Yang Li, Graduate School of China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine

First, put forward the science of image number

1. What do you mean by "seeing images"

Why did I put forward the concept of image number science, and what is the great significance of this to Chinese medicine? First of all, what is image science? Image number science is a science based on the principle of image number in the Book of Changes, and it is the representative of eastern science, which is completely different from western experimental science. The study of image number is a science of understanding the laws of things with the core of "observing images and taking meanings" in the Book of Changes. What is a view? Observation is observation, including external observation and internal observation. What is an elephant? Image includes external image and internal image, and internal image is also called internal image. Image includes external image and internal image, and observing internal image is more important. The external image is also called "shape", that is, the external image is outside and the internal image is hidden inside, which is the unity of the external image and the internal image.

2. What is the hidden law?

The laws of everything in the world are not all simple pictographs on the outside, but many are complex hidden inside. Therefore, the Book of Changes put forward a famous saying: "Know the secret, know life and death". The so-called "dim light" emphasizes that the laws of the world are obvious and hidden, so it is necessary to check the hidden things by looking at the external images, which is the essence of "looking at the images to get the meaning". The theory of zang-xiang in Huangdi Neijing is that "everything inside must be outside", and "measuring zang-xiang with images" includes the famous pulse condition and pulse diagnosis of TCM, which is the concrete application of the image number theory in Yijing.

2. The difference between imaging science and experimental science

Represented by traditional Chinese medicine and based on the principle of image number in the Book of Changes, the oriental image number science and the western experimental science are two kinds of sciences that explore the laws of things in the East and the West. The difference is that western experimental science uses analytical, partial and experimental methods to observe the material structure and laws of things. Its object is physical structure, which is linear, static, split low-dimensional space-time, or even dead physical matter, that is to say, subject and object are absolutely binary. It focuses on physical objects. Therefore, the experimental science initiated by Galileo in the west is a science that can observe objects repeatedly under the microscope. In the East, China's Book of Changes is an exploration in the state of observation, holography, premonition and prediction. Its object is dynamic, holistic, dynamic, random, nonlinear and even high-dimensional, and the material structure in multi-dimensional state is the unity of subject and object, so Oriental iconography does not necessarily and completely need to find the answer under the microscope. Just like meridians, just like qi, their material structure can never be found under a microscope.

3. The relationship between image, number and shape

1. Relationship between images and numbers

What are numbers? Everything in the world has images and numbers. The earliest elephant was a tortoise, and the earliest number was a divination number. What is an elephant? Images and signs are said to originate from nature, such as astronomical phenomena and meteorology. The Book of Changes summarizes the most basic images with symbols and divination images.

What is the elephant? The Book of Changes uses odd numbers 1 and even numbers 2, that is, yin and yang numbers. For example, odd numbers are positive numbers and even numbers are negative numbers, that is, the number of hexagrams and the number of hexagrams. What is an elephant? "Yi copula" said: "A doctor is like a gentleman; Elephants like it, too. " That is to say, analogy, originally called imagery and divination. I ching summed up the most basic figures with the number of hexagrams and the number of hexagrams. It is "everything in the world is born in a circle, and everything in the world is even."

The relationship between image and number is that there are numbers in image, images in number, and images and numbers are integrated. Image number * * * has become the core of image number science, in which number has the spatial and temporal significance of positioning, qualitative and quantitative. The so-called "image determines number" and "number indicates sign". Image and numbers are actually one. Such as the Book of Changes: "The first day, the second day, the third place, the fourth day, the fifth place, the sixth place ..." Fuxi's gossip: dry divination is like the sky, double divination is like ze, deviation is like fire, earthquake is like thunder, five divination is like wind, six divination is like water, seven divination is like Xiangshan, and eight divination is like Kun. It can be seen that each number of hexagrams represents orientation and physical properties. Another example is the number of five lines in the river map, which represents the natural water in the north, the second number represents the fire in the south, the third number represents the natural wood in the east, the fourth number represents the natural gold in the west, and the fifth number represents the natural land in the middle.

Huangdi Neijing also attaches importance to the number of images, such as "oriental cyan, which is clear when entering the liver ... its number is eight." The south is red, leading to the heart and nose ... the number is seven. Central yellow, into the spleen, open in the mouth ... the fifth. The west is white, enters the lungs, and begins to understand the nose ... The number is nine. The north is black, enters the kidney, opens two yin ... and the number is six. " In addition to Chinese medicine, ancient astronomy, branches, calendars, almanac, integrity and temperament are closely related to numbers. These figures include the ups and downs of Yin and Yang, the ups and downs of Qi, cold and heat, and cold and warm.

