About the five elements theory
Five elements refer to: water. Fire. Earth. Wood. Five basic material life. These five are closely related to human activities. Therefore, the world understood by the five elements includes both nature and society, and boils down to society. From the standpoint of society, the five elements closely focus on the utilitarian value of human beings and think about the origin of the world, and the pursuit of truth and goodness are inseparable.
The concept of five elements thinks about "things" from the perspective of "people" (subjects), laying the foundation for the humanization of traditional Chinese thought. Ethical. The fundamental spirit of politicization and the fundamental direction of degrading pure rationality and advocating practical value.
The word "five elements" was first seen. According to the "Xia Qi's expedition, there is a Hu family, and he swears to be a teacher next to Ganshui (now southwest of Hu County, Shaanxi Province). This is the sweet oath.
"The war in Gan was called to the six ministers. Wang: The person of the six affairs, I swear to tell you that there is Hu's majesty and humiliation of the five elements, neglecting the three righteous, and using heaven to destroy their lives, and now I will only respectfully perform the punishment of heaven.
It is not clear what the "five elements" mean here. But in any case, the "five elements" is a sacred word and an indegradable ideology commonly recognized by the warring parties, so that those who declare war do not need to argue against it, but only point out that the hostile party violates it. According to Fan Wenlan's explanation, "the five elements of humiliation" means relying on power and contempt all industries of the economy, making people unable to live. The "five elements" are basically social industry, elements of material life, and the lifeblood of national survival (see Volume 5). Use the five elements to incite public indignation, mobilize war and uphold justice, so the "five elements" should be the basic social norm with religious significance.
is quite ancient. The text has been quoted, but it can be seen that Mozi believes that it produces and scares the beginning. According to the research of today, it should have been produced no later than Yin Shang. Therefore, the ancient concept of "five elements" is worth investigating and studying.
The earliest systematic explanation of the "five elements" was another important chapter. Therefore, it is regarded as a classic document of five-e elements thinking.
According to the two years after King Wu of Zhou, he consulted the "Tiandao" from Yin's posthumous minister. One question and one answer constitute the basic content of the article, and there are supplements from future people in the article. Explanation. Play. However, its part about the "five elements" is recognized as reliable.
"Hong" is big, and "fan" is standardized." Hong Fan means "big * law". The so-called "basic principles" today. Domain is a class (the word "category" in Chinese is taken from this). Among the nine categories (Hong Fan Jiuchou), the first category is the five elements, and the five elements can be called the general rule.
The differences in the objective world are fully noticed in the article. The five-element concept does not attribute the world to a single material form, but to five equally important and indispensable basic elements of life (in later development, these five material materials have a tendency to symbolize, thus forming a unique and diversified way of thinking - five-point method) The five-element concept has been noticed There is a difference between "run" and "inflammatory" in nature, "up and down" in orientation, "curvature and straight" in shape, and "acid" in taste. Gan. Xin and other differences try to reveal the vast differences in nature, form, function and orientation of objective things from many aspects, and try to fully reflect the richness of the object of understanding and the objective world. This careful and intuitive comprehensive way of thinking has a profound influence on later Chinese thinkers. The generalization of the performance of the five elements is closely related to actual life experience. Water flows low, so "water is called moist down" and the fire rises up, so "fire is on fire", wood can be curved and straight, so "wood is called curved straight", metal is smelting and processed, and can still be forged and deformed after forming, so "gold is called leather", soil can grow crops, so "earth loves crops".
The theory of five elements studies the form of matter from attributes and functions, which later became the basic trend of Chinese materialism. Until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Chinese thinkers still focused on the functional study of material form with the ancient Five elements theory as the main purpose, instead of exploring the deep internal structure of matter. It shows the profound influence of the concept of the five elements on China's materialism and scientific way of thinking.
Why is the colorful material world attributed to water? Fire. Wood. Earth. What about the five elements of gold? This depends on the time range of early humans and even the fundamental environment for human survival, life and production. At this point, China's five elements and the ancient India's "four major: (land). Fire. Wind. "Water)" and the "four roots" of ancient Greece (water. Fire. Earth. Qi) has deep similarities.
Water-----the source of life
Water is indispensable for human survival, and in ancient times, the greatest threat to human security was also water. According to geological archaeological research, after the "New Ice Age", many parts of the world have suffered floods due to the dissolution of ice and snow. Therefore, many ethnic groups in the world have myths and legends about "floods". It can be seen that water entered human understanding early and even influenced human thoughts. Early human civilization was most conceived in large river basins or ocean shores (such as ancient Egypt). Ancient India. Ancient Babylon. Ancient China. Ancient Greece, etc.). Greek philosophy takes "water is the foundation" as the starting point, and China's five elements thought also considers water first.
