It took a week for Zhou Hexuan to barely finish the eight pure hexagrams. It would take at least two or three months to tell the full 64 hexagrams, and then the I Ching was just getting started.

As for the two rituals, three talents, four images, and five elements, they were all added by scholars of the past dynasties. Zhou Hexuan didn't need to bother to popularize these theories to foreigners, he even mentioned the equivalent of the preface "Yi Chuan", and if he really wanted to talk about it, the preface alone was enough for Pound to learn for a month.

The original naked "I Ching" does not even have a Tai Chi Pisces diagram, which was invented by the Song Dynasty.

Unlike those who pursue immortal fortune-telling, Zhou Hexuan Chunsha treats the Book of Changes as a philosophical book. "Analects" can be put in, "Mencius" can be put in, "Laozi" can be put in, "Zhuangzi" can also be put in, and even Wang Yangming's mind can find the answer in "I Ching".

Therefore, the I Ching is the source of Chinese culture, and it has been imprinted in the depths of the soul of the Chinese. From the pre-Qin era to the Republic of China, from the national legal system to the personal clothing, food, housing and transportation, the shadow of the Book of Changes is everywhere.

For Western scholars who study China, truly understanding the I Ching is equivalent to understanding China and the Chinese.

At the beginning of May, Zhou Hexuan left Italy and took a ship to London with his entourage.

Ezra Pound is learning hard, so can he just let Zhou Hexuan go? couldn't keep it again and again, Pound simply threw away his mistress and bought a ticket to go to England with Zhou Hexuan.

In the cabin of the steamer, Zhou Hexuan didn't have time to talk about the "Book of Changes", so he simply talked about "The Book of Changes" and related theories. He said: "The Ten Wings is said to have been written by Confucius, but it is not entirely so, and many of its contents are deeply influenced by Lao Tzu's thought. Therefore, modern scholars speculate that "Ten Wings" should have been completed during the Warring States period. When was the Warring States, do you remember? ”

"Remember, the Zhou Dynasty was divided into the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty was divided into the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period." Pound hurriedly replied.

Zhou Hexuan was very satisfied with this student's homework, and said with a smile: "Then let's talk about Tai Chi, Liangyi and Sixiang first, the words of the Book of Changes, that is, the preface: 'Therefore, it is easy to have Taiji, it is to give birth to two Yi, two Yi to give birth to four elephants, and four elephants to give birth to gossip'." Do you understand what that means? ”

Pound said blankly: "Some understand, but I don't seem to understand." ”

Zhou Hexuan explained simply: "Tai Chi, you can understand it as the original chaotic state of the universe. There is nothing, no light, no darkness, no good, no evil, no sun, moon and stars, no matter in the universe. ”

"Understood." Pound nodded repeatedly.

"This is Tai Chi," Zhou Hexuan drew a circle on the paper, and divided the circle into two halves, blank on one side and smeared on the other, "Tai Chi gives birth to two instruments, and two instruments are yin and yang." Yin is dark, negative, weak, heavy, like the night, like women, like the earth; Yang is bright, positive, strong, and light, such as daytime, such as man, such as the sky. This is the Chinese's world view and philosophical view, everything can be divided into yin and yang. This can be linked to the founding myth of China, the original universe was chaotic egg-shaped, the ancient god Pangu split the chaos, the light spirit qi rose into the sky, and the turbid qi fell down into the earth. ”

Pound laughed, "It's an interesting view of the ancient universe. ”

Zhou Hexuan drew a picture of Tai Chi Pisces again, pointed to the pattern and said: "Two rituals give birth to four elephants, these are the four elephants." The qi of yin and yang merges, evolving into the taiyin, the sun, the less yin and the less yang. You see, the head of the fish that represents the yang is the sun, which is the yang to the extreme. But there is yin energy in the extreme yang, and that bit of yin energy is its eyes. A little yin in the extreme yang slowly evolves into less yin, which is the tail of the yin fish, and the yin qi is rich into the head of the fish is the taiyin, and the taiyin contains a little yang. In this way, yin and yang are mutually restrictive, evolving each other, and the cycle will never stop. In the simplest way, you can think of the four elephants as the four seasons. Spring is less yang, summer is sun, autumn is less yin, and winter is too yin. ”

As soon as the Tai Chi Pisces diagram came out, Pang De was stunned for a moment. He stared at the Taiji diagram for a long time, and his thoughts had already rushed to the sky, obviously starting various associations.

