the germ of atheistic thought in an idealistic theological system. If the evaluation of the Yi Chuan is higher, it is generally considered to contain elements of simple dialectics, and is considered to be the two major sources of dialectical thought in our tradition, along with Laozi.

Zhu Xi of the Song Dynasty, in the preface to the book Zhouyi Benyi, had a high opinion of Zhouyi: To the extent that it is easy, its way to the great and all-encompassing, and its use to the divine and all-existing, in modern language, that is to say, it encompasses all the rules of the universe, and can be applied to all sorts of situations. As the "Siku quanquan general summary - Yi class small preface" said, "Yi" Dao text vast, nothing not a package, beside astronomy, geography, music, law, military, rhyme, arithmetic, to catch the fire outside of the square, all can aid the "Yi" to say, and the good and different people to the "Yi", so the "Yi" said more and more complicated. Therefore, in ancient times, some people regarded it as a sacred all-encompassing universal classics.

1, "Zhouyi" scripture contains a wealth of simple dialectical point of view

"Zhouyi" part of the ancient scriptures, the original book of divination, which all the trigrams and lines is the first people in the occupation of the event, combined with the hexagrams to choose the effectiveness of the typical example of the trigrams and their lines of a specific interpretation. Its role is only to play to the descendants when the occupation of a reference, touching the reference. But these hexagrams, but also reveals the ancestors for nature, society, the attributes of things and the development of the law of knowledge, so we analyze these hexagrams today through the hexagrams, you can roughly see the hexagrams contained in the dialectical point of view. First of all, the I Ching reveals about the phenomenon of contradictory opposites. The basic symbols of the Zhouyi, yang line one and yin line -, are forms of contradictory opposites. With three lines overlap up to form a different eight symbols a ~ gossip, is the form of four contradictory opposites, regardless of the trigram shape, symbolic text, as well as the basic symbolism are opposing pairs.

The 64 hexagrams are also thirty-two opposing forms. In the hexagram lines, there are many reflections of nature and social life in the phenomenon of contradictions and opposites. For example, it is not clear, obscure. The first ascending in the sky, and then into the ground. The withered poplar is born, the old woman gets her husband, no blame, no honor. When a man does not lose or gain, he has no blame and is chaste and fortunate. The fruit is not eaten, the gentleman gets the carriage, the small man strips the hut. These hexagram lines, Ming - obscure, wither a Hua, loss a benefit, gentleman a small man, are the phenomenon of opposites and contradictions. Secondly, "Zhou Yi" scriptures, reflecting the concept of movement and change. Zhouyi" Yi, is about change, that is, recognizes that things are developing and changing, for example, the first hexagrams of the 64 hexagrams, "Qian" hexagrams, set up a metaphor for the dragon, the dragon from the latent to the present, ', from the leap to the fly, symbolizing the process of development and change of things. The use of the idea of change to observe the development of things, is a simple dialectical view of development. Third, "Zhouyi" scriptures, also contains the concept of contradiction and transformation. Such as "kan" nine five lines said: kan not surplus, both flat. Tai" nine three lines say: no flat, no unevenness, no return. Can a surplus, only a flat, flat, a Pei, to a repeat, reveals that opposing contradictions can be transformed into each other, showing the primitive dialectical thinking. In addition, the Zhouyi scriptures also reveal ideas about continuous development and ascent. The authors of Zhouyi, based on the concept of contradictory changes, saw that things develop from lower to higher levels and upward. For example, the "gradual" hexagram, the metaphor of Hong, from low to high, gradually rising development, although in various periods of time have their different changes, but the general trend is upward movement, not backward movement.

2, "Zhouyi" scriptures reflect the social situation

"Zhouyi" scripture content, covering a wide range of roughly recorded the end of Yin and the early weeks of the social life, which has the rituals, war, production, commerce, marriage, drought and floods, and so on. It reflects both the economic fishing and hunting, animal husbandry, farming and handicrafts, as well as the political oppression and exploitation of slave owners and the resistance and struggle of slaves at that time, and the wars that took place as a result of invasion, plundering and counter-invasion and counter-plundering. Therefore, the Zhouyi scriptures are an extremely valuable source of information for the study of ancient history.

The Zhou Yi scriptures reflect the socio-political situation of the time. (1) the reflection of the concept of hierarchy; (2) the reflection of the idea of the divine right of kings; (3) the reflection of the suppression of slaves by slave masters; and (4) the reflection about war.

There are many articles in the scriptures of Zhouyi that reflect the socio-economic situation of the Yin and Zhou dynasties. At that time, there were records of fishing and hunting, animal husbandry, as well as farming and industrial and commercial activities. In addition, the scriptures of the Zhou Yi also describe a number of tools, such as bows and vectors used for fishing and hunting, transportation tools such as wagons pulled by oxen, and a number of famous items such as clothing and footwear for the palace. It can be seen that at that time there were people specializing in the manufacture of these utensils, that is to say, the handicraft industry has also developed.