Superstition about numbers is usually based on the traditional symbolic meaning of numbers (for example, 7 stands for mystery). The three numbers 1, 2 and 3 are connected together, which almost represent the unity, duality and composition of the world. In Pythagorean terms, 1, 2,3 symbolizes the process from point to line to surface and finally to entity.
Larger numbers sometimes have important symbolic significance. In Central America, 20 is a sacred number and is usually associated with the sun god. Hebrews value 2 1, which is related to wisdom. According to Jewish tradition, 50 means the year of carnival, and 50 is regarded as a god; 60 is the most basic number in the China calendar; In the Bible, 70 is the limit of life and a symbol of wholeness and universality. For many people, 10000 symbolizes the infinity of numbers and time; The Greeks called 10000 Persian elite soldiers "immortal spirits".
zero
"Zero" symbolizes the beginning, the starting point, and also symbolizes piecemeal, not much. When the number reaches zero, it is a chaotic state.
Taoist theory, zero gives birth to one, that is, infinite Tai Chi; The second life is Tai Chi giving birth to two devices. It is considered that infinity is a chaotic state and an invisible primitive state of the universe. In ancient China, 0 was called Jinyuan number (meaning extremely precious number).
one
"One" is a simple and complicated number. It is the most inclusive of all numbers, and everything can be classified as a whole later. One of all things, one of all things.
Legend has it that heaven and earth were originally indistinguishable. Later, the clear sky rose, the polluted air sank, heaven and earth separated, and everything grew. This statement reflects all our views on "one": first of all, "one" is an all-encompassing whole, including everything. Secondly, everything is made up of concrete individuals, and individuals can be divided into the smallest until they are inseparable. This individual is one.
In other words, "one" is not simply "big" or "small", but related to these two concepts.
"One" also agrees with Da. In Naxi hieroglyphics, the pronunciation of "one" is homophonic with "big" of "size", while "big" evolved from "female" is homophonic with "double" as the unit of quantity. The ancient Chinese character "Da" in China is a mysterious gesture, which means to communicate with the gods, and it is a wizard's gesture to greet the gods. Similar gestures are also common in the scene of worship of gods in primitive rock paintings in China, and some "Da" heads are just a radiant sun.
Some people think that "one", as a mysterious number, is mysterious because it symbolizes the sun and birds. This mysterious figure was created by Sunbird's worship of the merchant nation. The sun has a lot to do with our life. In the eyes of primitive people, the sun is the biggest and brightest star in the sky. Therefore, there is also a word "big" in the name of the sun. The sun rises in the east, flies in the sky and sets in the west every day. So people imagine that the sun is a bird. Birds are the archetypes of the sun god.
In the east of China, agricultural civilization is developed, and bird worship is widespread among the eastern ethnic groups. This is also an important reason why birds become the prototype of the sun god.
In Islam and some other religions, "One" stands for God, is a symbol of basic and unity, and also represents the origin of the sun, light and life. In western tradition, this Arabic numeral also has symbolic meanings such as penis, aggression and activity. Pythagoras school believes that "one" is a basic point and the basis of all operations. Confucianism believes that "one" is a perfect entity. It is inseparable and the mysterious source of the origin of all things. To put it more simply, "one" is a sign of beginning, self and loneliness.
two
The mysterious symbolic meaning of "two" is first embodied in the way of thinking of binary opposition.
The dualistic thinking method has derived many concepts, such as the opposition of Yin and Yang. The opposition between day and night is the most common in nature. After primitive people realized this, they gradually found many similar opposites in the surrounding things, such as sunny and rainy days, high and low, wet and dry, cold and warm, male and female, life and death and so on.
People abstract the concept of contradiction between Yin and Yang from natural phenomena, and this abstract concept of Yin and Yang was formed at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty at the latest. After the formation of the abstract concept of Yin and Yang, with the extensive influence of the original binary opposition thinking, it quickly penetrated into various fields of religion, witchcraft, science and society, and became the dominant world outlook and methodology in some fields in a certain period of time.