2. What do you mean by "by luck"?

Getting the meaning of lucky numbers is the way to get the meaning through lucky numbers. Because numbers have qualitative, positioning and quantitative changes with the changes of time and space and multi-dimensions, they are endowed with the state of quality and shape, thus obtaining the meaning of images, which is called taking meaning.

"Laozi" "Tao gives birth to one, life gives birth to two, life gives birth to three, and life gives birth to everything." The Book of Changes "is easy to have Tai Chi, giving birth to two instruments, two instruments giving birth to four elephants, and four elephants giving birth to gossip, which will determine good or bad luck and cause great success." It is a model of taking luck.

The philosophy of image number is yin and yang and five elements.

From the perspective of anthropogenesis, the earliest cell structure and formation of human embryos are actually based on the derivative structure of Taiji Eight Diagrams, that is, the process of human occurrence, from fertilized egg to fertilized egg, from fertilized egg to two daughter cells, and then to four-cell, sixteen-cell and thirty-two-cell stages ... As the Book of Changes says: "Taiji gives birth to two instruments, two instruments give birth to four images, and four images give birth to eight diagrams." It shows that the occurrence process of human body is also the evolution process from number to image, suggesting that image and number are integrated, and number is actually image, image gives birth to number, and number also gives birth to image. Of course, the relationship between the two should be the first.

Of course, the 962 numbers in the Book of Changes represent Yin and Yang respectively, which is the most basic form of the integration of image and number.

3. The relationship between image and form and its significance

Image, number and shape are the basis of image science. Image is mainly image, and numbers are abstract. Among them, the number contains images, which change from number to number. The relationship between image and form is that image is not equal to form, but tangible in image and tangible in image. The relationship between number and shape is that number will be formed in a certain quantity and space-time state.

The generalized image is very broad, including not only objects, but also events. Pictographic law is the core element of image number science. Its essence is that elephants are invisible and tangible. Under normal circumstances, the shape is hidden in the image and will not appear. This shape in the image is invisible with a microscope. Only in three cases can the shape in the image be found. And often belong to the internal vision:

First of all. In emergency: it is a tangible manifestation of life emergency response in order to reduce the moving potential in emergency, such as injury and disaster, such as the doctor's left arm fracture. In distress, the heart meridian of the little yin hand suddenly appeared, from the heart along the inside of the arm to the tip of the little finger. The doctor was surprised to find that the color of the heart meridian was yellow-green, not red. At that time, she exclaimed: "Ah! The heart meridian of hand shaoyin appears, and the heart meridian of hand shaoyin appears! " But people present can't see it. After that, her heart was fine. (including broken arm reduction surgery).

Ancient books also recorded the appearance of meridians in critical situations. It can be seen that the purpose of manifestation is to mobilize and activate potential.

Second, people with special circumstances: for example, Bian Que's trip to Qi Huangong recorded in Historical Records and some records of his diagnosis, such as "seeing a wall, seeing the crux of the five internal organs, taking pulse-taking as the name ear", indicate that Bian Que may have special functions. So you can see the patient's internal organs clearly outside the wall. There is also a record of Hua Tuo's special state.

There are also many people with special functions recorded in ancient books. Such as "Liezi?" Zhong Ni's Lao Dan disciples have Kang Cangzi, who is knowledgeable and can see and listen with their ears. Lu Hou was shocked to hear this. "That is to say, this man named Kang Cangzi can see with his ears. According to The Book of the Former Han Dynasty, Dong Fangshuo can guess that the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty covered the box with a lizard ..., and there are countless examples.

Third, a cultivated person: through cultivation and certain efforts, he can look inside in a multi-dimensional or high-dimensional state, or see some images that others can't see. For example, in Zhuangzi, "A skilled worker knows how to understand a cow", a skilled worker can't see the internal structure of a cow at first, and only after hard practice can he see it.

It can be seen that the generalized image number science not only includes obvious material structures that can be verified by experimental science, but also includes invisible material structures indicated by the laws of image number science. However, this is a nonlinear and more complicated material structure.

