Richard J. Smith - Fathoming The Cosmos and Ordering The World (2008, University of Virginia Press) PDF

Fathoming the Cosmos
and
Ordering the World
Richard Lectures for 1999
and
Ordering the World
The
Yijing
(I Ching, or
Classic of Changes)
and Its Evolution
in China
RICHARD SMITH
University of Virginia Press

Charlottesville and London
University of Virginia Press
© 2008 by the Rector and Visitors
of the University of Virginia
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

First published 2008
135798641
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Smith, Richard I., 1944
Fathoming the cosmos and ordering the world : the Yijing (I ching,
or classic of changes) and its evolution in China / Richard I. Smith.
p. cm. — (Richard Lectures)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8139-2705-3 (all<. paper)
1. Yi jing. I. Title. II. Title: Yijing (I ching, or classic of changes)
and its evolution in China.
PL2464.Z7s62 2008
299.5’1282—dc22
2008002961
Cover art: From Diao Bao (160 3-1669), Yi zhuo (Deliberations on the Changes), 1843
edition. This edition was reproduced by Diao’s eighth-generation descendant Diao
Huaijin, from the original family version printed by Diao’s grandson Diao Chengzu, in
1732. The red seals on the original version, both of which refer to Diao’s studio names,
form contrasting yingang pairs in terms of both design and meaning. The square (yin)
seal, Qianshi zhai, suggests a place where virtue must remain temporarily hidden, While
the oval (yang) seal, Dunde tang, indicates the outward manifestation of sincere virtue.
(Courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries)
In loving memory
of my kind, caring, and
relentlessly devoted parents,
Margaret S. Smith (1918-2003) and

Joseph B. Smithjr. (1916-2005)
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
A Note on Transliterations and Translations xvii
Introduction 1
1. The Birth of the Changes 7
2. From Divinatory Text to “Confucian” Classic 31
3. Han Dynasty Approaches to the Yijing 57
4. The Six Dynasties through the Tang 89
5. The Song Dynasty 112
6. The Yuan and Ming Dynasties 140
7. The Qing Dynasty 171
8. The Changes in Modern China 195
9. The Yijing as a Source of Cultural Pride and Inspiration 218
Concluding Remarks:
The Changes in Comparative Perspective 241
Appendix A. A Note on Sources 251

Contents
Appendix B. Some Examples of Changes Scholarship

from the Pe0ple’s University Database (CD-ROM) 253
Appendix C. Individuals Associated with the Changes

prior to the Twentieth Century 256
Notes 26 3
Bibliography of Asian-Language Works 335
Bibliography of Western-Language Works 354
Index 379
Illustrations
1.1. The eight trigrams 8

1.2. The eight “pure” hexagrams 9
1.3. The Tai hexagram 12
1.4. The Gou hexagram 13
1.5. Basic trigram correlations 28
2.1. One early set of yinyang correlations 33
2.2. Some conventional ginyang and
five-agents (wuxing) correlations 34
2.3. The two types of hexagram pairings 37
2.4. A depiction of trigram “family relationships” 43
2.5. Trigram and five-agents correlations 45
2.6. The Former Heaven and Later Heaven trigram configurations 47
2.7. The Mawangdui trigram sequence 50
3.1. The beginnings of Meng Xi’s hexagram-breaths (guaqi) system 64
3.2. A simplified version of Meng Xi’s hexagram-breaths system,
attributed to ling Fang 65
3. 3. Eight categories of hexagrams with shared
overlapping trigrams (hugua) 70
3.4. A circular chart of overlapping trigrams 71
3.5. The Rui tetragram from the Taixuan jing 74
3.6. A chart of the eighty-one tetragrams of the Taixuan jing 75
3.7. The eighty-one tetragrams correlated with the sixty-four hexagrams
3.8. A standard Song dynasty version of the Yellow River Chart (Hetu)
and the Luo River Writing (Luoshu) 8o
5.1. The genesis of the eight trigrams 116
Illustrations
5.2. Eight-trigrams and five-agents correlations

with the Yellow River Chart 118
5.3. The numbers of the Yellow River Chart and the Luo River Writing 119
5.4. “Fuxi Arrangement of the Sixty-four Hexagrams” 123
5.5. Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate, the five agents,
and the generation of the myriad things, attributed to Zhou Dunyi 126
5.6. Zhu Xi’s hexagram-changes (guabian) system 135
6.1. “Illustration of the Tiger’s Tail in Lii,” by Zhang Li 148
6.2. “Illustration of Departing and Arriving in Pi and Tai,” by Zhang Li 148
6.3. “Chart of Looking Up to Observe the
Configurations of Heaven,” by Zhang Li 149
6.4. “Chart of Looking Down to Examine
the Patterns of Earth,” by Zhang Li 149
6.5. Yu Yan’s depiction of the workings of the mind 154
6.6. Trigram correlations between Heaven and Qian, Barth and Kun,
the Sun and Li, and the Moon and Kan, by Yu Yan 155
6.7. “Fire phases” (Huohou), correlating lunar mansions, hexagrams,
days of the month, earthly branches, trigrams, seasons,
and the “four emblematic animals,” by Yu Yan 157
6.8. Some of Lai Zhide’s correlations and
transformations for the Qian hexagram 163
7.1. “A Chart Showing the Transformation of the Former Heaven
Sequence of the Trigrams into the “Later Heaven Sequence,”
from the Zhouyi zhezhong 18o
7.2. “A Chart Matching the Former Heaven Sequence of the Trigrams
with the Images of the Yellow River Chart,” from the Zhouyi zhezhong 18o
7. 3. “A Chart Matching the Later Heaven Sequence of the Trigrams
with the Images of the Yellow River Chart,” from the Zhouyi zhezhong 180
7.4. “A Chart Matching the Former Heaven Sequence of the Trigrams
with the Numbers of the Luo River Writing,” from the Zhouyi zhezhong 181
7.5. “A Chart Matching the Later Heaven Sequence of the Trigrams
with the Numbers of the Luo River Writing,” from the Zhouyi zhezhong 181
7. 6. The foundation for Bouvet’s “Chart of Heavenly
Superiority and,Earthly Subordination” 182
7.7. One of Iiao Xun’s bili “equations” 19o
Preface
The merit of the sages in constructing

the Classic of Changes is equivalent to the creation
of all things and the ordering of the world.
—Li Guangdi, Zhouyi zhezhong, 1715
For years, friends and colleagues have warned me not to tackle the evolution
of the Yijing, or Classic of Changes. The topic is too big and too complicated, they
said, and they were right. The study of the Changes, or Yixue, is a black hole within
the China field, a dense and immense space that allows no possibility of escape
for anyone drawn by its powerful pull. Still, by almost any standard, the Classic
of Changes is one of the most important documents not only in Chinese history
but, arguably, in world history as well, and for this reason alone it deserves to be
better understood, particularly by Westerners .1
This is especially the case because the widespread Western notion of a timeless
and universal Yijing—an idea encouraged by the influential German missionary
translator Richard Wilhelm—is not only inadequate but also misleading. To be
understood at all, the Changes must be considered in context, that is, in terms
of historically and culturally defined values and in the light of clearly identified
interpretive communities. To be sure, there are now a number of excellent works
by Western scholars that show us how the classic was used and understood by
certain individuals and certain groups in a few key periods in Chinese history?
But there has never been a detailed analysis of its overall evolution in any West
ern language. Thus, several years ago, in a fit of uncharacteristic optimism, I
began work on a “biography” of the Yijing.
My research has taken me nearly everywhere the document itself has been,
from East Asia (China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea), Southeast Asia (Vietnam,
Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia), Tibet, and India to Russia, Europe, and the
Americas. Along the wayI acquired massive amounts of material, from rare pri
mary documents in a variety of Asian and Western languages to artifacts and
images reflecting the influence of the Changes in popular culture in both East
and West. I thus have resources for several lengthy books on the evolution and
xii Preface
eventual “globalization” of the Yijing, as well as an (overly) ambitious plan for
Writing them.3
The question is not just whether I have the ability but also whether I have the
time. I am reminded here of a story about my friend Roy Zehnder.
Roy was a fellow graduate student in the late 1960s. One night his daunting
task in our weekly Chinese history seminar with Professor Liu Kwang-Ching
was to evaluate Joseph Needham’s monumental multivolume work, Science and
Civilisation in China, begun in 1954. Roy, ever on the lookout for an unusual open
ing, decided to begin his presentation by drawing on the blackboard an elabo
rate chart comparing the projected table of contents for the entire Science and
Civilisation project with the actual production of volumes up to that point, which
showed that the good Dr. Needham would expire well before completion of
the project. And so he did (in 1995), rest his soul. But the Science and Civilisation
project continues to this day, carried on by a number of worthy successors and
getting bigger and better all the time.
In a way this is how I feel about my Yijing project: it would require several
lifetimes to do all that I would like to do, and, I hasten to add, I am not anywhere
close to being as able, energetic, or tenacious as the remarkable Professor N eed
ham. But like Joseph, who became one of my many mentors and then a close per
sonal friend, I believe that an impossible task is nonetheless worth undertaking
if the topic is interesting enough.
What fascinates me most about the Changes is how and why it came to be such
a profoundly influential document, not only in China, its birthplace, but also in
other places throughout the world. It is a large topic, to be sure, but an undeni
ably significant one.
How, then, should one go about this ambitious project? My plan is to begin
with a general work on the evolution of the Yijing in China-— one that surveys the
basic lay of the land—not unlike, at least in intent, the first two introductory
volumes of Science and Civilisation in China. This is the book in hand. Focusing
primarily on how the Changes developed in China from the Shang dynasty to the
present, it provides a rough map of the historical and intellectual terrain—an
introduction to certain selected scholars, Works, schools of interpretation, de
bates, practices, problems, and issues. This overview should give readers a good
sense of how scholars and practitioners talked about and used the Yijing and
what a vast field of interpretive possibilities it presented to creative minds over
time and across space.
It does not, however, attempt to address all or even most of the controver
sies that still swirl around virtually every aspect of Changes interpretation, much
less to resolve them.4 Generally speaking, because one of my primary goals is
Preface xiii
to guide and encourage further exploration, at various points in the text, foot
notes, and appendices I provide references to works in both Asian and Western
languages in the hope that specialists and nonspecialists alike will enjoy com
paratively easy access to relevant primary and secondary materials, as well as to
other arguments, points of view, and avenues of investigation. But because this
is an introductory volume, I cite the most generally accessible sources in the
notes and keep technical citations to a minimum.
I am pleased that this book allows me to revisit, from a somewhat different
perspective, a number of questions I raised in a 1991 book, Fortune-tellers and Phi
losophers: Divination in Traditional Chinese Society, about the role of the mantic arts in
Chinese culture and the so-called decline of cosmology in late imperial China.5
As in that work, whenever possible in this study I let the texts and historical
actors speak for themselves, with their own distinctive voices and in defense of
their own personal, political, and cultural interests.
As indicated above, this book is not intended to be comprehensive; the vast
amount of material written on the Yijing, both past and present, makes such an
idea seem truly laughable. Rather, I approach the evolution of the Yijing primarily
from the perspective of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), my own special research
interest and a period of particularly rigorous scholarship on, as well as remark
ably widespread practical use of, the Changes and related divinatory systems?
During the Qing era, Chinese intellectuals gave unprecedented attention to the
two great periods of innovation in Yijing theory and practice, the Han dynasty
(206 BCE—220 CE) and the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE).
Emboldened by the innovative tools and critical perspectives of “evidential
studies” (lcaozheng xue), Qing scholars examined every aspect of the Changes, test
ing old theories and developing new ones. Thus, in choosing examples of how
the Yijing was viewed and used for nearly three thousand years, I have been guided
primarily by what Qing scholars and practitioners tended to identify as impor
tant.7 At the same time, I have tried to place these examples in a broader histori
cal perspective and to avoid being as judgmental as Qing intellectuals tended to
be about certain Yi-related theories, practices, and schools of thought? In fact,
one of the main arguments of this book is that the categories to which Chinese
thinkers have traditionally been consigned are too narrow to accommodate the
full range and richness of their ideas.
For the past two thousand years or so, among all the works in world litera
ture only the Bible has been more widely read and more extensively commented
upon than the Changes. During imperial times the Yijing inspired countless books,
essays, poems, inscriptions, eulogies, and other such works. And after a few de
cades of relative eclipse in China during the turbulent twentieth century, inter
xiv Preface
est in the classic has been rekindled dramatically, not only in Asia but also in
the West. The result has been a huge outpouring of Yi-oriented scholarship and
popular writing in a wide variety of Asian and Western languages.9
So, although I have read a great many books, articles, and essays on the
Changes over the years, it seems as if I have barely scratched the surface. But it’s a
start. My plan now is to go where my materials and evolving interests take me for
as long as I am able to do so. Meanwhile, I hope that others will find a measure
of inspiration and/or guidance in this initial book and be moved either to explore
some of the territory thatI have mapped out in a very preliminary way or to go
Where I have not yet ventured.
It is my hope that this study will have something for everyone, though it will
probably not have enough for anyone. Then again, it’s a start.
Acknowledgments
This book began When I was invited to deliver the James W. Richard Lectures for
1999 at the University of Virginia. These three presentations, collectively titled
“Ordering the World and Pathoming the Cosmos: The I-Ching (Book of Changes)
in China and Beyond,” became the foundation for this volume. I am immensely
grateful to the sponsors of this lecture series not only for the incentive to put
my thoughts about the Changes together and to present them publicly but also
for the opportunity to interact with so many talented faculty, staff, and students
during my stay in Charlottesville. My only regret is that it has taken me so long
to bring this book to completion.
In a work of this sort one of course incurs many personal debts, each easy
to acknowledge but impossible to repay. First, I would like to thank the three
people whom I consider my mentors in the China field: Liu Kwang-Ching, John
Fairbank, and Joseph N eedham. I owe each of them, and particularly K.C., more
than I could ever express. Next, sincere thanks to my friends and colleagues
at Rice, most notably Anne Chao, Susan Shih-shan Huang, Anne Klein, Jeffery
Kripal, Steve Lewis, Allen Matusow, and Nanxiu Qian. I am especially grateful to
Allen and Nanxiu for offering sustained support and invaluable assistance over
a long period of time.
Iwould also like to express my deep appreciation to Mrs. Tsang Wu Yun, who
donated the excellent Yijing collection of her late husband, Mr. Tsang Chien-sin,
to Rice University, and to the staff of the Fondren Library at Rice, particularly
Kerry Keck, Juin Kuo, and Anna Shparberg. I also owe a debt of gratitude to
Jackie M. Dooley, head of Special Collections and Archives at the University of
California, Irvine, for providing convenient access to the Ni Tseh Collection on
I Ching Studies, an extraordinary body of material that includes approximately
nine hundred rare books on the Changes from China and Japan. Thanks, too, to
xvi Acknowledgments
the staff members of other libraries and research facilities around the world,
not only in Asia (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Thai
land) but also in Europe (England, France, Germany, and Italy) and the United
States.
A great many other people have helped me in a variety of ways, and I can
only hope that a simple listing of their names will not seem ungracious or in
sufficiently appreciative. They are Joseph Adler, Joanne Allen, Roger Ames, Alan
Berkowitz, William Boltz, Guo-ming Chen, Chung-ying Cheng, David C. H.
Cheng, Pingyi Chu, Allen Chun, Claudia von Collani, Christopher Cullen, Scott
Davis, Benjamin Elman, Steve Farmer, Stephen Field, Dee Garza, David Gray,
Gu Linyu, Han Qi, Roger Hart, James Hayes, John Henderson, Ho Peng-Yoke,
Tze-ki Hon, Hu Minghui, Huang Yi-Nong, Catherine Jami, Marc Kalinowski,
Stephen Karcher, David Keightley, Russell Kirkland, David Knechtges, Sabina
Knight, Joachim Kurtz, Michael Lackner, Pauline Lee, Richard John Lynn,
John Moffitt, Stephen Moore, Benjamin Wai-ming Ng, On-cho Ng, Jonathan
Ocko, Michael Puett, Richard Rutt, Haun Saussy, David Schaberg, Mondo Sec
ter, Edward Shaughnessy, Richard Shek, Shen Heyong, Nathan Sivin, Deborah
Sommer, Kidder Smith, Lynn Struve, Sarah Thal, Benjamin Wallacker, Lorraine
Wilcox, Edith Wyschogrod, Xing Wen, and Zhang Longxi. Joanne Allen expertly
copyedited all 829 pages of the typescript of this book, and the final product is
much the better for it; any remaining infelicities in the text are the product of
my own obstinacy.
I am grateful to Common Ground Publishing for allowing me to include in
my concluding remarks a substantial amount of material that was first published
in the International journal of the Humanities 1 (2005) and to the journal of Chinese
Philosophy for granting me permission to use in my introduction several para
graphs from an article that first appeared in the JCP in December 2006. On-cho
N g, editor of The Imperative ofReadin_g: Chinese Philosophy, Comparative Philosophy, and
Onto-Hermeneutics (New York: Global Scholarly Publications), has kindly allowed
me to include in chapter 7, in a somewhat different form, some of my material
from that forthcoming volume.
Above all, and as always, I would like to thank my wife, Lisa, and my son,
Tyler, not only for their substantial editorial assistance but also for their infinite
forbearance and constant good humor. I don’t think I’m much fun when I’m
writing. They, however, invariably are.
A Note on Transliterations
and Translations
The transliteration system for Chinese sounds that I have employed in this vol
ume, known as pinyin, yields Yijing as the title of the work under consideration.
But as many readers already know, this book goes by a great many transliterated
names, including I-thing, I Ching, IGing, Yi King, Yih-King, and Yijing, among others.
The closest English translation is perhaps Classic of Changes, although Scripture of
Changes also comes close to the mark. Other common translations of the title
are Book of Changes, Buch derWanlungen, Livre des mutations, Livre des changements, and
Libro de las Mutaciones. The Yijing is also known as the Zhou Changes (Zhouyi, Chou-i,
Djohi, etc.).
In this studyI refer to the Yijing most often as the Classic of Changes, or simply
the Changes. I prefer “changes,” as a translation of the Chinese term Yi because
the plural usage suggests the several different kinds of change addressed explic
itly in the work. This is not, however, a universally held view. Chenyang Li ar
gues, for example, that the term should be rendered in singular form, because Yi,
as a Chinese philosophical concept, “stands for the ontological status of change
rather than the ontic acts of change.”1
Rather than offering yet another translation of the Yijing myself, I have gen
erally relied upon five scholarly, well-annotated Western-language renderings
of the Changes that reflect significantly different understandings of the work:
(1) Richard Kunst’s “The Original ‘Yijing”’ (1985), which offers a preimperial
(i.e., before 221 BCE) perspective on the earliest layers of the text; (2) Edward
Shaughnessy’s I Ching (1996), which translates a second-century BCE version
of the Changes that was discovered at Mawangdui about three decades ago; (3)
Richard John Lynn’s The Classic of Changes (1994), which not only provides us with
a rendering of the work after it became a classic in 136 BCE but also offers a
highly influential third-century CE commentary on the Yijing, as well as abundant
xviii Note on Transliterations
notes on later interpretations of the work; (4) Richard Wilhelm’s The I Ching or
Book of Changes (1967), based on a Song dynasty understanding of the text that
was the orthodox interpretation from the fourteenth century into the early twen
tieth; and (5) Wang Dongliang’s Les signes et les mutations (1995), which places the
received version of the Yijing and the Mawangdui manuscript in conversation
and examines more than a dozen different ways in which the Changes has been
interpreted over time.
Although no single translation can suffice for all purposes, Lynn’s translation
is the best one available in terms of its breadth of coverage, consistency of ter
minology, scholarly rigor, and ease of access. Moreover, although it is based on
Wang Bi’s third-century redaction of the text, Lynn provides a great many foot
notes that reveal other understandings, particularly, but not exclusively, those
of Song dynasty commentators such as Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi. Lynn’s translation
is not flawless, however? Thus, when necessaryl have modified his renderings,
and I have also cited the appropriate pages in Wilhelm’s translation in order to
facilitate convenient comparisons between the two versions of the text?‘
Unless otherwise noted, all translations from premodern Chinese, Japanese,
Korean, Vietnamese, and French sources are my own, sometimes guided sub
stantially by the advice and assistance of one or more of the individuals grate
fully acknowledged in the preface. Other area specialists have given me even
more substantial help with materials in the various European and modern Asian
languages that I cannot read or cannot read well.
As for terminology, I have attempted, whenever possible, to make things easy
for the reader (“easy” is, after all, one of the meanings of the word Yi in Yijing).
Thus, for example, to describe the outlook of individuals who identified them
selves primarily with the ethical teachings, core texts, and cultural practices
associated for some two thousand years with the name Confucius (Kongzi, or
“Master Kong”), I employ the simple but somewhat problematical term Confu
cian rather than the more technical Ruist (Classicist), which, although preferred
by some scholars, will not be familiar or particularly illuminating to most non
specialists. As China scholars are well aware, in premodern times the Chinese
“had no single term corresponding directly to the neat English term ‘Confucian
ism.’ "4
Similar considerations inform my use of such terms as Daoism, Buddhism, and
so forth. What should be kept in mind is that all such designations refer to gen
eral intellectual orientations, not to rigid philosophical or religious distinctions,
and although these terms are roughly comparable to such sweeping “Western”
categories as Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, they are somewhat less exclusive.
That is, a general “Confucian” orientation in China did not necessarily mean the
Note on Transliterations xix
rejection of ideas that might be viewed by outsiders as antithetical to it. On the
whole, Chinese thinkers in premodern times were remarkably eclectic.
Finally, I have tried to keep transliterations to a minimum in the text, em
ploying, whenever possible, “standard” translations of terms and titles.5 At the
same time, however, I have included many more transliterations than most non
specialists might like. One reason for this policy is that specialists will often
want to know the specific Chinese term that has been translated, since a great
many characters present different yet still legitimate interpretive possibilitiesfi
But the most important reason is the recent publication of Bent Nielsen’s A
Companion to Yijing Numerology and Cosmology (2003). This indispensable reference
work, which provides Chinese characters, definitions, and/or descriptions for
literally hundreds of Changes-related terms and concepts, is organized alpha
betically according to the pinyin system. Thus, in order to look up a term in
Nielsen’s book, one needs to know how it has been transliterated. Since one of
the purposes of my own study is to encourage further explorations of the Yijing,
it seems only right to make access to the main English-language reference book
on the Changes as easy and convenient as possible.
and
Ordering the World
Introduction
There is probably no work circulating in the modern world that is at once as in
stantly recognized and as stupendously misunderstood as the Yijing. Although
most people know that the Changes originated in China, few are aware of how it
evolved there and how it found its way to other parts of Asia and eventually to
the West. Fewer still know anything substantial about the contents of the book.
Even Chinese scholars cannot agree on its basic nature (xingzhi). Some consider
it to be nothing more than a divination manual, a quaint relic of China’s “feudal”
past. It has been described by others as a book of philosophy, a historical work,
an ancient dictionary, an encyclopedia, an early scientific treatise, and a mathe
matical model of the universe} To some, the Yijing is a sacred scripture, not un
like the Jewish and Christian bibles, the Islamic Qur’an, the Hindu Vedas, and
certain Buddhist sutras; to others it is a work of “awesome obscurity,” teetering
on the brink between a “profound awareness of the human mind’s capacities
and superficial incoherency.”1
How do we account for such divergent views? One of the principal arguments
of this book is that the Yijing mirrors the mentality of its adherents. That is,
there are as many versions of the Changes as there are readers of the document
and commentators upon it.3 And there have been many viewpoints indeed. As
the great Qing scholar Huang Zongxi (1610-95) noted, “The nine traditions of
philosophy and the hundred schools of thought have all drawn upon [the Yijing]
to promote their own theories.”4 According to the editors of China’s most im
portant literary compilation, the Siku quanshu (Complete Collection of the Four
Treasuries), interpreting the Classic of Changes is like playing chess: no two games
are alike, and there are infinite possibilities.5
Different perspectives naturally yield different understandings, whether they
are the product of religious or philosophical affiliations, scholarly fashions (local
2 Fathoming the Cosmos
or national), politics (again, local or national), social status, gender, personal
taste, or other variables of time, place, and circumstance (including historical
events such as natural disasters, regime changes, rebellions, and foreign inva
sions). For those who take the Changes seriously and approach it with intellec
tual depth and psychological insight, the text invariably proves to be profoundly
stimulating and endlessly provocative. But for those of a shallower intellectual
or psychological disposition, the rewards may not be so substantial. In the pithy
words of a Chinese proverb, “The shallow man sees [the Yijing’s] shallowness,
while the deep man sees [its] depth.”6 Or, in the even more succinct formulation
of a nineteenth-century commentary on the classic: “The Changes is the mirror of
men’s minds.”7 As indicated in the preface, one argument I make in this volume
is that in these reflections (and refractions) one sees far more intellectual com
plexity than the conventional categories to which Chinese scholars are usually
assigned suggest.
We should also bear in mind that the Yijing is an extraordinarily challenging
document; self-described as “simple” and “easy,” it is also almost hopelessly
complex. As a famous Chinese commentator, Diao Bao (1603-69), once re
marked, a child can use the classic, but “a white-haired man cannot fathom it.” 8
At times in premodern Iapan there was actuallya taboo against anyone under the
age of fifty studying the work, on the assumption that the Changes could not be
understood properly by anyone younger. Harm, many Japanese believed, would
befall those who dared to come to the classic prematurely?
What is so difficult about the Yijing? In the first place, for the past two thou
sand years or so the work has consisted of two distinctly dissimilar parts, each
problematical in its own way. One part, the cryptic core, or “basic text” (benwen),
is extremely ancient, diverse in origins, unsystematic, and subject to radically
different readings and understandings. Scholars in both the East and the West
are still trying simply to make sense of it. The other part is a set of sophisticated
but not entirely consistent commentaries known as the “Ten Wings” (Shiyi),
written by unknown authors several hundred years after the basic text initially
took form (about the eighth century BCE). During the last few decades, archaeo
logical discoveries in China have brought to light several different versions of
both parts of the Changes, complicating rather than simplifying the search for
meaning even in the so—called received version of the classic. These discoveries
have also prompted a reconsideration of long-standing accounts of the Yijing’s
origins and historical development.
Although designed in part to explicate the earlier core of the Changes, the Ten
Wings Were never able to resolve all or even most of the textual controversies
surrounding it. Moreover, these commentaries themselves became the subjects
Introduction 3
of intense scholarly debate. Meanwhile, new ways of thinking about the classic
arose, expanding the scope of interpretive possibilities to include developing
systems of thought as well as innovations in various “technical” areas, notably
calendrical science, chemistry and alchemy, astronomy and astrology, mathe
matics and numerology. Naturally enough, scholarly fashions both influenced
and were influenced by different approaches to the Changes not only in society
at large but also within the framework of regional culture, local scholarly net
works, and even individual families.1°
Thus, over the course of two millennia thousands of additional commen
taries were written on the Yijing, each reflecting a distinctive technical, philologi
cal, religious, philosophical, literary, social, or political point of view. As early
as the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) more than seven hundred different scholarly
approaches had come to be identified with the document." Not surprisingly,
Confucians found Confucian meanings in the Changes, Daoists found Daoist
meanings in it, and Buddhists found Buddhist meanings in it. And, as indi
cated above, people in different periods of Chinese history—not to mention at
different points in their own lives—quite naturally used the Yijing for different
purposes and in different ways, in accordance with the times.
Throughout the imperial era the Changes was often at the center of politics,
especially during dynastic transitions and periods of crisis, domestic or foreign.
On some occasions, exponents of the classic used it to support the status quo;
on others, they employed it to advocate radical change. But despite these di
vergent viewpoints, needs, and uses, virtually everyone in China prior to the
twentieth century considered the Classic of Changes to be a document of unrivaled
prestige and unparalleled scriptural authority. Indeed, after 136 BCE the Yijing
came to be seen as “the first of the [Confucian] Classics,” the most important
single book in China’s entire philosophical tradition. Confucius (551—479 BCE)
is supposed to have written that the document “is broad and great, complete in
every way,” providing a means by which to understand “what is hidden and what
is clear.” The Changes contains, he is said to have remarked, “the Dao [Way] of
Heaven, the Dao of Man, and the Dao of Earth.”12
Later philosophers were no less effusive in praising the Yijing. The Song dy
nasty scholar ChengYi (1033-1107), for example, tells us that the book “conjoins
everything, from the darkness and brightness of Heaven and Earth to the mi
nuteness of insects, grasses, and trees.”13 Wang Fuzhi (1619-92), one of China’s
greatest intellectuals, described the work as follows:
[The Yijing] is the manifestation of the Heavenly Way, the unexpressed

