What is the art of Kanyu?
Judging from relevant historical facts, the art of divination was very popular in the Han Dynasty, and its main content was divination of good and bad luck in the day and the timing, which was mostly nonsense superstition. In this regard, knowledgeable people at the time criticized or criticized it. For example, Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty once pointed out in his "Lunheng · Ridiculing the Sun" that "the Kanyu Calendar," which was popular in the world at that time, states that all the gods in the calendar are not the same. The saints did not speak about it and the disciples did not pass it on, so it is almost without truth."
In the late Han Dynasty, Yingdong's "Customs of Customs" mentioned that at that time, "Kanyu" said: "There must be a struggle when meeting guests at Shangshuo." Yingzhu refuted the absurdity of this theory with facts: "According to this, Liu Junyang was the pastor of Nanyang. "Zhang Shuosheng wrote, "There is no one who fights."
In the Three Kingdoms period, Zhang Yan of the Wei Dynasty once explained: "Kanyu, the general name of heaven and earth" was quoted in Yan Shigu's "Hanshu". "Ode to Ganquan" in "The Biography of Yang Xiong" also contains the "kanyu" sentence in Yang Xiong's "Ode to Ganquan" in "Selected Works" quoted by Li Shan. This theory is slightly different from Xu Shen's statement that Kanyu is the way of heaven and earth.
Looking at Huainanzi, Ganquan Fu, Ri Zhe Zhuan, Kanyu Golden Plaque, and the Book of the Later Han· It is also reasonable to interpret Kanyu's words mentioned in "Wang Jingzhuan" and "Kanyu" mentioned by Zheng Xuan, Wang Chong, Ying Shao and others.
The meaning of the word "Kanyu" is directly related to Xiangdu Fengshui. As far as we know, it first came from Meng Kang, a native of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. It was once said: "Kanyu, the name of the god, was the one who created "Tu Zhai Shu"." It can be seen in the quotation of "Kanyu" in "Ganquan Fu" in Yan Shi's ancient annotation "Han Shu·Yang Xiong Biography".
Yan Shigu compared the theories of Zhang Yan and Meng Kang, and once commented: "Zhang's theory is correct." It is not clear where Meng Kang's theory was quoted from, but research on Feng Shui books in the Han Dynasty found that there are indeed "Tu Zhai Shu" or "Tu Zhai Shu". See Wang Chong's "Lunheng·Jie Shu Chapter" for citations, and refer to the Tang Dynasty. According to detailed textual research by Lu Cai, Jia Gongyan and others, it can be seen that Meng Kang's theory was actually accepted by the public when it came out in the Han Dynasty, and it was not Meng Kang's fabrication out of thin air.
The "Old Book of Tang: Biography of Lu Cai" records that in the early Tang Dynasty, Lu Caiqin followed the orders of the great emperor of the Tang Dynasty and published and corrected the Feng Shui books passed down from generation to generation, "cutting off the superficial and vulgar, and preserving the useful ones."
Lü Cai described various Feng Shui books as "mostly based on allusions and allusions", and often criticized those that were false, misleading and unfounded. He narrates the "Zhao Jing" and says: "As for modern wizards, there is also a theory of five surnames. People with five surnames, such as Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng, Yu, etc., all things in the world are assigned to them, and their actions are good and bad, and they are based on this." "However" is not said in the classics. There is no such statement in the books of Yin and Yang. It is simply an oral tradition and has no source. Only according to the "Kanyu Jing", the Yellow Emperor has five surnames for Tianlao. Said "", and cited examples to demonstrate, saying that the theory of the five surnames "does not follow the ancient times, and the principles are eccentric".
