01-The Mystery of the "Book of Changes"

The "Book of Changes", located at the top of the Six Classics, is one of the oldest classics in the history of Chinese culture. It is the overall source of Chinese culture and the beginning of hundreds of schools of thought.

The "Book of Changes" is actually not a book, but a system, including "Lianshan" and "Guizang" from the Emperor's era, and the Book of Changes "Zhouyi" from the Qin and Han Dynasties. It is all-encompassing and complex, and in the river of time, it gradually absorbs the thoughts and culture of ancient philosophy, natural science, social science and various schools of thought, and converges into a unique cultural system.

The "Book of Changes" believes that all things in the world are in a state of never-ending development, and the "Tao" it explains refers to this "natural" law. From this, the "Book of Changes" developed three cores, which can be summarized in six words as "simple", "changeable" and "not easy".

Simplicity means that there are many complex things in the world that are beyond the scope of people’s understanding, but they can be transformed into problems that are easy for people to understand and handle through human wisdom; change means that there are many things in the world that are complex and beyond the scope of people’s understanding. Everything in the world is changing and developing all the time; not easy means that under the premise that everything in the universe changes, there is the only constant thing, which is the law that everything changes.

In addition to these three cores, concepts such as "Yin and Yang", "Five Elements" and "Bagua" have been developed. Because its expression is very abstract, it sounds mysterious and mysterious.

In ancient China, due to the underdeveloped science, people's thoughts were filled with feudal superstitions such as ghosts, gods, witches and Gu. They often hoped to communicate with heaven and earth through sacrifices, divination, etc.

At the earliest time, Fuxi and King Wen of Zhou summarized concepts such as Tai Chi and Bagua by observing the laws of things between heaven and earth, and proposed using hexagrams to predict good and bad luck. There are sixty-four hexagrams and three hundred and eight hexagrams. Fourteen Yao, Yao words and images, all things are contained in it, which is the early Yixue system, and was later carried forward by Confucius.

At first, Confucius was not interested in the "Book of Changes" and thought it was just a book of divination. As his life experience gradually increased, Confucius gradually discovered the ideological and philosophical nature contained in the "Book of Changes" and had certain logical reasoning.

So Confucius began to study the "Book of Changes" in his later years and wrote the "Book of Changes" to elaborate and inherit the ideas of the "Book of Changes". Confucius believed that the "Book of Changes" is full of "Tao" and "teachings", and emphasized "reading the Book of Changes to see its virtues and seek its virtues", and thus developed philosophies similar to Confucianism, such as being careful in words and deeds, and the integration of yin and yang to unite all things. Health and so on.

Confucius’s understanding and elaboration of the "Book of Changes" re-expanded the "Book of Changes" system and elevated it from a divination and fortune-telling book to the level of philosophy, which also established the role of the "Book of Changes" in Chinese culture. The first of the Four Books and Five Classics. 02-The Master’s Admonition

There are many classic philosophical thoughts in the "Book of Changes" that have been passed down to this day. For example, "Heaven moves vigorously, a gentleman strives to constantly strive for self-improvement, the terrain is prosperous, and a gentleman carries things with great virtue", which comes from "Zhouyi·Qian·Xiang", and was later cited as the school motto of Tsinghua University.

The main idea of ??this sentence is that the universe is constantly moving and strong, and a gentleman should behave in the same way, working hard to become stronger. Similarly, the earth is honest and gentle, and a gentleman should also increase his virtue and be tolerant. Everything. Such great wisdom was very rare at that time to be able to break away from the secular framework and pursue a higher spiritual realm.

The often-used four-character idiom "No Ji Tai Lai" also comes from the "Book of Changes". The original text is: "No is a bandit, which is not good for a gentleman's chastity. He goes big and goes small."... "Tai, small go." Da Lai, Ji Heng. "Actually, it talks about a very simple principle of development and change of things, that is, when adversity reaches its extreme, it will turn into good times.

Equally famous is the idea of ??the harmony of yin and yang in the Book of Changes. This phrase comes from the "Book of Changes": "One yin and one yang are called Tao, which is followed by goodness, and what is achieved is nature."