"Two" is the most contradictory symbol in all numbers and the representative of dualism. It can symbolize reorganization and division, attraction and exclusion, integration and contradiction. In ancient times, the beast statues symbolizing the patron saint, usually a man and a woman, matched each other, thus implying strength.
In China's symbolic system, "two" is an ominous number, which is usually associated with weak "yin". The positive and negative sides of two gods or one god symbolize the opposition of two conflicting forces, just as twins represent the fierce confrontation of two forces, both powerful and evil.
"Two" is often regarded as a division in the basic unity. From this perspective, it is usually associated with hungry women, symbolizing unity, love, fertility (high yield) and growth, changing in creation and destruction.
three
The number "three" is regarded as a mysterious symbol in both the West and China.
In the symbolic system, "three" hardly contains any negative meaning, and its symbolic meaning involves religious thoughts, traditions, gods and many other fields. There is a saying in folk stories that "three lives are lucky". The doctrine of the Trinity of Christ enables the only true Christian God to be worshipped by all through the Son and the Holy Spirit, which shows that "three" can replace "one" as a symbol of omnipotence, strength and unity.
In ancient mythology, the trinity is the characteristic of ancient times and the world of ideas. Such as: three graces, three fates, gorgon, Gerry Yi San sisters, and three revenge. Even The Nine Muses hinted that they were the Trinity God.
Similarly, the worship of "San" by different religious factions around the world is also recorded. The Trinity of Hinduism-God of Creation, God of Maintenance, God of Vishnu and Destruction, Shiva. Even in Christianity, there is a saying about the Trinity. Buddhists, on the other hand, call knowledge (bodhi) the "three saints", and this concept includes self-nature, that is, Gautama's Buddha and followers blessed by Buddha. From this, the symbolic "three magic weapons" are derived: precept, Buddha and sentient beings. Wait, and so on.
In Hegel's dialectics, the positive proposition and the negative proposition are connected by synthesis, so the number "three" gives people endless perfect and mysterious associations. People often say "the third ghost", and the mythical hero has to complete three major events to prove his greatness. The duality of men and women is perfect only in the trio of mother, father and child.
Another manifestation of "three" as a mysterious number is that it symbolizes the cosmic framework of traditional culture. The number "three" implies almost all aspects of creativity, such as head, brain, body, spirit, birth, life and death, past, present, future and so on. In many religious traditions, the symbol of "Trinity" has different stories and implications.
In Pythagoras' eyes, "three" is a harmonious number, while Aristotle believes that "three" represents wholeness, because "three" has both a beginning and an end and a middle. Taoism also believes that "three" is a symbol of strength, because it implies a central element.
four
At first, people thought that the most common symbolic meanings of "four seasons" were the four directions and four seasons. However, if we pay attention to comparing the number four with the number three, we will find that the symbolic meaning of four is far more than that.
The symbolic meaning of "four" originally comes from the square and the four-armed cross, which represents stability, comprehensiveness and omnipresence, and is also a symbol of organization, strength, wisdom, justice and omnipotence. "Four" is also a rational number, symbolizing cleverness. There are four elements in western tradition-earth, fire, air and water-and four temperaments.
Four and crosses and squares. There are four seasons and four rivers in the sky. People have four temperaments and four directions, four authors of the gospel, four great prophets and four doctors of the church. However, the most important thing is that the four letters in the name of God, translated into YWHH or JHVH by Hebrew four-character symbols, are often pronounced as "Yahweh"-but devout Jews are too respectful to pronounce this name.
The number "four" does not get its basic meaning from the simple superposition of duality. Jung believes that the Catholic doctrine of the assumption of the Virgin Mary embodies an attempt to integrate female factors into the trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, making it a regular and plump new square. The coordinates we use to describe the world are also based on the number "four", which may come from four elements or four directions.
