In the Water Margin, 108 heroes are divided into 36 heroes and 72 demons, and the sum of 36 and 72 is exactly 108, which has obvious traditional Taoist color. Taoism believes that the Big Dipper has 36 highest-day stars, and each highest-day star has a god, which is collectively called 36 highest-day stars. There are seventy-two earthworms in the Big Dipper, and each earthworm also has a god, which is collectively called seventy-two earthworms.
Thirty-six and seventy-two: the magic numbers of the five elements of Feng Shui
36 and 72 are two mysterious numbers in China's ancient traditional culture, which frequently appear in various occasions: there are 36 numbers in Sun Tzu's Art of War; Traditional Wushu routines often have 36 tricks; 36 views of the Royal Garden Summer Resort; Confucius has 3000 disciples and 72 saints. It is said that Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang had 72 moles on his left leg. Chiyou has 72 brothers; As the saying goes: seventy-two lines, each line is the champion; There is also the well-known the Monkey King 72 change. In addition, people also like to use 36 and 72 to describe the beautiful scenery. For example, there are 36 peaks in Wuyishan, and 72 peaks in Huangshan, Hengshan and Songshan. It seems that the numbers 36 and 72 occupy a special place in our traditional culture.
36 is the sum of multiplication of six and six, and six is an auspicious number advocated by ancient people in China. Six hexagrams of the Book of Changes, six tones, six Qing, an ancient scholar, and six relatives in family relations. After Qin Shihuang unified the whole country, he counted six as disciplines, six inches for his hat, six feet for his car, six drivers for his horse and so on. "Water Margin" was originally thirty-six generals, so Song Jiang said: Sixty-six geese fly even eighty-nine.
As a mysterious number, 72 comes from the thought of five elements. In the concept of five elements, a year is divided into five directions: east, west, south, north and middle, and 360 days a year is divided into 72 periods, each of which has 5 days. Mr. Wen Yiduo wrote 72 articles on this issue for textual research. He pointed out: Seventy-two is a fifth-grade score of 360 days a year. This book is a noun evolved from the five elements thought and a symbol of cultural activities. It can be seen that 72 is the basic calculation number in the ancient calendar, which is closely related to social production and life, so it has a far-reaching impact on people's concept of quantity.