"Four Elephants" is an astronomical term in China, which specifically refers to: East Qinglong, West White Tiger, South Suzaku and North Xuanwu. Elephant, elephant also. The "Four Elephants" are named after dividing the Twenty-eight Hostels into four groups according to the distribution of heaven, which are shaped like dragons, tigers, finches and turtles. This generation refers to the east, west, north and south, as well as the four seasons.
Twenty-eight nights is the official name of the star. In ancient times, China was divided into 28 groups, marked by the star of the week, to observe the movement of the sun, the moon and the stars. It is produced by making calendars, and is based on the astronomical observation of dusk at the vernal equinox in ancient China. "Accommodation" in Twenty-eight Hostels means accommodation and dormitory. It refers to the place where the earth moves around the sun and causes the apparent motion of the sun. It starts from the corner and is arranged from west to east. Each image consists of seven places: corner, sound, rafter, room, heart, tail and dustpan, which refer to the east and spring. The distribution of these seven nights in the sky looks like a dragon. Spring has come, everything on the earth has revived, and everything is green everywhere, so it is called "Oriental Dragon". According to the bucket, cow, female, emptiness, danger, house and wall, the seven generations point to the north and say winter. China is located in the northern hemisphere, with short sunshine in winter and darkness in most days. The distribution of starry sky in these seven nights looks like a turtle. China people are used to calling black dark, and turtles have armor to show their martial arts, so they are called "Northern Xuanwu"; Kui, Lou, Wei, Chang, Bi, Gou and Shen are distributed in the western sky like tigers. Autumn refers to the west, and the representative color of the west is white, so it is called "western white tiger"; Well, ghost, willow, star, Zhang, wing, loyal man seven nights of starry sky layout in the southern sky image is like a bird flying high. The south represents summer, and the sun in summer is burning, so its representative color is scarlet, so it is called "Southern Suzaku". Divide the "four elephants" into three degrees, which is the zodiac.
According to the research of contemporary Chinese and foreign scientists, the establishment and naming of the Four Elephants, the Twenty-eight Nights and the Twelve Zodiacs constitute a basic system of ancient astronomical observation and calendar making, which originated in China about 5,000 years ago and spread all over the world.
The development of astronomical observation and research is the root that directly promotes the emergence, perfection and improvement of China's materialist dialectical philosophy. Philosophers who have no knowledge of astronomy often have defects in their theories. Therefore, whether a philosophical theoretical system is scientific or not can be seen from the achievements of astronomical research. In ancient China, it was precisely because of the four-dimensional and one-dimensional materialist dialectical philosophy system of "heaven, earth, man and time" that it came into being very early and greatly promoted the development of astronomical research. Xuanyuan Huangdi ordered people to watch the sun and the moon, record the movement of the stars, draw up a calendar, respect people and adapt them to the weather, and sow and cultivate in time, which is historical proof in this regard. The development of astronomical research will greatly promote the development, perfection and improvement of materialist dialectical philosophy. Guiding the development of national political, economic, military, legal, ethical, moral, science and technology, medicine, music and other cultural undertakings on the basis of philosophical thoughts and theories is the historical root of the early emergence and development of Chinese civilization and the profoundness of Chinese culture. This is reflected in the elaboration of philosophical theory, which naturally bears the imprint of history: "The Book of Changes has Tai Chi, giving birth to two instruments, two instruments giving birth to four images, and four images giving birth to gossip, which determines good or bad luck, and good or bad luck gives birth to great cause" is a good proof.
Now, based on my personal research, I try to explain in modern and popular language that "Tai Chi is easy to have, which means that two instruments give birth to four elephants, and four elephants give birth to gossip, and good or bad luck will lead to great cause" as follows:
Classical philosophy, which came into being in the era when China had no words, is a materialistic dialectical philosophy based on a set of patterns and paintings, with four dimensions of "heaven, earth, man and time", and it is the inheritance system of "truth". This ideological system studies the changing law of everything in the world, and its inheritance method is simple, but the "truth" it preaches is not easy through the ages, so the topic is easy. This philosophy is monism, and its monism can cover the universe and become an atomic model, so it is called "Tai Chi". This monism holds that the basic law of monism is the law of the unity of opposites of Yin and Yang. This is the meaning of "Yijing has Tai Chi and gives birth to two devices".
Yin and Yang are men and women, generations, cold and heat, heaven and earth. Therefore, sidereal day is called "the sun" and the moon is called "the moon". The movements of the sun, the moon and the earth make the four seasons change from cold to hot, and from day to night, so there is a metaphor of "two instruments give birth to four elephants".
Everything in the world changes due to the interaction between heaven and earth, such as wind, thunder, water, fire, mountains and mountains. Therefore, the Book of Changes first established the Eight Diagrams, taking "the orientation of heaven and earth, the rareness of wind and thunder, the harmony of fire and water, and the ventilation of mountains and mountains" as the program and law, carrying out philosophical deduction, and symbolizing the change of everything with sixty-four hexagrams and telling its "reason". This is the metaphor of "four images give birth to gossip". In this paper, "gossip" refers to the philosophical inheritance carrier of gossip, not just the Eight Classics.
The philosophy of the gossip inheritance system is not for fun, but for people to understand and adapt to the changing laws of all things in nature. Because you will get it if you conform to the law of nature, and you will lose it if you violate this law. What you gain is lucky, and what you lose is fierce. This is the clear semantic definition of "good luck depends on his gains and losses" explained in Zhouyi Cohesion. I understand that the reason why luck is good or bad is that people follow the laws of nature, achieve a career and promote social and historical progress. This is the truth that "gossip will determine good or bad luck, and good or bad luck will achieve great things."
Since ancient times, the development and progress of various civilizations in human society can be summarized in thousands of ways, but if we concentrate and summarize them in one sentence, we will study all the objective laws of nature and use them to serve the development of human society. It is science to study the laws of the occurrence, development and change of all things and apply them to the production and life of human society. All the development and progress of human society is to keep approaching science. This is the content of the Book of Changes!