Dao De Jing & Numbers in Traditional Chinese Culture

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1 Dao De Jing & Numbers in Traditional Chinese Culture
Martin Q. Zhao 2/5/2014 Dao De Jing & Numbers in Traditional Chinese Culture

2 Topics Intro: Chinese Characters for Numbers
Traditional Chinese Calendar: Lunar or Solar? Numbers Used in the DaoDe Jing (Tao-Te Ching) BaGua: Understanding the Changing World WuXing: Ancient Systems Theory Other Phenomena Q&A

3 Chinese Characters For Numbers
一二三四五六七八九十百千万亿兆 Zhuan style 說文小篆 (100 AD) Bronze inscriptions 金文 (1300 BC) Oracle bone script 甲骨文 Chu style on Slips/Silk 楚系簡帛 (300 BC)

4 Chinese Calendar: Lunar or Solar?
A Lunisolar System: it’s both lunar and solar Every month starts on a new moon day: both new moon and full moon days are observed New Year=Spring Festival (2nd new moon after winter solicit) Mid-Autumn Festival=full moon in the 8th month 24 Solar terms (节气 JieQi) are observed and marked in calendar: essential for agriculture The first solar term is start of spring (立春 LiChun), which falls on Feb 4 (yesterday!) this year.

5 二十四节气(24 Solar Terms) 冬至一阳生

6 How to Match Up the Dates?
We need to do some math here: 1 tropical year is days 1 synodic month is days 12 synodic month is (12 * =) days Leap months are used to match up the “lunar” years with “solar” years: 7 leap months are needed every 19 years There will be two Mid-Autumn Festivals some years! (1976) 7 * = 19 * ( – ) =

7 天干地支(Heavenly Stems & Earthly Branches)
Years and days are tracked using 甲子, the 60(-year) cycle, which combines the two The 12 Earthly Branches are used to name 时辰 (2-hour periods) of the day and months. 旬 (10-day period) can be seen as Chinese week to track days–off .

8 天干 六十甲子(The 60-year Cycle) 地支 Horse

9 Timeline Of Chinese History - Neolithic Cultures
Peking Man forty-seven pieces of pottery prehistoric pottery shards and rice grains Nanzhuangtou culture 南莊頭遺址 Longshan Culture 龍山文化 680k -780k BC 21k BC 8500~ BC 3000 BC

10 Timeline Of Chinese History - Legendary Rulers
Fu Xi 伏羲, the first of the 三皇 黃帝 The Yellow Emperor 舜 Shun 堯 Yao Three Sovereigns (三皇) 3000?-2700?BC Five Emperors (五帝) 2700?-2200?BC

11 Timeline Of Chinese History – Early Dynasties
春秋 Spring & Autumn Period BC 战国 Warring Kingdoms Period BC Xia Dynasty 2200?-1600?BC Shang Dynasty 1600?-1046 BC Zhou Dynasty BC

12 道德经(DaoDe Jing) & 老子(Lao Tzu)
老子，姓李，名耳，字伯阳，谥曰聃，楚国苦县（今鹿邑县）人。约生活于前571年至471年之间。 曾做过周朝的守藏史。 Two parts (道 and 德) 81 (37+44) chapters About 5000 words

13 Lao Tzu By Legend It has been one of the best known mysteries:
Who he was; when and where he was born. Three stories according to the Records of Grand Historian by Sima Qian (ca BC): A contemporary of Confucius ( BC). Li (李) Er (耳 "ear") or Dan (聃 "long ear"); or Lao Laizi (老莱子 "Old Master") The Grand Historian and astrologer Lao Dan (老聃 "Old Long-ears"), who lived during the reign ( BC) As the legend goes, Confucius had met Lao Tzu and asked about rituals from him.

14 郭店竹简 (GuoDian Bamboo Slips, 300 BC)
Unearthed in 1993

15 马王堆帛书 (MaWangDui Silk Texts, 168 BC)
Unearthed in 1973

16 DaoDe Jing in the World “It is a famous puzzle which everyone would like to feel he had solved” The Tao Te Ching has been translated into Western languages over 250 times 20 or so English translations available at Mercer It’s hard to translate: Antiquity(language, grammar, punctuation, context) Cultural differences Titles like “Dao of Programming” is second only to those like “HTML Bible”

17 道(Dao) Nothingness, emptiness Name, concept Existence Subtlety The Tao
Beginning The Tao that can be expressed in words is not the true and eternal Tao… (Tao:1) The gate of all mysteries Heaven & earth, the world These Two: What are they??? 10,000 things, objects 0 1 2 …∞

