The Wisdom of the I Ching—The Gate of Changes in the Universe 5 (Professor Zeng Shiqiang)
When we open the Book of Changes, we will first see the two hexagrams Qian and Kun
These two completely opposite hexagrams are called "wrong hexagrams" in the "Book of Changes". The two hexagrams intersect with each other. There is only one kind of phenomenon. The universe appears at the same time. We call it "the creation of the world".
There are two forces in "creating the world", one is creation and the other is evolution. Evolution requires full cooperation based on creation, so the Qian hexagram represents the force of creation, and the Kun hexagram represents the force of creation that needs to be implemented, adapted, and continuously evolved. , so we often say that "Qian Kun Pairing" can be applied to many places.
The Chinese say that "nothing is not a ritual", so we can say that there are only three types of sixty-four hexagrams, one is pure yang called Qian hexagram, one is pure yin called Kun hexagram, and the other is There is yin and yang. Therefore, in terms of quantity, there is only one hexagram for Qian and only one hexagram for Kun. The combination of Yin and Yang Qian and Kun will produce sixty-two hexagrams. But in terms of value, each accounts for one-third, and the two hexagrams of Qian and Kun account for two-thirds, so we say "the gate of Qian and Kun Yi".
Qiankun is the door of Yi Xue. Because this door is too big, it has two doors, one is called Earth (Kun) and the other is called Heaven (Qian). When the two doors are opened at the same time, All sixty-two hexagrams are presented clearly, which is called the universe.
The father rules the daughter
Why do Chinese people attach so much importance to family relationships? The "Book of Changes" tells us that the Bagua is a big family, in which the Qian hexagram is "father" and the Kun hexagram is "mother" ", all the three hexagrams related to the Qian hexagram are daughters, while the three hexagrams related to the Kun hexagram are all sons. You say it's strange or not? There's nothing strange about it. I look at it this way. Most daughters look like their fathers. What's the point? If daughters look like mothers and sons look like fathers, then men and women are divided into two types. One is more and more similar. The more masculine it is, it is called a male human being, and the one that is more and more feminine is called a female human being. Because everything produced by the universe is intertwined, we can see that the three lines of the Qian hexagram are all very masculine, and the lowest one is That line is the first to appear, so when the bottom line becomes the Yin line, it is Xunfeng (the eldest daughter). Have you ever seen a family with a daughter? What are the benefits of this family? She is relatively docile, because her little daughter is very cute and everyone likes her, so she brings a docile atmosphere. If there is only one child in the family, then it is equally good to have a boy or a girl. If there are more than two children in the family, then everyone will prefer the eldest child to be a daughter. The second line in the Qian hexagram becomes the Yin line, which is Lihuo (the middle girl). The Li hexagram brings about a very beautiful scene. The eldest son is called Qian Jin when he is born. After the second son is born, a fairy comes and appears in the family. Three women, Li Gua also gives us some problems, and there are disagreements here. When the third daughter appears, the upper line of Qian Gua becomes the Yin Yao, which is Duize (girl), which is Dui Gua. , Dui Gua means, you don’t want to be unhappy, you want to be very happy. What does having an extra daughter matter? In fact, as you know, there are already many problems in your heart at this time. A man wanted to have a son, but he gave birth to six girls, all of whom were girls. He thought that the seventh one should be a son, but the seventh one was also a daughter. We do not agree with this kind of treatment of men and women.
The mother rules the son
In our Chinese concept, we always feel that if you have a son, he will give you a shock, so we look at the bottom of the Kun hexagram After the Yin Yao became Yang Yao, it became Zhenlei (the eldest son). If this person's surname is Wang and his name is Wang Zhen, you will know that this person is the son of the eldest son, otherwise he would not be called this name. After the second line of the Kun hexagram becomes the Yang line, it is Kanshui (the second son). Why is it the Kan hexagram? Everyone knows very well. The boss and the second brother often have different opinions. The more he is not convinced, the more the family members In a well-off family, the eldest and second eldest brother are more likely to be at odds with each other. When the eldest son comes, he is shocked, and when the second son comes, he tells everyone to be in harmony. If the family is not harmonious, the brothers will fight against each other.
The upper line of the Kun hexagram becomes the Yang line and becomes Genshan (young son). The Gen hexagram has several meanings. One means that your family is enough if you have three men. Don’t have any more. The second means that if you have three men, If the family stops now, your family needs to make a plan on how to make it a team instead of an obstacle.
The great wisdom in the changing universe
In the "Book of Changes", the changing of the universe tells us that the variables of many things are still very few, and the constants are still the majority. The innovation and change we are talking about now actually requires us to think about it carefully.
The three-character hexagram in the "Book of Changes" refers to heaven, man, and earth. Then it becomes the six-character hexagram and tells us that there are yin and yang in heaven, man, and earth.