China's traditional culture still has a preference for "Four". Legend has it that four monarchs protected the Jade Emperor, the highest god in China's traditional religion. People use four amulets to repel evil attacks. The four arts are piano, chess, calligraphy and painting; Four Treasures of the Study is a pen, ink, paper and inkstone; The four virtues are honesty, humility, responsibility and etiquette; The "four noble truths" constitute the cornerstone of Buddhism.
Of course, in China, not all "four" are good. In China, many people are taboo about "four" because the pronunciation of "four" and "death" is similar to the taboo of "thirteen" in western society.
In other parts of the world, there are also different opinions about "four". Americans believe that four is the core principle of the universe. The Mayans had four colors and four "symbols" of natural years. In the Aztec cosmic consciousness, four world trees support the sky. "Sifang is said to be the birthplace of the wind, with four huge water tanks hanging and rain pouring out"; In addition, there are four gods who escaped the "great flood that destroyed the world".
five
The number "five" can be seen everywhere in real life. People have five senses, hands have five fingers, flowers have five petals, and money has five yuan and fifty cents. The number "five" has a very unique symbolic meaning in both the East and the West.
In the mysterious culture of China, the most important "five elements" structure is "five elements". The five elements are located in five directions: east, west, south, north and middle, each with its own elements and attributes. These five elements, namely, wood, fire, earth, gold and water, are the most basic element structure. "The five elements are mixed to form everything", and on this basis, everything in the world is formed. In China culture, "Five" symbolizes the meanings of "basic", "foundation" and "unchangeable". It is not only the symbol of five directions, but also the general name of the five elements.
In the west, the shape of the five-pointed star also implies the importance of the number "five". When two points in the pentagram are facing down and one point is facing up, it can be regarded as an upright human figure with a head, arms and legs. In the Old Testament, Jesus raised 4,000 people with five loaves of bread. So "Five" not only symbolizes the human body (the five crosses on the stone altar are used to commemorate the five scars on Jesus), but also symbolizes infinity.
As a number, "five" exists not only in people's daily life, but also in the field of humanistic spirit of human society, as well as in the fields of social science and natural science. It has become a symbol of fixed results (such as human body and natural objects), and at the same time it symbolizes things that are repeated repeatedly (such as the five elements and the digital calculation of Dr. Rectangular).
"Five" is linked with human nature and represented by figures, that is, a person's head and outstretched limbs form a five-pointed star, which can also be directly represented by a five-pointed star, and the points of the five-pointed star are connected by lines. "Five" is not only a symbol of the general structure of human body, but also a symbol in China, Japanese, Celtic and other cultural traditions, which refers to wholeness and perfection. Another traditional view holds that "Five" contains a center and is the fifth direction of the universe. Other symbolic meanings of "Five" include love, health, sensitivity, endurance, meditation, analysis, criticism, strength, wholeness, biological reproduction and heart.
six
"Six" is a symbol of unity and harmony, represented by two triangular symbols, one pointing upward (masculine) and the other pointing downward (feminine). This symbol, now known as David's Shield, is a symbol of the unification of Israel and Judah and an ideographic symbol of the human soul.
Six is an interesting number. After God created the world in six days, he "rested on the seventh day". St Augustine thinks that the meaning of "six" is unusual because it is the sum of the first three numbers (one, two and three). The six pardons described in the gospels are one of the few symbolic series related to six in Christian tradition. An important visual symbol, including "Six", is a six-pointed star composed of two equilateral triangles, that is, the shield of David (the symbol of the Jews).
There is also a saying about "666" in the revelation of the New Testament. It is said that before the end of the world, the devil will run wild in the world, and his image is a monster, extremely fierce. Revelation records: "There is wisdom here. Anyone who is wise can count the number of beasts, for this is the number of man, and his number is 666. " Later, "animal number 666" evolved into a symbol of the devil, which was an ominous omen.
