Zeng Shiqiang talks about excerpts from "The Book of Changes" 06

1. The "Book of Changes" has four major functions: images, the sky has celestial phenomena, the earth has geography, and people have faces; numbers are not mathematics, and the definite numbers of the Book of Changes are living; reason, reasoning, and Science is the closest, and principles are fixed; divination, people who are good at divination will not be categorical. The most talked about in the Yi Jing is "ru", which means like, emphasizing change.

2. During the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, the people were not yet enlightened, so it was natural for the I Ching to be used for divination. But divination also has conditions: it can only predict national events, such as wars, wind and rain, and people's sentiments; it can only predict things that cannot be decided; you do not have to listen after the divination. Jiang Taigong made it clear more than three thousand years ago: Divination uses yarrow and turtle shells. Isn't it ridiculous that people would rather believe in those things than their own minds?

3. The 64 hexagrams of the Book of Changes divide all things into 64 representative situations. When you divine a certain hexagram, you will know what kind of situation you are in now, and then check the hexagram and the line. Words remind you of things you need to pay attention to. Divination is actually a process of fully stimulating one's own potential. At the same time, you can find more information as a reference for judging things and making decisions. Divination is just a tool. No matter what you believe in, just believe it to a certain extent. If you believe in it too much, it is superstitious. There is no such thing as superstition in this world, there is only the degree of belief in something, and it cannot be excessive.

4. It is easy for us to trust the sense of our five senses, but not so much the sixth sense. In fact, the five senses often deceive us. What we see with our eyes may not necessarily be true, and what we hear with our ears may not necessarily be true. The sixth sense will not lie. Women's sixth sense is more powerful than men's, and people who are too busy have poor sixth sense.

5. Confucius' greatest contribution to Chinese culture was not the Analects of Confucius, but his "Ten Wings" on the "Book of Changes". He made the Book of Changes philosophical. Confucius believed that the conditions for divination are: insufficient information and data, divination is possible; divination is possible when hesitant; divination can only be done one thing at a time; and it must be sincere. Confucius said, "It's all about not divination." There are three principles: if you believe in divination, it violates your ethical stance; you only care about hard work, not the harvest; you must have pure motives for doing things.