What is the spatial distribution of the twelve earthly branches?
There are three spatial distribution patterns of earthly branches, one is Jiugong distribution, and the other is Sunday distribution. These two are the spatial distribution of the twelve earthly branches themselves. The third is the twenty-four mountain map composed of earthly branches, heavenly stems and eight diagrams.
Jiugong distribution
Let's look at the distribution of the twelve branches in Nine palace map.
In the distribution of the Nine Palaces, the meridian You Mao is located in the north, south, east and west directions respectively, which corresponds to the four regular hexagrams of Kans, Truth, Rationality and Dui in the Eight Diagrams. There are two branches in each palace in the four corners, and the ugly yin in the northeast corresponds to divination; Southeast is Chen and Si, corresponding to hexagrams; There is no peace in the southwest, corresponding to Kun gua; The northwest is empty and sea, corresponding to dry divination. Thus, the corresponding relationship between the twelve earthly branches and the eight diagrams and eight directions is established.
Distribution of jiugong earthly branches
Sunday distribution
In the Sunday distribution, we divide the 360-degree circle into twelve equal parts, and the twelve earthly branches are evenly distributed on the circle in order, and each earthly branch occupies a space with a 30-degree angle. Among them, Zi is in the north, Ugly is in the northeast, Yin is in the east, Chen is in the southeast, always in the southeast, Noon is in the south, not in the southwest, Shen is in the southwest, You is in the west, Xu is in the northwest, and Hai is in the northwest.
The diurnal distribution of earthly branches
It can be seen that the Sunday distribution map is basically similar to the Jiugong distribution map, except that the outer eight squares are replaced by twelve squares in the Jiugong of Luoshu, and the locations of the branches are the same, especially in these two distribution maps, the meridian and meridian are in the four positive directions of north, south, east and west.
The relationship between the twelve branches of the earth mentioned earlier has actually been completed on this Sunday distribution map.
For example, on the Sunday map, we divide the twelve earthly branches into six groups, and the two earthly branches in each group are opposite by the center of the circle, such as Meridian, Ugly, Shen Yin, You Mao, Chen Xu and Hayes. This is the relationship between six reds.
Let's look at the Liuhe relationship again, connecting the midpoint of Zi Ugly with the midpoint at noon, and then connecting the two symmetrical earthly branches on both sides of this dividing line, namely Zi Ugly, Yin Hai and Mao. The six groups of earthly branches are the six-in-one relationship among the twelve earthly branches, and their connecting lines are perpendicular to the noon branch of Zi Chou.
Then we connect the midpoint between Mao and Chen and the midpoint between Unitary and Xu, and then connect the two symmetrical branches on both sides of this dividing line, Mao and Chen, Yin and Chen, Ugliness and Noon, and Zi are not connected. Six groups of branches are the six harmful relationships among the twelve branches, and their connecting lines are perpendicular to the dividing line of Mao, Chen and Xu.
There is also the trinity relationship between the earthly branches and the trinity relationship, which can be reflected and shown in this Sunday distribution map. So the Sunday map is a very practical tool.
In addition, the distribution map of the twelve branches is not only a spatial distribution map, but also a time distribution map. We know that the sundial is a disk of the twelve branches, and the twelve hours of a day are marked by the distribution map of the twelve branches.
Time attribute of the distribution of earthly branches in sundial
Therefore, the Sunday distribution map can be regarded as a holographic model of time and space, expressing the concept of integration of time and space in the Book of Changes.
Twenty-four mountain maps
The important application of earthly branches in azimuth is the map of twenty-four mountains.
The Book of Changes is a knowledge about time and position (that is, time and position). Position is an important parameter of space and has important applications in daily life and the Book of Changes theory. The purpose of I ching prediction is to choose an auspicious time and location, so that you can be in the right place at the right time. Therefore, how to divide the spatial orientation is also an important topic in the application of the Book of Changes.
In our daily life, we often use four images of east, south, west and north to express the plane orientation. However, in the four-image division method, each direction has a range of 90 degrees, and the division is not fine enough, which leads to a large error range in practical application and can not accurately locate. For this reason, people use the dichotomy of Yin and Yang to divide the four elephants into eight directions, adding four new directions: southeast, northeast, southwest and northwest. Each direction corresponds to three directions, eight directions are represented by gossip, and the range of each direction is limited to 45 degrees, that is, the obtained gossip orientation map.
The acquired gossip map is what we usually call an all-round concept. All directions refer to the southeast and northwest, represented by four elephants or four beasts, namely Qinglong, White Tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu. All directions are eight diagrams, and four regular hexagrams and four images coincide, which means that all directions are included in eight directions.
