The composition of "Zhou Yi".

[Mr. Ziye Post at 2007.10.18 22:56]

"Zhou Yi" is said to be the end of the Yin Shang Dynasty, Xibo Hou Ji Chang, that is, the later King Wen of Zhou in prison, according to the changes of the times at that time, the changes in the social structure, the "Lianshan Yi", "Gui Zang Yi" further deduction and arrangement.

The book is divided into two parts, the upper and the lower, which are composed of hexagrams, hexagrams, hexagrams, and epigrams. There are 32 hexagrams in the upper meridian and 30 hexagrams in the lower meridian. There are 64 hexagrams in total.

The original "Sutra" and "Biography" of "Zhou Yi" were all popular in single books. It is said that in the later Eastern Han Dynasty, the scholar Zheng Xuancai combined the "Biography" and "Xiang Chuan" with the scriptures into one book. It wasn't until the scholar Wang Bi further split the "Biography" and "Xiang Chuan" and so on and attached them to the hexagram that the current popular version of "Zhou Yi" was formed.

Each of the 64 hexagrams is made up of eight sutra hexagrams overlapping each other. Each hexagram has four parts: hexagram image, hexagram name, hexagram title, hexagram and hexagram. Take the "Qian" hexagram as an example, that is:

Dry is the sky, dry up and down

Qian: Yuan, Heng, Li, Zhen.

Ninth day of the first month: Hidden dragon, don't use it.

Ninety-two: See Long Zaitian, and see Lord Li.

Ninety-three: The gentleman is dry all day long, and he is not to blame.

Ninety-four: Or jump in the abyss, no blame.

Ninety-five: The flying dragon is in the sky, and it is good to see the adult.

Shangjiu: Kang Long has regrets.

Use nine: See the group of dragons without a head, Ji.

This "dry up and dry down" is not only a hexagram, but also a hexagram that is formed by overlapping each other. "Qian" is not only a hexagram name, but also "Qian" is the sky. Qian: Yuan, Heng, Li, Zhen. It is a hexagram and a general idea of the whole hexagram. "Ninth day of the first month: Hidden Dragon, don't use it. "And so on is a proverb, describing the development of things. The rest of the hexagrams are so on.

Because the "Zhou Yi" was written earlier. What kind of book is "Zhou Yi", later generations of scholars also have different opinions and disagreement. Then in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were some works that interpreted the scriptures of the Book of Changes, and the most widely circulated was the later "Ten Wings", that is, the "Book of Changes".

The "Ten Wings" are ten exegetical biographies, but in reality she has only seven Biographyes. These seven "Biography" are said to have been written by Confucius and his protégés, but later generations also believed that they were pseudonymous saints. We won't go into too much detail here.

These seven kinds of ten texts are: two in the first and second parts of the "Dictionaries", two in the upper and lower parts of the "Yi", one in the upper and lower parts of the "Xiang", and one each in the "Wenyan", "Saying Hexagrams", "Preface Hexagrams", and "Miscellaneous Hexagrams". Each article has its own meaning:

The two articles of "Dictionaries" mainly describe why the sage founded the "Bagua" Yixue doctrine, as well as the worldview and methodology of Yixue. At the same time, he also gave some examples from the I Ching to illustrate these worldviews, methodologies, and explained how to use the knowledge of Yi Xue to guide our daily practice.

The upper and lower parts of the biography of "Yi": mainly talk about the use of hexagrams and their temperament, etc., and explain the hexagram name, hexagram words and their meanings of a six-painting hexagram in general, and explain its state and significance.

The upper and lower parts of the biography of "Xiang" describe the meaning of the hexagram according to the hexagram of the two sutra hexagrams that make up the six painting hexagrams, and explain the meaning of the obtained words with the image.

"Wenyan" biography: The meaning of "Qiankun Yi contains evil" is used to explain the meaning and law of the two hexagrams of Qiankun.

"Saying Hexagrams" Biography: Because any of the 64 hexagrams is composed of two sutra hexagrams. Therefore, to understand the imagery contained in any hexagram, it is necessary to understand the abstract and concrete representation of the imagery of each of the sutra hexagrams that make up the hexagram. And "Hexagrams" says this.

Biography of the Preface Hexagram: The Preface is an explanation of the order of the 64 hexagrams in the Book of Changes. Regarding the hexagram order, most of the versions are now the same. And perhaps for historical reasons, we only see that the silk book "I Ching" unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha is different from the current version. The commentary of the "Prologue" is aimed at the popular version of the "Book of Changes".

Biography of "Miscellaneous Hexagrams": The commentary of "Miscellaneous Hexagrams" is an unordered and miscellaneous interpretation of the hexagrams of the sixty-four hexagrams. Han Kangbo of the Jin Dynasty said: "Those who are miscellaneous hexagrams are mixed with many hexagrams, and their meanings are intricate. Or in the same phase, or in a different phase. ”

Learning Yixue is not for the purpose of rote memorization of hexagrams and scriptures, but for the purpose of memorizing the content of these scriptures and phrases, so that we can profoundly learn the thoughts, logical processes and ways of thinking of each hexagram in the Book of Changes.

This is just as Shao Yong, a master of Yi studies in the Song Dynasty, said in the outer chapter of the book "Huang Ji Jingshi": "Those who know easy do not need to quote and explain, it is for the sake of knowing easy." Mencius's words have not been easy, and they have been easy in the meantime. But those who see it have a fresh ear. People can use it easily, it is easy to know. ”

The author pressed, referred to and supplemented "Zhou Yi Introduction"