Tai Chi thinking is about the Tai Chi, Yi gives birth to two qualities, two qualities give birth to four images, and four qualities give birth to eight trigrams. This is the order of Tai Chi.

This division was later interpreted by Shao Yong as "one split into two", so the idea of ​​"one split into two" has existed since ancient times. For example, "a foot of a vertebra is taken half of the day, and it will never be exhausted for generations", which means that one can constantly "one split into two".

From zero to two to four to eight is an abstract thinking that transcends intuitiveness, a symbolic thinking, and a thinking that pursues the reason why all things in the universe are. What is "the reason why"?

In the Song Dynasty, the three thoughts of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism were integrated into Song Dynasty Neo-Confucianism, forming a Tai Chi thinking system. According to the "Yiluo Yuanyuanlu", Shao Bowen (who is Shao Yong's son) said in "Yi Xuebian": One day, Cheng Yi went to his house to talk about the world and all things with his father Shao Yong. Cheng Yi pointed to the table in front of him and said, "This table is placed on the ground, and I don't know where the world is placed? They are discussing the last question of these universes, so why. This is a philosophical question, which is the question of what the hidden existence behind the phenomenon is, and what is the question of what.

We can see that the Chinese thinkers’ investigation of these issues is actually very profound, and it is about metaphysical issues. For example, Lu Jiuyuan asked his father when he was very young, "Where is the world that is poor?" His father smiled and did not answer, so he "thought deeply and forgot to sleep and eat." How do you answer these questions? This is the existence that is the reason for the investigation, which is the hidden existence behind the phenomenon, that is, what is the question of what is a non-existent thing.

This is the Tai Chi thinking. When Zhou Dunyi wrote the "Tai Chi Picture", he went from Wuji to Tai Chi. Tai Chi movement and stillness, and produced Yin and Yang, from Yin and Yang to the Five Elements, from Five Elements to Men and Women, and from Men and Women to All Things.

Let’s not take the Tai Chi diagram simply. The S curve in the Tai Chi diagram is like the shape of a dragon in ancient China, which is an abstract representation of the dragon; the circle of the Tai Chi diagram symbolizes the infinite cycle of the Chinese way of heaven. This circle is the source of change caused by the interaction of yin and yang fish.

If we compare the thinking modes of China, Western and Indian, we can find that Western thinking is either this or that, either yin or yang, or binary opposition, and the result is that one side overcomes one side, one side eliminates one side, and one side eats one side; Chinese thought is the Yin-Yang fish in the Tai Chi diagram, where there is Yang in Yin and Yin in Yang, Yin-Yang fish interact, intersects and complements each other; while Indian thought is empty, there is no, this is the comparison of China, Western and Indian thinking.

Leibniz

The Inspiration of the Bible of Changes to binary: The importance of binary is well known to everyone. Without binary, there would be no contemporary mathematical logic, no digital technology, no computers, network technology, etc.

The inventor of the binary was the German thinker Leibniz (1646-1716). He knew about the Chinese "Book of Changes" that was originally introduced by European missionaries to China at about 20 years old. Although he was the first to invent the binary, he did not find strong support for its reliability and significance, so he was reluctant to publish his paper. It was not until he met the French missionary Bai Jin in 1697, and then communicated his views on the "Book of Changes" that he saw that the sixty-four hexagrams of the ancient "Book of Changes" corresponded to the binary numbers, which gave him great inspiration and encouragement. In 1705, he published the paper entitled "An Explanation on Binary Arithmetic with Only Two Symbols 0 and 1, and Used to Explanate the Fuxi Diagram of Ancient China".

This epoch-making invention of binary has finally been known to the world.
Chapter completed!