Qin Shihuang, the world-famous first emperor of China and the founder of the Middle Kingdom, liked hexadecimal, and divided his empire into 36 military provinces, each controlled by a civil servant and a military attache. After the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty adopted the decimal system. The dominant concept of numbers in ancient China was based on five, but traditionally the body was divided into six parts (namely, head, trunk, arms and legs) and people's emotions were divided into six types (namely, anger, pain, hate, joy, desire and love). There are also "Six Rivers" and "Kings of Six Countries".
In modern times, "Six" has a new symbolic meaning, symbolizing good luck and smooth career. "66 Dashun" means wishing others success in their careers.
seven
The number seven is not only sacred and mysterious, but also full of magic. Especially in West Asia, "Seven" is a symbol of the orderly universe and spiritual world, and also represents the natural cycle and complete agreement.
"Seven" is an ordinary number, but many countries and nations regard it as a mysterious and sacred number and worship it very much.
In the ancient civilization of the Middle East, "seven" is the most sacred number after "three".
Babylonians, Egyptians and China believed that there were seven sacred stars in the sky, namely, the sun, the moon, mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
Christianity believes that God created everything in seven days, so there are seven days in a week. The Lord's prayer is divided into seven parts; The Virgin Mary has seven happy things, seven sad things and so on. Seven plays an important role in the Revelation: seven churches, seven horns and seven eyes, seven golden bowls of God's wrath, and the Revelation is covered with seven seals.
Islam believes that heaven is divided into seven layers, consisting of pure silver, pure gold, pearls, platinum, silver, rubies and unspeakable holy light. On the seventh floor, the highest heaven composed of holy light is dominated by Abraham, where angels sing praises to Allah, the highest living being. Each angel has 70,000 heads, each head has 70,000 faces, each face has 70,000 mouths, each mouth has 70,000 tongues, and each tongue speaks 70,000 languages. It can be said that there are thousands of words, thousands of words, thousands of words.
Judaism believes that Jews have a Sabbath every seven days and a sabbath year every seven years. In other years, people don't plow crops and have a rest. Every 749 years, a grand celebration will be held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of becoming a human being. There are three major festivals in a year, each lasting seven days. The first and second festivals are seven weeks apart.
Buddhism has the legend that Sakyamuni faced the wall for seven days or 7749 days and got positive results. According to Buddhist scriptures, everything has seven origins, namely, earth, fire, water, wind, qi, knowledge and root; According to Buddhist custom, it takes a total of 7749 days after death; The Buddhist temple is divided into seven halls, namely Jintang (Jingtang), lecture hall, tower, scroll, bell tower, monk's workshop and canteen. There are seven kinds of disasters in life: fire, water, Luo Cha, wand, ghost, chains and hating thieves; Wait a minute.
The ancient Persian Pasi religion regarded seven "eternal saints" as supreme gods: good intentions, extreme justice, long-awaited kingdom of heaven, pious modesty, incomparable health, eternal youth and cautious obedience.
Medieval Europe also had a special preference for "seven": seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (represented by pigeons in the Middle Ages), seven virtues, seven arts and sciences, seven communions, seven periods of life, seven deadly sins (referring to pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, jealousy and laziness) and seven prayers in the Lord's prayer.
In China, "seven" is also mysterious, such as the "seven stars" in the sky; People's feelings have "seven emotions"; There are seven colors; Music has "seven tones"; Poetry has seven words, seven quatrains and seven laws; The human body has "seven orifices"; According to folklore, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl met at the Magpie Bridge on July 7th.
Some people think that "seven" is worshipped by many nationalities because it is the sum of three and four, and three and four are two sacred numbers, that is, the two smallest positive integers that ancient Greece can satisfy Pythagoras' law. Another view is that many ancient people knew the sun, the moon, mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The sun, the moon and the sky bring light, warmth and life to the world; The ebb and flow of tides, and even women's menstrual cramps, have a mysterious connection with the sun, the moon and the stars. As a result, the number "seven" representing the seven stars was covered with various colors and entered various religious legends, fairy tales and ancient books.
eight
Eight is a symbol of the harmony and unity of the universe. According to the secular view, "eight" is a symbol of renewal, rebirth or blessing.