So the bottom two lines are called the "authentic way" and the two middle lines are called the "human way" and the upper two lines are called the "heaven way".
The way of heaven talks about yin and yang, the way of humanity talks about benevolence and righteousness, and the way of earth talks about hardness and softness. Let's take a look at the true hardness and softness. Hardness is in the first line, and softness is in the top line. Why? Because the more you dig the ground, the harder it becomes or the more you dig it the softer it gets? If the top is hard and the bottom is getting softer, it will be too dangerous. Then when you build a tall building, it will collapse. What about that person? Should people put justice first or benevolence first? People must base themselves on righteousness. If you speak and act reasonably, being reasonable means meeting the requirements of righteousness. Only then can you prove that your heart is kind and loving. Oh my God, Chinese people always talk about yin and yang but never yang and yin. What's the point? If you look at the yin, it goes down, and the yin qi goes down. If you look at the air conditioner, you will know that the air conditioner goes down, but the hot air rises upward. When yin goes down and yang goes up, only yin and yang can communicate.
How to deal with changes in life
We can divide a heavy hexagram, that is, the six-painted hexagram, into two sections, because it is inherently divided into two sections, and any heavy hexagram is By overlapping it with two single hexagrams, it changes from three paintings to six paintings.
The hexagram below represents matter, and the hexagram above represents energy. You can see that the upper body of a person is energy, and the lower body is matter. Any hexagram with six lines represents six positions. , during this time period, we divide it into six stages and give it six different levels. Each level is called a Yao.
Even numbers are yin and odd numbers are yang. The three Yang lines of 1, 3, and 5 are better, so they are called in position. These three lines are also more reassuring.
The three positions 2, 4, and 6 are Yin positions. If the Yin position uses Yang Yao, it is called improper position. Let us make it clear.
If 1, 3, and 5 are yang lines, they are in place. If they are yin lines, they are out of place. If 2, 4, and 6 are yin lines, they are in place. If they are yang lines, they are out of place. of.
Now we know clearly that among the sixty-four hexagrams, there is only one hexagram in charge, and that is the Jiji hexagram. Jiji hexagram is the sixty-third hexagram in the Book of Changes.
There is one hexagram that is completely inappropriate, and that is the sixty-fourth hexagram, the Weiji hexagram. Weiji means it has not been completed yet. The first line should be yang, so it is yin, the second line should be yin, but it is yang, and so on. There is no one in charge, so there is no relief.
The "Book of Changes" tells us not to just look at the present, but to know the changes in the future. Whether you are good or not has already been decided. There is no point in complaining. You have to find a way to make it better. This is what matters.
The wisdom contained in the hexagrams and lines
Each hexagram has six lines, and we give it six levels, indicating changes in different stages. Let’s talk about the general rules first, because this is common to every hexagram. The first line and the next line are paired together, which is called having a beginning and an end. "It's hard to know at the beginning, but it's easy to know at the top." Because when something just begins, we don't know its direction and context. When things develop to the last stage, we don't know. It's easy to find out. For young children, you should not conclude that they are useless at first glance, because they are still developing. Often when they are young, older children may not be better. In other cases, the opposite is true. The second line and the fifth line are also relative, with two more praises and five more merits. Have you noticed that when we Chinese people have a meeting, they will say that we can do so well because of his good leadership? We are used to giving credit to the leader, and we will not compete with the leader for credit.
A factory director is likely to praise people on the construction site, but may rarely praise managers, section chiefs, etc. We can easily see a problem now. Our standards of right and wrong have been messed up. We regard what is right as wrong, scold and laugh at him all the time, and we regard what is wrong as right. You see, it is not bad. As long as one person stands up today and says that he has received the instructions from his superiors, everyone will laugh at him. You are flattering, what is there to say about flattering? You have great abilities without a superior leader. Come and try it. Because you give him the credit, I know you have me in your heart. The fundamental reason is that you have me in your heart. Then I will I can praise you with confidence. If you think this matter is the result of your own ability, your own ability, and the hard work you have put in, then just give it a try. I won’t do it for you next time. I won’t do it for you this time. I won’t praise you or praise you. Go and see if that’s the case. Three and four are the most troublesome. Three is more inauspicious and four is more fearful. Three and four are neither up nor down. You have to be careful about three, because when you look at the lower hexagram, it has developed to the top of a hexagram, and things will turn to the extreme. , a big change will occur soon, and the fourth hexagram is the beginning of the hexagram. You don’t know whether this change will go smoothly.
As the "No. 1 hexagram in the world", Qian hexagram has too much wisdom that affects us Chinese people. We need to analyze each line of Qian hexagram carefully. In the next chapter, we will talk about the six dragons of Qian hexagram. Qian Gua represents six dragons, how should it take reasonable actions.