Cosmological Construction and Rational Essence of the Original Functions of the *Book of Changes* Based on Divination Tracing

Section 3.1: Confucius and the Yi — The Deeper Meaning of "Binding the Bamboo Slips Until They Fell Apart Three Times"

Confucius deeply loved the Zhouyi in his later years. Although the Records of the Grand Historian (史记) is a later text, the Analects already contains several key clues. The Analects, "Wei Zheng" (为政) chapter, records Confucius' words:

"If Heaven would grant me a few more years, I would devote fifty years to the study of the Yi, and then I might be without great fault." (加我数年，五十以学《易》，可以无大过矣。)

This sentence deserves repeated contemplation. What is the result of studying the Yi according to Confucius$24 Not "one can know good or ill fortune," not "one can seek advantage and avoid harm," but "one can be without great fault" (可以无大过矣)—one can avoid major mistakes.

Why can studying the Yi lead to "no great fault"$25 Because the Yi teaches one to understand the laws of change—when to advance, when to retreat; when steadfastness is needed, when gentleness is needed; when a stage is a beginning, when it is a peak. By understanding these principles of change, one can make reasonable judgments in complex life situations, thereby avoiding major errors caused by ignorance.

This is completely different from divination. Divination is seeking externally from spirits—I don't know what to do, so I ask the spirits to tell me. But what Confucius understood by studying the Yi is cultivating oneself internally—by understanding the Way of Change, one enhances one's own judgment and wisdom.

The Analects, "Zi Lu" (子路) chapter, also contains a very important record:

"The Master said, 'The people of the South have a saying, "A man who is not constant in his virtue cannot be a shaman or a physician." Good indeed!' 'One who is not constant in his virtue, will receive shame.' The Master said, 'This is clear without divination.'" (子曰：“南人有言曰：人而无恒，不可以作巫医。’善夫！‘不恒其德，或承之羞。’子曰：‘不占而已矣。’")

The last four characters of this passage—"clear without divination" (不占而已矣)—are truly striking. Confucius quotes the ninth line statement of the Heng (恒) hexagram, "One who is not constant in his virtue, will receive shame," and then says: "It is clear without divination."

What does this mean$26 Confucius believed that the principles contained in the hexagram and line statements are life wisdom that can be directly applied without needing divination. "One who is not constant in his virtue, will receive shame"—Does this truth require divination to be known$27 Of course not. It is itself an irrefutable principle of life.

Confucius here explicitly elevates the Zhouyi from a "tool of divination" to a "book of life wisdom." This is not his "innovation," but rather a "return" to the original function of the Yi.