Lu Cai’s so-called theory of five surnames from Kanyu Jing, that is, the theory of surnames with five tones of Li, was discussed in Wang Chong’s Lunheng·Jie Shu Chapter of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which came from Tu Zhai Shu at that time. Said to have been vigorously criticized. According to Wang Chongyin: "Tuzhai Shu" says: There are eight skills in the house, and they are numbered according to the name of Liujia. The names are determined by the names, and the palace merchants are different. The house has five tones, and the surname has five tones. The house is not suitable for its surname. The surname is related to the house and the thief (note: thief, that is, g) predicts illness, death, crime, and misfortune." Also cited: "Tuzhaishu" says: The door of a businessman should not be oriented south, and the door of a levy family should not be oriented north. Then the qi of the five elements are incompatible with each other. Therefore, if the door of a house with five surnames has a suitable direction, if it is suitable for the direction, it will be prosperous and prosperous; if it is not suitable for the direction, it will be poor and degenerate." It can be seen that the "Kanyu Jing" written in the Tang Dynasty was inherited from the "Tu Zhai Shu" of the Han Dynasty, which is very obvious.
In addition to Lu Cai, Jia Gongyan of the Tang Dynasty commented on Zheng Xuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty's annotation of "Zhou Li". It was said that there was a lost book of "Kanyu" before the Han Dynasty, and later generations also wrote "Kanyu". He once said: "The ancient Yellow Emperor At that time, Kanyu died, so his book died." He also commented on Zheng Xuan's annotation of "the meeting of heaven and earth, Jian, and the sun and Chen where Yan is located", saying: "Jian, it is said to be built by the handle of the bucket, it is said to be built by Yang, so the left is returned to the sky; Yan, it is said to be the time before the day, it is said The yin is built, so the right is in the sky. Therefore, "Kanyu" Tianlao said: In the first month of the false order, the yang is built in Yin, and the yin is built in Xu, the sun is based on the (heaven) stem, and the chen is based on the (earth) branch." . He also quoted from "Wen Zhan Meng Annotation": "According to "Kanyu" Huang Di Wen Tian Lao Shi said: In April, Yang was built in the past and was broken in Hai; Yin was built in Wei and was broken in Gui... Today's Eighth Meeting is his legacy. Yes. According to "Kanyu", there are eight groups in the general assembly, and there are also people in the small assembly. From Jia Gongyan's quotation, we can know the art of Kanyu and Shang Zongzhan's theory of "building and removing the twelve chen".
Twelve Chen means that the sky is divided into twelve equal parts by coordinating the earthly branches (Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai) into twelve equal parts. On the contrary, there is a virtual "Tai Sui" cycle, in which the stars of the same year move in opposite directions twelve times; the handle of the Big Dipper is rotated to point to the twelve stars, and the order is called Jian, Chu, Man, Ping, Ding, Zhi, Destruction, and Crisis. , forming, closing, opening and closing, and it is attached to the theory of determining the good and bad luck of the sun and the clock, that is, the twelve clocks of Jianchu, referred to as Jianchu. In addition, it can be seen from the quotations of Jia Gongyan that Kanyu may be the name of the god who created the "Tu Zhai Shu" as Meng Kang said. Moreover, he died during the time of the Yellow Emperor, and Tianlao, an important minister of the Yellow Emperor, still knew his skills, so every "The Yellow Emperor asked Heaven about old things", later generations followed this technique and often wrote books with the title of "Kanyu". This statement cannot be found in the classics of Lu Caiji, so it is obvious that he is a divine person fabricated by the Kanyu family based on ancient times.
The Kanyu family uses the matching of stems and branches to judge the good and bad luck of the day. In fact, it has been seen in Wang Chong's "Lunheng·Jie Shu Pian" and "Tuzhai Shu" cited in "Nansui Pian" and so on. He used Liujia, that is, Jiazi, Jiayin, Jiachen, Jiawu, Jiashen, and Jiaxu, to "number and rank" the houses. He mainly discussed their good or bad luck, and was also constrained by the method of construction and destruction. He called them moving, building, and destroying houses. When getting married, etc., you must not reach Tai Sui or bear Tai Sui, that is, avoid the direction of Tai Sui to the earthly branches and the sun. Otherwise, it will be unlucky, and it will be called "Sui Xia" or "Sui Po". Wang Chong ruthlessly criticized these theories, just as he criticized Kan Yu's theory of the five-tone surname Li. The intellectuals cited by Wang Chong claimed that their theories "come from the gods of heaven and earth," and are all based on the signs of the five elements, "just to determine good or bad luck."