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The Ontology of Change: Wang Bi’s Interpretation of the Yijing

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Dao Companion to Xuanxue 玄學 (Neo-Daoism)

Part of the book series: Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy ((DCCP,volume 14))

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Abstract

In the history of Yijing commentaries, Wang Bi’s Commentary on the Changes of the Zhou Dynasty started a paradigm of interpretation that lasted for a century. This “Wang Bi paradigm” is significant because of the deployment of key Xuanxue concepts, such as being, non-being, oneness, and multitude, to discuss the sixty-four hexagrams. Viewing the hexagrams as symbols of time and space, Wang Bi offers a philosophical reading of the Yijing whereby the former manual of divination is transformed into a spirited meditation on the power of human beings in mastering their fate. In this chapter, I will explain how Wang Bi turns the hexagrams into metaphors of temporal and spatial narratives giving meaning to human condition.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Originally published in 1957, Tang’s work consists of seven groundbreaking articles in which he defined the characteristics of Xuanxue and the main features of Wang Bi’s commentaries on the Classic of Changes (Yijing 易經).

  2. 2.

    In the West, we extend Tang’s argument by calling Xuanxue “Neo-Daoism.” According to Wing-Tsit Chan, Xuanxue was Neo-Daoist not only because it was based on the interpretations of two Daoist texts, the Daodejing and Zhuangzi, but also because it was an attempt “to find reality beyond space and time” (Chan 1969: 316). In the same vein, Alan Chan suggests that Xuanxue scholars were Neo-Daoist because of their interest in “the perceived true meaning of Dao” that is beyond language and sensory perception (Chan 2009: 303).

  3. 3.

    Based on a close study of Zheng Xuan’s 鄭玄 (127–200 CE) Yijing commentary, Lin Zhongjun demonstrates that the cosmological studies at the end of the Eastern Han period already included a deep thinking of ontology. See Lin 2005, especially 121–138.

  4. 4.

    See Loewe 1986: 649–725, 726–746. See also Xu 1976, especially 295–438.

  5. 5.

    See Tang 2005: 123–177.

  6. 6.

    See Alan Chan’s chapter in this Companion for more on Pei Wei’s “Chongyou lun.”

  7. 7.

    Yu Dunkang uses Tang Yongtong’s argument to discuss Wang Bi’s learning of nothingness. See Yu 2007. Similarly, Brook Ziporyn uses Tang’s arguments to discuss Guo Xiang’s learning of somethingness. See Ziporyn 2015: 397–423.

  8. 8.

    See, for instance, Tang 1983 and Liang 1996.

  9. 9.

    See, for instance, Wagner 2003. Even Yu Dunkang occasionally expresses doubt about the sharp distinction of the learning of nothingness and the learning of somethingness. See Yu 2007: 117–124.

  10. 10.

    The editors of the Siku Quanshu 四庫全書 specifically identified Wang Bi’s commentary as an exemplar of the “meaning and principle” school of Yijing commentary. See Siku Quanshu Zongmu Tiyao 四庫全書總目提要 1933, Yijing section, 2.

  11. 11.

    Zhu 1984: 338–390.

  12. 12.

    Wagner and Yu, the two leading scholars of Wang Bi’s philosophy, base their arguments on a close reading of Wang’s Daodejing commentary rather than his Yijing commentary. See Wagner 2003; Yu 2007.

  13. 13.

    The “Ten Wings” are: (1–2) Tuanzhuan 彖傳 (Commentary on the Judgements); (3–4) Xiangzhuan 象傳 (Commentary on the Images); (5) Wenyan 文言 (Words of the Text); (6–7) Xici 繫辭 (Appended Statements, also known as Dazhuan 大傳, [The Great Treatise]); (8) Shuogua 說卦 (Explanation of the Trigrams); (9) Xugua 序卦 (Hexagrams in Sequence); (10) Zagua 雜卦 (Hexagrams in Irregular Order). For the transformation of the Yijing into a philosophical text, see Zhu 1984: 38–105.

  14. 14.

    Xici 1: chapters 3 and 8. For a translation, see Wilhelm and Baynes 1967: 290–293, 304–308.

  15. 15.

    Xici 2: chapter 7. For a translation, see Wilhelm and Baynes 1967: 345–348.

  16. 16.

    For the significance of fear and anxiety in the Yijing philosophy, see Redmond and Hon 2014: 128–139.

  17. 17.

    Xici 2: chapter 11. Wilhelm and Baynes 1967: 352; translation modified.

  18. 18.

    For a discussion of the Yijing warnings on disease and decay, see Redmond and Hon, 2014: 128–139.

  19. 19.

    Xici 2: chapter 7. Wilhelm and Baynes 1967: 348–349.

  20. 20.

    For the characteristics of Han thought, see Loewe 1994 and 2005; Wang 2000.

  21. 21.

    See Queen 1996: 1–53.

  22. 22.

    See Loewe 1994: 121–141; Pines 2009 and 2012.

  23. 23.

    For more, see Loewe 2011; Queen 1996.

  24. 24.

    For the new sequence of 64 hexagrams based on eight palaces, see Nielson 2003: 3.

  25. 25.

    For more, see Smith 2008: 62–77.

  26. 26.

    See Ch’en 1986: 798–801; Smith 2008: 62–88, 2012.

  27. 27.

    For a biography of Wang Bi, see Lynn 2015: 369–95; Lynn 1994: 10–15.

  28. 28.

    For more, see Hon 2010: 71–96.

  29. 29.

    These seven essays can be found in Lynn 1994: 25–39.

  30. 30.

    For a translation of this Xici passage, see Wilhelm and Baynes 1967: 310–313.

  31. 31.

    These three themes of shi (time), wei (position), and ying (response) are found in “clarifying how the hexagrams correspond to change and make the lines commensurate with it.” See Lynn 1994: 29–30.

  32. 32.

    For a detailed discussion of Wang Bi’s philosophy of change, see Hon 2003.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chinese and History, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Tze Ki Hon

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  1. Department of Philosophy, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong

    David Chai

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Hon, T.K. (2020). The Ontology of Change: Wang Bi’s Interpretation of the Yijing. In: Chai, D. (eds) Dao Companion to Xuanxue 玄學 (Neo-Daoism). Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49228-1_14

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