form of nature, and the showcase for sagely achievement. Yin and yang,
movement and stillness, darkness and lightness, contraction and expan
sion — all are inherent in it. Spirit operates within it; the refined subtlety of
ritual and music is stored in it; the great utility of humaneness and right
behavior issues forth from it; and the calculation of order and disorder,
good and bad fortune, life and death is in accordance with it.14
And the editors of the Four Treasuries had this to say about the classic in the
eighteenth century: “The way of the Changes . . . [encompasses everything, in
cluding] astronomy, geography, music, military methods, phonetics, numerical
calculations, and even alchemy.”15
In part because of its great prestige in China, the historical and cultural influ
ence of the Yijing extended well beyond the ever-shifting borders of the Middle
Kingdom. Indeed, during the past thousand years or so the work gradually be
came a global property. By stages the Changes spread from China to other areas
of East Asia, notably Japan, Korea, Annam (Vietnam), and Tibet. The Jesuits
brought knowledge of the classic to Europe during the eighteenth century, and
from there it traveled to the Americas, finding a particularly receptive audience
in the United States from the 19 6os onward. Today there are relatively few Places
in the entire world where one or another version of the Yijing cannot be found.
Clearly this “globalization” of the Changes was in part the product of its exalted
reputation in China and its many alluring special features (tezhi)—its challeng
ing and ambiguous basic text, which encouraged all kinds of interpretive inge
nuity; its elaborate numerology and other forms of symbolic representation; its
utility as a tool of divination; its philosophically sophisticated commentaries;
its psychological potential (as a means of attaining self-knowledge); and its
reputation for a kind of encyclopedic comprehensiveness. But the spread of the
Yijing was also facilitated by the self-conscious strategies employed by those who
sought to use it in various environments for their own political, social, intellec
tual, or evangelical purposes. How all this happened is interesting, but it is the
stuff of another volume.1°
Ironically, during much of the twentieth century the Yijing experienced hard
times in the land of its birth. In 1911-12 the Qing dynasty fell, ending two thou
sand years of imperial rule, as well as two millennia of state support for the
Changes. In the chaos that ensued, Chinese intellectuals searched frantically for
a new political, social, and cultural order that would restore China to its former
greatness. Under these unsettling circumstances the Yijing occupied an uncer
tain status. Although some scholars continued to hold it in high esteem, others
saw it as nothing more than a historical relic, something to be studied like any
other ancient text, perhaps, but of no real use in China’s search for “wealth and
Introduction 5
power.” At times, in fact, both the Republic of China and the People’s Republic
condemned the work as a superstitious remnant of “feudal” beliefs and prac
tices.
Today, however, on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, the Classic of Changes has
regained respect, not only as a valuable historical artifact but also as a divinatory
text, a book of wisdom, a source of psychological guidance, and an inspiration
to writers, artists, musicians, mathematicians, and scientists. It has also been
the object of an extraordinary burst of academic scholarship, including a spate
of dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other valuable reference works. Zhang Shan
wen’s Lidai Yijia yu Yixue yaoji (Important Works on Changes Scholars and Changes
Scholarship by Periods [1998]) is just one of many examples. This carefully re
searched volume offers a chronologically organized collection of the biogra
phies of major figures in the history of Yijing studies, as well as summaries of the
major works associated with them, from ancient times to the modern era."
During the 1980s and 1990s, public enthusiasm for the Changes in the People’s
Republic was so great that the Chinese press described it as “Yijing fever,” Yijing re.
Part of the reason for this “fever” seems to have been a spiritual crisis (jingshen
weiji) that induced many Chinese citizens to reexamine the contemporary rele
vance of their ancient past. At the same time, new and creative Yijing scholarship,
fueled in part by dramatic archaeological discoveries on the Mainland, gener
ated intense scholarly controversies throughout the country. Fanning the flames
of scholarly debate were (and are) questions of national pride. One particularly
powerful influence in Chinese scholarship over the last decade or so has been
the question of whether the Yijing anticipated modern scientific theories, from
computer logic and eight—tier matrix algebra to the structure of DNA.
Less out a sense of pride than out of a desire for parity, growing numbers of
contemporary scholars, Chinese and Westerners alike, have come to feel that
the Changes deserves a more prominent place in world literature, not simply as
a cultural curiosity but as a significant work in its own right, one that can help
us to understand what the category “world literature” itself might mean.“ But
where exactly does the Yijing fit in the larger picture? Is it a classic in the sense
that works such as the Bible or the Torah, the Qur’an, and the Vedas are consid
ered classics? Can it be profitably compared to such works, and if so, on what
grounds?
In an effort to provide preliminary answers to these and other such questions,
I first discuss the origins and development of the Yijing in China, giving primary
attention to the way it evolved from a relatively simple system of divination into
an extremely sophisticated and highly influential philosophical text that came
to be designated a classic (jing) in the second century BCE. My aim is to explain
the basic correlational logic of the Changes as it unfolded over time, in the hands
of different interpreters and practitioners, and to discuss its significance as a
supplemental system of language in premodern China. How did the Yijing, and
various derivative works inspired by it, reflect and contribute to Chinese ways
of world-making over time? What did the book bring to the minds of various
Chinese thinkers, and what, in turn, did their minds bring to the book?
Second, I give some indications of how the Yijing influenced, in very direct
and often extremely powerful ways, virtually every aspect of traditional Chinese
culture—from the realms of language, literature, art, and music to religion,
politics, law, military affairs, social life, medicine, and science — for at least two
thousand years.19 I also give attention to the way the Changes continues to exert
a significant influence in a number of these realms in the twenty-first century,
on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. How do we account for the pervasive cultural
influence and remarkable staying power of a document that has never had a
special connection with institutional religion nor even a strong affinity with the
concept of deity itself?
I might mention in closing that my interest in the Yijing rests entirely on its
significance as a cultural artifact. I am not a true believer in any sense. I do take
the Changes seriously, but primarily because every thinker of any consequence in
traditional China did so, and it is important, I believe, to understand why.
The Birth of the Changes
The birth date of the Yijing, like those of many other ancient canonical works,
cannot be precisely fixed. There are, of course, mythological accounts of its
genesis, but archaeological and philological investigations over the last century
have called most of these accounts into question. Some authorities, notably Gao
Heng, believe that the Changes was-created gradually as a more or less random
compilation of divination results.1 Others, such as Li Iingchi, have argued that
the structure of the early Yijing reveals the design of a self-conscious editor?
What remains clear in any case is that the Changes is a composite Work, reflect
ing many diverse sources of inspiration, as well as a good deal of systematic
thought.
Another point to keep in mind about the early Changes is that for most of the
Zhou period it was used exclusively for divination. Only in the late Zhou and
thereafter, particularly following the point at which it became a “Confucian”
classic in the second century BCE, did the Yijing acquire the reputation of being
a repository of profound moral and metaphysical truths. Had it not been for
this close association with Confucius and the incorporation into the work of
Writings believed to have come from the hand of the great Sage himself, Chinese
scholars might not have scrutinized the document so carefully nor searched so
relentlessly for its deeper significance?
Finally, we must remember that the contours of our understanding of ancient
China are continually undergoing major transformations as new archaeological
discoveries come to light. Recent finds and sophisticated philological investi
gations have challenged much of what we thought we knew about preimperial
China (up to 221 BCE). Chronological and spatial boundaries have been redrawn,
attributions of authorship and editorship have been questioned or debunked,
and traditional intellectual lineages have been deconstructed and often radically
reconstructed. At the same time, works long believed to have been written by
forgets well after their putative original date of composition have been found in
archaeological strata that predate the time of the alleged forgery by hundreds of
years. Thus, the following account can only be regarded as tentative.
The Early “History” of the Changes

According to the “Great Commentary” (Dazhuan) of the Yijing, a work composed
in the late Zhou and probably refined in the early Han dynasty (206 BCE—222 CE),
a great culture hero named Fuxi established the foundations of the Yijing by in
venting a set of eight three-lined symbols known as trigrams (gua; see fig. 1.1).
The story goes like this:
When in ancient times Lord Baoxi [Fuxi] ruled the world as sovereign,
he looked upward and observed the images in heaven and looked down
ward and observed the models that the earth provided. He observed the
patterns on birds and beasts and what things were suitable for the land.
Nearby, adopting them from his own person, and afar, adopting them
from other things, he thereupon made the eight trigrams in order to be
come thoroughly conversant with the virtues inherent in the numinous
and the bright and to classify the myriad things in terms of their true,
innate natures!‘
In other words, the eight trigrams drawn by Fuxi represented, in rudimentary

form, the fundamental order of the universe.
Later, we learn, in order to provide a more comprehensive model of reality,
these trigram configurations were doubled, creating a total of sixty-four six-line
figures called hexagrams (gua), also known as hexagram pictures (guahua), each with
a hexagram name (guaming) reflecting its basic qualities or characteristics (see fig.
1.2). Some accounts credit Fuxi with this development; others identify another
mythological personality, Shennong, as the inventor of the sixty-four hexagrams.
Still others claim that the fully historical King Wen, founder of the Zhou dynasty
(ca. 1040-256 BCE), was responsible for inventing the hexagrams.5 Although
Dui Kan Kun Li Qian Sun Zhen Gen

Figure 1.1. The eight trigrams
The Birth of the Changes 9
Dui Kan Kun Qian Sun Zhen Gen

Figure 1.2. The eight ”pure" hexagrams
there is considerable debate over how and when the sixty-four hexagrams came
into existence (our best evidence suggests several different sources), recent re
search by Chinese and Western scholars indicates that the received sequence of
the hexagrams reflects an extraordinarily high degree of mathematical sophis
tication and that it may well date from the time of King Wen.6
King Wen is also generally credited with attaching to each of these sixty-four
symbols an explanatory text known as a hexagram statement (guaci) or judgment
(tuan, sometimes rendered “decision”) and with attaching to each individual
line a line statement (yaoci). Some sources claim that King Wen’s son, the Duke of
Zhou, regent for the second Zhou king, added the latter. Then, as the story goes,
Confucius (5 51-479 BCE) added a series of commentaries known collectively as
the “Ten Wings” (Shiyi; see chapter 2).
For the next two thousand years or so one or another version of this general
narrative served as the commonly accepted explanation for how the Yijing had
evolved. The only problem is that nearly everything about this story is at best
questionable.’
What seems clear is that the trigrams and hexagrams evolved primarily from
very early forms of Chinese numerology, including those associated with oracle
bone divination, a Shang dynasty (ca. 1554—ca. 1040 BCE) practice known as
plastromancy, scapulimancy, or, more generally, pyromancy. This system in
volved the reading of cracks made by the application of heat to the ritually pre
pared scapulae of cattle or the plastrons (i.e., the undersides) of turtles. Some
scholars, such as Zhu Tianshun, believe that the hexagrams developed out of a
process by which rudimentary “lucky/unlucky” divination results eventually led
to more complex divinatory configurations. Others, including Qu Wanli, have
linked the six lines of the hexagrams to the ancient Chinese calendar, correlating
them with various lunar cycles of divination that prevailed in the Shang or the
Zhoufi
Recent research by Zhang Zhenglang and others has revealed that a number
of oracle bones were inscribed with symbols connoting trigrams or, more often,
hexagrams. In fact, Zhang and his supporters believe that trigrams were derived
from hexagrams, rather than the reverse? That symbols from the Changes should
appear on oracle bones is not surprising, since we know from the Zuozhuan (Com
mentary of Zuo) and other early Chinese sources that pyromancy and hexagram
interpretation were routinely practiced together. Yet it was not until the late
1970s that these trigram and hexagram symbols, which were also sometimes
inscribed on bronze vessels, were clearly identified as such. These inscriptions
distinguished, by means of numerical strings or other symbolic constructions,
the two types of lines that would be used to construct trigram and hexagram
pictures: “solid” lines (i.e., those without a space in the middle) and “broken”
lines (those divided into two equal parts by a space) (see fig. 1.1) .1°
Several explanations have been offered for the genesis of these two kinds of
lines. Zhang’s view is that solid lines were derived from the ancient character
for 1 and came to stand for several small odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, 9), While broken
lines were derived from the ancient character for 6 and came to stand for several
corresponding even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8). Gao Heng has hypothesized that solid
lines represent single-segment bamboo sticks used in divination, while broken
lines represent double-segment sticks. Li Iingchi has suggested a system of cal
culation based on knotted cords, in which a big knot signified a solid line and
two smaller knots signified a broken line.11 Other Chinese scholars have argued
that the eight trigrams were originally derived either from the cracks in oracle
bones or from pictographs of certain key words or concepts that came to be
associated with them.“
Similar debates surround the issue of what the trigrams might have originally
represented. Stephen Field has recently suggested that they may have been an
ancient “cosmological map” in which two trigrams represented the spirits of
Heaven (Qian) and Earth (Kun), three represented omens of the Bird (Li), the
Quake (Zhen), and the Pit (Kan), symbolizing divine communication from the
spirits of Heaven and Earth, and three represented “human archetypes” of
the Yielder (Sun), the Mediator/Shaman (Dui), and the Aggressor (Gen) .13 Field
has also put forward the intriguing argument that the numerical inscriptions on
a late Shang dynasty oracle bone unearthed at the village of Sipanmo in Anyang
indicate an awareness of sophisticated trigram and hexagram relationships that
most scholars associate only with the late Zhou period or the early Han.
For instance, the three six-number sets found on the Sipanmo scapula corre
spond to the odd- and even-numbered lines of hexagrams 12 (Pi), 36 (Mingyi),
and 64 (Weiji) in the received version of the Changes (see chapter 2), and the con
stituent trigrams of these three “hexagrams” can be connected in ways that are
consistent with much later correlative theories (see chapters 2 and 3).14 Further
archaeological discoveries and investigations will undoubtedly show that the
remarkable configurations and correlations that seem evident on the Sipanmo
scapula are not unique to the artifact or that site.
Sometime during the early Zhou period," each of the sixty-four hexagrams
acquired a name referring to a physical object, an activity, a state, a situation, a
quality, an emotion, or a relationship — “Waiting,” “Contention,” “Peace,” “Ob
Struction,” “A Well,” “A Cauldron,” “Radical Change,” “Fellowship,” “Modesty,”
“Observation,” “Elegance,” “Compliance,” “Joy,” and so on.16 However, there
has been, and continues to be, a great deal of scholarly debate about the early
meanings of these names and their variants."
Most hexagram names seem to be based on terms or concepts that appear
in the overall judgments and/or individual line statements, in much the same
fashion as the titles of poems in the Shijing (Classic of Poetry) are often derived
from words contained within them. Fifty-nine of the sixty-four hexagram names
occur in the line statements of the hexagrams in question. In certain cases the
structure of the hexagram seems to have suggested the name attached to it.
Take, for instance, Ding, “Cauldron” (50):
Chinese commentators of all periods have viewed the broken bottom line
of the hexagram as a depiction of the legs of the cauldron, the three solid lines
above it as the belly of the cauldron, the broken line in the fifth position as the
cauldron’s two handles, or ears, and the solid line at the top as the pole by which
the cauldron was carried. Similarly, the “Great Commentary” tells us that Shen
nong, “who taught the world the benefits of plowing and hoeing,” was inspired
to invent the plow by the hexagram Yi, conventionally rendered “Increase” (42):
In this hexagram, we are told, the two unbroken lines at the top represent
the basic structure of the plow; the three middle broken lines, tilled soil; and the
one unbroken line at the bottom, the blade of the plow itself.
Most judgments are quite short and refer to ancient and often obscure divina
tory formulas. Others are more or less straightforward declarative statements,
such as “The latecomer suffers misfortune” (Bi, “Closeness” [_8]); “The petty
depart and the great arrive, so good fortune will prevail” (Tai, “Peace” [11]; see
fig. 1. 3); or “It is fitting to establish a chief and to send the army into action”
(Yu, “Contentment” [16]). In the case of the hexagram Pu, “Return” (24), we
have a one-word divinatory formula, heng, sometimes rendered as “success” or
“prevalence” (this was originally the character for sacrifice [xiang], hence such
translations of the term as “receipt,” “treat,” “offering,” etc.), followed by a div
inatory declaration.“
For any given hexagram, the total number of characters constituting the
judgment and line statements is somewhere between thirty and ninety-five; the
average is almost exactly sixty-four. Much traditional and modern scholarship
in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Western languages has been devoted to iden
tifying, through various kinds of sophisticated philological analysis, the early
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Figure 1.3. The Tai hexagram (11). In this twelfth-century annotated version
of the Changes the word for Tai and the six-word judgment that immediately follows it
appear in large bold characters under the hexagram picture. The smaller characters in
double rows are commentaries on various symbolic aspects of the hexagram as
a whole, itsjudgment, or its individual line statements. Like the hexagram name
and thejudgment, the line statements appear in large bold characters.
meanings of the Words, phrases, and sentences in these texts, as well as the Way
the earliest strata of the basic document came to be modified over time.19 But, as
we shall see, regardless of their provenance and original meaning, the abstract
symbols and concrete metaphors of the Changes were extraordinarily rich and
multivalent.2°
A number of authorities, both Chinese and Western, have detected affinities
between the language of the Shijing and the basic text (benwen) of the Yijing (i.e.,
the sixty-four hexagrams, their, judgments, and their line statements). In some
cases the words are nearly identical. For instance, We might compare line state
ment 3 for Jian (“Advancing”) with the line in poem 159 of the Mao edition of
the Shijing that reads, “The wild goose flies across the land / The lord heads home
but does not return.” There are also structural similarities in the progression of
images in certain odes, for instance, poem 248 in the Shijing and the hexagram
Iian (5 3)
The line statements of the Changes were derived from a Wide variety of sources,
including ancient poems, proverbs, riddles, paradoxes, and even children’s
ditties. Many of these statements seem to be based directly or indirectly on omen
verses (yao) of the sort inscribed on Shang dynasty oracle bones.” As Arthur
Waley notes, these omen texts are similar to proverbs such as:
A red sky at night
Is the shepherd’s delight
A red sky at morning
Is the shepherd’s warning."
A look at the hexagram Gou (44), variously translated as “Encounter,” “To
Pair,” “Locking,” “Subjugated,” “Coming to Meet,” “Welcoming,” “Coupling,”
“Copulation,” “Fusion,” and so on, gives us a sense of how diverse and diflicult
to understand judgments and line statements might be (see fig. 1.4). One trans
lation based on early Zhou dynasty usage reads:
Judgment: A maiden will be healthy. Do not use this [divinatory informa

tion] to take a maiden as a wife.
_________ (Top line)

___i_ (Line 5)
_____ (Line 4)
___i_ (Line 3)
_i__ (Line 2)
__ __ (Beginning line)
Hexagram name: 1115
Judgment: §'¢:i'L’§i'|_:.Zli5i§H:)'L[%]fi.'.
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Line 4: 1LIEi:’@[P?Ei]i%:filiI.
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Top line: _l:jL:ZZE[i>§];ELZ% :%.flE%.
Figure 1.4. The Gou hexagram (44)

Line 1: Tied to a metal spindle: the determination is auspicious.