18 有无相生(Existence & Nothingness Begot Each Other)
Everything in the world has its counterpart Beautiful ugly, good bad, difficult easy, existence nothingness, long  short, high low Positive negative electricity, matter antimatter, particle void According to the Dao, there is at once being and nonbeing, which are but different names of the same thing compliment opposites 第二章 天下皆知美之为美，斯恶已；皆知善之为善，斯不善已。故有无相生，难易相成，长短相形，高下相倾，音声相和，前後相随。是以圣人处无为之事，行不言之教，万物作焉而不辞，生而不有，为而不恃，功成而弗居。夫惟弗居，是以不去。

19 八卦(The 64 Variations Based On Trigrams)
Based traditions older than the Primordial BaGua is attributed to 伏羲 (legendary ruler, 3000? BC) Manifested BaGua is attributed to 周文王(King Wen of Zhou, 1050 BC) From WuJi (the Non-Existence) comes YouJi (the Existence), which is TaiJi. The TaiJi produces two forms, named Yin and Yang. The two forms produce four phenomena, named Lesser Yin, Great Yin (the Moon), Lesser Yang, Great Yang (the Sun). The four phenomena act on the eight trigrams (BaGua), eight eights are sixty-four hexagrams. 無極生有極、有極是太極、 太極生兩儀、即陰陽; 兩儀生四象: 即少陰、太陰、少陽、太陽、 四象演八卦、八八六十四卦 第四十二章 道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物。万物负阴而抱阳，冲气以为和。人之所恶，唯孤、寡、不谷，而王公以为称。故物或损之而益，或益之而损。人之所教，我亦教之。强梁者不得其死，吾将以为教父。

20 八卦(FuXi "Earlier Heaven" or Primordial View)
Used in Taoist cosmology to represent the fundamental principles of reality, seen as a range of eight interrelated concepts.

21 八卦

22 同人(Concording People)
Hexagram 13 is named 同人 (tóng rén), meaning "Concording People“, "fellowship with men" and "gathering men". Its inner trigram is ☲ (離 lí) radiance = (火) fire, and its outer trigram is ☰ (乾 qián) force = (天) heaven. 第四十二章 道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物。万物负阴而抱阳，冲气以为和。人之所恶，唯孤、寡、不谷，而王公以为称。故物或损之而益，或益之而损。人之所教，我亦教之。强梁者不得其死，吾将以为教父。 同人于野，亨。利涉大川， 利君子貞。 Fellowship with Men in the open. Success. It furthers one to cross the great water. The perseverance of the superior man furthers.

23 道生万物(The Dao Begot Ten Thousand Things)
As the Romans said: “il mondo non è costruita in un giorno”. So how is the world of 10,000 things created according to Dao De Jing? 道生一， 一生二， 二生三， … Dao begets the One. The One begets the Two. The Two begets the Three. … (Te:42) 第四十二章 道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物。万物负阴而抱阳，冲气以为和。人之所恶，唯孤、寡、不谷，而王公以为称。故物或损之而益，或益之而损。人之所教，我亦教之。强梁者不得其死，吾将以为教父。 The One consists of Two in opposition (the Yin and Yang). The Two begets the Three. The Three begets all things in the world. What is the next line? The Three begets all things in the world. 三生万物。 Why does it sound so easy? 0 →1 →2 →3 → …→∞

24 An Example from Software Design
Software system = virtual world Need to design three types of objects Tao begets the One; The One consists of Two in opposition (the Yin and Yang); The two begets the Three; All things connote the Yin and Yang. (Te:42) 道生一， 一生二， 二生三， 三生万物。 (Cont’d on next slide)

25 A Virtual World With 10,000 Things
CustomerEntity Customer OrderControl CustomerForm Actors OrderEntity SalesRep SalesRepForm OrderFulfillControl ProductEntity System Boundary

26 The Usefulness Of Nothingness
第十一章 三十辐共一毂，当其无，有车之用。埏埴以为器，当其无，有器之用。凿户牖以为室，当其无，有室之用。故有之以为利，无之以为用。 Thirty spokes share one hub. It is just the space (the Nothingness) between them that makes a cart function as a cart. (Tao:11)

