The Book of Changes is the general name of a science, which is very, very old, the oldest in the world, and there is no one. China's traditional view is that the Book of Changes is "the head of the group classics and the source of the Tao". This statement is actually true all over the world, and the source of human learning and philosophy is the Book of Changes. With the word "Jing", we can see the importance of this knowledge, such as "Thirteen Classics". The ancient people in China gave only one word "Jing" to the books recognized by several generations or even generations and dynasties! Therefore, the word Yijing is an artificial combination of words, not who wrote a book called Yijing.
The Book of Changes is only a special historical stage of the Zhou Dynasty and the late Warring States Period. People's understanding and interpretation of the Book of Changes has become a book on this basis, and it is also the only existing text that records the scriptures of the Book of Changes. Therefore, the Book of Changes belongs to the Book of Changes, but it is also the Book of Changes in a special historical stage. The Book of Changes and The Book of Changes do not completely coincide at a specific historical stage, and even have many contradictions.
The Book of Changes is very old, which originated in Fuxi era, and has gone through almost nine historical stages: including Shennong, Zhu Rong, Five Emperors, Xia Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn Warring States, Han Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Tang Dynasty, Song and Ming Dynasty, Qing Dynasty and Republic of China. New cultural elements and thoughts will appear in each historical stage, and these cultural elements and thoughts will be directly mixed into the Book of Changes, so that people in that historical stage will have a new understanding of the Book of Changes.
However, the culture and ideas that appeared in different historical stages often contradict the core ideas of the Book of Changes, which leads to the content that contradicts the Book of Changes itself being mixed into the Book of Changes in the new historical stage. So formally, the Book of Changes is a constantly changing process with the changes of historical stages. Every change will be mixed with new contradictions.
However, after such a long history, spanning so many historical stages and mixed with so many contradictions, the Book of Changes is also called the Book of Changes, because although the form of the Book of Changes is constantly changing, it has an unchanging core and is beyond the historical stage.
Therefore, the key to learning the Book of Changes is to learn its core and understand its core through its form. We can identify and eliminate the interference of the formal layer, not be deceived by the contradictory contents mixed in various historical stages, but point to and firmly grasp its core.
It's like a person's character and behavior. Personality is his core layer and behavior is his formal layer. Through his behavior, we can feel his character. However, character and behavior are integrated, character lies in behavior, and behavior is the development of character. Personality remains the same, but behavior is changing. For a person, we can only perceive and summarize his unchanging character through his ever-changing behavior; Then we can infer its ever-changing behavior through its unchanging personality.
The kernel layer is the character of the Book of Changes, and the formal layer is the behavior of the Book of Changes.
This is what the Cohesion Biography says: "The metaphysical refers to the Tao, and the metaphysical refers to the device." Tao is the core of Yi-ology, that is, personality, and apparatus is a superficial form, that is, behavior. Tao and device are integrated, and Tao does not leave the device, and the device does not leave the Tao.
The Book of Changes is the concrete embodiment of the Book of Changes in the historical period from Zhouzhi to Warring States. Therefore, the Book of Changes is a specific form of the Book of Changes in a specific historical stage, and it also contains the core of the Book of Changes. But at the same time, there are many contradictions between the kernel layer and the formal layer. So the Book of Changes is the Book of Changes, not the Book of Changes. Never treat all the words and opinions in the Book of Changes directly as the Book of Changes.