However, in practical application, the obtained gossip orientation map still can't meet the needs. So people deduced the distribution map of twelve earthly branches, and divided the 360-degree circle into 12 directions with twelve earthly branches, each direction corresponds to one earthly branch, and the range of each direction is limited within 30 degrees.
However, people think that 30-degree angle is not fine enough. Therefore, the ancients continued to use the yin-yang dichotomy to transform the distribution map of the twelve earthly branches, and divided the 360-degree circle from twelve equal parts into twenty-four equal parts, each with an angle of 15 degrees.
In this way, we divide the spatial orientation from 360 degrees, 90 degrees, 45 degrees and 30 degrees to 15 degrees step by step, and divide the space more and more finely.
The twenty-four directions thus divided are called twenty-four mountain directions, which are represented by eight heavenly stems (Wuji is Middle Earth, so it is abandoned), twelve earthly branches and four hexagrams of stems, roots, Xun and Kun.
Twenty-four mountain maps
The orientation of the Twenty-four Mountains is the main information on the geomantic compass, which is used for geomantic positioning. This is the main content of practical gossip put forward by Mr Shao Yong.
In fact, the map of the Twenty-four Mountains involves another expression of the Nine Palaces of Luo Shu. The nine palaces of Luo Shu that we introduced before are all drawn into a square, and then this square is divided into three rows and three columns of nine palaces. In fact, the nine palaces of Luoshu can also be drawn as two concentric circles. Draw four straight lines from the center of the concentric circles and divide them into eight equal parts. The angle between two adjacent ones is 45 degrees, so that the inner circle is the middle palace of Luoshu, and the eight parts between the inner and outer circles are the outer eight palaces of Luoshu.
Twenty-four mountain ranges are to further divide the eight palaces into three equal parts and get twenty-four palace grids, that is, twenty-four mountain ranges.
In essence, the map of Twenty-four Mountains is not only a variant of the nine-palace distribution map of the twelve earthly branches, but also a variant of the daily distribution map of the twelve earthly branches, which is a high unity of the nine-palace distribution and the Sunday distribution. This is because twenty-four is the least common multiple of eight and twelve, so four images, eight diagrams and twelve earthly branches can be unified.
In the orientation map of the Twenty-four Mountains, clockwise rotation starts from the north. The orientation of these Twenty-four Mountains is Ren, Zi and Gui in the north, Ugly, Gen and Yin in the northeast, A, Mao and B in the east, Chen, Xun and Si in the southeast, C, Wu and Ding in the south, Wei, Kun and Shen in the southwest and Geng in the west.
The direction of the Twenty-four Mountains consists of three groups of symbols * * * of heavenly stems and earthly branches Eight Diagrams. Many people may feel confused and can't remember the order and position of each branch and gossip. Actually, it's easy to remember, as long as you find the pattern.
This rule is that in this concentric circle of Luo Shu Nine palace map, there are eight squares with four squares, four squares are full of two branches and one branch, and four corners are full of two sticks and one hexagram, one of which is located in the middle of the eight squares, and the other two branches or branches are arranged on its left and right sides respectively.
For example, in the main palace in the south, there are three lunches, two of which are dry, and the two are arranged on both sides of the lunch branch respectively; The palace in the northwest corner is the dry sea, which is two hexagrams, and the dry sea is on both sides of the dry sea. The layout of the other six hospitals can be compared.
The rule that there are two branches in the main palace and one branch in the corner of Gong Er is easy to remember.
From another point of view, any two adjacent earthly branches are separated by a heavenly stem or a hexagram, four hexagrams are located in the middle of four corners, meridian is located in the middle of four squares in southeast and northwest, and eight heavenly stems are located in four squares in southeast and northwest according to five elements, which are arranged on both sides of meridian in turn. In this way, we can remember the distribution of branches and gossip in the twenty-four mountains
In addition to this map of twenty-four mountains, there are many tools in the Book of Changes to describe the spatial and azimuth distribution. For example, 60 jiazi can form a Sunday distribution map, and divide a 360-degree circle into 60 parts, each part accounting for 6 degrees. There are also the sixty-four hexagrams and the partial map of the celestial circle, in which the celestial circle divides the 360-degree circle into 64 parts, each part accounting for 5.625 degrees. On some geomantic compasses, the space is divided into 384 equal parts, corresponding to 384 hexagrams, each equal part is only 0.9375 degrees, which is more detailed.
However, in any case, the nine palaces of Luoshu, the twelve earthly branches and the twenty-four mountain directions are the core contents of spatial and azimuth distribution.