Ominous for going [out] and seeing someone. An emaciated pig: the
captive is balky.
Line 2: There are fish in the slaughterhouse [i.e., the kitchen (pa0)].
There will be no misfortune. It will not be favorable to be a guest.
Line 3: With no skin on the buttocks, his walking is . . . labored.
Threatening, but there will be no great misfortune.
Line 4: There are no fish in the slaughterhouse: ominous for rising to
action.
Line 5: Wrap the melon with purple willow leaves. Hold a jade talisman
in the mouth. Something fell from the sky.
Line 6: They lock their horns: distress. There will be no misfortune.“
In some respects, statements of this sort suggest the rich imagery and ob
scure metaphorical language of the Book of Revelation in the New Testament
Consider, for instance, the first six verses of chapter 13 (from the King James
Version) :
1. And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the
sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns,
and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as
the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon
gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly
wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
4. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and
they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able
to make war with him?
5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and
blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two
months.
6. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his
name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
A rendering in the Yijing style might yield something like:
Line 1: A beast arises from the water; seven heads, ten horns; outrageous
irreverence.
Line 2: Like a leopard, with the feet of a bear, the mouth of a lion, and the
power, position, and authority of a dragon.
And so forth.
Naturally enough, commentaries were needed to make moral and/or meta
physical sense of such texts, as they are to this day. Much more will be said on
this important subject, both below and in subsequent chapters.
Historical accounts of divinations in early Chinese works, notably the Chunqiu
(Spring and Autumn Annals) and its commentaries, give us clues to the evolu
tion of the basic text of the Yijing. These accounts attest abundantly to the impor
tance of visual signs and symbols in the mantic arts of ancient (and, one might
add, contemporary) China.“
Here is a divination performed in 56 3 BCE for Xun Wenzi, a lord of the state of
Wei, who contemplated countering an attack on his state made by his adversary,
Huang’er of Zheng:
Xun Wenzi divined by turtle-shell about pursuing them. The rhyming

omen-verse said:
“The crack is like a mountain peak:
There is a fellow who goes out to campaign,
But loses his leader.”25
The shape of the mountain peak apparently suggested danger, leading the di
viner to a negative interpretation of the event. Significantly, the divination was
submitted to another diviner for further elaboration.“ Multiple divinations of
this sort profoundly shaped the early structure of the Changes, as we shall see.
In some cases the perceived connection between a hexagram and the object
it purportedly depicted obviously influenced the ordering of the line statements.
Take, for example, Ding, (50), discussed briefly above. An early Zhou dynasty
understanding of its six line statements, reading from bottom to top, was prob
ably something like:
Line 1: The cauldron turns upside down. It will be favorable to expel evil.
He gets a slave woman with her child. There will be no misfortune.
Line 2: The cauldron has food [lit., “substance”] in it. My counterpart has
an illness; it cannot reach me; auspicious.
Line 3: The cauldron’s “ear” comes off. His travel is blocked. The fat
meat of the pheasant is not eaten. It is just about to rain. There will be
damage. Trouble, but ultimately auspicious.
Line 4: The cauldron breaks a leg, overturning the duke’s stew. His
punishment is execution-in-chamber. Ominous.
Line 5: The cauldron has yellow-brown “ears” and a metal carrying-bar.
A favorable determination.
Line 6: The cauldron has a jade carrying bar. Greatly auspicious. Not
unfavorable for anything.”
Edward Shaughnessy uses line 2 of the Ding hexagram to illustrate the way in
which a diviner might have extemporized a reading connecting the shape of the
hexagram with the concerns of the diviner:
I think we can easily imagine here a scenario in which someone concerned

about his health (perhaps at the time of an epidemic) performed a milfoil
[Achillea millqfolium, also known as yarrow stalk] divination that concluded
by expressing the desire [that he would not be infected]. The divination
may then have resulted in the [Ding] hexagram evoking the image of a
cauldron to the diviner. . . . When the next stage of the divination specified
the second line of the hexagram as that on which the result of the divi
nation was to be based, the diviner would also have wanted to introduce
that aspect of the cauldron, its full belly section, into his description of
the image or omen.”
Relating this image directly to the lord’s desire not to be infected by the epi
demic, the diviner might then have composed a rhyming couplet to the effect
that the lord would be spared. If this result were not clear enough, it could have
been shown to another diviner who pronounced it auspicious. Hence the elabo
rated line statement.
But what about divinations in which the visual clues were less straightfor
ward? Shaughnessy provides us with another hypothetical example: the rhymed
third-line statement of the Iian hexagram, conventionally translated “Advancing”
(5 3). In this case, the principal omen of the Iian hexagram is the wild goose, and
each of the six line statements describes its “Gradual Advance” from one natural
place to another, each slightly higher than the previous one:
Line one (at the bottom): The wild goose advances to the depths.
Line two: The wild goose advances to the slope.
Line three: The wild goose advances to the land.
Line four: The wild goose advances to the tree.
Line five: The wild goose advances to the mound.
Line six: The wild goose advances to the hill.
The third line statement reads as follows:
The wild goose advances to the land (lu):

The husband campaigns but does not return (fu);
The wife is pregnant but does not give birth (yu).
Inauspicious. Beneficial to resist robbers.
Here the line statement begins with a four-character phrase describing a natu
ralistic omen, a single goose or perhaps a flock of geese on the move. This omen
presumably inspired the diviner to produce a couplet of rhyming four-character
phrases that related it directly to the human realm—-the original topic of the
divination.”
Shaughnessy offers some interesting speculations on the process that may
have produced the couplet. In Zhou dynasty China, he writes,
the wild goose seems to have been a natural omen evoking marital sepa
ration. This was perhaps because military campaigns in ancient China
were typically launched at the onset of winter, thus avoiding the summer
monsoon rains and coming after the autumn harvests had been collected.
The seasonal coincidence of soldiers marching off in formation with wild
geese flying off— also in formation—must have suggested to observers
convinced that the natural world and the human world were but two as
pects of the same system of changes that the flight of geese was invariably
associated with the march of soldiers (but not in any cause-effect relation
ship; rather, the two phenomena.were viewed as necessarily coincidental).
And, by yet one further association, since all too many of the soldiers did
not return from their campaigns, the appearance of the geese predicted
the disappearance of the men. For wives, in particular, this could not have
been an auspicious omen.3°
In this instance we can envision a situation in which a husband about to leave
his wife to embark on a hazardous military campaign wanted a milfoil divina
tion performed in order to determine whether it would be an auspicious under
taking.
Unfortunately, the diviner’s rhymed couplet indicated otherwise. So, as hy
pothesized in the case of the second line of the Ding hexagram above, the per
son for whom the divination was performed may have questioned the result and
sought a second opinion. This, in turn, could have led to the injunction “Benefi
cial to resist robbers,” as well as to the inclusion of a technical prognostication:
“Inauspicious.”31
Like the judgments, most line statements that contain explicitly divinatory
material reflect positive prognostications or the nonjudgmental expression “no
misfortune” (wujiu). On the one hand, this may reflect what seems to be a uni
versal psychological predisposition to recall positive cases that aflirm a con
clusion rather than the negative ones that refute it. On the other hand, since a
number of prognostications in the line statements are contradictory,” perhaps
the compiler(s) of the early Changes sought to give the work a more positive cast
by including information from different divinations that mitigated what might
otherwise have been rather harsh and unpalatable messages.
The most common negative terms — hui (regret, remorse; originally meaning
“trouble”), lin (distress), Ii (threatening), and xiong (ominous)—appear a total
of only about 14o times in the judgments and line statements, as compared with
nearly 150 instances of ji (auspicious), almost 12o of Ii (favorable, advantageous),
and nearly 50 of heng (successful). Other fairly frequent divinatory terms, such as
gong (lit., “to put something to use”), also have positive connotations.”
The Cultural Content of the Early Changes

Before it became established as a classic in the early Han period (and often there
after), the Yijing was known generally as the Zhouyi, which may be translated as
Zhou Changes or simply Changes.“ According to the Zhouli (Zhou Rituals) and its
early commentaries, the Zhouyi was only one of three hexagram-based documents
dating from pre-Han times, all of which involved divination by means of milfoil
stalks. The other two were the Lianshan (lit., “Linked Mountains”), associated
with Fuxi and the Xia dynasty, and the Guicang (Return to the Hidden), attributed
to Shennong (or sometimes to his putative successor, the Yellow Emperor) and
the Shang dynasty.35 Until recently, modern scholars tended to question the his
toricity of these works, but as we shall see below and in chapter 2, archaeological
excavations at certain Chinese sites —notably Mawangdui (1973), Fuyang (a.k.a.
Shuanggudui, 1977), Tianxingguan (1978), Baoshan (1987), Wangjiatai (1993),
Guodian (1993), and Ii’nan cheng (19 9 3)36 — have revealed several different ver
sions of the Changes, some of which show affinities with earlier descriptions of
the Lianshan and the Guicang and/or with textual fragments attributed to these
works. None of these texts date from earlier than the fourth century BCE, how
ever, so they do not shed any definitive new light on the early Changes.
What we do know is that by the ninth or eighth century BCE the basic text of
the Zhougi (i.e., the sixty—four named hexagrams, their respective judgments, and
their individual line statements) had begun to circulate. Pioneering research bya
host of Asian and Western scholars has made it possible for us to identify some
of the earliest layers of meaning of the Zh0uyi.37
We may hypothesize that one early purpose of the Changes was to classify the
vast range of human and natural experience in a way that reflected some sort of
order. In the words of Joseph Needham, the great historian of Chinese science,
one of the primary motivations for the development of “primitive” science in all
cultures has been “the need for at least classing phenomena, and placing them in
591116 sort of relation with one another, in order to conquer the ever-recurring
fear and dread which must have weighed so terribly on early men.”38
It would be an overstatement to say that the subject matter of the Zhouyi is
classified topically. Nonetheless, a number of hexagrams contain judgments
and/or line statements that display certain deliberate concentrations of infor
mation. Thus, for example, lines 3-5 of the hexagram known as Daxu or Dachu,
conventionally translated as “Great Domestication” (no. 26 in the received ver
sion of the Changes), refer to a horse, an ox, and a domesticated boar, respec
tively. And there are similar concentrations of information in hexagrams such
as Shi, “The Army” (7), which deals with military affairs; Tongren, “Fellowship”
(13), concerned specifically with fighting; Fu, “Return” (24), focused on travel;
and Daguo, “Major Superiority” (28), containing an inordinate amount of bo
tanical lore.
One of the most interesting cases of concentrated data is the hexagram Qian,
“Creative” or “Heaven,” later “Pure Yang” (1), which, like Kun, “Receptive” or
“Earth,” later “Pure Yin” (2), boasts an extra line statement. In five of its state
ments we find dragons (long):
In line 1 a dragon is submerged.

In line 2 a dragon can be seen in a field.
In line 3 a dragon jumps in the depths.
In line 4 a dragon flies in the skies.
In line 6 a dragon is in a gully.
In the final statement a flock of dragons without heads appears.”
What is the logic behind this grouping? It seems to be fundamentally astronomi

cal. That is, the word dragon in the statements refers to the Chinese constellation
Canglong, which was “submerged” below the eastern horizon during the win
ter, appeared just above the horizon in spring, extended fully across the sky in
summer, and descended headfirst beneath the western horizon at the autumnal
equinox.“
In approximately one-quarter of the sixty-four hexagrams the line statements
are clearly ordered, often spatially, as we have seen above in the case of Iian,
“Gradual Advance” (5 3). Another example is Xian ( 31), conventionally translated
“Reciprocity.”
Line 1: Cut his toe

Line 2: Cut his calf
Line 3: Cut his thigh
Line 5: Cut his back
Line 6: Cut his cheeks and tongue41
Or Gen, “Restraint,” (52):
Line 1: Glare at (or cleave to, gnaw at, or make still)“ his foot
Line 2: Glare at his calf
Line 3: Glare at his midsection
Line 4: Glare at his body (torso?)
Line 5: Glare at his cheeks
In both of the Xian and Gen hexagrams only one statement falls out of order,
and in the case of Gen we may reasonably assume that the phrase “Glare at his
back,” which appears in the judgment of Gen, is in fact a misplaced line state
ment.
The Changes evinces other organizational principles as well. For instance,
there is a certain amount of topically connected material in some of the hexa
grams that are related in structure. As one example, the line statement for line 4
of Kuai, “Resolution” (43), contains the same phrase as its mirror image in line 3
of the Gou hexagram (44), the hexagram that would result if Kuai were turned
upside down. There are several other instances of this type of relationship, in
dicating a conscious effort at correlation.
The Yi also contains a significant number of personal and place names, titles,
and historical allusions. Indeed, some traditional Chinese accounts of the Yi,
and some recent Western ones as well, see in the work a “hidden history” of the
late Shang and early Zhou dynasties.43 A close analysis of the line statements of
the last two hexagrams of the received text reveals, for example, clear references
to the military activities of the Shang kingWu Ding (ca. 1200-1150 BCE) and less
obvious but still evident references to the Zhou dynasty’s desire to legitimate
itself as the rightful heir to the Shang. This does not mean, however, that we can
accept at face value all claims for the antiquity of the basic text. Thus, despite
tantalizing bits of evidence, it is doubtful that King Wen wrote the hexagram and
line statements of the Chan_ges.44
The remaining symbolism of the Zhou Changes seems relatively simple and
straightforward, at least at first glance. Significantly, there are no references to
the sea, relatively few to the cultivation of crops, but many to hunting, herding,
fishing, gathering plants, and raising livestock. Many images in the lines and
judgments are related to nature and natural processes: celestial objects; thun
der and lightning, wind and rain, earth and fire; mountains, lakes, rocks, and
trees; and animals of every description, from supernatural beasts such as drag
ons to both wild and domestic animals, including foxes, birds, pigs, horses, fish,
pheasants, geese, tigers, leopards, elephants, goats, turtles, and even hamsters.
Color and directional symbolism is prevalent, and many lines refer to various
parts of the human body, from “low” areas (feet and legs) to “upper” areas
(head, face, cheeks, tongue, eyes, ears, mouth, and nose). Significantly, a num
ber of lines refer to involuntary activities such as twitching and sneezing.“
Other common symbolic referents include precious materials such as gold,
silk, and jade; food of various sorts; eating utensils; sacrificial vessels; vehicles
such as wagons and carts; weapons; and mundane household items. Among
the more esoteric references in the basic text are those that refer to “a husband
and wife rolling their eyes” (fuqi fanmu), the process of biting into “dried bony
gristle” (ganzi), the task of “removing the tusks [of a gelded boar] ” (fen qi ya),
and the image of a “ [big] toe” (mu), one of at least half a dozen toe references in
the line statements.“
But the specific significance of many of these symbols has been, and con
tinues to be, a matter of substantial dispute." The reasons are not difficult to
find. In the first place, the cryptic nature of the early hexagram and line refer
ences makes it extremely difficult to fill in ellipses. Also, the extensive use of
loanwords based on similar sounds in ancient Chinese has led to much con
fusion and contention. Many details of actual divinations, myths, anecdotes,
omen verses, and other sources that obviously helped to explain and amplify
the original text of the Zhouyi have been lost. Moreover, the meanings of some
characters and concepts changed over time, and at least a few varied from region
to region.“
For an example of the interpretive difficulties posed by even a relatively
simple passage, consider the following five-character sentence at the end of the
first line of the Gou hexagram (44). As we have seen, this sentence may be ren
dered simply “An emaciated pig: the captive is balky” (leishifu zhizhu). But what
is actually going on here? Zhi, “to walk,” when pronounced di, refers to the hoof
of a pig, while zhu can mean both “to limp” and “to amble,” as a horse might. In
some contexts, zhizhu connotes embarrassment, or doubt over what to do. The
term lei, “lean” or “emaciated,” may be a loanword for lei, “to tie with a rope,”
which would, of course, reinforce the notion of captivity, but as the late Qing
scholar-official Yu Yue (1821-1907) pointed out, fu, rendered “captive” above,49
could be a loanword for ru, “to suckle,” in which case the meaning of the pas
sage (a pig suckling its young) would change considerably even if lei were still
understood as a loanword.5°
A few other examples of problematic terms: The word that I have chosen to
render “counterpart” in line 2 of the Ding hexagram (50) can mean both “mate”
and “enemy.” The term junzi (lit., “son of a lord”), usually translated as “superior
person” or “noble man,” can also refer to a “spirit personator,” which may well
be the sense in which it was originally used in the Qian (“Creative,” “Heaven,”
“Pure Yang”) hexagram. Jeffrey Riegel suggests that in the first line statement of
the Kun (“Receptive,” “Earth,” “Pure Yin”) hexagram the cryptic phrase “tread
ing on frost” (lushuang) may refer to a specific ritual performed at the autumnal
sacrifices in expectation of the “coming of the spirits,” but other authorities
have argued that the phrase refers to an impending marriage. Some scholars
believe that the expression “great man” (claren), which occurs in a number of line
readings, refers to a member of the elite, but others suggest that it may refer
specifically to a diviner.51
We cannot even say with certainty what a common term like dragon (long) may
have meant in the early Changes. In oracle-bone inscriptions the forms and mean
ings of the character long often differ, but it is generally associated with water
and supernatural power. Later, in texts such as the Classic of History (Shangshu or
Shujing), representations of long are said to have accompanied images of the sun,
the moon, stars, mountains, and other animals that appeared on the sacrificial
robes of ancient Chinese rulers. But we do not know what these long looked
like or what in particular they symbolized. It was not until the Han period (206
BCE—22O CE) that the basic features of the dragon began to be systematized and
it became identified primarily with yang (male) qualities, “Confucian” virtues,
and the direction east. From Han times on, entire essays were written on the ap
pearance and significance of dragons, each reflecting the philosophical and/or
religious orientation of the author but of little help in identifying the “original”
significance of the beast.”
Although much of the language and imagery of the early Zhougi remains prob
lematic, we can see in its judgments and individual line statements enduring
Chinese cultural concerns. Prominent and recurrent themes include the need
to use language properly; the importance of family, ancestors, ritual, music,
beauty, antiquity, and the refinement of one’s nature; the inevitability of change;
the regulation of time and physical space; and an acute awareness of status.
Virtually all sectors and strata of_. society are represented in the line statements:
men, women, and children; royalty and other elites, merchants, servants, rob
bers, priests, and magicians. Primary social values include loyalty, sincerity, and
truthfulness. Military affairs and the administration of justice receive substan
tial attention as matters of both political and social significance.“ The preva
lence of the number three, which appears about five times more often than any
other number, may suggest an early triadic preoccupation, later expressed in the
philosophical notion of the unity of Heaven, Earth, and Man.
A certain “word magic” gave early hexagram line statements social and
psychological power. Long ago the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowsl<i
pointed out that word magic could be found not only among so—called primitive
peoples such as the Trobriand Islanders, whom he had studied, but also among
Westerners in his own time. Advertising slogans, political campaigns, and legal
formulas, for example, all provided illustrations for Malinowski of the magical
power of words. They represent, more or less, what more modern scholars de
scribe as “performative” utterances, statements that have the ability to create
what they refer to, such as the seductive phrase I hereby promise.“
Word magic, as Malinowski observed, can describe conditions that are “ob
jectively” false but subjectively true. That is, language is capable of reflecting a
kind of “pragmatic” truth that is “reasonable” in terms of addressing certain
psychological needs of the individual and “sociologically true in the sense that
it affects intentions, motivations and expectations.”55 Much of the appeal of
the Yijing as an explanatory device can be understood as a product of this sort
of word power, especially in a society such as traditional China’s, where plays
on words were so powerful and where the written language exerted inordinate
social influence by virtue of its seemingly intrinsic magical qualities.
Rhymes, rhythmic phrases, puns, contrastive formulations, and other lin
guistic devices that are abundant in the Zhougi enhance the power of words.5°
I still recall vividly the force of a simple ditty my friends and I used to recite in
our youth: “Step on a crack, break your m0ther’s back.” At the times when we
recited it, we took the warning seriously, doing our level best not to cause harm
to our mothers. I do not remember why the phrase periodically came to our
minds, and why at other times it did not seem to apply, but the point is that the
line statements of the Zhou Changes worked a similar magic in ancient China by
connecting phrases phonologically and then semantically.
The rhymes in the Changes are of various sorts. Sometimes entire phases are
rhymed. In other parts of the text, internal rhymes are widely used. Consider,
for instance, Kun (“Receptive,” “Earth,” “Pure Yin”), in which the second word
in five of its major line statements is rhymed: lu shuang (treading on frost), zhi
fang (straight and square), han zhang (hold in the mouth), kuo nang (bind up in a
pouch), and huang chang (yellow skirt) .57
Research on the fragmentary Fuyang “bamboo slip” version of the Changes
(ca. 165 BCE), in which conventional line statements are combined with oracular
pronouncements of the type that appear in early Han daybooks (rishu) ,58 suggests
a process by which certain choices in the received text may have been made on
the basis of rhymes. For example, four separate Fuyang fragments correspond
ing to the second line statement of Daguo, hexagram 28 in the received text,
yield the following reading (the separate divinatory statements are in italics):
Nine in the Second [i.e., an unbroken line in the second position]: The
withered poplar grows a sprout, the old man gets a maiden Wife; noth
ing not beneficial. Divining about one who is ill, he will not die; about battling,
the enemy is strong but there will be victory; about having guilt, one will be able to
transfer and move.59
Perhaps the formula that eventually prevailed in the basic text—“nothing not
beneficia1”—won out over the others simply because it was more general. But
perhaps there was another feature that made it more alluring than the others:
the rhyme between ti (sprout), qi (wife), and li (beneficial) .60
Twenty or so hexagrams in the received text of the Zhouyi have extensive rhym
ing schemes, and another thirty or so have at least some rhymes. Many line
readings also display substantial alliteration as well as delightful plays on words
and double entendres, almost all of which, unfortunately, are lost in translation.
Moreover, the line texts are peppered with dozens of rhythmic two-character
juxtapositions: light and dark, sweet and bitter, big and small, up and down,
level and sloping, auspicious and ominous, going and coming, advancing and
retreating, gain and loss, inside and outside, weeping and laughing, beginning
and ending, lord and vassal, older and younger, tying and untying, and so forth.
These contrasts suggest a major source of inspiration for, if not the actual ori
gins of, the pervasive notions of yin and yang. These concepts are not articulated
as such in the earliest strata of the Yi, but they are manifest in the late Zhou dy
nasty commentaries that became known as the Ten Wings (see chapter 2).
Early Yijing Divination

