New Notes on the I Ching: What We Got Wrong in the Usual Text (易经新注：早期中国的真实故事)

Abstract

The specific meanings of some trigrams or hexagrams that are described in existing (especially modern) versions of the I Ching are not reasonable and may even be wrong. For example, the Kan trigram is defined to refer to one denoted by the Chinese character “水/shui” whose meaning in ancient Chinese, however, may be different from its modern meaning (i.e., ‘water’); and the Qian and Kun trigrams may not represent the entire heaven- and earth-systems, respectively. In particular, the well-known Chinese phrase “天行健/Tianxingjian,” which is deciphered to mean that “the movement of the heaven is strong and vigorous” in the usual text, should be defined to have other, different meaning; and so on.

This book believes that the prototype of the so-called “King Wen’s Bagua” (also known as the “acquired Bagua”) cited in Zhu Xi (1177a) is based on the natural, geographical, political, and cultural landscapes within the Shang dynasty (rather than any other, later dynasty), and was completed by authors residing in today’s Shangqiu city, eastern Henan province, while the so-called “Fuxi’s Bagua” (also known as the “innate Bagua”) was roughly based in Kaifeng (the capital of the Northern Song dynasty) and was adjusted later along with the political center moving to the south. In addition, most of the hexagrams or stories in the book of I Ching are based on real events occurring in the late Shang or the early Zhou dynasty, some of which have been incorrectly or improperly stated in the usual text. Our careful and evidence-based analyses show that all the factors (such as heaven, earth, mountain, water, fire, wind and thunder) of the eight trigrams and of the 64 hexagrams are not just of natural or geographical relevance as stated in the usual text; instead, they also reflect human-nature relations and interactions that are misinterpreted or ignored in existing literature.

It is time to unravel the truth of I Ching. The book once directly inspired scientists to create the most brilliant technological achievements to date. After further development and supplementation, it will once again contribute to the peace and progress of the human world.

内容简介：

主流版本《易经》在陈述上不尽合理，甚至可能有误。例如，坎卦所代表的“水”在古汉语与现代汉语中的含义是不同的。特别是，将乾卦与坤卦解读为分别代表“天”与“地”也不准确（甚至不正确），而“天行健”、“地势坤”等文化名句的真实含义可能与现在所理解的完全不一样的；如此等等。

本书认为朱熹注解的《周易本义》（1177）中所引用的所谓“文王八卦”（也称为“后天八卦”）的原型是基于商代（而不是后来王朝）境内的自然、地理、政治和文化景观，且是由居住在今天河南省东部商丘的作者完成的，而所谓的“伏羲八卦”（也称为“先天八卦”）大致是以北宋首府开封为坐标原点并在后来随着政治中心南移做了部分调整。另外，《易经》中的大部分卦的卦辞与爻辞所涉及的人物与故事是基于商末（一小部分为周初）的真实事件，可惜其中的一些核心内容在现代文本中被错误或不恰当地陈述了。《易经》中的八卦目前被毫无争议地认为代表“天、地、山、水、火、风、雷/电等自然或环境要素。然而，真实的情况是，八卦以及由其构成的64卦并不是仅仅与自然或环境要素相关；相反，它包括了人文要素，并且还解释了人与自然之间的多重关系以及对真实世界之非线性动态发展的影响。《易经》（包括八卦）在初创时基本上是以真实世界为基础，但在后来被不断地加入一些不合理的内容并将之描述成无所不能或超自然的“神物”。

是解开《易经》真实面目的时候了。《易经》曾经直接启发人类创造出迄今为止最为辉煌的技术成果。经过进一步发展与补充后的《易经》定能再次为中华民族的伟大复兴以及全人类的和平与进步做出贡献！