Eight is the symbol that Buddhism opens the world, representing the beginning of the world in Taiji. The largest even number in the unit number, the reverse 8 is ∞, indicating infinity and infinity.
A group of eight people or a group of eight people is a concept symbolizing the world view, which comes from the ancient Egyptian city of Kumunu (literally meaning "eight-character city"). When other religious centers emphasize the concept of nine groups or nine, in Kumunu, the creation from primitive chaos is embodied in the duality of yin and yang: for example, the water in primitive times is embodied in both positive and negative forms; The endless universe also has duality. The life of the Eight Zones takes the form of frogs and snakes. They lived in the mud of primitive times, where the first mountain rose, and the sun god opened the first lotus flower on the mountain.
Eight directions refer to four corners (southeast, northeast, southwest and northwest) of four directions (east, south, west and north).
The eight festivals refer to beginning of spring, Changxia, beginning of autumn, beginning of winter, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice.
In addition, there are various sayings such as Eight Tones in Eight Dynasties, Eight Confucians, Eight Valley, Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou, Eight Masters in Prose and so on.
It is said that in China, the "Eight" phenomenon first appeared in Hongkong. Because "Ba" is pronounced as "Fa" in Cantonese, Hong Kong people who expect to make a fortune especially favor "Ba".
nine
"Nine" is a strange number. "Nine" is like its buckling shape. Jiupan (describing Panshan Road).
Nine is one third of three. In many cultural traditions, especially in China, Buddhism and Celtic culture, nine is the most auspicious number and the most powerful symbol of Yang.
Throughout the ages, people have acknowledged that nine is the largest number. The number between heaven and earth "starts at zero one and ends at nine", and "ten is one again". "Ten" is just the one above, and "nine" is the big brother in the numbers 0~9.
The number "nine" multiplied by the sacred number "3" represents eternity and completeness, which is closely related to geometric figures such as circles, squares and triangles. China people think that "Nine" is sacred and represents an auspicious number, so they regard "Nine" as a number that defines social legal system (nine kinds of etiquette) and official position. In Hinduism, the mandala composed of 8 1 square generated by 9 squares is considered as the symbol of the universe, so mandala is often used as an auxiliary tool for prophecy and astrology.
In the west, "9" as a self-multiplier of 3 symbolizes higher authority. "9" is the most important in the religion and cosmology of ancient Egypt. "Nine Gods in One Group" has become the combination form of the main gods in religion, and occupies a very important position in the system of gods.
In addition, the existence of words such as "Nine Angels", "Nine Celestial Bodies" and "The Nine Muses" also proves that "Nine" symbolizes the meaning of "higher authority", and then it can be concluded that there are multiple symbolic meanings such as grade difference, majority, wealth and depth.
ten
"Ten" symbolizes a turning point in history or a cycle of life and death. "Ten" is a symbol of perfection-especially in Jewish tradition, this mysterious number implies some kind of integrity and unity, so God sent Moses the Ten Commandments, which highly summarized the most important religious obligations of the Hebrews.
In Pythagoras' mathematical system, ten is the symbol of totality and creation, which is usually represented by a ten-pointed star. People only have ten fingers, so ten is a symbol of perfection, which is obvious. The ancient Egyptian calendar was based on the Deagan method, with 36 stars every ten days. It is said that every star can affect a person's life, which is a crucial concept for the development of ancient Greek astrology.
One-tenth has almost become a common levy standard, and one-tenth of the spoils, possessions or crops have to be taken out to offer sacrifices to gods or kings-this is the origin of the Eleventh Tax System. In China, "Ten" is an absolutely balanced number, which is represented by two vertically intersecting lines. The horizontal one is slightly shorter, and "Ten" represents the combination of positive and negative numbers, so it is also a symbol of marriage.
eleven
In Europe, "eleven" is "the devil's number". St. Augustine thinks that "Eleventh" is related to evil, which is more metaphysical. Eleven is only a little more than the last ten, so it is often associated with danger, conflict and rebellion.