How were the hexagrams of the Zhouyi interpreted in the Zhou period? Our best
evidence so far comes from the Zuozhuan and the Guoyu (Sayings of the States).°1
Here is an account in the former work of a divination performed in the year 5 3 5
BCE on behalf of Duke Xiang of Wei in order to determine which of his two sons
should succeed him as duke.
The wife of Duke Xiang of Wei had no son, but his concubine Zhouge bore
to him a son named Mengzhi. Kong Chengzi [a minister of Wei] dreamt
that Kangshu [the first Marquis of Wei] told him to establish as his suc
cessor Yuan [lit., “the primary one”]. . . . [Later] Zhouge bore Duke Xiang
a second son and she named him Yuan [as above]. The feet of Mengzhi
were flawed, so that he was feeble in walking. Kong Chengzi used the
Changes to divine by milfoil . . . [regarding the issue of Yuan’s fitness] “to
conduct sacrifices on behalf of the state of Wei and to preside over its agri
cultural altars.” He obtained the Zhun hexagram [which refers to the “pri
mary receipt” of a sacrifice, yuan heng, and which can also be understood
as “Yuan sacrifices”]. He then said: “I Want to establish Mengzhi [in the
hope] that this will be acceptable.” In this divination he encountered the
first line of Zhun [marked by the Bi hexagram, which refers to a “turning
around” that is “favorable for establishing a marquis”]. He showed the
result to Shizhao, who said: “Yuan heng; what further doubt can there be?”
Chengzi said: “Is it not a statement about the elder [brother]?” [Shizhao]
replied: “Kangshu named him [i.e., Yuan], so that he can be considered
the superior one [i.e., the elder]. Mengzhi is not [fully] a man [because
of his disabled feet]; he will not be able to take his place in the ancestral
temple and he cannot be considered the superior. Moreover, the omen
[i.e., the first line statement of Zhun] says: ‘beneficial to establish a mar
quis.’ If the [presumed] heir is [truly] favored by fortune, why [is there a
need to] ‘establish’ one? To ‘establish’ is not the same as to ‘inherit.’ The
two hexagram [readings] both-indicate that the younger one should be
established.” 62
This account suggests three discrete steps in the interpretation of hexa

grams: (1) the announcement of a “charge” indicating the desires of the di
viner; (2) the manipulation of milfoil stalks, which yielded a numerical result,
usually expressed in terms of a relationship between two hexagrams; and (3) an
interpretation in which the emphasis came to be placed on a judgment and/or a
particular line statement, depending on whether the calculations yielded stable
or changing lines.“ But unlike the account noted above, most interpretations in
the Zuozhuan and the Guoyu focused on moral themes, emphasizing the type of
person and/or action required in a given situation rather than a rigid divinatory
determinism.“
During the early Zhou period, as with oracle-bone divination in the Shang
dynasty, the charge that preceded the choice of a hexagram apparently indicated
the diviner’s hope that the spiritual qualities of the milfoil stalks would some
how assist in achieving the desired outcome. In other words, initially, at least,
the charge was not so much a question as a request. Over time, however, divi
nation by means of the Changes became primarily a matter of “resolving doubts”
(juegi).
We do not yet know how the milfoil stalks were manipulated during the early
Zhou period. In the 1920s a group of scholars in Nanjing hypothesized a system
that would have yielded results similar to those found in the Zuozhuan, but these
so-called Nanjing rules have occasioned harsh criticism for their arbitrariness.“
At this point, perhaps all we can say with confidence is that a hexagram was ini—
tially chosen by some numerological means and that a particular line was usually
singled out for emphasis, perhaps in a process distinct from, but related to, the
one that yielded the hexagram in the first place. Zhang Zhenglang’s research
indicates that the numbers associated with the lines of early hexagrams ranged I
from 1 to 9, with 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8 predominating. Eventually, however, broken

lines came to be designated by 6 and 8, and solid lines by 7 and 9.66
Originally, the specific line to be emphasized in one hexagram was identified
by reference to another hexagram in which that line had an. opposite form (a
broken instead of a solid line, or vice versa). Later, as the techniques for ma
nipulating the milfoil sticks evolved and presumably grew more sophisticated,
certain lines came to be considered as “changing” (bianyao), and more than one
might undergo this sort of transformation. Naturally enough, this concept of
changing lines introduced far greater complexity into hexagram interpretation.
By the early Han period, if not before, the Zhouyi divination process involved
manipulations of the milfoil stalks in an elaborate procedure discussed at some
length in the “Great Commentary.”°7 The process began with a total of fifty
milfoil stalks:
Of these [fifty] we use forty-nine. We divide these into two groups, thereby
representing the two [i.e., the yin and the yang]. We dangle one single
stalk, thereby representing the three [i.e., the three powers, or Heaven,
Earth, and Man]. We count off the stalks by fours, thereby representing
the four seasons. We return the odd ones to a place between the fingers,
thereby representing an intercalary month. Within five years, there is a
second intercalary month, so we place a second lot of stalks between the
fingers; after that we dangle another single stalk [and continue the pro
cess]. Thus the stalks needed to form Qian [“Pure Yang,” no. 1] number
216, and the stalks needed to form Kun [“Pure Yin” (2)] number 144. In all,
these number 360 and correspond to the days of a year’s cycle. The stalks
in the two parts [of the Changes] number 11,520 and correspond [roughly]
to the number of the ten thousand [i.e., “myriad”] things. Therefore it
takes four operations to form the Changes, and it takes eighteen changes to
form a hexagram. With the eight trigrams, we have the small completions.
These are drawn upon to create extensions, and, as they are also expanded
through the use of corresponding analogies, all the situations that can
happ€1’1 in the world are covered.“
The four operations of the “Great Commentary” have been described as fol
lows by the noted Chinese authority on the Yijing, Gao Heng:
The diviner selects 50 milfoil stalks, actually using [only] 49 of them. From
these 49, he removes 1, setting it aside. Next, he arbitrarily divides the re
maining 48 stalks into two groups of fours. Finally, after this division by
four, he adds together the remainder of each group, and to this total he
then adds the 1 stalk that had originally had been set aside. This total we
will designate as A. This is the result of the first manipulation. Subtracting
A from the original number of 49 stalks, only two situations are possible:
there can be either 44 or 40 stalks remaining. . . . Using these remaining
44 or 40 stalks, the procedure described above is repeated, producing the
result of the second manipulation, which we will designate as B. Subtract
ing B from the 44 or 40 stalks will necessarily result in one of three totals:
40, 36, or 32. Finally, these 40, 36, or 32 stalks are again subjected to the
same manipulation, producing a third result, which we will designate as
C. After A, B, and C have been subtracted from the original 49 stalks, one
of the following four numbers of stalks will necessarily result: 36, 32, 28,
or 24. Dividing these numbers by 4, one obtains either 9, 8, 7, or 6. It is
these four numbers that are called the “four operations.” They are termed,
respectively, “old yang,” “young yin,” “young yang,” and “old yin.”69
Since steps A, B, and C had to be repeated six times in order to form one hexa
gram, the process required a total of eighteen manipulations. This might take
half an hour or more to complete.
The distinctive feature of this particular type of milfoil-stalk divination as it
eventually developed was the idea that “old” lines could change into their oppo
sites, thus creating a new hexagram. In other Words, any changing or “moving”
lines in the original hexagram (bengua) would yield a derivative hexagram (zhigua),
which must then be taken into account. For example, if the original hexagram
turned out to be Zhen, “Quake” (51), with the top and bottom lines changing,
the new, derivative hexagram that would also have to be considered would be Iin,
“Advancing” (35).
Although Gao Heng has argued that this system of changing lines reflects
pre-Han divinatory practices, there are reasons to believe that this Was not gen
erally the case. In the first place, the numerological rationale for the various
steps outlined in the “Great Commentary” reflects late Zhou and early Han cos
mological thought and would have been anachronistic for the preceding period.
Moreover, the fact that the numbers 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8 (as opposed to 9, 8, 7, and
6) apparently predominated in most early milfoil-stalk calculations suggests
that a different divinatory process was probably at work prior to the fourth cen
tury BCE. Most accounts of Zhouyi consultation in the Zuozhuan, for example,
seem to be based on trigram and hexagram relationships not requiring changing
lines 7°
Iust as it is likely that early Zhouyi divination did not usually involve chang
ing lines, it is also possible that it did not generally entail the kind of elaborate
trigram analysis that characterized Han and post-Han practice. We have already
seen, however, that this sort of approach may have been at work in the late
Shang dynasty oracle bone unearthed at Sipanmo village, and we also know that
trigrams occasionally figure in certain early accounts of milfoil-stalk divination
(primarily the Zuozhuan), where they have associations similar to, if not identical
with, those that generally prevailed in the Han period (see fig. 1. 5)."
Take, for example, the story of Duke Mu of Qin’s punitive expedition against
Duke Hui of Iin in 645 BCE, recorded in the Zuozhuan. Before the attack, Duke Mu
asked his diviner, Tufu, to consult the Changes regarding the outcome. Tufu drew
the hexagram Gu, “Ills to be Cured” (18). The judgment of this hexagram reads
in part: “Gu is such that it provides the opportunity for fundamental success
[or prevalence], and so it is fitting to cross the great river.” Tufu thus predicted
victory, remarking that Duke Mu’s troops would cross the river separating Qin
from Iin, defeat the forces of Duke Hui, and arrest the duke. He explained that
since the inner (lower) trigram of Gu was Sun, “Wind,” and the outer (upper),
Gen, “Mountain,” the winds of Qin would blow down the fruits of Iin on the
mountain and strip the Iin of its trees (i.e., possessions)?
Similarly, in 548 BCE, when Cui Wuzi divined by means of milfoil stalks to
see whether a marriage between him and Lady Iiang was an appropriate match,
trigram analysis played a significant role. Having arrived at the hexagram Kun,
“Impasse,” which then yielded Daguo, “Major Superiority,” Cui was told by Chen
Wenzi, minister of Qi, that the “husband gives way to wind, and wind blows the
wife away. Such a match will never do.” Apparently, Chen based his interpreta
Dui Kan Kun Li Qian Sun Zhen Gen

Lake Water Earth Fire Heaven Wind Thunder Mountain
Figure 1.5. Basic trigram correlations
tion on the idea that the lower trigram in Kun is Kan, which stands for, among
O ther things, the Middle Son, that is, a man. In the hexagram Daguo, Kan is re
placed by the trigram Sun, which, as we have seen above, stands for wind. And
Since the trigram in the upper part of both Kun and Daguo is Dui, here signifying
the Youngest Daughter, that is, a woman, the idea seems to have been that if the
marriage were to take place, the husband would yield to the wind, which would,
in turn, “blow away” (bring down) the wife."
The Zuozhuan also relates the story of a doctor by the name of He, who was
summoned from Qin to treat the Marquis of Iin. The doctor pronounced the
marquis incurably insane, equating the latter’s excessive sexual indulgence with
poison (gu). In explaining the matter to Zhaomeng, chief minister of Iin, the
doctor said: “Look at the word gu; it is formed by the characters for a vessel (min)
and insects (thong). It is also used to refer to spoiled grain [infested with insects].
In the Zhouyi, the constituent trigrams of the hexagram Gu are Gen above, sig
nifying a woman deluding a young man, and Sun below, indicating the wind
blowing down a mountain. These all refer to the same thing.”74 Zhaomeng pro
nounced He an excellent doctor, rewarded him abundantly, and sent him back
to Qin. This diagnostic application of the Zhouyi illustrates two common and
persistent forms of rhetorical usage in traditional China, etymological analysis
and analogy (see also chapters 2 and 3).
In short, accounts such as these in the Zuozhuan, together with recently dis
covered Yijing-related divinatory materials from Mawangdui, Fuyang, Baoshan,
Wangjiatai, Guodian, and Ii’nan cheng (see chapter 2), indicate that the analysis
of hexagrams, trigrams, and lines in the late Zhou period was already a complex
process that allowed for a great deal of interpretive latitude.75
This was also true with respect to line statements. On the whole, Chinese
scholars have tended to view them either as reflecting various social relation
ships (see esp. chapters 3 and 9) or as narrating the evolution of a situation
epitomized by one or another hexagram. That is, the first line describes the be
ginning of the situation; the second line marks the apogee of its internal devel
opment; the third line characterizes a moment of crisis (see, e.g., hexagrams
5, 7, 10, etc.); the fourth line indicates the beginning of the external aspect of
a situation; the fifth line marks its high point; and the sixth line refers to its
completion or overdevelopment. We cannot be certain, however, how early this
particular view of the line statements emerged.
Nor, as indicated above, can we know the original meaning of many of the
expressions in the judgments and line statements. To be sure, modern archae
ology has been helpful in certain cases. For instance, the cryptic phrase “observe
the jawbones” in the judgment of Yi, “Nourishment” (27), seems to refer to
the ancient practice of displaying the jawbones of pigs as a mark of status. But
many other references remain quite obscure. And because the judgments and
line statements are often so cryptic, they can be understood in widely divergent
ways. For example, does the first line in the hexagram Pi, “Obstruction” (12),
which reads “When one pulls up the rush plant, it pulls up others of the same
kind together with it,” counsel a person to take the lead in initiating collective
action or warn against it? We simply cannot be sure.
This much, however, is clear: by the fourth century BCE at the latest the
essential grammar of the Zhouyi had been well established.“ Its languages in
cluded wordless symbols (hexagrams, trigrams, and individual lines), as well
as written texts (hexagram names, judgments, and line statements). What the
next few centuries would bring was a substantial increase in the lexicon of the
Changes, together with a number of commentaries that amplified the interpretive
framework of the Zhouyi. These additions, in turn, greatly expanded the interpre
tive possibilities of the document.
CHAPTER TWO
From Divinatory Text

to "Confucian" Classic
By virtue of its value as a divinatory document, the Changes survived the infamous
“burning of the books” in 213 BCE by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221-206 BCE).
As a result, many of the bitter controversies regarding authenticity that sur
rounded some of the other Confucian classics of the Han period (206 BCE—22O
CE), namely, the Classic of History (Shangshu or Shujing), the Classic of Poetry (Shijing),
the Record of Ritual (Liji), and the Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu), did not touch
the Yijing.1 Nonetheless, like all other major canonical texts of the time, the Han
dynasty Changes became the focus of a great many scholarly debates, which have
been amply studied by a host of Chinese scholars and at least a few scholars in
the West?
Under the Han, exegesis became an art form. By the first century CE, com
mentaries on a single classical passage of only a half-dozen characters might
spawn explanations that were several thousands of characters in length?‘ Why?
In addition to the obvious exegetical motives of clarifying the meaning of ob
scure terms and phrases and determining the authenticity of one or another text
or passage, personal and political factors often came into play. Scholars from
different areas of China, different social backgrounds, and different philosophi
cal orientations competed for recognition from the throne, which, for its part,
felt an urgent and ongoing need for authoritative guides to the classics, particu
larly after the founding of the Imperial Academy (Taixue) in 124 BCE.4
We should also remember that several versions of the Yijing Were probably
available to scholars during the early Han period, including not only the so
called received text (officially recognized by the throne in 136 BCE as “the first
among the [Confucian] classics”) but also permutations of the sort discovered in
China during the past few decades at Mawangdui, Fuyang, Wangjiatai, and Ii’nan
cheng, texts discussed briefly in chapter 1 and considered more fully below. These
various editions reveal a great deal of overlap, but there are certainly enough dif
ferences, particularly between the received text and the Mawangdui version, to
suggest that the Yijing did not develop in a unilinear fashion during either the late
Zhou or the early Han.5 But before looking at the received text and other versions
of the Changes individually, let us explore briefly the intellectual environment that
helped to shape understandings of these documents in the Han period.
Han Cosmology
One important point of affinity between Yijing-related documents of the late
Zhou and early Han and many other texts of that era was cosmological. This
cosmology reflected the thinking of many individuals and groups, of course,
but it is perhaps most closely identified in the Han period with Dong Zhongshu
(ca. 179—ca. 104 BCE), adviser to the great emperor Han Wudi (r. 141-87 BCE).
Although Dong clearly played a role in the process by which the Changes became
a classic in 136 BCE, his thought was not “Confucian” alone. Although com
mitted to moral values consistent with the Confucian tradition broadly defined,
early Han thinkers like Dong drew upon a variety of philosophical and religious
traditions, including “the way of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi” (Huang-Lao dao),
an outlook devoted to Daoist practices of physical and spiritual cultivation as
well as to ways of ruling often characterized as Legalist (Fajia). The Huang-Lao
tradition also involved techniques of calculation (shu) and prescription (fang)
that were widely disseminated and vigorously debated?
At the heart of Han cosmology were elaborate systems of correspondence and
resonance, often described as “correlative thinking.”7 In contrast to Western
style “subordinative thinking,” which relates classes of things through sub
stance and emphasizes the idea of “external causation,” in Chinese-style cor
relative thinking “conceptions are not subsumed under one another but placed
side by side in a pattern”; things behave in certain Ways “not necessarily because
of prior actions or [the] impulsions of other things” but because they resonate
with other entities and forces in a complex network of associations and corre
spondencesfi i
Two systems of correspondence provided the conceptual foundations
for much of Chinese correlative thinking during Han times and for the next
two thousand years or so. One system focused on the Well-known but much
misunderstood concepts of yin and yang. The other focused on the five agents (wu
From Divinatory Text to "Confucian" Classic 33
xing), identified with the qualities and tendencies associated with earth, metal,
fire, water, and wood.9
Yin and yang were conceived in three different but related ways in Han times.
First, they were viewed, respectively, as female and male modes of cosmic cre
ativity that not only produced but also animated all natural phenomena. Second,
they were used to identify recurrent, cyclical patterns of rise (yang) and decline
(yin), waxing (yang) and waning (yin). Third, they were employed as comparative
categories, describing dualistic relationships that were viewed as inherently un
equal but almost invariably complementary. For example, yang came to be asso
ciated with light, activity, Heaven, the sun, fire, heat, the color red, and round
ness. Yin, on the other hand, was correlated with darkness, passivity, Earth, the
moon, water, coldness, the color black, and squareness. Virtually any aspect
of Chinese experience could be explained in terms of these paired concepts,
ranging from such mundane relationships as guest to host or young to old to
abstractions such as unreal and real, nonbeing and being. Yinyang relationships
involved the notion of mutual dependence and harmony based on hierarchical
difference. Yin qualities were generally considered inferior to yang qualities, but
unity of opposites was the cultural ideal (see fig. 2.1).1°
The five agents invested the stuff (qi, often translated as “material force”) of
which all things were constituted with dynamic qualities. Over time the belief
developed that an organizational principle (ii) governed this creative process, but
the relationship between, and the ontological primacy of, li, qi and shu (number)
Yang Yin Yang Yin

Heaven Earth Father Child
Spring Summer Elder brother Younger brother
Summer Winter Older Younger
Day Night Noble Base
Big states Small states Getting on in the world Being stuck
Important Unimportant Taking a wife, begetting Mourning
states states a child
Action inaction Controlling people Being controlled
Stretching - Contracting Guest Host
Ruler Minister Soldiers Laborers
Above Below Speech Silence
Man Woman Giving Receiving
Figure 2.1. One early set of yinyang correlations
Yin and Yang

Yang Yin Yang Yin
Light Dark Activity Quiescence

Hot Cold Life Death
Dry Moist Advance Retreat

Fire Water Expand Contract
Red Black Full Empty
Day Night Straight Crooked
Sun Moon Hard Soft
Spring—summer Autumn—winter Round Square

Male Female South North
Correlation Wood Fire Earth Metal Water

Animal sheep fowl ox do Pig
Number
Organ
Color green red

8 7
spleen
5 9 6 lungs
yellow white black

heart liver kidneys
Direction east south center west north

Emotion anger joy desire sorrow fear
Taste bitter
SOUl' SWGQI acrid salty
State of yin in yang yang equal yang in yin yin (or
Yinyang (or lesser (or greater balance (or lesser greater
yang) yang) yin) yin)
Figure 2.2. Some conventional yinyang and five-agents (wuxing) correlations
remained a matter of lively scholarly debate throughout the imperial era.11 Dur
ing the Han the five agents came to be correlated with various colors, directions,
flavors, musical notes, senses, grains, sacrifices, punishments, and so forth (see
fig. 2.2).
Like yin and yang, each of the five agents had tangible cosmic power embodied
in, or at least exerting an influence on, material objects. As cosmic forces, the
wuxing operated in sequential patterns, dominating situations according to the
principle that things of the same kind (tonglei) activate or resonate with each
other. In the words of the “Great Commentary” of the Yijing, “Those [things]
with regular tendencies gather according to kind, and . . . divide up according
to groups. So it is that good fortune and misfortune occur.”12 In other words,
all things in the universe were connected in various patterns of relationship and
resonance, the circumstances of their being (and becoming) conditioned by
variables of time, space, and patterns of movement.“
The five agents operated in one of two major sequences: In the mutual
production (xiangsheng) sequence, wood produced fire, fire produced earth, earth
produced metal, metal produced water, and water produced wood. In the mutual
conquest (xian_gl<e) sequence, metal conquered wood, word conquered earth, earth
conquered water, water conquered fire, and fire conquered metal.14 But the way
these and other such sequences operated depended on circumstances. Accord
ing to one view, for example, “All five phases . . . are generated by the pressing of
yin and yang against each other. Yang pressing against gin generates water, Wood,
and earth. Yin pressing against yang generates fire and metal.”15 We will return
to these and other cosmological calculations in subsequent chapters.
Human beings, for their part, shared a common ground with Heaven, con
nected to the cosmos by systems of correspondence that reflected both spiritual
and physical unity. As Dong Zhongshu put the matter,
Man receives his mandate [ming, also translated as “fate” or “destiny”]

from Heaven and is therefore superior to all creatures. Other creatures suf
fer troubles and defects and cannot practice humanity and righteousness;
man alone can practice them. Other creatures suffer troubles and defects
and cannot match Heaven and Earth; man alone can match them. Man
has 360 joints, which match the number of Heaven. . . . He has ears and
eyes above, with their keen sense of hearing and seeing, Which resemble
the sun and the moon. His body has its orifices, which resemble rivers
and valleys. His heart has feelings of sorrow, joy, pleasure, and anger,
which are analogous to the spiritual feelings [of Heaven]. As we look at
man’s body, how superior it is to that of other creatures and how similar
to Heaven! [. . .] Man is distinct from other creatures and forms a triadic
relationship with Heaven and Earth.16
Dong went on to assert:
The agreement of Heaven and Earth and the correspondence between yin
and yang are ever found complete in the human body. The body is like
Heaven. Its numerical categories and those of Heaven are mutually inter
locked. [. . .] Internally the body has five viscera, which correspond to the
five agents. Externally there are the four limbs, which correspond to the
four seasons. The alternating of opening and closing the eyes corresponds
to day and night. . . [and] the alternating of sorrow and joy corresponds to
yin and yang. [. . .] In what may be numbered, there is correspondence in
number [tongshu]. In what may not be numbered, there is correspondence
in kind [tonglei] .17
Drawing on earlier metaphysical formulations, Dong and most other intel

lectuals of the Han period believed that human beings were not simply passive
objects on the cosmic stage; by virtue of their powers of mind— their “spiritual”
agency—they were active participants in the ongoing process of generation and
regeneration. In the words of the Zhongyong (conventionally rendered “Doctrine
of the Mean” or “Centrality and Commonality”), a work composed about 4oo
BCE with a later redaction in the Han, those who possess the most complete
sincerity (zhicheng) can “assist in the transforming and nourishing powers of
Heaven and Earth,” thus forming a triad with them.“ Similarly, the “Great Com
mentary,” of the late fourth or early third century BCE, tells us: “The reciprocal
process of yin and yang is called the Dao [Way]. That which allows the Dao to
continue to operate is human goodness [shan], and that which allows it to bring
things to completion is human nature [xing]. The benevolent see it and call it
benevolence, and the wise see it and call it wisdom.”19
The responsibility of human beings, then, was to aid in creating and main
taining cosmic harmony through their attunement with natural patterns and
processes. In order to achieve this attunement, they needed to perceive and cor
rectly interpret signs from Heaven and to determine the proper place and time
for effective human action. This was precisely the role of the Yijing. As the “Great
Commentary” states, “The Changes is something which is broad and great, com
plete in every way. There is the Dao of Heaven in it, the Dao of Man in it, and the
Dao of Earth in it.”2° Divination, like ritual, was designed “to place humanity
properly within the cosmos and thereby ensure the proper functioning of that
cosmos.”21
As a model of the cosmos, the Changes showed how human beings could “fill
in and pull together the Dao of Heaven and Earth”: “Looking up, we use it [the
Changes] to observe the configurations of Heaven, and, looking down, we use it
to examine the patterns of Earth. Thus we understand the reasons underlying
what is hidden and what is clear. We trace things back to their origins then
turn back to their ends. Thus we understand the axiom of life and death.” 12 By
establishing a spiritual connection with the “mind of Heaven” and using the
Yijing as a medium (in every sense of the word), a person could literally “know
all things,” including the “decrees” of Heaven (ming, “fate”).23 For this reason,
amgng others, divination remained a mainstream cultural activity in China
throughout the imperial era and into the twentieth century (see chapter 8).
The Received Text of the Yijing
The edition of the Changes that eventually gained imperial approval in 136 BCE
had two distinguishing features. First, it displayed the sixty-four hexagrams of
the basic text in terms of sequentially numbered paired groupings. Each pair was
based on one of two structural principles: in fifty-six of the sixty-four hexagrams
(tvventy-eight pairs) the principle was inversion of the lines, as if one of the two
hexagrams in each pair had been turned upside down to create the other (e. g.,
Zhun [3] to Meng [4]); in the remaining eight hexagrams (where this sort of
inversion would result in the same hexagram) the principle was the conversion
of all lines to their opposites (e. g., Yi [27] to Daguo [28]) (see fig. 2. 3).“
The second distinguishing feature of the oflicially endorsed edition of the
Yijing is that it boasted a set of commentaries known collectively as the Ten
Wings (Shiyi). These commentaries, which date from somewhat different peri
ods, all came to be considered an integral part of the classic by the early Han
dynasty. They appear relatively late in the history of the Changes and are obviously
quite heterogeneous in content. Although they are traditionally ascribed to Con
fucius, there is some doubt that he authored all or even any of them.” But as
indicated at the outset of chapter 1, the persistent idea that the Master had edited
the basic text of the Changes and written the Ten Wings played an enormously
important role in encouraging scholars from the Han period on to find deep
philosophical meaning and symbolic significance in the hexagrams, trigrams,
lines, judgments, and line statements."
According to convention, the first and second “wings” of the Yijing are
together called the “Commentary on the Judgments” (Tuanzhuan). The third
and fourth, together styled the “Commentary on the Images” (Xiangzhuan), are
the “Big Image [Daxiang] Commentary,” which discusses the images associated
with the two so-called primary trigrams of each hexagram (lines 1-3 and lines
4-6, respectively; see chapter 3 for details), and the “Small Image [Xiaoxiang]
Commentary,” which refers to the images related to individual lines. The “Great
Zhun Meng Daguo