"The Chinese are amazing!"

Pound clapped his hands violently and exclaimed: "This picture you painted perfectly interprets the rise and fall of all things in the universe, it is a work of art, a work of art given by the gods!" ”

Zhou Hexuan smiled and continued to draw gossip around the Taiji Pisces diagram: "Oh, the four elephants give birth to gossip." This gossip is the gossip I told you before, and the gossip is combined in pairs to derive sixty-four trigrams, and the ancient Chinese used sixty-four trigrams to explain everything in the world. All the traditional culture and ideological concepts in China are contained in the 64 hexagrams, and even after Buddhism was introduced to China, it was also integrated with the ideas of the 64 hexagrams. ”

After saying this, Zhou Hexuan began to talk about the three talents and the five elements again, bluffing the little old man Pang De.

When the ship was about to arrive at the docks in London, Pound stood up excitedly and danced: "I have decided, I want to go to China, and I will spend my life studying the I Ching!" ”

"Uh......" Zhou Hexuan was a little speechless, it seems that he really wants to cultivate a god stick.

……

Dock.

Ernis was holding his granddaughter and a few retinues, looking for a cheap son-in-law in the crowd.

Suddenly, Xiao Chunxi pointed ahead and said in English, "Dad, that's Dad!" ”

Zhou Hexuan walked up, smiled and nodded at Ernis, and then opened his arms: "Chunxi, do you miss Dad?" ”

"Hmm." Xiao Chunxi nodded heavily, struggling to throw herself into her father's arms.

Ernis could only reluctantly let go, handed over his granddaughter to Zhou Hexuan, and said: "His Majesty the King still talked to you yesterday, saying that he would talk to you all night, and what prophecy did he mention. Did you prophesy anything to His Majesty? ”

"Haha, I said he would be king." Zhou Hexuan laughed.

Pound suddenly jumped out and said excitedly: "You must be using the divination technique in the Book of Changes, no wonder Americans call you a wizard of the Far East." ”

Ernis looked at Pound and wondered, "Who is this gentleman?" ”

"Ezra Pound." Zhou Hexuan said.

Ernis was immediately in awe and said enthusiastically: "You are Eliot's best friend, Mr. Pound, the brilliant craftsman?" ”

"It's me, but I'm not a great craftsman." Pound nodded.

The most prominent poet in the world in the 30s was Eliot, who was undoubtedly praised by the European poetry circle. Eliot's greatest work, The Waste Land, has a line in parentheses below the introduction, which reads: "To Ezra Pound, the most remarkable craftsman." ”

That is to say, the greatest works of today's greatest poets are directly written as gifts to Pound.

That alone is enough for the world to know Pound.

Ernis often mingled in the circles of nobles and noblewomen, and reciting poetry was a necessary skill, so he was very excited to meet Pound himself. He shook Pound's hand vigorously: "Mr. Pound, it's so wonderful to be able to meet you today." ”

Zhou Hexuan said: "This is my wife's father, Mr. Ernis Hartley. ”

As soon as he heard that Ernis was Zhou Hexuan's father-in-law, Pound also became enthusiastic and said with a smile: "Hello Mr. Hartley, I am now a student of Zhou, and I will study Chinese culture with him. ”

"I see," said Anniston, with a cheerful face, "does Mr. Pound have a place to live in London?" Why don't you just stay in my house and I can host a poetry salon for you. ”

Pound waved his hand again and again: "No, no, no, I want to hurry up and study the Book of Changes, and don't hold a salon or anything." ”

"That's a shame." Ernis sighed and said that he was still thinking of getting Pondra out and pretending to be in the aristocratic circle.

The crowd laughed and left the dock and headed straight for Ernis's country house. That villa was built for his granddaughter because the air quality in the London city was terrible.

As soon as he returned home, Zhou Hexuan opened his suitcase, took out a wooden tumbler and said, "Chunxi, look at what this is?" ”

"Round little man, is it a gift from my father?" Xiao Chunxi immediately hugged the tumbler in his arms.

Zhou Hexuan taught his daughter to put the tumbler on the ground, and then played with it, the tumbler swayed, and the appearance was funny and pleasant.

"Giggle...... Oops, the villain is amazing, he can't wrestle! ”

Xiao Chunxi squatted in front of the tumbler, staring intently, and from time to time let out a series of laughter like silver bells.