27 见素抱朴(Keep Being Simple In Nature And Mind)
Why so many Five’s? Coincident? 五色令人目盲； 五音令人耳聋； 五味令人口爽； 驰聘畋猎，令人心发狂；难得之货，令人行妨。 是以圣人，为腹不为目，故去彼取此。 X 第十九章 「絕聖棄智，民利百倍。絕仁棄義，民復孝慈。絕巧棄利，盜賊無有。此三  者以為文不足，故令有所屬。見素抱樸，少私寡欲。」 第三十二章 「道常無名，樸雖小，天下莫能臣也。侯王若能守之，萬物將自賓。天地相 合，以降甘露，民莫之令而自均。始制有名，名亦既有，夫亦將知止。知止 ，可以不殆。譬道之在天下，猶川谷之在江海。」 第四十四章 「名與身孰親？身與貨孰多？得與亡孰病？是故甚愛必大廢，多藏必厚亡。 　 知足不辱，知止不殆，可以長久。」 The five colors make man blind; The five sounds make man deaf; The five tastes make man lose his sense of taste; Riding and hunting make man wild w/ excitement; Rare goods goad man into stealing. Thus the sage does not satisfy his eyes with colors but satisfies his belly with enough food. He discards the former and takes the latter.(Tao:12)

28 五行(Wu Xing, Five Phases)
The "Five Phases" are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. In Oracle bone script 甲骨文 (1300 BC), with one exception.

29 WuXing Vs. Five Regions & Five Colors
五色土 (dirt in 5 colors from all of China)

30 WuXing Vs. Five Sounds (like in Musical Notes)
The xun (埙) is a globular, vessel flute from China, one of the oldest musical instruments in China and has been in use for approximately seven thousand years. Earliest versions no holes. They can make only five notes. 宮 商角徵羽 /gong/ /shāng/ /jué/ /zhǐ/ /yǔ/ do re mi sol la 宮 商 角 徵 羽 /gong/ /shāng/ /jué/ /zhǐ/ /yǔ/ do re mi sol la

31 七音十二律(7 Note Scale & the Shí-èr-lǜ)
The ancient Chinese defined, by mathematical means, a gamut or series of Shí-èr-lǜ (called the 十二律 12 lü) from which various sets of five or seven frequencies were selected to make the sort of "do re mi" major scale familiar to those who have been formed with the Western Standard notation.

32 Calculations For The 12 Lu’s
古音十二律 史記文字 三分損益 史記數字 西方音名 十二平均律 三分損益與 十二平均律 偏差（%） 黃鐘 八寸七分一 81 C - 林鐘 五寸十分四 54 G 0.11 太簇 七寸十分二 72 D 0.23 南呂 四寸十分八 48 A 0.34 姑洗 六寸十分四 64 E 0.45 應鐘 四寸二分三分二 B 0.56 蕤賓 五寸六分三分二 F♯ 0.68 大呂 七寸五分三分二 C♯ 0.79 夷則 五寸三分二 G♯ 0.90 夾鐘 六寸七分三分一 D♯ 1.01 無射 四寸四分三分二 A♯ 1.12 仲呂 五寸九分三分二 F 1.23 黃鐘（C）：81； 林鐘（G， derived from 2/3 of 黃鐘 ）：54

33 Chinese Characters For WuXing
金木水火土 Why in this order? It was木火土金水 in I Ching. Zhuan style 說文小篆 (100 AD) Bronze inscriptions 金文 (1300 BC) Oracle bone script 甲骨文 Chu style on Slips/Silk 楚系簡帛 (300 BC)

34 WuXing and the Planets 金木水火土 are used to name the five planets: 金木水火土

35 WuXing and Other Phenomena

36 WuXing and Other Phenomena (con’t)

37 WuXing: Framework for a Systems Theory
Fivefold conceptual scheme used to explain a wide array of phenomena from cosmic cycles to the interaction between internal organs, and from the succession of political regimes to the properties of medicinal drugs.

38 WuXing And The 10 Organs

39 WuXing vs. the (Greek) Four Elements
The classical Greek elements were concerned with substances or natural qualities Leading to a tradition of “dissect and analysis” (the white-box approach) The Chinese xing are "primarily concerned with process and change,“ Leading to a culture emphasizing “balance and harmony” (the systematic and black-box approach.)