Figure 2.3. The two types of hexagram pairings
Commentary” (Dazhuan), also known as the “Commentary on the Appended
Statements” (Xici zhuan), comprises the fifth and sixth wings; the “Commentary
on the Words of the Text” (Wenyan zhuan), the seventh; the “Discussion of the Tri
grams” (Shuogua), the eighth; the “Orderly Sequence of the Hexagrams” (Xugua),
the ninth; and the “Hexagrams in Irregular Order” (Zagua), the tenth. Different
editions of the Changes organize this material in different ways.”
Taken as a whole, the Ten Wings elucidate the basic text of the Changes and
provide it with an explicitly metaphysical framework. This is particularly true of
the “Great Commentary,” which probably assumed something close to its final
form about 300 BCE. Throughout the imperial era this powerful and persuasive
document received more exegetical attention than any other single wing. Com
mentators could find in it several different points of view, including both Confu
cian and Daoist perspectives, as well as several different attitudes or approaches
to a given problem or situation, ranging from optimism to pessimism, joy to
sadness, confidence to fear, action to inaction?“
Although a vast amount has been written about the Dazhuan in both Asian
and Western languages,” I would like to focus on a few important points that
this extraordinarily influential tract makes about the Changes: (1) the book is,
effect, a microcosm of the universe, duplicating quite literally the fundamental
processes and relationships occurring in nature; (2) these processes and rela
tionships are revealed in the hexagrams, trigrams, and lines of the Changes; (3)
the Yijing allows those who use it to partake of a potent, illuminating, activating,
and transforming spirituality (shen);3° and (4) by participating fully and sincerely
in this spiritual experience, one can discern the patterns of change in the uni
verse.31 Thus, one can not only know fate (zhiming) but also establish fate (liming),
that is, devise an effective moral strategy for dealing with unfolding circum
stances.
These patterns are generally described in the Yi as either bian, implying not
only transformation, “a change of form, potential, or type,” but also alternation,
“occurring in turn” (as, for instance in the movement from yin to yang and back
again), or hua, the process of change more broadly construed, with the implica
tion of “a continuous flow or development.” According to the “Great Commen
tary,” attunement to the seminal first stirrings (ji, often described as a “door
hinge,” “trigger,” “pivot,” or incipient moment) of a new phase provides the
unique opportunity to act appropriately at the most propitious and efficacious
time. “As for incipience itself,” we read, “it is the infinitesimally small beginning
of action, the point at which the precognition of good fortune can occur.” 32
The process of consulting the Changes naturally involved careful contempla
tion — a mulling over (wan) — of the all-important images (xiang) that pertained to
any given problem or situation (see below). The Ten Wings explain this imagery
as it is reflected in hexagrams, trigrams, and written texts. They also provide a
brief indication of the system of numbers underlying them. Thus, we read in the
“Great Commentary”:
Heaven is one, and Earth is two; Heaven is three, and Earth is four; Heaven
is five, and Earth is six; Heaven is seven, and Earth is eight; Heaven is nine,
and Earth is ten. Heaven’s numbers are five, and Earth’s numbers are five.
With the completion of these two sets of five places, each number finds
its match. Heaven’s numbers come to twenty-five [the sum of the five odd
numbers] and Earth’s numbers come to thirty [the sum of the five even
numbers] .33
The important point to remember about numbers in traditional Chinese

thought is that like gin and gang, the five agents, the eight trigrams, and the
sixty-four hexagrams, they express qualities, powers, classifications, correla
tions, and phases of change.“ According to the “Great Commentary,” hexa
grams have the capacity to “bring out all the potential . . . [of numbers and]
establish images for everything in the world.” 35 Taken together,
the numbers of Heaven [twenty-five] and Earth [thirty] . . . indicate how

change and transformation are brought about and how gods and spirits
are activated. . . . With the eight trigrams, we have small completions.
These are drawn upon to create extensions [that result in the sixty-four
hexagrams], and, as they are also expanded through the use of corre
sponding analogies, all the situations that can happen in the world are
covered.36
What are the images that the hexagrams establish? The term image (also ren
dered “figure” or “emblem”) in the Yijing refers to both representations and con
cepts, that is, not only symbols for things that appear in nature (physical objects
such as mountains, bodies of water, the sun, the moon, and the stars)?” but also
ideas that can be grasped, positions that can be determined, situations that can
be identified, and processes that can be discerned.” One author has described
the conceptual side of xiang as “something archetypal, heavenly rather than
earthly, and in contrast to physicality.”39 In other words, images had appearance
but no actual form. One suspects, however, that in the minds of many Chinese
the line separating objects that could be felt (xun) from archetypal images that
could only be revealed (jian) or examined (cha) was not an easy or even a necessary
one to draw.4°
For most of those who tried to fathom the Yijing, the images provided by the
hexagrams, their constituent trigrams, and their individual lines Were difficult
to dispense with. They thus became a supplementary system of language and
logic in China, similar to what Alfred North Whitehead has called structures
of “symbolic reference.”41 Although glossed by Writing, notably the hexagram
names, judgments, and line statements of the basic text and the Ten Wings, they
provided a means to explore and understand meanings that were beyond words.
As the “Great Commentary” explains, calling upon the authority of Confucius
himself: “Writing does not exhaust words, and words do not exhaust ideas. . . .
The sages [therefore] established images in order to express their ideas exhaus
tively. . . [and] established the hexagrams in order to treat exhaustively the true
innate tendencies of things.” 41
Psychologically speaking, the symbolic structures conjured up by the hexa
grams, trigrams, lines, and written texts of the Yijing are vaguely reminiscent of
Rorschach inl<blots in the sense that they provoke associations that resonate
with our own experiences, needs, and points of view. The range of interpretive
options for any given hexagram was thus substantial in theory but constrained
somewhat in practice by exegetical conventions.
Let us see how the hexagrams are supposed to work. According to the “Great
Commentary,”
The sages set down the hexagrams and observed the images. They ap
pended phrases to the lines in order to clarify whether they signified good
fortune or misfortune and let the hard and the soft lines displace each
other so that change and transformation could appear. Therefore, good
fortune and misfortune involve images respectively of failure or success.
“Regret” [lin] and “remorse” [hui] involve images of sorrow and worry.
Change [bian] and transformation [hua] involve images of advance and
withdrawal. The strong and the weak provide images of day and night.
. . .The Judgments [tuan] address the images [i.e., the concept of the en
tire hexagram], and the line texts address the states of change. The terms
“auspicious” [ji] and “inauspicious” [xiong] address the failure or success
involved. The terms “regret” and “remorse” address the small faults in
volved. The expression “there is no blame” [wujiu] indicates success at
repairing transgressions. Therefore the ranking of superior and inferior
depends on the positions. Distinction between a tendency either to the
petty or to the great is an inherent feature of the hexagrams. The differen
tiation of good fortune and misfortune depends on the phrases [i.e., the
line statements] .43
Viewed in this way, the sixty—four hexagrams were the symbolic means by
which to understand all phenomena, including the forces of nature, the inter
action of things, and the circumstances of change. As vehicles of abstract mean
ing, they revealed in concrete circumstances the dynamic qualities, distinctive
characteristics, and patterns of relationship of all things, seen and unseen, in
Heaven and on Earth. Like the trigrams, they were always in the process of trans
formation, but at any given time they also revealed qualities and capacities. To
take a very rudimentary example, made famous by the Chinese philosopher Feng
Youlan, everything that satisfies the condition of being virile, active, and cre
ative can fit into a formula in which the symbol Qian, “Pure Yang” or “Heaven”
(hexagram 1), occurs, and everything that satisfies the condition of being docile,
passive, and receptive can fit into one in which the symbol Kun, “Pure Yin” or
“Earth” (hexagram 2), appears.“
By Han times, the addition of the Ten Wings made the interpretation of the
hexagrams a far more complex affair than it had been before. For instance, the
“Commentary on the Judgments” tells us that the myriad things are “provided
their beginning” by Qian (1) and that Qian allows things in all their different
categories to “flow into forms.” We are also advised that by “fitness and con
stancy” one preserves a “great harmony,” and that a person in tune with this
great harmony, if he occupies the position of leader, can assure that “the myriad
states are all at peace.” The “Commentary on the Judgments” states that Kun (2)
gives birth to the myriad things, compliantly carrying out Heaven’s will. But un
like Qian, the Kun hexagram does not advise a leadership role on the part of the
superior person (junzi). Rather, it advises yielding in order to find one’s “rightful
place.”45
Since the primary trigrams for Qian are both the same, the “Big Image Com
mentary” indicates simply that “the action of Heaven is strong and dynamic.
In the same manner, the superior person never ceases to strengthen himself.”
For Kun, in which the primary trigrams are also identical, the “Big Image Com
mentary” reads, “Here is the basic disposition of Earth: this constitutes the
image of Kun. In the same manner, the superior person with his generous virtue
carries everything.”46 For hexagrams with different primary trigrams, the “Big
Image Commentary” connects the disparate symbols (see also chapter 3). For
instance, the commentary on the constituent trigrams of Bi, “Closeness” (8),
reads: “There is Water [Kan] above the Earth [Kun]: This constitutes the image
of Bi. In the same way, the former kings established the myriad states and treated
the feudal lords with cordiality.” In this case, as in so many others, additional
commentaries proved necessary to explicate the explication.”
The specific symbolism of the Qian hexagram, as revealed in the various
wings, includes not only the basic characteristics identified by Feng Youlan
virility, activity, and creativity— but also a great many other attributes and identi
fications —hardness and firmness, Heaven and the father, ordering and control
ling, functioning like the head, ruling, and waging war. The “Discussion of the
Trigrams,” which applies to all of the eight hexagrams in which the respective
primary trigrams are the same, states succinctly: “Qian is Heaven, is round,
is the sovereign, is father, is jade, is metal, is coldness, is ice, is pure red, is a
fine horse, an old horse, an emaciated horse, a piebald horse, is the fruit of the
tree.”48
By the same token, the symbolism of Kun included not only docility, pas
sivity, and receptivity but also the attributes and identifications of softness and
suppleness, Earth and the mother, supporting and containing, functioning like
the stomach, harboring, and nourishing. In the words of the “Discussion of the
Trigrams,” “Kun is Earth, is mother, is cloth, is a cooking pot, is frugality, is
impartiality, is a cow with a calf, is a great cart, is the markings on things, is the
multitude of things themselves, and is the handle of things. In respect to soils,
it is the kind that is black.” 49 Figure 2.4 depicts Qian as the “father” and Kun as
the “mother” of the other six trigrams.
The “Discussion of the Trigrams” also provided symbolic associations for the
other six hexagrams that were comprised of two sets of the same trigram. Thus,
for example, both the trigram and the hexagram known as Zhen, “Quake,” had
the following attributes:
Zhen is thunder, is the dragon, is black and yellow, is overspreading, is the

great highway, is the Eldest Son, is decisiveness and impetuosity, a green,
lush bamboo, and the reed plants. In respect to horses, it is those that
excel at neighing, those that have white rear legs, those that work the legs
[run fast], and those that have white foreheads. In respect to cultivated
plants, it is the kind that grows back [i.e., pod-sprouting plants, legumes,
etc.]. At the end point of its development, it is soundness and sturdiness
[i.e., turns into Qian (“Creative,” “Heaven,” “Pure Yang”)] and is luxuriant
and fresh growth.5°
In the Ten Wings, many hexagrams are considered in terms of the various re
lationships believed to exist between them. Often these relationships are oppo
sitional. For instance, in the “Orderly Sequence of the Hexagrams” commentary
we encounter the following passage: “Zhen [‘Quake’ (51)] here signifies move
ment. Things cannot be kept in .a state of movement forever but are eventually
brought to a stop. This is why Zhen is followed by Gen [‘Restraint’ (5z)] .” Simi
larly, but more succinctly, the commentary known as the “Hexagrams in Irregu
lar Order” tells us that “Zhen means a start; Gen means a stop.”51
But whether based on perceived relationships or not, the hexagrams of the
Changes tended to have multiple symbolic associations simply because differ
i 2371 at
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Figure 2.4. A depiction of trigram ”famiIy relationships"
ent wings characterized them in sometimes significantly different ways. For ex
amples that do not involve the complexity of the “Discussion of the Trigrams”
commentary, let us look first at a few additional associations from the “Hexa
grams in Irregular Order”:
“Heng [‘Perseverance’ ( 32)] means long lasting”

“Sun [‘Diminution’ (41)] and Yi [‘Increase’ (4z)] are the beginnings of
prosperity and decline”
“Kun [‘Impasse’ (47)] indicates a clash of interests”
“Iing [‘The Well’ (48)] indicates something accessible to all”
“Sun [‘Compliance’ (57)] means stay hidden”
“Lii [‘Treading’ (1o)] means not staying in one’s position”
“Qian [‘Modesty’ (15)] involves taking oneself lightly”
“Fu [‘Return’ (z4)] signifies a coming bacl<”52
These interpretations differ from the “demonstrations” and “provisions” laid

out in the following passage from the “Great Commentary,” which also differ
from one another:
Heng [“Perseverance” (32)] demonstrates how, faced with the complexity
of things, one yet does not give way to cynicism. Sun [“Diminution” (41)]
demonstrates how things can first be difficult and easy later. Yi [“In
crease” (4z)] demonstrates how one brings about growth and opulence
while avoiding any contrivance to do so. Kun [“Impasse” (47)] demon
strates how one who suffers tribulation still stays in complete control of
himself. Iing [“The Well” (48)] demonstrates how one stays in one’s place
and yet can transfer what one has to others. Sun [“Compliance” (57)]
demonstrates how one can weigh things while yet remaining in obscurity.
Lii [“Treading” (1o)] provides the means to make one’s actions harmo
nious. Qian [“Modesty” (15)] provides the means by which decorum exer
cises its control. Fu [“Return” (24)] provides the means to know oneself.
Heng [“Perseverance” (32)] provides the means to keep one’s virtue one.
Sun [“Diminution” (41)] provides the means to keep harm at a distance.
Yi [“Increase” (42)] provides the means to promote benefits. Kun [“Im
passe” (47)] provides the means to keep resentments few. Iing [“The Well”
(48)] provides the means to distinguish what righteousness really is. Sun
[“Compliance” (57)] provides the means to practice improvisations.”
Sometimes hexagrams were grouped together by themes, offering additional

symbolic associations. Here is an example, also from the “Great Commen
tary”:
Lii [“Treading” (1o)] is the foundation of virtue. Qian [“Modesty” (15)] is

how virtue provides a handle to things. Pu [“Return” (24)] is the root of
virtue. Heng [“Perseverance” (3 2)] provides virtue with steadfastness. Sun
[“Diminution” (41)] is how virtue is cultivated. Yi [“Increase” (4z)] is how
virtue proliferates. Kun [“Impasse” (47)] is the criterion for distinguishing
virtue. Iing [“The Well” (48)] is the ground from which virtue springs. Sun
[“Compliance” (57)] is the controller of virtue.54
From the examples above we can see that Yi (“Increase” [42]) might refer to
the means by which to achieve growth and opulence, to promote benefits, and]
or to contribute to the proliferation of virtue.
Although the Ten Wings contain elements identified with Daoism and other
philosophies, much of their content is explicitly moral in an identifiably “Confu
cian” sense.“ Thus we read in the “Commentary on the Words of the Text” that
the four characters constituting the judgment of the Qian hexagram -(1) —yua11,
heng, li, zhen—-which originally referred to a simple divinatory formula (“Great
sacrifice; a favorable determination”), refer to values:
Yuan, “Fundamentality,” is the leader of goodness [shan]. Heng, “Success”
or “Prevalence,” is the congruence of excellence [jia]. Li, “Fitness,” is the
coalescence with right behavior [yi]. Zhen, “Constancy,” is the very trunk
of human affairs. The superior man embodies benevolence [ren] sufficient
to be the leader of men, and the coincidence of beauty in him is sufficient
to make men live in accordance with propriety [li]. He engenders fitness
in people sufficient to keep them in harmony with righteousness, and
his constancy is firm enough to serve as the trunk of human affairs. The
superior man is someone who practices these four virtues. This is Why it
Says; “Qian” consists of fundamentality, success [or prevalence], fitness,
and constancy.-"6
As we have already seen, the wing known as the “Discussion of the Trigrams”
provided a wide range of symbolic associations. Some of these overlapped, and
many of them figured prominently in Han and post-Han systems of Yijing divi
nation. One of the most influential and enduring of these correlations was be
tween the eight trigrams and the five agents. Obviously, in order to engineer a fit,
some trigrams either had to share an agent or be denied one. The principle was
naturally one of inclusion. Thus, in one common construction, Qian and Dui
shared metal, Sun and Zhen shared wood, and Gen and Kun shared earth. Kan
was linked solely with Water, and Li was associated only with fire (see fig. 2.5).
In another configuration, Qian and Kun shared both wood and water, Gen and
Dui shared fire, Kan and Li shared earth, and Zhen and Sun shared metal." The
important point here is that the eight trigrams, like the five agents with which
fit
at’ 7*»/<1?
I
Figure 2.5. Trigram and %\

five-agents (wuxing) *7/6,
correlations showing patterns % \\( /$b
of mutual production and
mutual conquest
they were so often linked, were not only symbols of “natural” processes, phe
nomena, and relationships but also fields of potential, in a position (literally)
to exert influence on things and activities in the heavens and on earth (see also
chapter 9).
Two major configurations of the eight trigrams became predominant, one
reflecting the principle of complementary opposition and the other reflecting
the phenomenon of periodicity. The Former Heaven (Xiantian) configuration (see
fig. 2.6, top), attributed to Fuxi, displayed the eight trigrams in four sets, each
corresponding to one of the four seasons (usually depicted in clockwise order,
with summer located in the south, at the top of the diagram). The juxtapositions
in this configuration are: Qian (“Pure Yang” or “Heaven,” connected with the
south) and Kun (“Pure Yin” or “Earth,” north); Sun (“Compliance,” wind, south
west) and Zhen (“Quake,” thunder, northeast); Kan (“Sink Hole,” water, west)
and Li (“Cohesion,” fire, east); and Gen (“Restraint,” mountain, northwest) and
Dui (“]oy,” lake, southeast) .58
Although this arrangement appears somewhat static, it actually had a dy
namic dimension. According to some commentators, notably Shao Yong in the
Song dynasty (see chapter 5), the clockwise movement of the trigrams from
Zhen through Li and Dui to Qian took into account what was already existing
(yisheng), while the movement of the trigrams from Sun through Kan and Gen
to Kun took into account what had not yet come into existence (weisheng). Thus,
together they provided a means of understanding the past as well as the present
and the future.59
The Later Heaven (Houtian) configuration (see fig. 2.6, bottom), attributed to
King Wen, presents the trigrams in a spatial order that depicts a different kind
of developmental change. In the most common version of this scheme, Zhen
(“Quake,” in the east) marks the beginning of the Later Heaven cycle, followed
by Sun (“Compliance,” in the southeast), Li (“Cohesion,” in the south), Kun
(“Pure Yin” or “Earth,” in the southwest), Dui (“Ioy,” in the west), Qian (“Pure
Yang” or “Heaven,” in the northwest), Kan (“Sink Hole,” in the north), and Gen
(“Restraint,” in the northeast). More will be said about these two trigram con
figurations, as well as other configurations that also went by these names, in
subsequent chapters.6°
For the most part, the Ten Wings did not contribute much to an understanding
of the line statements. Although the “Small Image Commentary” discusses the
image associated with each line of a given hexagram, the remarks are relatively
brief and not particularly enlightening in the absence of additional commentary.
Let us look, for example, at the first two lines of the Qian hexagram (1):
at
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v
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Figure 2.6.
' \- we 4
Top, the Former Heaven mé lg-lg 5:2": 334
(Xiantian) trigram configuration;
bottom the Later Heaven \\g7 (*7
(Houtian) trigram configuration §
'11’:
Line 1: For the line statement “A submerged dragon does not. act,” the
“Small Image Commentary” indicates simply that “the yang force is
below.”
Line 2: For the statement “When there appears a dragon in the fields,
it is fitting to see the great man,” the commentary remarks that “the
operation of virtue spreads widely.”61
For Kun (2) we have:
Line 1: For the line statement “The frost one treads on reaches the ultimate
stage as solid ice,” the “Small Image Commentary” indicates that
“this yin thing begins to congeal. Obediently fulfilling its Dao [Way], it
ultimately becomes solid ice.”
Line 2: For the statement “He is straight, square, and great, and so without
working at it, nothing he does fails to be fitting,” the commentary
remarks that “nothing one does here fails to be fitting [as long as one is
‘straight and thus square’] .”62
Sometimes, however, the “Small Image Commentary” explains line relation