In ancient China, with the Chinese people as the center, they lived in the Yellow River Basin for a long time. Legend has it that they have also suffered from the "vastation" (Shangshu). Yaodian's severe flood disaster. Therefore, starting from the legendary Yellow Emperor, the ancient Chinese began the indomitable struggle for water control from generation to generation, and became an ancient civilization famous for water control.
In addition, water wells are also a major invention of Chinese ancestors (according to available information, China is the first country in the world to invent wells). The first well appeared in the Hemudu cultural period, about 7,000 years ago. The common emergence of wells in the Central Plains must have been 5,000 years ago. >Gu Ciyun: "If you change the household, don't change the well." It can be seen that as early as the era when Yi Gua was born, "well" has become the core of social and regional organizations. Wells have left the lakeside and expanded the living space to the vast plains, which has effectively promoted the development of the primitive economy (especially the agricultural economy). The well principle also deepens people's concept of "water moistening".
It can be seen that the emergence of the thought of the five elements is closely related to the practice of water control, water excavation and water use. It is the truth that the Chinese people have compared and summarized countless experiences in the long-term life and production practice, and finally realized.
earth-----human survival base
Earth is the foothold of human life. Therefore, the earth also entered the vision and ideas of ancient Greek, ancient Indian and ancient Chinese thinkers very early.
In early human society, people worshipped the earth infinitely due to the low level of productivity. People see that the land is vast and boundless, loads everything, and has infinite power. At the same time, it can also provide inexhaustible living resources for human beings, so they are full of respect and gratitude. However, sometimes the earth will also be angry, earthquakes and mountains will crack, and houses will be destroyed and people will die, which is frightening, which constitutes the fundamental reason why human worship the land.
China has been established by agriculture since ancient times, so the situation of heavy soil is particularly prominent in China.
Archaeological excavations confirm that the history of Chinese agriculture is no less than 8,000 years. A large number of rice particles have been excavated in various ancient sites. These are all proofs of agricultural civilization. Agricultural production originated from the collection economy. From collection to planting, there should be a long process of exploration, so China's agricultural economy originated about 10,000 years ago, which is generally consistent with the legendary Shennong era.
In the growing Chinese agricultural society, people's production and life are becoming more and more dependent on soil. Therefore, in the later developed five elements ideological system, earth gradually occupies a central position and is in the middle of the orientation. The five elements theory is gradually characterized by "shangtu". The concept of still soil should reflect the gradual dominance of agricultural production in the national economy. There is a story of the so-called "xiyang" in the legend about water control in the Warring States Period, which vividly reflects the worship of later generations. With the development of agricultural production, people's feelings for the land have become deeper and deeper, and finally formed an extremely strong national psychology of nostalgia for the land. "Huang Tiantu" is the focus of Chinese cultural classics. The mentality of "the hometown is hard to leave", "the land is relocated again" and "the leaves fall back to the roots" generally exist among the descendants of the Chinese nation, producing infinite cohesion and centriness.
Fire - the driving force for the development of human life
Fire can scare beasts and give people warmth, which initially meets the needs of early human security and survival. At the same time, fire turns raw food into cooked food, expands the scope of things, promotes the development of the human brain, and directly becomes the material driving force for the development of human civilization.
Archaeological discoveries show that the apes in Zhoukoudian, Beijing, nearly 100,000 years ago, already knew how to use fire. In ancient China, there was a legend of the Sui people "drilling wood to make fire" and the legend of sacrificing the people to teach people cooked food, which shows that "fire" entered the ancient Chinese cultural history very early, and even accumulated to the bottom of people's hearts and formed certain ideas.
Fire is also widely used in production. For example, arson during the fire farming period is the most typical example of replacing manpower for clear grass and living as a means of production. At the same time, fire is also needed in the pottery industry. Until the emergence of the smelting industry, the use of fire has reached a new level. Mastering the heat has become an advanced form of professional labor, and in this process, human society's dependence on fire becomes deeper and stronger. Because "fire" is becoming more and more important in social production practice, "fire" has also achieved a position that cannot be ignored in cultural thought.
Interestingly, there is no "Shuan people" in Western legends. The Western legendary "fire" (the method of taking fire) was stolen by Prometheus from the sky. The god in charge of fire in the sky is the sun god, and the sun god unearthed on Crete more than 3,000 years ago looks like a yellow race. This is a topic worth exploring in early civilization exchanges.
Wood - Symbol of Agricultural Economy
Chinese people's understanding of wood is about the same as their understanding of water, earth and fire. For example, the legend of Chao's "making wood into a nest" reveals the relationship between wood and flood, water and moisture, while Suiren's "drilling wood to make fire" reveals the relationship between wood and fire. > Cloud: "There is nothing more impressive than wood." The relationship between wood and soil has long been clear.