It means: the contradictory opposition of one yin and one yang Unification with change is the "Tao" or regularity of the development of things. What inherits this "Tao" is beauty, and what achieves this "Tao" is the inherent nature of things. It can be seen that the "Book of Changes" has already seen through the basic laws of the development and change of things early on.

For a book like the "Book of Changes" that integrates philosophy and culture, it seems that everyone should study it in depth when they have the opportunity. However, the famous Chinese studies master Nan Huaijin was opposed to this. He advised young people not to study the "Book of Changes".

Master Nan Huaijin is an intellectual who combines religion, philosophy and miscellany. He is very devoted to the study of Buddhism and the Book of Changes. He is proficient in Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and other classics. He has also made many He gave lectures and wrote books, interpreting Taoist classics. It is precisely because of his in-depth study of the Book of Changes that the old man believes that learning the Book of Changes requires certain conditions and not everyone can do it. If you study blindly, not only will it be of no use to you, but you may go astray.

As for the conditions for studying the "Book of Changes", Mr. Nan Huaijin proposed that there are two types of people who can study it. One type is a person with first-class wisdom, and the other type is a blank slate type of person who has never read a book at all.

Don't touch those who are in the middle of the two. Even if you insist on studying, it is best to only learn half of it and don't get to the bottom. Because if the "Book of Changes" is drilled to the bottom, a person will become a useless person.

So, if you are not one of these two types of people, it is best to stay away from this knowledge.

03-Why can't you study the "Book of Changes"

The first reason why Master Nan Huaijin does not recommend young people to study the "Book of Changes" is because the knowledge contained in the "Book of Changes" is vast and covers all aspects of the field. , it contains philosophy, religion, science, various schools of thought, and other knowledge. Even if a person spends his whole life doing nothing but studying, it is impossible to learn it all.

Young people’s time and energy are very limited. Instead of investing their limited time in unlimited research, it is better to do other meaningful things.

Master Nan Huaijin’s own personal experience also shows that you should be cautious when studying the "Book of Changes". He once read the "Book of Changes" at night, and was attracted by one question after another. After finally figuring out one confusion, he would immediately fall into the next confusion, getting deeper and deeper, becoming more and more confused. I often have a sleepless night, and the sun rises before I know it. Therefore, Master Nan Huaijin once lamented: "Sitting by the small window reading the Book of Changes, I don't know how troubled it is when spring comes."

Second, "The Book of Changes" is a metaphysical philosophy. Without great wisdom, studying "The Book of Changes" will easily lead you into Feng Shui, numerology, yin and yang and the five elements, and break away from real life. , living too illusory and ungrounded.

Especially for young people, it is the vigorous stage of life when they should embrace life and join the society. At this time, delving into such profound philosophy and thinking about metaphysical spiritual theories all day long will not only fail to make them Youthful and radiant will also be infected with a sluggish state.

In addition, studying the "Book of Changes" requires great wisdom, not only dialectical thinking, but also profound life experience and knowledge reserves. These are difficult for young people to possess.

If you study the Book of Changes with only a little knowledge of it, it is easy to take the wrong approach. Either you think that the Book of Changes is equivalent to a fortune-telling speech, you think you have seen the "secret", or you are yourself. Randomly extrapolating gossip will lead you astray. In fact, they are all just self-deception.

Third, for young people, it is better to take life seriously than to immerse themselves in theoretical knowledge. Master Nan Huaijin once encouraged young people to start with small things in ordinary life to hone their character.

For example, if you have a legitimate career and go to work in a disciplined manner, don’t blame others all day long, not do your job properly, and live in an illusory world of fantasy. Whether you are practicing or delving into "Yi Xue", you should first change your own habits and assist in the practice of concentration. The most valuable thing for young people is to be self-reliant. If you can be self-reliant as soon as possible and take charge of yourself, you will naturally develop wisdom slowly.

It is true that reading and doing research are all about learning theoretical knowledge, but the real "Easy" is actually in every word and deed in our lives. Living and doing things well is actually learning "Easy" invisibly. "The truth.

This is also the reason why Master Nan Huaijin admires Confucianism, because Confucianism combines metaphysical principles with real life so that people can apply them in real life. Therefore, instead of reading and studying the "Book of Changes", young people should learn to be a human being first, which is the correct way to get started.

The splendid culture has been passed down to this day and naturally has its charm. But learning such a profound knowledge is not an easy task.