ships within the hexagram as a whole. For instance, we learn from the commen
tary on line 2 of Lin (“Overseeing” [19]): “Here, the second yang line has got
ten the fifth yin line to respond and provide Overseeing, which results in ‘good
fortune such that nothing fails to be fitting.’ ”63 As we shall see in subsequent
chapters, this sort of resonance (ying) between various lines was a major feature
of hexagram interpretation from the early Han period onward.
In short, the Ten Wings not only gave the Yijing a unique and privileged status
among the Chinese classics; they also profoundly influenced the way Han and
post-Han scholars approached the document. But before looking in chapter 3
at some of the interpretive systems that the Ten Wings helped to generate, we
should give some attention to other versions of the Changes and their relationship
to the received text.
Alternative Versions of the Changes
As indicated briefly in chapter 1, The Zhouli (Zhou Rituals) and its early commen
taries tell us that three versions of the Changes circulated in preimperial China:
the Lianshan (lit., “Linked Mountains”), the Guicang (Return to the Hidden), and,
of course, the Zhougi. Although there are no complete texts of the former two
works dating from the Han period or earlier, fragments exist in various compen
dia, notably the six-volume collection published by the great Qing dynasty bib
liophile Ma Guohan (1794-1857) and the far more modest compilation of Hong
Yixuan (1765-1837) .64 Moreover, we are told that during the Han period several
scholars, including Huan Tan (ca. 43 BGE-ca. 28 CE) and Zheng Xuan (127—zoo
CE), actually saw one or both of these documents.“
It was not until 1993, however, that we began to see evidence that the Guicang
existed in some recognizable pre-Han form, providing an alternative to conven
tional Zhouyi divination. In that year, excavations at a Qin tomb at Wangjiatai
(Hubei province) unearthed a number of bamboo strips bearing records of divi
nations that match almost exactly certain fragments of the Guicang preserved in
collections by Ma Guohan and others.“ These records, although incomplete,
identify more than fifty different hexagrams, each followed by the word yue,
“to speak,” and then an account of a specific divination putatively performed at
some time in the distant past, from the reign of the legendary Yellow Emperor
(trad_ r_ 2697-2597 BCE) to that of King Mu in the Zhou (r. 956-918 BCE).67 Al
though the names of most of the Wangjiatai hexagrams are identical with those
of the received text of the Yijing, those that differ conform with the hexagram
names of the Mawangdui manuscript (see below), raising intriguing genealogi
cal questions that have yet to be fully answered.
The so-called Fuyang materials, excavated at Shuanggudui (Anhui province)
in 1977, were found in the tomb of Lord Xiahou Zao, who died in 165 BCE. These
archaeological materials, in the form of bamboo strips, include a partial version
of the Zhou Changes comprising about 75o fragments.“ For the most part, the
judgments and line statements of these documents (drawn from a total of fifty
two different hexagrams) correspond to those of the received text of the Yijing.°9
But in addition to these conventional elements, the Fuyang version of the Changes
also provides mantic formulations of the sort found in daybooks (rishu) and other
common divinatory materials dating from the Han period.7°
For example, after the simple judgment “Fundamental success” or “Preva
lence” for Dayou, “Great Holdings” (14 in the received text), the Fuyang version
reads, “In divining about rain, it will not rain,” which is much like an oracle
bone inscription in form, but with a decidedly different purpose and meaning.
At times the divinatory readings aremultiple. Thus, after the conventional line
statement for line 3 of Tongren, “Fellowship” (13 in the received text), which
reads in part, “Here one hides armed troops in a thicket, and ascends his high
hill,” we find the following oracular pronouncements: “In divining about one
who is guilty, it will be ominous; about doing battle, the enemy will be strong
but will not get its way; in divining about one who is ill, if he does not die then
he will be exhausted.”71
Such “extra” divinatory materials dealt not only with weather, punishment,
warfare, and illness but also with themes of marriage, residence, pregnancy and
birth, bureaucratic service, administrative affairs, traveling, hunting and fish
ing, and so forth. As Edward Shaughnessy points out, it is “easy to imagine that
the formulas that [made] their way into the Zhou Yi derived originally from the
same sort of divination context as that which produced the Fuyang text.”72
The so-called Shanghai Museum version of the Changes, dating from ca. 300
BCE, is the earliest extant copy of the classic. Illegally excavated by tomb rob
bers in the early 1990s from a site in Iingmen, Hubei province, this work con
sists of nearly fifty-eight bamboo strips or fragments, revealing a total of thirty
four hexagrams and 1,806 characters (a little over one-third of the received text,
sans commentaries). One of the several features unique to this version is that
the hexagram pictures appear to be comprised of trigrams that are somewhat
separated from one another. Another unique feature is the six different kinds of
square-shaped black or red symbols that appear immediately after the hexagram
names." Finally, there are a great many variant characters of the sort often found
in Chinese manuscripts from the state of Chu that were written about the time of
the Shanghai Museum version of the Changes. In many other respects, however,
this version corresponds rather closely to the received text.”
According to Pu Maozuo, the square-shaped symbol that follows each hexa
gram refers to some kind of interplay between the yin and yang elements of the
hexagram; thus, the symbols offer a way of ordering the hexagrams that differs
from the sequence of the received version. Edward Shaughnessy believes that
“the grouping together of hexagrams with the same symbols does seem to have
something to do with the sequence of the hexagrams in the [Shanghai Museum]
manuscript,” but based on a careful analysis of the extant fragments, he argues
that it is probably “too early to use these symbols to determine a new order of
the hexagrams.”75
Aside from the received version of the Changes, which was in circulation about
300 BCE at the latest, the most complete and revealing early version of the docu
ment is the Mawangdui silk manuscript (hereafter Mawangdui Changes), discov
ered in 1973 and dated ca. 190 BCE. In sharp contrast to the received edition of
the Yijing, the Mawangdui Changes organizes its sixty-four hexagrams according
to a systematic combination of their constituent trigrams." The Mawangdui
sequence of top trigrams is depicted in figure 2.7.
The attributes of the individual trigrams in the figure (“The Key,” “Stilling,”
etc.) are based on Shaughnessy’s (1996) renderings of the names of the eight
“pure” hexagrams formed by the doubling of identical trigrams (cf. fig. 1.2).
The top trigram in each set combines first with itself and then with the bottom
trigrams in the following order: Iian, Chuan, Gen, Duo, Kan, Luo, Chen, and
Suan. Thus, the first four Mawangdui hexagrams look like this (with hexagram
names as they appear in the manuscript and as translated by Shaughnessy): Iian,
“The Key,” E; Pu, “The Wife,” Yuan, “Wielding,” and Li, “Treading,”
Significantly, there is no evidence of this particular hexagram sequence prior to
the Mawangdui Changes, whereas the order of the received version of the Yijing
(1)J|an (2)Gen (3)Gan/Kan (4)Chen (5)Chuan (6) Duo (7) Luo (8)Suan
The Key Stilling Entrapment Thunder The Flow Usurpation The Net Calculations
Figure 2.7. The Mawangdui trigram sequence
clearly existed before, and probably well before, the silk manuscript was pro
duced.
As is evident, a number of hexagram names in the Mawangdui Changes differ
from those in the received text of the Yijing; in fact, only half of them are exactly
the same. Some are close, reflecting phonetic loanwords (homophones) and
other relatively minor graphic variations, but in a number of cases the differ
ences are striking and significant. Compare, for instance, the first hexagram of
the Mawangdui Changes (Iian, “The Key”) with the first hexagram of the Yijing
(Qian, i.e., “Creative,” “Heaven,” “Pure Yang”) and the thirty-third hexagram of
the Mawangdui manuscript (Chuan, “The Flow”) with the second hexagram of
the received text (Kun, i.e., “Receptive,” “Earth,” “Pure Yin”). In both cases the
hexagrams reflect yinyang juxtapositions; that is, Iian and Qian represent yang,
and Chuan and Kun represent yin. But the differences are revealing. Whereas
Qian is identified in the received version with Heaven (by virtue of astronomical
symbolism) and Kun is identified with Earth (by virtue of agrarian symbolism),
Iian and Chuan seem to be sexual symbols, deriving from characterizations of
the male and female genitalia, respectively.”
Here are some other notable differences between the names of hexagrams
that have the same line structure:
Mawangdui Version / Received Order

Duo, “Usurpation” (41) /Dui, “Joy” (58)
Fan, “Luxuriance” (14) /Bi, “Elegance” (22)
Fu, “The Wife” (2) / Pi, “Obstruction” (12)
Guai, “Perversion” (53) / Kui, “Contrariety” (38)
Le, “The Bridle” (46) / Ge, “Radical Change” (49)
Li, “Ritual” (4) /Lfi, “Treading” (10)
Luo, “The Net” (49) / Li, “Cohesion” (30)
Qin, “Feelings” (44) /Xian, “Reciprocity” (31)
Ru, “Short Coat” or possibly “Moistened” (18) 4/ Xu, “Waiting” (5)
Shaoshu, “Small Harvest” (58) / Shaoxu, “Lesser Domestication” (9)
Suan, “Calculation” (57) / Sun, “Compliance” (57)
Wumeng, “Pestilence” (7) /Wuwang, “No Errancy” (25)
Yuan, “Wielding” (3) / Dun, “Withdrawal” (33)
Zu, “Finished” (43) / Cui, “Gathering” (45)78
In some cases these differences are the result of scribal errors, minor vari
ants, or loanwords.” In others, there are clear semantic affinities between the
names of identically constructed hexagrams, for example, Fan (“Luxuriance”)
and Bi (“Elegance”), or Guai (“Perversion”) and Kui (“Contrariety”). Even Le
(“The Bridle”) and Ge (“Radical Change”) might be linked, since both charac
ters contain the “leather” signifier, or radical (bushou).
Relatively few hexagrams have significantly different names in the Mawang
dui and received-text versions of the Yijing. But when they do, it is often difficult,
if not impossible, to decide which best “fits” the situation they describe. In the
case of Suan (“Calculation”) and Sun (“Compliance”), for example, the phrases
from which the respective hexagram names are drawn seem equally obscure:
one refers to “calculations [as if ?] under the bed” and the other refers to “com
pliance [as if ?] under the bed.”8° In the Mawangdui edition of Iing (“The Well”)
there are two characters that do not appear in standard dictionaries and several
words that sound the same or similar to those of the received version but have
radically different meanings, for instance, lei (burden) instead of lei (weaken) in
the judgment and se (block, stop up) instead of ce (pained) in the line statement
of line 2.81
As in the case of Suan and Sun above, we are hard pressed to choose the most
appropriate reading of the Iing hexagram, because both seem to be so obscure.
The second line of the received text has been translated by Richard John Lynn as
“Here the Well shoots down valleylike for the little fishes, as if it were a water jar
so worn out that it leaks,” while Edward Shaughnessy, basing his reading on the
Mawangdui text, translates the line as follows: “If the well is murky, shoot the
smelt; it is only the worn-out fish trap.” In either case it is difficult to determine
what, exactly, is going on.”
Yet the existence of two different editions can sometimes clarify the basic
text by suggesting readings that draw upon both versions without gravitating
entirely toward either. Shaughnessy offers an example in which a creative syn
thesis of the two equally obscure versions of a phrase about a tiger in line 4 of
the hexagram Yi (“]aws” or “Nourishment”) yields a clear translation that may
be closer to the “original” intent of the Changes than either: “The tiger looks
with eyes downcast, his appearance is so sad,” indicating good fortune and no
trouble.”
Of the several commentaries attached to the Mawangdui Changes, only one
conforms closely to any of the wings of the received version of the Yijing. This is
the “Appended Statements” (Xici), which corresponds to the “Great Commen
tary” discussed above.“ The Mawangdui version of this particular commentary
is not as long as its counterpart in the received edition, in part because some sec
tions found in the received text are located in other Mawangdui commentaries,
including “The Properties of the Changes” (Yi zhi yi) and “The Essentials” (Yao).
As in the case of the judgments and the line statements, a comparison of the
Mawangdui version of the “Great Commentary” with the received version of the
Changes reveals a number of variant characters. In some cases these differently
written words present us with intriguing interpretive possibilities. For example,
where the received version of the “Great Commentary” has a famous line indi
cating that “spirit” or “numinousness” (shen) is the name for that which “cannot
be fathomed” (buce) in terms of yin and yang, the Mawangdui manuscript says
simply that “gin and yang are called spiritual,” a sentence that seems to convey
nearly the opposite meaning.“
About one-quarter of the “Properties of the Changes” consists of sections
from the received “Great Commentary,” with some minor variations.“ Also in
cluded in this commentary are the first three sections of the received “Discus
sion of the Trigrams,” again, with some variations. The tone is decidedly Con
fucian, in contrast to the Daoist overtones that certain scholars have identified
in the Mawangdui version of the “Great Commentary” and in other parts of the
Mawangdui text."
One of the most interesting discussions in the “Properties of the Changes”
concerns the characteristics of Iian (“The Key”) and Chuan (“The Flow”), the
Mawangdui equivalents of Qian (“Creative,” “Heaven,” “Pure Yang”) and Kun
(“Receptive,” “Earth,” “Pure Yin”), respectively, in the received text:
Six hards without a soft is called the Great Yang; this is the property of
Heaven. . . . Six softs Without a hard; this is the property of Earth. . . . The
property of Heaven is to be hard and vigorous and to move without rest, its
auspiciousness protects achievements [gong]. . . .The property of Earth is
to be soft and Weak and to be tranquil Without moving, its auspiciousness
protects peace. . . . The property of the martial [wu, i.e., Iian] is to protect
achievements and constantly to die, while the property of the cultured
[wen, Chuan] is to protect peace and constantly to be exhausted. This is
why it is only after being soft but not warped that the cultured is able to be
victorious; and it is only after being hard but not broken that the martial
is able to be peaceful. . . . Confucius said: That the six hard lines of Iian
are able to be square is the virtue of Tang [founder of the Shang dynasty]
and [the “martial l<ing”] Wu. . . . The six soft lines of Chuan are mutually
compliant, the epitome of [the “cultured l<ing”] Wen.“
PP_P
Only about tvvo-thirds of the characters in “The Essentials” are legible. In the
remaining segments of the manuscri t, three oints are of s ecial interest. The
first is the Way the comprehensiveness of the Changes is asserted:
The Changes has the way of Heaven in it, and yet you cannot use the sun,
moon, stars and planets to exhaust its names; therefore it is done with
the yin and the yang. It has the way of the Earth in it, and yet you cannot
use water, fire, metal, earth and wood to exhaust its names; therefore it is
regulated with the soft and the hard. It has the way of Man in it, and yet
you cannot use father, son, ruler, minister, husband, wife, first and last,
to exhaust its names; therefore they are summarized with high and low. It
has the alternations of the four seasons in it, and yet you cannot use the
ten-thousand things to exhaust its names; therefore it is done with the
eight trigrams.89
Another interesting point concerns a conversation between Confucius and

his disciple Zi Gong in which the Sage asserts that he values the Changes as a book
of wisdom, not as a divination manual:
Zi Gong said: “Does the Master also believe in milfoil divination?” The
Master said: “I am right in [only] seventy out of one hundred prognosti
cations. . . . As for the Changes, I do indeed put its prayers and divinations
last, only observing its virtue [de] and propriety [yi, often translated ‘righ
teousness’]. Intuiting the commendations [zan] to reach the number, and
understanding the number to reach virtue, is to have humaneness . . .
[character missing] and to put it in motion properly. If the commenda
tions do not lead to the number, then one [merely] acts as a magician [wu];
if the number does not lead to virtue, then one [merely] acts as a scribe
[shi]. The divinations of scribes and magicians tend toward it but are not
yet there, delight in it but are not correct. Perhaps it will be because of the
Changes that gentlemen of later generations will doubt me. I seek its virtue
and nothing more. I am on the same road as the scribes and magicians but
end up differently. The conduct of the gentleman’s virtue is to seek bless
ings; that is why he sacrifices, but little. The righteousness of his humane
ness is to seek auspiciousness; that is why he divines, but rarely.”9°
This discussion presages the stress on meanings and principles (yili), which often
dominated interpretations of the Yijing in post-Han times (see chapters 4-8).
The last point of special interest is the emphasis Confucius seems to place on
the hexagrams Sun (“Diminution”) and Yi (“Increase”) in the text. We are told
that in the course of chanting the Changes, when the Sage would reach these two
particular hexagrams (41 and 42, respectively, in the received version; 12 and 64
in the Mawangdui version),
he invariably put down the book and sighed, admonishing his disciples,
saying: “My sons, you cannot examine the way of Sun and Yi; it is the . . .
[word missing] of auspiciousness and inauspiciousness. As a hexagram,
Yi is the time of spring giving way to summer, when the ten thousand
things come out, the height of the long days, the chamber of birth. There
fore it is called ‘Increase.’ As for Sun, it is the time of autumn giving way
to winter, when the ten thousand things age and decline, the height of the
long night; therefore it is called the way of birth being exhausted . . . [sev
eral characters missing]. The beginning [of ‘Increase’] is auspicious, but
its end is inauspicious. The beginning of ‘Decrease’ is inauspicious, but
its end is auspicious. The way of ‘Decrease’ and ‘Increase’ is sufficient to
observe the alternations of Heaven and Earth, and the sovereign’s service
is finished [in it].”91
In short, these two hexagrams were a sufficient guide to understanding the en
tire realm of “gain and loss” (deshi).
The commentary known as “The Several Disciples Asked” (Er san zi wen) re
volves, as its name suggests, around questions posed to the Sage by various
unnamed disciples. Like the “Commentary on the Words of the Text” in the Ten
Wings, it places primary emphasis on the “male” hexagram Iian (Qian in the re
ceived text) and the “female” hexagram Chuan (Kun in the received text). But it
also discusses more than a dozen other hexagrams in ways that suggest affinities
with certain other wings, notably the “Orderly Sequence of the Hexagrams” and
the “Hexagrams in Irregular Order.” 92
Nearly half of “The Several Disciples Asked” commentary addresses dragon
symbolism in the Changes, focusing not only on the mutability and versatility of
these magnificent beasts (“the most honored beings under Heaven”) but also
on their exalted moral and spiritual qualities. Thus, it explains a Chuan (Kun)
line statement referring to dragons “battling in the fields with black and yellow
blood” as a metaphor indicating “the great man’s treasuring virtue and effecting
education among the people.” This is a very different gloss than the one provided
by the “Commentary on the Words of the Text” for the identical line statement
in the received version of the Changes, which explains the statement in terms of
conflict rather than in terms of moral transformation.”
The last two Mawangdui commentaries consist of questions posed by two
unidentified individuals (Mu He and Zhao Li, after whom the commentaries are
named) and several other people to their teachers, as well as the answers they
received. These questions and answers, based on hexagram names, judgments,
and line statements, focus primarily on Confucian political and moral issues,
rather in the spirit of the “Commentary on the Words of the Text” of the Ten
Wings. Here is a representative excerpt:
Zhao Li asked: “Does the Changes have meaning for the lord of a state?”
The master said: “The three lines ‘The king thrice awards the command’
of Shi [line 2 of ‘The Army,’ 7 in the received version, 37 in the Mawang
dui version], and ‘the king thrice drives’ of Bi [line 5 of ‘Closeness,’ 8 in
the received version, 19 in the Mawangdui version], and ‘from the city an
nounce the mandate’ of Tai [line 6 of ‘Peace,’ 11 in the received version, 34
in the Mawangdui version] have meaning for the lord of a state.” Zhao Li
said: “MayI hear of it?” The master said [with respect to Shi]: “In former
times the lord of a state personally made awards to his great officers and
personally made awards to the hundred officials; this is called the three
signals. . . . If one serves as the lord of men and is able urgently to award
his commands, what loss will the state have?”94
What conclusions can we draw from this brief comparison of the major Qin
Han versions of the Yi? Obviously, there was no consensus on the meaning of
many hexagram names, judgments, and line statements. Although all extant
versions of the Changes share certain cosmological assumptions about the re
lationship between Heaven, Earth, and Man, a number of differences in philo
sophical emphasis are clearly revealed in the respective basic texts and their
commentaries. These differences, as Xing Wen and others have persuasively ar
gued, reflect different divinatory traditions and different schools of interpreta
tion that were themselves often the product of regional variations.” Xing goes
on to argue, also persuasively, that the received version of the Changes represents
a careful selection of various texts and interpretive approaches drawn from these
divergent works and traditions. Given this diversity, we should not be surprised
to find that even after the Chinese state identified an “orthodox” version of the
Changes, a great deal of interpretive latitude remained in Yijing-based scholarship
as well as in mantic practice.
CHAPTER THREE
Han Dynasty Approaches

to the Yijing
During the four centuries of Han rule (206 BCE—22O CE) China changed in a
variety of ways—politically, economically, socially, and intellectually. Some
times the changes were dramatic, as when Wang Mang usurped the throne in
9 CE, inaugurating a fourteen-year period of radical reform that created several
kinds of chaos (see below). Yet despite these changes, the Han period left an
enduring cultural legacy. This was especially true in the closely related realms
of philosophical speculation, politics, and cosmological system-building, areas
in which the Yijing naturally loomed large. Indeed, as Kwang-Ching Liu has em
phasized, the Han dynasty’s cosmologically grounded conception of “ritual pro
priety and social morality” (lijiao; lit., “the teachings of ritual”) served as the
foundation of state orthodoxy for most of the next two thousand years.1
The key to Han administrative success was the creation of an effective blend
or balance of diverse cultural elements under the powerful and energetic “Mar
tial Emperor” (Wudi, r. 141-87 BCE). Wudi’s government, for example, was
fundamentally Legalist in structure but Confucian in spirit; the economy in
volved both state monopolies and private enterprise; Han foreign relations were
marked by both aggressive expansion and strategic appeasement. Balance was
also evident in the eclectic thought of many Han philosophers, including Dong
Zhongshu (see chapter 2). Similarly, Han art and literature reflected a creative
blend of cultural influences, not only Confucian and Daoist but also courtly and
popular, foreign and native?
Ironically, however, given the critical importance of the Han dynasty in the
history of Chinese philosophy, very few complete and/or authentic Works re
lating to the Changes that actually date from the Han era have survived. As a re
sult, until recently most of what we know about Han approaches to the Yijing
has been derived from secondary sources and fragments of Han texts, many
of which now exist only in encylopedias, literary anthologies, and other such
collections of documents. In fact, most interpretations of Han scholarship on
the Changes have been based on reconstructions by Qing dynasty scholars such
as Hui Dong (1697-1758), Zhang Huiyan (1761-1802), Sun Tang (fl. ca. 1800),
and Ma Guohan (1794-1857) .3 But during the last few decades, as indicated in
the previous chapter, new archaeological finds, and new methodologies based in
part on these dramatic discoveries, have altered the contours of our understand
ing. Every year brings an avalanche of scholarly books, articles, and conference
papers in a variety of languages revealing new data and offering new interpretive
insights.4
Texts and Traditional Perspectives:

Some Preliminary Remarks
One feature of Han dynasty classical scholarship that would have repercussions
for nearly two thousand years in China was the controversy over whether inter
pretations of the so-called New Text (jinwen) or Ancient Text (guwen) versions of
the Confucian classics were more authoritative. The term jinwen (also rendered
as “Modern Text” or “Recent Text”) refers to editions of the classics committed
to Writing immediately after the notorious “burning of the books” in the Qin
dynasty. These versions, written in a “contemporary” orthography (hence the
later designation, jinwen), were considered orthodox by the state during most of
the early, or Western, Han period (206 BcE—9 CE). But following the usurpation
of Wang Mang (r. 9-23 CE), versions of the classics written in a more archaic
form began to appear, and during the later, or Eastern, Han period (2 3-220 CE),
these editions, and the interpretive traditions that accompanied them, came to
be considered orthodox.5
In the case of the Yijing, the differences between the New Text and Ancient
Text (also rendered as “Old Text” or “Archaic Text”) versions of the classic
themselves were quite minor. But the differences between the two exegetical
traditions were not. At the risk of oversimplification, the approach of New Text
scholars to the Changes (and other classics as well) was one that tended to deify
Confucius, stress commonalities between the emperor and all other people, and
employ a broad range of written materials—including the apocrypha (weishu; see
below) and esoteric predictive charts and formulas-to defend their positions.
Ancient Text scholars, by contrast, viewed Confucius as simply a sage, exalted
Han Dynasty Approaches to the Yijing 59
the sovereign over both officials and commoners, and adopted a more rational
istic and critical attitude toward the classics and the apocryphafi
In discussing specific Han dynasty approaches to the Changes, Chinese histo
rians, past and present, have tended to focus on lines of transmission associated
with certain key individuals, many of whose lives are conveniently chronicled
in Michael Loewe’s Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han, and Xin Periods?
According to traditional Chinese commentators, who base their views primarily
on the “Confucian Scholars” section of the Hanshu (History of the [Western, or
early] Han), there were three main interpretative traditions in the early devel
opment of the Changes. One was identified with a fifth-generation disciple of
Confucius named Tian He (ca. 2o2—143 BCE), whose teachings were eventually
transmitted to three main figures —Meng Xi, Shi Chou, and Liangqiu He—all of
whom lived roughly between 90 and 40 BCE.3 A second tradition was associated
in part with Meng Xi but primarily with Iiao Yanshou (a.l<.a. Iiao Gan, ca. 70-10
BCE) and his famous student, Iing Fang (77-37 BCE).9 The third tradition, also
connected in part with Meng Xi, was identified primarily with Pei Zhi (a.l<.a. Bi
Zhi, ca. 50 BCE—1O CE), whose scholarship inspired several influential scholars
in the later Han period, including Ma Rong (79-166 CE), Zheng Xuan (127—zoo
CE), Xun Shuang (1z8—9o CE), and Yu Fan (164-23 3 CE) .1° A salient point to re
member about these lines of transmission is that they display a deceptive clarity.
On the ground, intellectual affiliations were far more complex and problem
atic.
Another way of categorizing Han traditions of Yijing scholarship, defined pri
marily by post-Han standards of evaluation but also somewhat misleading, is
by major interpretive schools (pai). The Qing dynasty editors of the Siku quan
shu (Complete Collection of the Four Treasuries), hereafter “Four Treasuries” or
Siku, had this to say about the basic evolution of Changes scholarship from the
Han period on:
When the Han Confucians discussed images and numbers [xiangshu], they
were not far from the ways of the ancients. But then Iing Fang and Iiao
Yanshou [see below] made a change to the practice of prognostication
based on omens. . . . Wang Bi [see chapter 4] eliminated the theory of
images and numbers from Yijing interpretation and replaced it with ideas
from the Laozi and the Zhuangzi [the beginning of the yili, or meanings
and-principles, approach to the Yijing]. Later, Hu Yuan and Cheng Yi [see
chapter 5] altered Wang Bi’s approach and began using the Changes to ex
plicate Confucian principles. . . . These two schools [images and numbers,
6o Fathoming the Cosmos
meanings and principles], with their six lineages, have long been involved
in incessant disputes with each other.11
Basically, individuals associated with the so-called school of images and num
bers emphasized elaborate, New Text-style correspondences between the various
features of the natural world (both physical and metaphysical) and the hexa
grams, trigrams, and individual lines of the Changes, with comparatively little
attention given to the written texts of the classic.“ These correspondences in
cluded correlations with the cosmic forces of yin and yang, the five agents (wu
xing), musical notes, heavenly bodies, divisions of time and space, and so forth
(see chapter 2). The idea was that an appreciation of these correlations would
help to illuminate the cryptic written text, shedding light on the past and provid
ing both divinatory guidance and “scientific” explanations of the cosmos for the
present (and future). Numbers, then, and the images they represented depicted
the principles, relationships, and processes that yielded not only an understand
ing of nature but also, ultimately, control over it.13 Exponents of the so-called
school of meanings and principles, by contrast, paid primary attention to what
they saw as the moral content of the judgments, line statements, and commen
taries to the Changes (see chapters 3-6).“
Chinese scholars tend to identify the Han as a period when the school of
images and numbers prevailed.“ But we should bear in mind that just as some of
the individuals who have traditionally been associated with the school of mean
ings and principles took into account various numerical, calendrical, and other
correlative relationships between lines, trigrams, and hexagrams, so individu
als identified with the school of images and numbers might read the text of the
Yijing in decidedly moralistic ways. Moreover, in later periods of Chinese history,
particularly in late imperial times (from the Song dynasty [960-1279] on), many
scholars sought to reconcile the xiangshu and yili approaches, dissatisfied with
this highly arbitrary dichotomy. In all, as we shall see again and again, like the
intellectual lineages noted above and others to be discussed in subsequent chap
ters, the lines dividing these two schools have been much too sharply drawn.16
The approach to Han (and later) commentaries on the classic in this book will
be to focus primarily on certain interpretations of the Changes that had lasting
influence in China (and elsewhere), either from the standpoint of exegetical
scholarship (esp. chapters 3-7) or in terms of mantic theory andpractice (esp.
chapter 9). My aim is not comprehensiveness or even necessarily representa
tiveness; rather, it is to indicate, by means of a number of carefully selected
case studies, some of the many ways that exponents of the Yijing made it their
own—in various places, at various times, and for various reasons." I have also
tried to suggest the importance in Changes exegesis of intertextuality, that is, the
relationship that each commentary on the classic had to other commentaries.
whether conscious or unconscious, this sort of multireferentiality can be de
rected in most, if not all, of the case studies to be examined in this and subse
quent chapters.
I have kept biographical information to a minimum in this book, not, of
course, because it is irrelevant to the way people viewed the Yijing —on the con
trary, every person who used the Changes took the document personally in one
way or another—but because of space considerations and also because my pri
mary interest is in broad political, social, intellectual, and cultural trends. I have,
however, tried in various parts of the book to provide examples of the personal
factors that often came into play when individuals wrote about, ruminated on,
or divined with the Yijing.18 I have also tried to provide guidance in the notes to
works such as Tang Mingbang and Wang Xuequn’s Yixue yu Changjiang wenhua
(Changes Studies and Yangzi River Culture [zoo 3]), which emphasizes the impor
tance of locally developed traditions of Yijing scholarship from the Han period
through the Qing.19
Scholars of the Changes pursued the usual goals of exegesis: the clarification
and/or amplification of unclear words, phrases, sentences, and longer passages,
as well the critical evaluation (both positive and negative) of previous scholars.
But unlike the other Confucian classics, the Yijing dealt with more than histori
cal or moral issues; it was also concerned with the interpretation of cosmically
significant signs, symbols, and situations. Thus, explanations of the Changes rou
tinely involved efforts to identify symbolic relationships of one kind or another
that were believed to exist between its lines, trigrams, hexagrams, and numbers.
This might be done for the purpose of creating or refining a mantic technique or
in order to reveal the structure of the universe, seemingly unrelated goals that
were in fact closely connected. Of course, another incentive to Chinese scholars,
common to mathematically inclined individuals worldwide, past and present,
was simply the challenge of working on complex and difficult problems involv
ing numbers, patterns, and relationships.
Consultation of the Yijing for more personal purposes, whether for inspira
tion or divination, was generally motivated in one way or another by a concern
with the interconnected problems of fate, timing, and decision making. Some of
the most prominent of these uses have been (1) a preoccupation with the docu
ment in times of personal, social, or political crisis (including, in particular,
imprisonment, examination failure, or the death of a parent); (2) a metaphysical
interest in the Changes late in life; (3) a tendency for officeholders to contemplate
the Yijing in the midst of their stressful professional lives; and (4) a seemingly
equal tendency for scholars to ponder the document when out of office, espe
cially after experiencing some sort of failure or disappointment related to their
bureaucratic careers.1°
Before proceeding further, a cautionary note: In considering ways of look
ing at the Changes, we should keep in mind that the distinction modern-minded
individuals might want to make between descriptive cosmological systems (i.e.,
scientific explanations of the way the universe is constituted and how it actually
Works) and operative cosmological systems (i.e., techniques of divination and
magic) was seldom clearly articulated by exponents of the Yijing. By the same
token, the analytical line between mathematics and numerology that appears
so sharp in modern eyes was not at all clearly drawn in imperial China. In the
minds of most Chinese scholars in premodern times, the fabric of connections
and interactions in both nature and social life was far too subtle and much too
complex to divide the world comfortably in these particular W21YS.21
Some Calendrically Inspired Approaches to the Changes

