The Philosophical View Of Action Reflected In "The Operation Of The Six Lines" In "ZhouYi"

As a book,Zhou Yi first prepared the lines,thus into the hexagrams,and then the remarks of the hexagrams.The book Zhou Yi is based on a line in the hexagrams.“Shuogua”says that the sages “created a line of lines through the operation of firmness and softness”,and the lines can be divided into Yin and Yang because of the two properties of the lines.In addition,the biography of the line says “the line is the imitator of the world movement”,the line is endowed with the meaning of change,the saints set it up to emulate the virtue of continuous reproduction breed in an endless succession of heaven and earth,thus we can see the changes of dynamic and static in the world,and the“end”,“change”,“unobstructed” and “long” ways of the Zhou Yi.The hexagram is composed of six changes and overlapping lines,from which state of affairs of the initial,second,third,fourth,fifth and final lines can be seen.Although the state of affairs of the six lines have their own appearance due to the different hexagrams,all change is in accordance with what is generally implied by its position.In Zhou Yi,six lines are the images of one hexagram,and the lines are arranged from bottom to top,representing the events of the world in a staggered way.The operation of six lines has its own modality,so they all act according to its way.The initial line of the hexagram symbolizes the beginning and is the basis of a hexagram.Therefore,Zhou Yi tells people the principle of caution at the very beginning,indicating that people should not only be careful with themselves and guard against the outside,but also talk about the way to advance from the beginning.The second and fifth lines locates in the middle of the upper and lower hexagrams respectively,with the nature of “moderation”and admonishing with the integrity,which expresses the “time” and use of “moderation and integrity”,during which there is another way of righteousness of the monarch and his subjects remain hidden.The third and fourth lines are in the “people” position of the “three talents” with “more dangerous” and“more fear”.Therefore,we can see their state of “heart full of worry” and trembling behavior,then we can know their way of “fear”.The position of the upper line in the end indicates the abundance and ultimate of things,so it is also cautious.However,this method differs from the initial line in that it mainly reveals the inevitable result of “extreme changes” and exhorts people to act in accordance with the time.At the same time,it also implies a kind of qualities of a hermit who keeps his mind clean and can entertain himself.In conclusion,the nature of the change in the line is exactly consistent with the meaning of the word “Yi” in the title of Zhou Yi.Because of the changing nature of the lines,there are six different operating states of the lines.What’s more,the way of action revealed here is ultimately to respond to the word “change”,to know its change,and then to know what nature does and what man can do.Therefore,the sage sought the way of heaven to pass down to generation,and “the gentleman is ready to take orders when he is in easy environment”.