Wood is a friend of people and condenses people's labor. > repeatedly talked about the use of wood in human society. Human production is inseparable from wood, life is inseparable from wood, living is inseparable from wood, work is inseparable from wood, and war is inseparable from wood. It ensures the most basic living conditions of mankind, and also promotes the development of social commodity exchange and commercial economy. Even people die without wood. It can be seen that human beings live and die and will always be accompanied by wood. All these prove how the ancient Chinese attached great importance to the status and role of wood in life.
China has "wood masters" and "social masters" from Xia, Shang, Zhou and later generations, which are all relics of ancient worship and sacrifices of wood.
In particular, it should be pointed out that the "wood" in the five elements contains the valley, which actually refers to all plants (mainly crops). > There is the concept of "valley", which is juxtalined with the five elements, which is called "six prefectures". Say: Water. Fire. Kim. Wood. Earth. Valley is called the six mansions. Later, wood became the general term for plants and plantations, and "valley" was logically included in the concept of "wood", which shows that the concept of wood itself is at a higher level. At the same time, there was no concept of wood in ancient Greek and ancient Indian culture, but the ancient Chinese people made wood the most impressive on earth, which is of course closely related to its geographical environment and production methods.
Gold-----the symbol of ancient smelting
Gold is the most unique concept in the five elements. Gold is not a natural substance, it is purely the product of human production practice and the crystallization of science and technology. The concept of "gold" in the five elements most powerfully shows that the understanding topic grasped by the five elements thought is social practice and its product, not "pure nature". The world understood by the ancient Chinese people is people-centered. Therefore, when they make the highest generalization of the world, they must attribute the origin of the material world to the basic elements of human practice. The object of practice, the means of practice, and the results of practice are all within the vision of China's five elements theory. In this way, the five elements thought, as the most simple concept of practice, has an impeccable and complete form. Gold can be with water. Earth. Fire. Wood juxtaxtax becomes the highest category, which also reflects the development of the smelting industry in ancient China. There is no doubt that metal can only jump into the ranks of ontological elements when it is widely used to give the impression of being ubiquitous. Therefore, "gold" became the concept and category of thought, which itself also shows that the production capacity and practice level of ancient Chinese society have clearly taken a leading position in the world at that time.
Archaeological excavations prove that the Longshan culture before the Xia Dynasty (about 5,000 years ago) has been in the era of copper and stone or bronze. At the same time, copperware or copper smelting have been found in many ancient sites. By the Yin Dynasty, the bronze smelting technology had been highly developed, and the Yin Dynasty Simu Xu Fangding unearthed in Anyang, Henan Province weighed 875 kilograms. The smelting industry of the Zhou Dynasty further developed. > After summarizing the experience of manual production of the previous generation, different requirements for copper and tin formulas are put forward according to different bronze objects. This is the earliest record of alloy formula in the world.
The metal unearthed from the Qin figuristics in Shaanxi is a general display of the achievements of the ancient smelting industry. It takes a long historical period to achieve such achievements. The brilliant display of the Qin figs often stunned modern scientists. ( For example, the finish of weapons reflects the amazing technology of metal processing, and some weapons have not rusted for more than 2,000 years. They were originally coated with a layer of chromium oxide film, and Western countries did not apply for this anti-rust until the 1930s. In addition, all mechanical products in the Qin figriors have been standardized. Serialization. Each component is interchangeable, which marks the development of the pre-Qin machinery manufacturing industry. Dr. Lee, an expert in the history of British science, pointed out in his masterpiece that when Europeans were unable to produce a piece of wrought iron, the Chinese had already produced wrought iron on an industrial scale. The latest archaeological excavations continue to confirm the objective existence of this ancient industrial scale.)
"Gold" is at the top of the comprehensive chain of the five elements. The generation of gold needs to be mined from (soil), used wood to make a fire, and smelt it with fire. The metals in the smelting are all liquid (water). Therefore, although gold is the latest among the five elements, it is the most comprehensive. As a result, Kim is receiving more and more attention. By the Eastern Han Dynasty, gold had been arranged as the first of the five elements, forming the customary saying of "gold, wood, water, fire and earth" so far.
To sum up, water. Earth. Fire. Wood. Jin, these five concepts come from the five most basic means of life and production elements. Therefore, the "five elements" are also known as the "five materials". Born with five talents, the people can use them together, and they can't be abandoned. The five elements are indeed closely related to the daily life of the people.
The five-element thinking has never had the intention to explore the mother of nature. It is almost trying its best to summarize social life and try to establish the highest principles for social movements. This is a typical form of early Chinese thought system.