During the Han period, and in fact throughout the imperial era, calendrical cal
culations loomed large in the minds of Chinese scholars, bureaucrats, and the
emperor. From an official standpoint the reason was simple enough: the cal
endar embodied the state’s orthodox cosmology and reflected its concern with
assuring that the sociopolitical order and the cosmic order (the Dao) were fully
congruent. Traditionally, two of the most important acts of any new dynasty
were to fix the time (shoushi) and to regulate the lunar calendar.” But Chinese
scholars also sought to understand the correspondence universally assumed to
exist between the natural world (Heaven and Earth) and their own, and the Yijing
was an ideal instrument by which to achieve this sort of understanding.
As indicated in chapter 2, the prevailing assumption in Han times was that
all forms of human behavior, from state sacrifices and penal law to the mundane
activities of daily life, had to be in tune with the predictable patterns of Heaven,
patterns displayed not only in the realm of the stars but also in the rhythms of
the seasons.” The problem, of course, was that calendrical systems by their very
nature involved discrepancies (cha) that required periodic adjustments, if not
scientific explanations.
One of the individuals associated most closely with the Changes and calen
drical correlations in the early Han period is Meng Xi (ca. 90-40 BCE). Meng
is generally viewed as the inventor of the hexagram-breaths (guaqi) system, from
which many similar systems developed over time.“ The guaqi system was based
on the idea of hexagram changes (guabian), in this case the transformation of yang
lines to yin lines, and vice versa.25 ‘
The celebrated Buddhist monk Yixing (673-727 CE) summarizes the genesis
of Meng’s system as follows: “ [The correlations of] the hexagrams with the
twelve months originated with the comments of Mr. Meng. In his explanation of
the Changes he based himself on the ‘breaths’ [of the year] and then elucidated it
further in the light of human affairs. Mr. Iing [Fang] went on from this to equate
the lines of the hexagrams with the days of the year.”26 Much of what is known
about Meng Xi’s system comes to us through Yixing’s account, which states:
According to Mr. Meng, the hexagram Zhongfu [“Inner Trust” (61)] domi
nates affairs beginning with the Winter Solstice. The numbers of a single
month—9 and 6 [representing more active phases of yin and yang] and
7 and 8 [representing less active phases of yin and yang] —together add
up to thirty. The hexagrams operate according to six, which is the num
ber of Earth. The “periods of time” operate according to 5, which is the
number of Heaven. With the multiplication of 5 by 9, the evolutions [of
a month] go through one revolution, and with twelve such revolutions
the year returns to its beginning. Each of the lines in the hexagrams Kan
[“Sinl< Hole” (z9)], Zhen [“Qual<e” (51)], Li [“Cohesion” (3o)] and Dui
[“Ioy” (58)] successively governs [one of] the tvventy-four “breaths” [of
the year] .17
Yixing goes on to explain how the two yang lines of the Kan hexagram govern the
winter solstice, the two yang lines of Zhen govern the spring equinox, the two
yin lines of Li govern the summer solstice, and the two yin lines of Dui govern
the autumnal equinox. In short,
Yan_g’s less active phase of 7 begins with Kan; its more active phase of 9
begins with Zhen. Yin’s less active phase of 8 begins with Li, and its more
active phase of 6 begins with Dui. In this way, the transformation of the
four images [combinations of pairs of lines generated by yin and gang]
embrace[s] the six lines of each in which the responses to the divisions
[of the year] are completely manifested."
Figure 3.1 provides a schematic view of the elaborate correlations involved in

just the first two of the tvventy-four “breaths” (qi) in Meng Xi’s guaqi system.
Figure 3.2 displays a greatly simplified diagram of this system, showing the four
primary hexagrams (Kan, Zhen, Li, and Dui) in the inner circle, the tvventy-four
calendrical divisions in the next, twelve sets of the five ruling positions in the
First breath (qi):
Winter solstice (Dong Zhi)
Month: 11th (middle)
Primary hexagram: Kan (29), first line (yin)
Periods (hou; three hou per qi):
First period:
Associated hexagram: Zhongfu (”lnner Trust" [61])
Activity: earthworms curl up
Ruling position: duke
Second period:
Associated hexagram: Fu (”Return” [24])
Activity: moose shed their horns
Ruling position: sovereign
Third period:
Associated hexagram: Zhun (Birth Throes" [3])
Activity: spring water in movement
Ruling position: marquis
Second breath:
Slight cold (Xiao Han)
Month: 12th (beginning)
Primary hexagram: Kan (29), second line (yang)
Periods:
First period:
Associated hexagram: Zhun ("Birth Throes" [3])
Activity: wild geese fly north
Ruling position: marquis
Second period:
Associated hexagram: Qian ("Modesty" [15])
Activity: magpies build nests
Ruling position: great official
Third period:
Associated hexagram: Kui ("Contrariety" [38])
Activity: pheasants begin to cry out
Ruling position: lower minister
Note: Every sixth hexagram is repeated twice in Meng's system so that the sixty hexagrams he employs
apply to all seventy-two periods.
Figure 3.1. The beginning of Meng Xi's hexagram-breaths (guaqi) system

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Figure 3.2. A simplified version of Meng Xi's hexagram-breaths system,

attributed to Jing Fang
next, and finally the remaining sixty hexagrams, each of which is correlated with
one of the ruling positions.
Like a number of other calendrically oriented works, including some Han dy—
nasty apocrypha (see below) and some innovative works derived from or inspired
by the Changes (also discussed below), Meng’s system correlates Kan, Zhen, Li,
and Dui with the four compass points (north, east, south, and west, respectively)
as well as the four seasons. Moreover, it links the twenty-four lines of these four
hexagrams with the tvventy-four calendrical divisions (jieqi) of the 360-day year,
each of which is 15 days in length. Subdividing each of these divisions (qi) into
three periods (hou), the total becomes seventy-two, a breakdown reflected in the
“Yueling” section of the Liji (Record of Ritual).
In Meng’s system, as we can deduce from figure 3.1, each of the seventy
two periods is marked by a hexagram that symbolizes the natural activity of
that period, as well as the ruling position associated with it. To take one more
example, the first half of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar is desig
nated as the “Onset of Spring” (Li Chun). Like the examples in figure 3.1, it is one
of the first six “breaths” and therefore is dominated by the hexagram Kan (29),
The first third of this half-month period (approximately five days) is marked
by the hexagram Xiaoguo, “Minor Superiority” (62); it is linked with the ruling
position of a marquis, and its natural activity is the dissipation of cold by easterly
winds. The second third is marked by Meng, “Juvenile Ignorance” (4); it is linked
to the position of a great official, and its natural activity is the movement of
creatures coming out of hibernation. The final third is marked by Yi, “Increase”
(42); it is linked to a lower minister, and its natural activity is fish rising up to
melting ice.19 In this system, every sixth hexagram is repeated twice so that the
sixty hexagrams (i.e., the sixty-four minus Kan, Zhen, Li, and Dui) will apply to
all seventy-tvvo periods.3°
Another correlative system of a similar sort, known as nayin (attached note),
linked the twelve months of the year with the twelve lines of the Qian (1) and
Kun (2) hexagrams and also with the so-called twelve pitch pipes (Iii) of tradi
tional Chinese music, a progression of twelve fifths constituting one octave.31
The “Treatise on the Pitch Pipes and the Calendar” in the Hanshu provides an
indication of these linkages of number and sound. Here is a short excerpt from
a much longer discussion:
The eleventh month is that of the first line, undivided, of the hexagram
Qian [“Pure Yang” or “Heaven” (1)]. In it, the yang ether [qi, also translated
as “breath” or “energy”], lying hidden below the earth, first begins to be
come manifest in its undivided unity, and the myriad things bud and grow.
It acts upon the great yin. Therefore, the Huangzhong [lit., “Yellow Bell”]
pitch-pipe constitutes the Sequence of Heaven. Its pitch-pipe is 9 inches
long. It is through the number 9 that it reaches the highest point of central
harmony, so that it marks the origin of the myriad things.”
The problem with the musical correlations reflected in this system is that
they were based on a progression from the lowest pitched pipe to the highest,
whereas, as we can see in the Qian and Kun correlations, yin and yang alternated
during the course of the year. Thus, the winter solstice should have been equated
with the shortest and highest of the pitch pipes rather than with the longest and
lowest. Inconsistencies of this sort produced three main responses in thinkers
of the Han and subsequent periods: (1) to explain the inconsistencies away; (2)
to modify the flawed system(s); and (3) to highlight the flaws or inconsisten
cies—often viewed as the product of a forced fit (qiangpei)—as a prelude to the
creation of a new interpretive system. In any case, the aim of all such systems
was to identify and depict, in as sophisticated and revealing a way as possible,
meaningful relationships between cosmic forces, patterns of change, and the
world of human affairs.
The Legacy of ling Fang