In fact, the Book of Changes has proposed that the laws of all things in the world can be divided into two categories: implicit and explicit. Then, the ideas, ways and methods of revealing these two substances should be different. These two kinds of science are the fundamental differences between experimental science and image science.

4. The great significance of imaging science in traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine is a great representative of imaging science, and meridian theory is a typical one. The morphological research of meridian theory has gone through decades of exploration of precise experimental scientific means, but it is in vain. However, the curative effect of meridians is really true. Then its physical form can't be found under the microscope. What's the problem? Meridian is an image science, which belongs to a hidden form. Its characteristics are living, holistic, dynamic, holographic and even random. It cannot be divided, isolated and static. Therefore, it is impossible to reveal its material structure by means of experimental science, which reveals that the study of meridian theory should learn from a painful experience, not be limited to experimental science, but should seek ways by means of elephant science. Otherwise, if you just want to study meridian theory through experimental science, you will never win the Nobel Prize.

The relationship between image number science and experimental science is profound. Image science should be a supplement rather than a substitute for advanced experimental science, which can neither deny the verification of object science by experimental science nor replace image science with experimental science. Both of them are two sets of methods for human beings to explore things, and both are scientific methods. Only when they complement each other, not mutually exclusive, can we understand things from a subtle and obvious perspective.

We must pay attention to the fact that the experimental science in the west is completely separated from philosophy, while the image science in the east is integrated with philosophy. Experimental science follows rational and logical thinking, while image science emphasizes perceptual and savvy thinking in images. Therefore, Yin-Yang and Five Elements are always the philosophical core of elephant mathematics, and the unity of man and nature is always the foundation of elephant mathematics. This can't be denied, otherwise Chinese medicine and meridian science will really be cancelled. In fact, in the 1980s, in the executive summary of the third edition of Zhouyi and Traditional Chinese Medicine, I wrote, "Through the study of Zhouyi and Traditional Chinese Medicine, the author came to the conclusion that there is not only one way to explore natural science, not only the western-oriented analytical method, local method and experimental method, but also the holography, integrity and comprehensiveness with the methodology of Zhouyi. These two methods should be mutually beneficial, not mutually substituted. " Looking for this paper now is nothing more than deepening on the basis of twenty years ago and clearly putting forward the concepts of experimental science and image science.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) enlightenment

Since the oriental elephant number science is completely different from the western experimental science, we can't just study it in the same way, which reveals that the research method of Chinese medicine must not only use the western experimental science to find the material structure under the microscope to prove whether it is scientific, but should study it with the laws and methods of the oriental elephant number science, otherwise Chinese medicine will always be considered unscientific, just like those who put forward the idea of abandoning medicine and hiding medicine, who advocate removing the theory of Chinese medicine and studying it under the microscope, in fact, it is Chinese medicine. Therefore, some people have to admit the efficacy of Chinese medicine because they can't face up to the scientific nature of Chinese medicine. But in fact, this does not fully realize the scientific nature of traditional Chinese medicine. There was no microscope in ancient times, only Huangdi Neijing, Treatise on Febrile Diseases, Synopsis of the Golden Chamber and Treatise on Febrile Diseases. Chinese medicine still saves lives. Nowadays, Chinese medicine is highly westernized. Isn't it because we didn't notice that Chinese medicine is another science?

TCM health care should also emphasize that the concept of health care advocated by TCM is an advanced health care law, which can only be achieved through comprehension and cultivation, and there is no need to let the microscope of western medicine guide us. Therefore, whether it is Chinese medicine or Chinese medicine health preservation, image science should be the main means.

In short, Chinese medicine does not need western experimental science to prove its scientificity, and it cannot be proved. Therefore, in order to get rid of the shackles of western experimental science, Chinese medicine should be guided by its own imaging science. Then, Chinese medicine and Chinese medicine health preservation can glow with the original great charm. Similarly, when the western experimental science is in trouble in studying the material form, should we also look for the answer from the eastern image science? Isn't it? Can experimental science solve many flying objects from high-dimensional space-time in the universe?

The above is my profound feeling after studying the Book of Changes and Huangdi Neijing for nearly 50 years. Indeed, it is impossible to enter such a depth without such efforts. Written in the orthopedic inpatient bed of Xiyuan Hospital of Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in September 2008. This article was presented at the Shanghai Meridian Summit Forum in June, 2008, and was taught to graduate students in 2008. Part of the content has been published in the preface of the new book "Yang Li reveals the wisdom of Yijing health care")