壹、天道的宇宙觀I. The Concept of the Cosmos 一. 概論:

壹、天道的宇宙觀
I. The Concept of the Cosmos

一. 概論:
天道的宇宙觀, 乃確認物質宇宙是由絕對宇宙而來. 宇宙的本體是道, 道就是 上帝, 其宇宙觀源於易. 易經是闡釋天道的真諦, 其範疇包含了不易、交易、變易三種.
  1. Introduction:
Dao’s concept of the cosmos originated from the Yi-Jing (Yi means changes; jing, the scriptures. Yi-Jing means The Book of Changes), which advocates the noble Truth of Dao: the material world is originated from the Void, the essence of the Void is Dao, and Dao is God. The Yi-Jing describes the principles of changes – Yi. Yi consists of three different characteristics: “Non-change,” “Change,” and “Interaction.”

“不易”是宇宙永恆不變的真理, 在天有天理, 在地有地理, 在人有人理, 在事有事理. “交易”是宇宙間陰陽動力所產生的原則與秩序. “變易”乃天地間萬事萬物生成的變化, 是宇宙真理的顯現, 此三易之不同而分為三天, 即理天、氣天、象天.
“The Non-change,” the everlasting and absolute Truth in the cosmos, is the law of nature in heaven, physical phenomena on earth, True Self and moral principles in humankind, and rationality in matters. “The change” is the principle of yin (-) ** and yang (+)**. (**P.S “yang” represents the spirit that is in motion; and “yin,” the spirit that is still. Once yang and yin are created, there are motion and stillness. The yang is pure and rises up to become heaven. The yin is heavy and descends to become earth. The yang and yin interact to give rise to humans.) The interaction is the rule governing changes between yin and yang, which is the manifestation of the Truth in the cosmos. Due to these distinct characteristics, the cosmos can be classified into Li-tien, Qi-tien, and Xiang-tien. (P.S. Li means the Truth; Qi, spirit; Xiang, forms; and tien, heaven. Therefore, Li-tien, Qi-tien and Xiang-tien mean Heaven of Truth, heaven of spirit, and heaven of matter, respectively.)

由觀象知天地生的時候是理以生氣, 再由氣以生象. 天地壞時, 象先壞, 氣天次之, 理則無壞, 所以說天地有終始, 猶如人有生死. 由象可知數, 由數可知氣, 而氣出於道, 是以知氣可以知理.
The world has beginning and end just like humankind has birth and death. When the world begins, Qi-tien is created from Li-tien, and then Xiang-tien from Qi-tien. When the world ends, Xiang-tien destructs first, and then Qi-tien. Li-tien never destructs. From the images and events in the material world, one can induce fate. From fate, one can induce Qi. Since Qi comes directly from Dao, one can induce the Truth from Qi.

  以下兩題分述之:
The following two questions and answers are devoted to explicit discussions of this subject.