The emergence and disappearance of "Guxu"
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the princes came together and the king of Zhou gradually declined. The princes competing for hegemony began to recruit talents aggressively and appointed scholars from poor families. Coupled with the emergence and large-scale use of iron tools, the agricultural economy has developed greatly and productivity has greatly improved. In view of this situation, ideological culture gradually became active, various schools of thought emerged, and a hundred schools of thought contended. And "Guxu" was born at this time.
The "Wei Liao Zi" recorded in the Warring States Period states: "A general in this life, after studying Guxu, occupied Xianchi, combined with the tortoise omen, watched the changes in the stars, wind and clouds, and hoped to achieve victory and meritorious deeds."
Since its emergence in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, this science has been difficult for many people to understand. It’s difficult to get started, and it’s also difficult to understand it, let alone use it freely. For example, it's like today's ordinary primary school students go directly to study calculus in college. The difficulty here is really quite big.
This knowledge has achieved great development during the Qin and Han Dynasties, and has been widely used in military affairs and people's daily life. However, due to its high degree of difficulty, many parts of it were not passed down completely during its spread. Therefore, this knowledge gradually disappeared during the Tang and Song Dynasties. To this day, many of us have never even heard of it, let alone understood and learned it.
Having said so much, what exactly is Guxu? What is it used for? There are probably two explanations for the specific meaning of Guxu.
Wang Xiang Guxu
See? Guxu? These two words, Gu and Xu, both mean being weak and weak. Corresponding to this is the king's prime minister, that is, the emperor's prime minister. The former is lonely and helpless and weak, while the latter is superior to thousands of people and is supreme and powerful. It’s clear who is strong and who is weak. And Guxu and Wangxiang are included in the five elements.
"Mencius Tong" explains, "There are times when the five elements are lonely and weak, and there are times when they are prosperous." Spring belongs to wood, and wood A and B produce Bing and Ding fire, which means that wood is strong and has the element of fire. The character "wang" is the character "wang", which means "xiang", the second of "wang". Jin has declined here, so he is alone, without any help, and looks like a single man. ?Water is the mother, wood is the child, the child is real and the mother is empty, so the water is empty when it comes here?
When the five elements change, there is the appearance of loneliness and the appearance of king. The changes in the five elements represent a change in all things over time. In other words, all things in the world also have changes in their Guxu and Wangxiang. From the rise and fall of dynasties to the waxing and waning of the moon, everything is in a cycle from strength to weakness.
Because of the laws of the rise and fall of things, through the art of Guxu, we can judge and deduce when they will prosper and when they will decline, so as to find the right time to achieve our own goals.
Many battles in history where a small number of people defeated a large number were the result of conscious or unconscious use of the art of loneliness. For example, we are familiar with the Cao GUI controversy. Take advantage of the opponent's morale to be weak and your own morale to be strong, and use all your strength to defeat the enemy. Another example is Tian Ji’s horse racing that I learned in elementary school. It is clear that the overall strength of one's own horses is weaker than that of the opponent, but through reasonable arrangements, the goal of defeating the strong by the weak is achieved.
This is the art of loneliness. Look at the opponent's loneliness and weakness, and also look at your own loneliness. Compare the two, find the opportunity when your own strength is stronger than the opponent's power, and then defeat the opponent in one fell swoop to achieve your own victory.
Dui Gu Yue Xu
In addition to the above-mentioned king of the Five Elements, there is another kind of "Dui Gu Yue Xu". In the above, Gu and Xu are seen together, but here, Gu and Xu are opposed to each other.
According to "Historical Records: Biography of Guice", "The sun and the clock are incomplete, so there is loneliness." Among them, "日" refers to nail B, and "chen" refers to Zichou. They represent the ten heavenly stems and the twelve earthly branches respectively. And "incomplete" means that the ten heavenly stems are two less than the twelve earthly branches, which means they are incomplete, which means they don't match up.
In the calendaring system of heavenly stems and earthly branches, ten days are divided into one ten-day period, and each ten-day period must have two free earthly branches. This is the solitary period. Corresponding it with the 12-chen position map, the chen corresponding to "Gu" is "Xu".
In ancient times, when two armies faced each other, the military advisor or general would always leave a small number of troops behind. When the opponent reveals a flaw, they send out this team to catch them off guard, thus capturing the enemy and winning. And this small part of the troops left behind is equivalent to the solitary force. Taking advantage of the enemy's vulnerability, that is, the weak force appears, so that the solitary force can confront the weak force and win.
There is another way of saying that the word "Gu" here is interpreted as "Gu". Due to phonological reasons, "Gu" is trained as "Gu", which means solid. And "deficiency" means weakness. To say emptiness to Gu is to use solidity to deal with weakness, and to use reality to deal with emptiness. Use this tactic to win when the enemy cannot tell the difference between virtual reality and virtual reality.
The ancient art of "Guxu" seems to be very simple, but in fact, how can the myriad changes in it be easily explained in just a few words? Due to its numerous changes and the obscure technical terminology, the inheritance of this "Guxu" technique is really difficult.