40 The Blackbox Approach 孔德之容，惟道是從。道之為物，惟恍惟惚。惚兮恍兮，其中有象。恍兮惚兮，其中有物。窈兮冥兮，其中有精。其精甚真，其中有信。 The Forms of great Teh (virtue) Exclusively depend on Tao. Tao as a thing Is vague and indefinite. Vague and indefinite, It presents images; Indefinite and vague, It embodies substance. Distance and dark, It embraces semen-like essence. The essence is a genuine existence That can be tested as true. (Dao:21)

41 知不知上(Admitting not knowing is the best knowledge)
Attitude matters Be open-minded Why is it hard to know? observe 知，不知，上，不知，知，病。 Knowing one’s ignorance of certain knowledge is the best attitude; Not knowing certain knowledge yet pretend to know is a bad attitude. (De:71) 視之不見，名曰夷；聽之不闻，名曰希；搏之不得，名曰微。 第十四章 「視之不見名曰夷，聽之不見名曰希，搏之不得名曰微。此三者不可致詰， 故混而為一。其上不皦，其下不昧，繩繩不可名，復歸於無物。是謂無狀之 狀，無物之象。是謂惚恍。迎之不見其首，隨之不見其後。執古之道，以御 今之有。能知古始，是謂道紀。」 第二十一章 「孔德之容，惟道是從。道之為物，惟恍惟惚。惚兮恍兮，其中有象。恍兮 惚兮，其中有物。窈兮冥兮，其中有精。其精甚真，其中有信。自古及今， 其名不去，以閱眾甫。吾何以知眾甫之狀哉？以此。」 第七十一章 「知，不知，上，不知，知，病。」 「夫唯病病，是以不病。聖人不病，以其病病，是以不病。」 第四十七章 「不出戶，知天下。不闚牖，見天道。其出彌遠，其知彌少。」 「是以聖人不行而知，不見而名，不為而成。」 第五十六章 「知者不言，言者不知，塞其兌，閉其門，挫其銳，解其分，和其光，同其 塵，是謂玄同。故不可得而親，不可得而疏；不可得而利，不可得而害；不 可得而貴，不可得而賤。故為天下貴。」 That which we look at and cannot see is called plainness (“Yi”). That which we listen to and cannot hear is called rareness (“Xi”). That which we grope for and cannot get is called minuteness (“Wei”). (Dao:14)

42 道法自然(Dao Follows What’s Natural As Its Model)
Since it’s so difficult to define the Dao, so Lao Tzu named it the Great {强为之名曰大} Relationships among the four greats {Dao, Heaven, Earth, King [of men], or simply man) are then shown. 故道大,天大,地大,王亦大. 域中有四大,而王处一焉. 人法地,地法天,天法道, 道法自然. That is why I say: Tao is Great; Heaven is Great; Earth is Great; and King is also Great. There are four things that are Great [in the universe], of them King (of man) is one. Man takes Earth as its model; Earth takes Heaven as its model; Heaven takes Tao as its model; Tao takes nature as it model. (Tao:25)

43 自然而然(It Is What It Is) And then what is Nature?
Can I humbly say that Lao Tzu suggests “It is what it is”?

44 三才:天地人(3 Cai’s: Heaven, Earth, And Man)
易經|說卦: (I Ching/Explanation) explained the origin of 64 (= 26) Gua’s: 立天之道曰陰與陽，立地之道曰柔與剛，立人之道曰仁與義。兼三才而兩之， 故易六畫而成卦。 The Dao of Heaven subscribes Yin and Yang; The Dao of Earth subscribes Supple and Stiffness; The Dao of Earth subscribes Humane and Justice; Draw Two from each of the Three, That’s why it takes 6 strokes for the Gua’s in the Book of Change. (I Ching/Explanation)

45 The Connections btw WuXing And BaGua

46 六合(6 Directions Or 6 Couples)
上下左右前后(Up, Down, L, R, Front, Back) 6 2-month periods 1st (yang, 30-day) and 2nd (yin) 3rd (yang) and 4th (yin, 29-day) And so on

47 七星 (7 Stars) The Big Dipper
二十八宿(28=4X7 mansions) Chinese constellations

48 九宫(The Nine Squares) 数九 (nine counts of nine)

49 The Concluding Chapter: Chapter 81
信言不美， 美言不信。 善者不辯， 辯者不善。 知者不博， 博者不知。 聖人不積， 既以為人己愈有， 既以與人己愈多。 天之道，利而不害；聖人之道，為而不爭。 True words are not embellished, The embellished words are not true. A good man does not quibble; He who quibbles is not good. A man of true learning does not show off his learning; He who shows off his learning does not have true learning. The sage does not store up: Helping others, he is helped even more. Giving to others, he becomes richer still. The Tao of the heaven benefits rather than harms all things; The Tao of the sage is to give rather than rob the people. (Te:81) 9 X 9 = 81

50 Q&A

51 References The Book of Tao and Teh (Chinese-English), translated by Gu ZhengKun, 2006 Chinese Mystery Culture & Numbers (in Chinese) Wu Xing (五行 wŭ xíng) on Wikipedia: Chinese Text Project (with Chinese & English sites),