If you want to ask, who is the author of "The Book of Changes"? Perhaps the first thing we think of is King Wen of Zhou. King Wen of Zhou interpreted the Bagua into sixty-four hexagrams and wrote the "Book of Changes", which almost became a public opinion. Sima Qian also recorded in "Historical Records" that "King Wen was arrested and was in the Book of Changes." But we couldn't find enough evidence to support this claim. What we can be sure of is that the "Book of Changes" is an official book of the Zhou Dynasty, and the Zhou Dynasty officially appointed special officials to be responsible for editing, compilation and promotion.
Fu Xi
In ancient times, knowledge and document technology were in the hands of the aristocratic class. For the general public, they had neither knowledge nor writing skills. Therefore, the book "I Ching" cannot be written by the lower class. Paper had not been invented at that time, and ancient books were in the form of bamboo slips or stone carvings. The production, transportation and promotion costs of books are very high, so it is unthinkable to create books without sufficient financial strength. Therefore, my point of view is that words can be used to record affairs or thoughts, and can be compiled into books for circulation and promotion. This is also something that is only possible when the economic and cultural development of a social group reaches a certain stage. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, cultural monopoly was in the hands of the ruling class. There are no private scholarships, culture is official, and the government appoints dedicated officials to do it. Therefore, in ancient times, there would not be a phenomenon of a philosopher writing a book independently. Therefore, we cannot imagine that in the process of creating the "I Ching", a philosopher independently recorded his own mysterious thoughts.
Books before the Spring and Autumn Period were basically edited and compiled by historians. Because only the ruling class can master writing tools and have enough economic strength to support book editing and distribution. Divination in ancient times was a very important social activity, as can be seen from the discovery of oracle bone inscriptions in the Shang Dynasty. Therefore, the official compilation of "Zhouyi" can be considered reasonable. Almost all the oracle bone inscriptions in the Yin Ruins are divination files left by the court fortune tellers of the Shang Dynasty. It is conceivable that divination activities played an important role in the business society.
The Zhou Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty were not far apart, and there would not be complete cultural opposition. Therefore, it can be inferred that divination was also a very important social activity in the Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, there is a high possibility that the divination book will be officially edited. From this point of view, the "Book of Changes" was probably written by Guan Guan in the Zhou Dynasty. As for whether he is King Wen, I can't say for sure. There is a tendency to believe in ancient sages in ancient books, and it is not impossible that King Wen acted as a hypocrite. For example, some ancient books pretend to be the name Yi Yin of the Yin Shang Dynasty, and some pretend to be the name of the Yellow Emperor. Political authority is also cultural authority. It is not that there has been no such authority in history, but it has always been very rare. The ancients entrusted ancient books to ancient sages and sages, which inevitably led to the suspicion of idealizing political authority. A person's wisdom is not necessarily the pinnacle of thought. Thinkers and politicians are often not the same people.
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