In China, "Eleven" is a just number, and shamans believe that "Eleven" is an auspicious number and a symbol of wealth. In Christ's fable, it is said that those workers who are employed in the last hour of the day get paid for the whole day.
twelve
"Twelve" is the most basic number about time and space in astrology, ancient astronomy and calendar. Especially in the Christian and Jewish traditions, "Twelve" has gained more important symbolic significance, referring to people loved by God. In addition, "Twelve" also represents the organization, astronomical region and time period of the universe (December, every day 12 hours, every night 12 hours, the year of the zodiac in China). Since "Twelve" is the result of multiplication of "Three" and "Four", it has become a symbol of the unity of spiritual world and secular world.
In the Bible, Jacob gave birth to twelve sons, so there are twelve tribes in Israel. In addition, the priest's colorful chest bag is also inlaid with twelve diamonds. Christ has twelve disciples, the tree of life bears twelve fruits, the gate of heaven has twelve doors, the crown on Mary's head has twelve stars, Mitra has twelve disciples, and some Muslims believe that the prophet Ali has twelve descendants. The theory of solar astrology is also based on the movement of the sun through the ecliptic.
Haudio in ancient Greece (700 BC) believed that there were twelve giants in the world, and later Greek mythology also believed that there were twelve immortals living on Mount Olympus, and there were twelve famous knights around King Arthur's Round Table. Christmas also has twelve days. This tradition comes from Christmas and Saturnalia, which is held from the winter solstice. It is also symbolic in the calendar and refers to every month in the future.
thirteen
In many western countries and regions, "thirteen" is always an unlucky number and is regarded as a symbol of bad luck or disaster.
Hausiode in ancient Greece warned farmers not to be too miscellaneous. 13 to start sowing. In Babylon, a leap year of 13 months is marked by an unlucky crow. People believe that the devil always holds parties with 12 witches 13 people.
Westerners are superstitious and taboo about "Thirteen", especially 13 and Friday are the same day. According to the Bible, there were 65,438+03 people in Jesus and his disciples, and the last supper was held on the Friday before his execution. Therefore, westerners think that "13" is an unlucky number and will bring disaster to people. If that day is "13" and it falls on Friday, it will be very unlucky.
In the east, thirteen has always been a very auspicious number, and Buddhism thinks thirteen is a very auspicious and smooth symbol. The American national seal pattern behind the dollar contains a prediction about 13. There is a Mayan pyramid in the pattern behind a dollar. The pyramid has 13 layers from bottom to top. There is an "eye of the sky" above the 13 layer of the pyramid, which radiates light. People say that this pattern indicates the awakening of the third eye after walking 13 Baktu.
forty
The symbolic number "forty" is widely used in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. It is the number of days needed in some major periods, especially to be tested by God and make spiritual preparations, including purifying the soul, repenting, waiting for piety and fasting.
As for why such a number is chosen, there is a reasonable explanation that Babylonian astrologers firmly believe that "Forty" is associated with various disasters in nature, especially in spring, when the Pleiades cluster disappears, there will be storms and floods every forty days.
Another point of view is that it takes 40 days after death to get into the grave and stop causing trouble. The Roman funeral banquet was also held forty days after death. In addition, it is believed that it will take 40 days to fully understand the diseases caused by the plague epidemic. Therefore, Marseille Port actually issued a 40-day ban (isolation measures) on 14 to isolate ships from plague-endemic countries.
Early historians used "forty" more as a symbol. So the flood in the Bible flooded for forty days and nights; Jews struggled in the wilderness for forty years; Moses listened to God's instruction on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights. The two kings of the Jews, David and Solomon, each ruled for forty years; Christ fasted in the wilderness for forty days (now called lent); After that, he preached for forty months and went to heaven forty days after Easter. Osiris, the Egyptian ghost, disappeared for forty days, which later became a religious fasting day. Both Hebrews and Muslims believe that "forty" is a powerful number and a symbol of achievements or changes in religious ceremonies.