We all know that the fortune-tellers ususally remain in residence on the devious lanes, a long distance from the downtown. With which, the places are well-known to people, near or far, rich or poor, old or young, men or women, officials or farmers. The small streets are usually crowded with people, among them are the divinees with devout heart, the standers-by with curiosity, the listeners with interets.
Since, however, last year, I have found some companies , located on the mainstreets of the city which I grew up, doing divination business, for example, giving a goodname for a person or a company, naming a lucky day or a exact time(time:minute) for opening ceremony, wedding ceremony, funeral ceremony, becoming pregnant etc. Each of these divination companies is well decorated with choice floor tiles, first-class wooden funitures, sets of comfortable sofa, big boss desks and so on. Some are even equipped the office with air-conditioner.
Compare with the shabby divination rooms, only with an old desk and a few stools, both short and hard, in front of the diviner in the past, how different it is!
One day, I stepped into one luxurious office with an eye-catching sign " Cheu-Yi Divination Company" above the door faced to the mainstreet . A man in his fifties , stout and black, settled in a real leather chair at a large table against the door. On the right wall, the enlargements of his official certifications and education qualifications to run the business were hung. There were pictures of the Chinese Diagram of Yin and Yang on the front wall. Beside it was a enlarged photo with hundreds of people. The detailed explanations of all kinds of names interested me more.
"Hello. Miss. Can I help you?" On hearing the man's greeting, I turned to him and stood in front of his office table."Yes, Sir." my mind was full of questions."You may sit down.." He said in a polite tone."Thank you." I sat down in the sofa near to him." I know in the past the divination business is illegal. Why can you open your company like this? " I was straightforward."I have finished I-Ching courses in Cheu-Yi institution. A few months ago, I submitted all the application matirials needed to the government involved about running my business. Last month, I got the approval. It's legal beyond doubt. You can see all my certifications and qualifications on the right wall.""Yes, I saw the largements. Sir." I still had my head in the clouds, but I didn't ask more about this question."So,"I paused,"Sir, what the importance of one's name is in his whole lifetime?" I had read some types of book I-Ching before.I sincerely hoped to get from him more knowledge which are beyond me."Very important. One's name involves his chances of success and failure, his chances of illness and health, his chances of marriage and children and so on." Sounds interesting, isn't it? All such books say so."Giving a name is a serious matter.""I have heard a little of this before."Then I added, "What is the relation between one's name and the exat time(the time, the date, the month and the year) of his birth?" Oh, my dear readers, Here I have to explain his words by myself and I will, to my best ability, make it logical, clear and easy to understand since the man didn't give me a complete answer. With what he said plus the information I have got from books , I hope you can get a clear picture.
We Chinese believe that taiji is the origin of all lives on earth. Taiji comprises yin and yang, two types of vital energy. The five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water derive from yin and yang. These five elements correspond to, or affect, particular human organs. That is , the element of the fire corresponds to the heart, the wood to the liver, the earth to the spleen and the stomach, the metal to the lung and the water to the kidney. In another words, one can easily develop certain corresponding disease often by having too much or too less one of five elements.The combination of yin and yang gives birth to all lives on earth. Taiji represents the harmonious state of balance between yin and yang.
Traditional Chinese Medicine theory argues that the relationship of social and nautual environment , as well as the relationship of the human body and spirit, is one of mutual influence and interdependence; meanwhile, the human body is an organic whole composed of various organs and different systems with various function.TCM science maintains that yin and yang , the two opposing and complemenary principles in nature, exist in the human body, mutually functional and dependent. The balance of yin and yang is essential for the mentenance of good health. And if the balance is upset, health will be hurt and illness will develop.
From the three paragraphs above, you have learned about the important relationship between yi-yang and five elements and human body. Now we go on to something more complicated. Each man has his own destiny.According to the theory of yin-yang and five elements(阴阳五行学说), his destiny is decided by the time of his birth, which can deduce the heavenly stems and earthly branches(天干地支), then the five elements. We can often hear that this person lacks of "fire", or that person "earth", and things like this. Most people knowlege this by asking fortune-tellers, some from the type of book I-Ching, some from Internet. The deficiency seriously matters your future success, your marriage and your health etc.
Now we come to the point of this article. To certain extent, giving a good name will help. Because of the mutual generation and restriction of the five elements(metal, wood, water, fire, earth), if you are destined to lack for one out of the five, you have to fill the deficiency as early as possible. In another words, you cannot live well by lacking one. So how can we do to get all the five elements ? One of the solutions is to acquire it when you are given a name. I illustrate to you.
We all know that Chinese character is composed of radicals(部首) and basic character component(偏旁), so we can make up for a lack of one of the five. For example, if you lack for "earth", you can in your name choose a character including a radicial or a basic character component "土" to serve as "earth", such as "坤, 均,坚,社,垒...". If you lack for "water", please use " 水"or " "(I can't find the symbal "三点水") in the characters that make up of your name, such as "淼，江, 洪,海,湘...." . I have explained by giving two examples, therefore you can do in the same manner.My dear readers, I have tries my utmost to discribe my some understanding of primary principles about "I-Ching" . By the way, the man I mentioned in my article , who does divining business, later sampled some names like the late Chairman Mao Zedong, the former general secretary Jiang Zemin, a famous moviestar Liu Xiaoqing and so on and on.
With the limitation of my English level, I could not spell out all what I know about I-Ching, even what I know is a drop in the sea. But I will have completed a rearrangement of the knowledge about I-Ching in the next one or two days. If you are interested in learning more about "I-Ching", please look for my humble articles that will be posted in the following couple of days.
I will be greatly honored if you share your opinions on and your knowledge about "I-Ching (Cheu-Yi)".
