Study On Divination And Zhou Yi In Pre-Qin Dynasty

As one of classics of Confucianism,The book of Zhou Yi had be considered as philosophical textbook for a long time in history of China,Chinese scholar often proposed their philosophical thinking by annotated the book of Zhou Yi.As a result,we say the book of Zhou Yi was the core of the traditional learning.But in modern China, some scholar considered Zhou Yi as a Superstitious book which was created and used for divination,they held there was not any philosophical component in it.We firmly believed that Zhou Yi was initially created and used for divination,but it can not be denied that there was rich philosophical component in the book of Zhou Yi.In early period,divination was result of ignorance,but on the other hand,it was also a reflection of resistance to ignorance and searching for understanding.For the aim of accuracy of foretell, sorcerers often mixed their rational knowledge into divination,for a longer-term development,philosophical component was created in divination which is a superstitious thing.The aim of this doctoral dissertation is to explain how the philosophical component,which was included in the book of Zhou Yi,have been produced and developed.There are five divisions in this doctoral dissertation.â… .The origin and early development of divinationIn accordance with the present archaeology achievements,the origin of divination may be dated in the Neolithic Age.The divination was a means to foretell the means of God,and everyone could use it in the initial stage,after the religious reform,which carried by emperor of Zhuan Xu,the divination was monopolized by emperor. Divination has been considered as superstition thing during the Shang Dynasty.â…¡.The origin of Zhou Yi_and its philosophical componentFirst of all,the origin of Zhou Yi have been dated in the early period of the Zhou Dynasty,and its writers were Zhou Wen Wang and Zhou Gong.Then,some personal opinions on Zhou Yi have been proposed.Although disbelief in the existence of God,the text of Zhou Yi did not think God is the master to person,and attached great importance to subjective effort,held subjective effort is the key to fate of person.Two symbols,which are fundamental components of Zhou Yi,was initial the record of divination,but they contained certain dialectical component.So we say,the text of Zhou Yi embodied some humanism thought,and its symbols embodied some philosophical thought.In a word,Zhou Yi is a mixture of divination and philosophy.Although has been used for divination, there have been rich philosophical component in Zhou Yi.â…¢.The development of philosophical though in Zhou Yi during the Spring and autumn PeriodThe book of Zhou Yi was still used as tool of divination during the Spring and Autumn Period,but sorcerers often gave naturalistic and ethical interpretation to the text and symbol of Zhou Yi,as time gone by,the superstitious component died slowly,and philosophical thought increased gradually in the book of Zhou Yi.What was more, some people equated Zhou Yi with Shi Jing and Shang Shu,used the text of Zhou Yi to explain certain truth.This emblemized that Zhou Yi initially flung off the chains of divination.â…£.The explain of Yi Zhuan to Zhou YiFirst of all,we hold the author of Yi Zhuan,which were composed by ten divisions,were Kong Zi and his students.Then,Yi Zhuan had gave pure explain to Zhou Yi from different angles,as a result,Zhou Yi transformed into a philosophy book form a divination book.The philosophy thought of Yi Zhuan was not only the heritage of rational component in Zhou Yi,but also was creating of Kong Zi and his students.The finishing of Yi Zhuan emblemized that Zhou Yi finally flung off the chains of divination.â…¤.The development of Zhou Yi during warring periodForm the finishing of Yi Zhuan,the philosophical Zhou Yi and divination Zhou Yi separated and went different ways.During warring period,Confucian scholars carried on philosophical explain to text and symbol of Zhou Yi.As time went on,Zhou Yi finally become the core of Chinese philosophy,and produced enormous impaction on Chinese people.On the other hand,there were people who still considered Zhou Yi as superstitious book and used it for divination.But the status of divination Zhou Yi die gradually,people did not equate the divination Zhou Yi with philosophical Zhou Yi during warring period.In one word,the development of Zhou Yi during Pre-Qin Dynasty was the history of philosophy overcome superstition.