Jing Fang is, by almost any standard, one of the most important system builders
(and system modifiers) in the entire history of the Changes.” Although it is difl’1
cult to verify whether all or even most of the systems and techniques associated
with his name were in fact invented by him, we can assume that he probably
played an active role in developing many of them. At least his reputation was
exalted enough to warrant claims that they were his creations.“
According to several accounts, Iing Fang modified Meng Xi’s guaqi system
by developing a method of calendrical correspondences involving twelve hexa
grams of dispersal (xiao) and accumulation (xi), often known as sovereign hexa
grams (jungua or bigua).35 In this process, the hexagram Pu, “Return” (24), which
consists of one yang line at the bottom and five yin lines above it, begins a cycle
in which hexagrams with increasing numbers of yang lines represent the rise of
gang energy (qi) during the first six months of the year. Thus, Fu is followed first
by Lin (“Overseeing” [19]), which has two yang lines at the bottom; then by Tai
(“Peace” [11]), with three gang lines at the bottom; and so forth up to Qian (“Pure
Yang” or “Heaven” [1]), with all gang lines. At this point Qian yields to Gou (“En
counter” [44]), which has one gin line at the bottom, and so on, culminating in
Kun (“Pure Yin” or “Earth” [z]), with all yin lines.
ling Fang is also credited with developing a number of correlative systems
that had mantic as well as more general explanatory value. Two such systems of
lasting importance are attached initial stem (najia) and eight palaces (bagong). These
systems find their fullest expression in the jing Fang Yizhuan (ling Fang’s Com
mentary on the Changes), one of a reputed thirteen Yi-related Works attributed to
ling.“ Like many of the techniques to be discussed later in this chapter and in
subsequent chapters, the closely related najia and bagong systems fall generically
into the category of Yijing analysis known as hexagram changes. The salient fea
ture of all such systems, whether designed for divination or for more general
explanatory purposes, is that they involved various transformations by which
one hexagram became related to another (or others), thus reflecting the patterns
of change in the cosmos?”
The najia system links the eight pure hexagrams (chungua; see fig. 1.3 and below)
with the five agents (waxing), the ten heavenly stems (tiangan), and the twelve earthly
branches (dizhi).38 From the standpoint of stems, for instance, Qian (“Pure Yang”
or “Heaven” [1]), associated with metal, is related to the stems jia (1) and ren
(9), while Kun (“Pure Yin” or “Earth” [2]), associated with earth, is related to
the stems yi (2) and gui (10). The six remaining hexagrams are attached to the
remaining six stems in similar ways. In terms of other, more complex configu
rations, each of the eight pure hexagrams is linked with a set of stem-branch
correlations, each of which has a five-agents identification. Thus, for example,
Qian’s correlations are jiazi (water), jiayin (wood), jiachen (earth), renwu (fire),
renshen (metal), and renxu (earth) .39
In the related nayin system, as it has developed over time, such stem-branch
combinations fall into five groups of twelve, each group associated with an
agent and each combination paired with another combination under an appro
priate name. One nayin configuration relates the twelve lines of two hexagrams
to the twelve pitch pipes (Iii); another links them to the sexagenary cycle and the
five agents. Thus, for example, the first two stem-branch combinations, jiazi and
yichou, are identified with metal and called haizhong jin, “metal in the sea.” The
third and fourth, bingyin and dingmao, are identified with fire; the fifth and sixth,
wuchen and jisi, with Wood; and so on.4°
ling Fang’s bagong system, based in part on najia correlations, divides the
sixty-four hexagrams into eight groups (usually depicted in vertical columns)
under the pure hexagrams: Qian (1), Zhen (51), Kan (29), Gen (52), Kun (2), Sun
(57), Li (30), and Dui (58). The first hexagram in each column is generally known
as the “palace hexagram” (gonggua) or the “superior-generation” (shangshi) hexa
gram; the second, directly below, is the “first-generation” (yishi) hexagram; the
third is the “second-generation” (ershi) hexagram; and so on down to the sixth
hexagram. The last two hexagrams are called, respectively, “Wandering soul”
(youhun) and “returning soul” (guihun)/*1
The first hexagram in the Qian palace is Qian, the first in Zhen is Zhen, and
so on. Each palace hexagram then evolves through the five generations, the Wan
dering soul, and finally the returning soul, with yang lines changing into yin
lines and yin lines changinginto yang lines according to systematic patterns of
replacement. In the case of Qian (1, all yang lines), for instance, this process
involves transformations to Gou in the first generation (44, with a single yin
line in the first position), Dun in the second generation (33; two yin lines in
the first two positions), Pi in the third generation (12; three yin lines in the first
three positions), Guan in the fourth generation (20; four yin lines in the first
four positions), and Bo in the fifth generation (23; five yin lines in the first five
positions).
But because the sixth transformation would yield Kun (2, with all yin lines),
which has its own palace hexagram, the final two changes involve, first, a change
in the fourth line of the fifth-generation hexagram from yin to yang (e.g., from
BO to Jin [35]), and second, a change in the first three lines of the wandering
soul hexagram (Iin) from gin to yang, which yields Dayou (14) as the returning
soul hexagram. Similarly, the wandering-soul hexagram of the Kun palace is
X11 (5), and the returning-soul hexagram is Bi (8). Generally speaking, in this
divinatory system such hexagrams (5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 17, 18, 27, 28, 35, 36, 53,
54, 61, and 62) are considered inauspicious.“
An important feature of the eight-palace system is the identification of a
generational line (shiyao) that serves as the hexagram ruler (guazhu), that is, the single
line that conveys the general meaning of the hexagram in question. In the palace
hexagram, the ruling line is the last (sixth) one, and for the next five generations
the number of the ruling line is the same as the number of that generation
line 1 for the first generation, line 2.for the second, and so forth. In the case of
the wandering-soul hexagram the ruling line is in the fourth position, and in the
case of the returning-soul hexagram the ruling line is in the third position/*3
Significantly, in the eight-palace system, generational lines identify relation
ships between the trigrams of different hexagrams, creating a complex structure
of paired manifest (fei; lit., “fiying”) and latent (fu; lit., “hidden”) hexagrams.“
This approach, like other hermeneutical techniques attributed to Iing Fang
including the notion of line positions (yaowei) and the idea of overlapping trigrams
(hugua), sometimes known as nuclear trigrams, discussed below—had the virtue
of greatly amplifying the interpretive possibilities of any given hexagram.“
Since the time of Iing Fang, interpreters of the Yijing have placed great em
phasis on the proper location and relationship of individual lines within both
trigrams and hexagrams. Yang (odd-numbered) lines that occupy odd-numbered
places and yin (even-numbered) lines that occupy even-numbered places are said
to be in matching positions (dangwei) or correct positions (zhengwei). The only hexagram
with all of its lines in matching positions is Iiji (“Ferrying Complete” [63]),
which is followed by Weiji (“Ferrying Incomplete” [64]), in which all the lines
are in incorrect positions (wei budang). Although lines in correct positions are
generally considered auspicious, they are by no means always so.“
As noted briefly in chapter 2, opposite lines that occupy analogous yinyang
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positions in the inner and outer primary trigrams (lines 1-3 and lines 4-6, re
spectively) of a hexagram have often been viewed as having a particularly close
relationship or correspondence (ying).47 Thus, for example, a yang line in the first
place (a yang, or odd, position) corresponds (zhengying; lit., “correctly resonates”)
with a yin line in the fourth place (a yin, or even, position); a gin line in the sec
ond place (a yin position) corresponds with a yang line in the fifth place (a yang
position); and a yin line in the third place (a gang position) corresponds with a
yang line in the sixth place (a yin position). Of these three types of relationship,
the most important occurs when there is a correspondence between the two
middle lines (zhongyao) of the primary trigrams (i.e., the second and fifth places
in a hexagram), a generally auspicious situation.“ As we shall see, however,
interpreters of the Yijing found many different ways to evaluate concepts of cor
rectness and resonance, so that under some circumstances a line in an incorrect
position could be considered correct.
The hugua or huti system, sometimes ascribed to Pei Zhi or Lu Ii (187—219 CE)
rather than to ling Fang,49 is based on the hermeneutical idea that in addition
to the primary trigrams of a hexagram (lines 1- 3 and 4-6), the two overlapping
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trigrams of the same hexagram (lines 2-4 and 3-5) also need to be taken into
account. Thus, for example, the inner, or lower, primary trigram of Iiaren (“The
Family” [37]) is Li (fire, etc.), the outer, or upper, primary trigram is Sun (wind,
etc.), the inner overlapping trigram is Kan (water, etc.), and the outer overlap
ping trigram is its opposite, Li (fire, etc.). What this meant in practice was not
only that there were at least two sets of trigram relationships to be interpreted
for each hexagram but also that lines 1 and 6 of any hexagram belonged to one
trigram, lines 2 and 5 belonged to two, and lines 3 and 4 belonged to three.5°
Moreover, as figures 3.3 and 3.4 illustrate, shared overlapping trigrams linked
various hexagrams to one another.
The vibrant intellectual environment of the early Han inspired scholars not
only to explore and refine the systems mapped out by the likes of Meng Xi and
Iing Fang but also to devise new, Yijing-related mantic systems. Two of the most
noteworthy, in addition to the apocrypha texts outlined below, are contained in
the jiaoshi Yilin (The Forest of Changes of Mr. Iiao), attributed to Iiao Yanshou, and
the Taixuan jing (Classic of Great Mystery), of Yang Xiong (53 BCE—18 CE).
The Forest of Changes was almost assuredly produced by multiple authors over
time, and the form in which it is most generally known (and still used) today
probably dates from the Song dynasty.“ But according to Shang Binghe, a late
Qing and early Republican scholar of the Changes, several interpretive techniques
associated with Han Yijing exegesis are manifest in Iiao’s Yilin, from the use of
sovereign hexagrams and the najia system to the half-image (banxiang) system,
which involves the interpretation of two adjacent lines in a given trigram.51 We
can also see in it certain affinities with the received text and with omen verses
attached to the Fuyang and Wangjiatai versions of the Changes, discussed in chap
ters 1 and 2.
Like Meng Xi’s guaqi system, Iiao’s Yilin emphasizes a seasonal distribution
of hexagrams. But whereas Meng’s approach is based primarily on correlations
between the twelve months and the twelve sovereign hexagrams, Iiao’s focuses
on twelve two-month periods, each marked by successive pairs of the twenty
four solar terms. In this system, five hexagrams are “directly responsible” for
a succession of six-day segments of time—one hexagram for every six days.’-*3
Despite these correlations, which are specified in a preliminary chart, the pre
dictions associated with the hexagrams in the jiaoshi Yilin appear in the received
order of the Changes.
For each hexagram in this system there are 64 interpretive possibilities, one
based on a hexagram’s relationship with itself (e.g., Qian’s Qian, or Qian zhi
Qian) and the remainder based on its relationships with the other 63 hexagrams
(Kun [2] of Qian, Dun [3] of Qian, Meng [4] of Qian, etc.). There are thus 4,096
predictive possibilities (64 >< 64) in the jiaoshi Yilin. Most of the verses are four
characters in length and generally appear in sets of four, although a number of
predictions in the received version are made up of as few as twelve characters
altogether and some comprise as many as thirty-tvvo.
The cryptic pronouncements of the jiaoshi Yilin are wide ranging. Much of the
work’s imagery is naturalistic, dealing with the sun, the moon, the stars, the
seasons, landforms, weather, water, fire, earth, plants (often crops), animals,
directions, and so forth. Number symbolism also figures quite prominently in
the book. But many verses deal primarily with human affairs, expressed some
times as historical and classical allusions that require substantial exegesis for
modern readers. The tone of the work is often moralistic, emphasizing humane
government and opposition to oppressive rule.
The divinatory process of the Forest of Changes is relatively straightforward.
It involves the selection of athexagram by one or another standard method (see
chapter 9), followed by the choice of a text appropriate to the time of the divina
tion. Thus, if one selected the hexagram Gou (44) during a period marked by the
hexagram Kui ( 3 8), the Kui set of verses would be consulted, and the appropriate
reading would be found in the verse pertaining specifically to Gou:
Seven people share a house;
Younger brothers and elder brothers eat together.
Harmony and happiness [proceed from] mutual affection;
Each [person] gets what is desired.“
The Taixuan jing, like the Yijing itself, is philosophically deep, psychologically
Subtle, poetically inspired, and endlessly provocative. Perhaps for this reason,
the Qing dynasty editors of the Four Treasuries project were comfortable in stat
ing that it was modeled after the Changes.55 But unlike the Yi, the Taixuan jing is
3 systematic and coherent tract, the product of one highly accomplished mind
rather than an amalgamation of diverse and often heterogeneous parts.-"6
The Mystery, as Yang’s work is often called, sought, in essence, to reveal pat
terns of cosmic change that were unclear in earlier interpretations of the Yijing.
His brilliant effort to create a systematic model of natural processes represents
a synthesis of early Han thought, combining elements of Confucianism, Dao
ism, yinyang and five-agents thinking, numerology, alchemy, and astrology. Like
the Forest of Changes and the schemes of Meng Xi and Iing Fang, the Mystery also
focuses self-consciously on the relationship between divination and calendrical
science (see fig. 3.5).”
In its basic structure, the Mystery departs substantially from the model of the
Changes. Instead of hexagrams, it offers a set of eighty-one four-line structures
called tetragrams (jia or shou), whose constituent elements are read from top to
bottom rather than from bottom to top.58 Each line has three possible configu
rations instead of two: in addition to the conventional broken and solid lines of
the Yijing, representing Earth and Heaven, respectively, in Yang Xiong’s system,
the Mystery offers a third possibility, a line with two breaks in it, symbolizing
Man. Yang was essentially trying to replace the hexagrams of the Changes with a
rational system of numbers (shu).59
Together, the four lines represent, among other things, administrative and
geographical divisions ranging from regions (fang) down to households (jia) —
three of the former, and eighty-one of the latter (see fig. 3.6). The sequence of
the tetragrams is such that the bottom line, representing the household, changes
regularly with each successive tetragram, from a single stroke to a once-broken
stroke to a twice-broken stroke and then back again. The other lines of any
given tetragram change similarly, though in a different order. The purpose of
this paradigm, as Brook Ziporyn shows convincingly, was not merely to establish
an abstract analogy between the tetragrams and sociopolitical hierarchies; it
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(Classic of Great Mystery), including a third-century CE commentary
was to underscore a central point: that time, space, and kind (wu; lit., “things”)
were inextricably linked, that all existing things, defined by their relationship to
other things, must go through eighty-one identifiable phases. In this complex
construction, “a particular moment in the cycle forms a kind, and all the ele
ments that make up that moment bear the character of that l<ind.”°°
How, then, are patterns of change and mutual implication explicated? In
Yang’s system, each tetragram has a head (shou) consisting of three parts: (1) a
name, analogous to a hexagram name (Zhong, “Center” [1]; Zhou, “Full Circle”
[2]; Xian, “Mired” [3]; Xian, “Barrier” [4]; Shao, “Keeping Small” [5], etc.), (2)
an image referring to the qualities of yin and yang, and (3) an image that ad
dresses issues related to birth, growth, or decay.“ Each tetragram corresponds
to a four-day period of the-year; yin or yang; one of the five agents; a hexagram
from the Classic of Changes; a musical note; and a solar phase.” These relation
ships are represented in figures 3.6 and 3.7.
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with various numerical, administrative, geographical, and five-agents correlations
For each tetragram, the Mystery also has 9 separate appraisals (zan), yielding a
total of 729 (81 >< 9) interpretive possibilities.“ In most versions of Yang’s work
from the third century CE on, each of these appraisals is followed by a paral
lel text called fathomings (re), taken from one of Yang’s commentaries known
as the “Mysterious Fathomings” (Xuance). The appraisals track major phases of
change in a fashion reminiscent of the line statements of the Yijing, While the
fathomings restate the significance of each appraisal in the spirit of the “Big
Image Commentary” and the “Small Image Commentary” of the Changes. The
appraisals also reflect different social ranks in ways that roughly parallel the
lines of the Yijing.“
In addition to the “Mysterious Fathomings” commentary, which itself re
quires exegesis,65 Yang Xiong provides nine other commentaries of various
lengths that parallel the Ten Wings of the Yijing and offer the same sort of guid
ance. The commentary titled “Polar Oppositions of the Mystery” (Xuanclwng), for
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grams,” just as the “Elaboration of the Mystery” (Xuanwen) corresponds, more or
less, to the “Commentary on the Words of the Text” in the received version of the
Changes. Similarly, the “Numbers of the Mystery” (Xuanshu) and the “Revelation of
the Mystery” (Xuangao) offer a wide range of potentially relevant associations of
the sort set forth in the Yijin_g’s “Discussion of the Trigrams.” Not surprisingly,
several of the other commentaries on the Mystery reflect the metaphysical con
cerns and categories of the “Appended Statements.”66
For more than a thousand years Yang Xiong’s sophisticated and stimulating
Writings, including the Mystery, remained central to the orthodox search for uni
versal patterns in the cosmos. But with the rise of Song neo-Confucianism (see
chapter 5) and the subsequent decline of Yang’s reputation, the Mystery virtu
ally disappeared from view, embraced by relatively few scholars.“ One principal
reason for Yang’s diminished reputation was the enormous influence of the phi
lO5Qpl'l€1' Zhu Xi (see chapter 5), who claimed that Yang was a “useless” scholar
and 3 “truly rotten pedant” who had dared to replace China’s classic binary mode
of reasoning with an uncanonical threefold mode of analysis.“
The Han Apocrypha
The dividing line between the early and later Han periods was the Wang Mang
interregnum (9-24 CE). During the time of Wang’s rise to power, apocryphal
texts (weishu) were used to legitimize his political position, and thereafter, par
ticularly during the later Han dynasty and the Six Dynasties period, they con
tinued to play an important role in Chinese political, social, and intellectual
life.” Although Chinese and Western scholars have long drawn sharp distinc
tions between jing (warp, i.e., the classics) and wei (woof, i.e., the apocrypha)
in discussing the fabric of Chinese intellectual life, the boundaries are in fact
quite permeable. In brief, the apocrypha were designed to complement the clas
sics, providing information relating the content and concerns of the classics
to contemporary New Text interests in cosmology, astrology, music, medicine,
divination, and other “technical” subjects."
So closely linked were the two kinds of works in the first few centuries of
imperial rule in China that they often enjoyed nearly equal status as sources of
authority. But over time the position of the apocrypha declined, in part because
a number of these texts, particularly those designated chenwei, “prognostica”
(also transliterated chanwei), emphasized political predictions that some emper
ors viewed as potentially subversive." Another factor undermining their status
was their close association with diviners and other occult specialists (fangshi),
who came to be disparaged as mere technicians by more orthodox “Confucian”
elites, especially exponents of the “Ancient Text” school, whose approach to
the classics generally dominated Chinese scholarship from the third century CE
until the nineteenth.
Yet despite the stigma that attached to the apocrypha in the minds of many
post-Han scholars, they continued to exercise a significant influence in Chinese
intellectual life." This was particularly true of the weishu associated with the
Changes, known collectively as the Yiwei (Changes Apocrypha). These texts sur
vived, more or less intact, following a series of politically inspired campaigns of
proscription in the sixth and seventh centuries CE that destroyed much of the
original apocryphal literature. During the Yuan (1279-1368) and Ming (1368
1544) dynasties they were recovered as part of a more general effort to compile
a comprehensive collection of chenwei texts."
Generally speaking, there are eight main Yiwei texts, the extant editions of
which are linked to Zheng Xuan (see below) as a commentator." In addition,
fragments of, or at least references to, a great number of related works, many
bearing names connecting them with the famous diagrams known as the Hetu
(Yellow River Chart) and the Luoshu (Luo River Writing), have been identifiedis
From the Han period to the present, fierce debates have arisen over the prove
nance, nature, and canonical status of these two numerically oriented illustra
tions (see below and also chapters 5-7).76
A book by the distinguished Qing dynasty scholar Zhang Huiyan organizes
various Yi—oriented apocryphal texts into nineteen categories, bringing all of the
passages that deal with a given theme together in the same section and thus pro
viding a convenient inventory of Yiwei exegetical concerns. His categories are: (1)
the meanings of the term Yi; (2) the Yi numbers 1, 7, and 9; ( 3) the arrangement
of the classic into “upper” and “lower” sections; (4) the six line positions; (5) the
operation of the eight trigrams; (6) the six days and seven divisions (liuri qifen);
(7) the seventy-two calendrical periods; (8) the sixty-four hexagrams “govern
ing” the year; (9) the path of the hexagrams; (10) entering a period of adversity;
(11) the guaqi system; (12) wind and rain; (13) thunder; (14) frost and drought;
(15) assorted anomalies; (16) the phenomena generated by the qi of the eight tri
grams; (17) the phenomena generated by the qi of the sixty-four hexagrams; (18)
the phenomena generated by the twenty-four solar periods; and (19) the Hetu and
the Luoshu.” From Zhang’s list we can see a clear preoccupation with the related
categories of cosmology, calendrical science, numerology, and weather.
Of the “eightYi apocrypha” (Yiwei bazhong), the most complete and revealing
yet still frustratingly incomplete— text is the Qian zao clu (Opening Up the Regu
larities of the [Hexagram] Qian), also transliterated Qian zuo du.78 This anony
mous work is quoted in a number of later Han sources, including the famous
Bohu tong (Comprehensive Discussions of the White Tiger Hall), a book record
ing a series of debates over the classics that took place in 79 CE.79 We do not
know how much of the present version of the Qian zao du might have existed at
that time, but a number of apparently authentic “original” quotations from the
Work appear in various encyclopedias and literary anthologies dating from the
Six Dynasties period on, in addition to the Ming and Qing dynasty editions that
have also come down to us. In any case, the Qian zao du should be distinguished
from a similarly titled work known as the Qian Kun zao du (Opening Up the Regu
larities of the [Hexagrams] Qian and Kun), which is generally regarded as a Song
dynasty forgery.8°
The ideas expressed in this text reflect those we normally attribute to New
Text scholars, and to the numerical and calendrical constructions of Meng Xi
and jing Fang in particular. Peng-fu Neo, believes, however, that some of the
ideas in the Yiwei antedate these two seminal thinl<ers.81 Moreover, Bent Nielsen
argues that because the Qian zao du reads more like a commentary on the Ten
Wings than as an “apocryphal” text per se, we should consider it in a different
light than we do the other weishu. The editors of the Qing dynasty’s Four Trea
suries project, for their part, accord a special status to the Qian zao du, describing
it as a work that was both “pure” and “correct” (chunzheng).81
The text of the Qian zao du is organized around a series of quotations attrib
uted to Confucius. It begins with a long discussion of three different meanings
of the character yi (as in Yijing): “easy” (yi), “change” (bianyi), and “no change”
(bugi),83 This discussion is followed by two accounts of how the eight trigrams
Qa1T1€ into being. Next we encounter an effort to link the trigrams to various
temporal and spatial concepts and then a numerologically oriented cosmogony
that is connected to the sixty-four hexagrams. Following this discussion are
comments on the composition of the Changes, as Well as commentaries on indi
vidual hexagrams and line texts identifying various correlations and symbolic
meanings. The second part of the book is less coherent, consisting primarily of
additional numerical and calendrical correlations, together with information on
certain prognostic systems.“
One can see how, viewed from the standpoint of Yijing exegesis, the Qian zao
du and other Yiwei texts not only clarified and amplified certain concepts that
first appeared in the basic text and Ten Wings of the Changes but also provided
tools by which to analyze in greater depth, or at least with greater precision, the
line statements, trigram and hexagram relationships, and other numerological
and symbolic correlations that had already attracted the interest of New Text
scholars. In addition, the Yi apocrypha, together With the various commentaries
written on these works, shed light on a number of puzzling questions concern
ing the Yijing and its relationship to other Han texts, including the earliest incar
nations of the Hetu and the Luoshu, and alternative versions of the Changes.
References to the Hetu and the Luoshu can be found in a number of reliable
sources from the late Zhou and Han periods. The “Great Commentary” states,
for example: “The Yellow River brought forth a chart, and the Luo River brought
forth writings, and the sages regarded these things also as ruling principles.”85
But the earliest extant illustrations of the Hetu and the Luoshu date only from the
tenth century CE (see chapter 5). So what form might these early documents have
taken, and what might they have had to do with the basic text of the Yijing?
Figure 3.8 shows the configurations of the Hetu and the Luoshu that came
to be considered “orthodox” from the standpoint of the state from the early
fourteenth century into the early twentieth (see chapters 5-7). We have no firm
l
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rm” _ I i _ if-T it
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5
Figure 3.8. A standard Song dynasty version of the
Yellow River Chart (Hetu) and the Luo River Writing (Luoshu)
evidence that these documents existed in this particular form prior to the tenth
century, but a Well-known commentary on the Qian zao du suggests that similar
versions of the Hetu and the Luoshu might have existed during the Han period and
that they were already being related to the eight trigrams and other numero1ogi
cal features of the Yijing.86
The standard Hetu arranges the numbers from one to ten in such a way as to
pair odd (yang) numbers with even (yin) ones. These numbers are then correlated
with the five directions, and hence the five agents: two and seven with the south
(fire), one and six with the north (Water), three and eight with the east (Wood),
four and nine with the west (metal), and five and ten with the center (earth). In
this scheme, which reflects the mutual-production sequence of the wuxing (see
chapter 2), the odd numbers add up to twenty-five, and the even numbers add
up to thirty. H
In the Luoshu, traditionally linked with the nine divisions outlined in the
“Great Plan” chapter of the Shujing, we find a magic square, in which all the
numbers in any row of three, Whether perpendicular, horizontal, or diagonal,
add up to fifteen. Even (yin) numbers occupy all four corners, and the sequence
is Qne of mutual conquest (see chapters 2 and 5). Thus, for example, metal (four
and nine) overcomes wood (three and eight), wood overcomes earth (five), earth
Overwmes water (one and six), water overcomes fire (two and seven), and fire
overcomes metal.
The following passage from the Qian zao du vaguely suggests the structure of
the Luoshu:
Yang moves and advances, changing from 7 to 9, signifying the accumula

tion of its qi; yin moves and withdraws, changing from 8 to 6, signifying
the dispersion of its qi. Thus, the Great Unity [Taiyi] takes these numbers
and moves them through the Nine Palaces. [Whether considered from the
standpoint of] the four primary directions [sizheng] or the four intermedi
ate directions [siwei], they always add up to 15.87
A commentary to this passage attributed to Zheng Xuan (see below) links this
structure concretely to the eight trigrams:
The Great Unity is the spiritual name of the North Star. When keeping
in its place, it is called the Great Unity. When constantly travelling in the
eight trigrams between the sun and the planets, it is called the Heavenly
Unity [Tianyi]. . . . The four primary directions and the four intermedi
ate directions are where the spirits of the eight trigrams reside, therefore
these are also called palaces. . . . When the Great Unity descends to travel
in the palaces of the eight trigrams, it returns to the center after every four
[of these places] .88
Although these two passages are by no means conclusive, the information

they provide is tantalizingly suggestive of a link between the Yijing and the Luoshu,
especially when considered in the light of recent research on the Han divination
systems known as Taiyi’s Nine Palaces (Taiyi jiugong) and Taiyi Six Waters (Taiyi
liuren), as well as in light of the famous Baoshan bamboo—slip divination texts.”
Moreover, the excavation of an early Han tomb in Fuyang, Anhui, yielded a shi
divining board with nine numerals in a configuration that corresponds exactly
to the numbers and placement of the received version of the Luos|1u.9°
References in the Qian zao du to statements in the Changes that do not appear
in either the received version of the text or the Mawangdui edition also demand
our attention. For instance:
Confucius said: “When yang makes gin diminish, one refers to the Kuai
[‘Resolution’] hexagram (#43). When yin makes yang wane, one refers to
the Bo [‘Peeling’] hexagram (#2 3) . These are the ancestors of the ten thou
sand things. . . . As a word, Kuai means to act resolutely. It matches the
time of the 3rd month. When yang flourishes and accumulates, it makes
the qi of Kuai’s yin decline. . . . Bo’s action is to peel away [i.e., flay]. It
matches the time of the 9th month. Yang qi declines and decreases, but in
the end yin cannot exhaust yang. Petty people are unable to act resolutely
with petty people. This is called flaying, and it refers to unrest. Therefore,
Kuai’s nine [yang] in the 5th place refers to acting resolutely with petty
people. Bo’s six [yin] in the 5th place refers to [the petty person’s] flourish
ing and killing the ten thousand things. All have been flayed and dropped
to the ground. This compares to the way of the noble person declining and
the way of the petty person flourishing.”91
For the abovementioned fifth-position line statements of Kuai and Bo, there
is nothing similar in either the received version of the Changes or the Mawangdui
edition. Intriguingly, however, Wang Bi’s third-century CE commentary on these
two line statements seems to parallel the Qian zao du’s remarks. And since Wang
is not known to have quoted the Qian zao du or any other apocryphal work in his
writings on the Yijing, it is possible that the authors of both texts were drawing
on a common source of authority, now lost.92
Later Han Approaches to the Changes

For the first several decades of the later Han, few innovations took place in
Changes theory or practice aside from developments connected with the apocry
pha. But by the middle of the second century CE several outstanding intellectu
als had emerged to inject new life into Yijing scholarship.93 Primus inter pares was
Zheng Xuan, whose commentaries on the Confucian classics and the apocrypha
played a particularly important role in shaping the contours of Chinese exegeti
cal scholarship for several centuries.“
Zheng, arguably the most prestigious scholar in the later Han period, drew
eclectically upon the doctrines of the Ancient Text school (as transmitted by his
teacher, Ma Rong), as well as upon some of the theories of the New Text school
(as developed by Iing Fang).95 In an effort to be balanced, if Zheng followed a
jinwen reading in analyzing a certain text, he would often provide a guwen reading
in the commentary, and vice versa. Although he is credited with several dozen
separate works, only four of Zheng’s complete writings — three on early Chinese
ritual texts and one on the Classic ofPoetry—are extant. Zheng’s interest in ritual
is manifest not only in his interpretations of the Shijing but also in his approach
to the Changes and the apocrypha.96
In explicating the classics, Zheng drew upon philology (he displayed a spe
cial talent for detecting obscure loanwords, local pronunciations, and variant
Scripts, as well as mistakes in transcription, etc.), the authority of multiple texts,
examples from the annals of history, and even evidence from Han daily life.97 His
general approach was to summarize complex writings in broad brushstrokes,
avoiding the two extremes of early Han scholarship: short definitions and ex
tremely long annotations (zhangju) that might focus on only a few characters or
lines. His approach has been aptly described as a “meaning-oriented” one, in
which he selected the best interpretations of the different schools, “leaving out
the dregs.”98
Zheng is generally known as a follower of Fei Zhi, who advocated “using
commentaries [i.e., certain of the Ten Wings] to give evidence about the Classic
[of Changes] ” (yi zhuan zhengjing). Wang Yinglin’s (1223-96) preface to the Zhengshi
Zhouyi (Mr. Zheng’s Zhou Changes) states, for example:
Zheng Kangcheng [i.e., Zheng Xuan] emulated Mr. Pei Zhi and made an
annotated edition of the Changes in nine scrolls [since lost], which often
frames its discussions in terms of “overlapping trigrams” [huti] . The prac
tice of using overlapping trigrams to seek the meaning of the Changes has
existed since the creation of the Zuozhuan [about the fifth century BCE].
In all hexagrams, sets of the second, third, and fourth lines and sets of
the third, fourth, and fifth lines mingle together, but each set separately
forms a trigram. This is what is meant . . . [by the phrase] “one hexagram
contains four trigrams.”99
Zheng is also famous for an approach to the Changes known as yaochen (lit.,
“[hexagram] lines and divisions of time”). This system was probably derived
from Iing Fang’s calendrical system,1°° although it also seems to be closely re
lated to certain patterns of hexagram lines and earthly branches in the Feishi Yilin
(Mr. Fei’s Forest of Changes) .1°1
Zheng’s ritual-oriented approach to the Yijing encouraged him to think more
in terms of “non-change” (bugi) than in terms of “change” (bianyi).1°1 In his view,
just as the relative positions of Heaven and Earth remained fixed, so the upper
and lower levels of a hexagram were constant. Change occurred, of course, but
within the constraints imposed by bureaucratic and ritual requirements. For
Zheng, in other Words, the hexagrams of the Changes reflected the order of the
universe; they revealed harmonious patterns of hierarchy that were supposed to
be manifest in social and political institutions.1°3
Thus, even when he is discussing the overthrow of a dynasty, Zheng empha
sizes orderliness. For example, his gloss on hexagram 49 (Ge, often translated
“Radical Change” or “Revolution”) reads:
Ge means change. . . . Water and fire grow together when they are applied
to changes in human affairs. Their effects are similar to [those of] rulers
who are commissioned [by the Mandate of Heaven] to change the calendar
and the color of clothing.1°4
In this instance, Zheng relies on the symbolism of Ge’s two primary trigrams
to make his argument: Li, at the bottom, representing fire; and Dui, at the top,
representing water. For him, when water flows from top to bottom, and when
fire provides heat from below, together they symbolize a situation in which
everything is orderly, well coordinated, and thoroughly prepared. This, then, is
the ideal situation for a leader to establish a new dynasty.1°5
Like Zheng Xuan, Xun Shuang wrote a number of commentaries on the clas
sics and the apocrypha, most of which have been lost. But dozens of quotations
from his Yizhuan (Commentary on the Changes) found their way into Li Ding
zuo’s eighth-century compilation Zhouyijijie (Collected Explanations of the Zhou
Changes), which includes quotations from thirty-six different authorities, most
from the Han period (see also chapter 4). From such excerpts, several Ming and
Qing dynasty scholars tried to reconstruct Xun’s interpretive viewpoint, as well
as that of other Han thinkers.1°6
Xun, often linked with the so—called nine masters (jiujia) of the later Han,
placed greater emphasis than Zheng Xuan on the concept of dynamic change.
He saw the hexagrams of the Classic of Changes not as the reflection of an idealized
cosmic order but rather as an expression of the moral dilemmas and political
tensions that existed within the structure of the bureaucratic Chinese state. Like
many other interpreters of the Yijing, he viewed the six lines of each hexagram as
representing six levels of the Chinese social and/or bureaucratic hierarchy. Xun
identified these levels in the following way:
Line 1 (bottom): Gentlemen beginning their official careers (yuanshi)

Line 2: Grand masters (clafu)
Line 3: The three dukes (sangong)
Line 4: Feudal lords (zhuhou)
Line 5: The Son of Heaven (taizi)
Line 6: The ancestral temple (zon_gmiao)1°7
Below is a gloss by Xun that reveals the dynamic quality of the lines, as well
as his overtly political orientation. This interpretation is based on the first line
Han Dynasty Approaches to the Yijing
statement of the Mingyi hexagram ( 3 6), which reads in part: “The superior per
on on the move does not eat for three days.” Xun remarks:
The yang [line here at the bottom] signifies the superior person. The
number three indicates the fully developed virtue of yang. The character ri
[“sun” or “day”] is a metaphor for the sovereign. [The expression] “does
not eat” means that one cannot subsist on the salary provided by the sov
ereign. The yang line does not yet occupy the fifth position [as it should],
and the yin line darkens the top [of the hexagram]. The brightly virtuous
[person, represented by the yang line] in the first position is ashamed to
live on [such a salary, supplied by such a dark and unenlightened sover
eign]. Thus, the text reads: “The noble person on the move does not eat
for three days.” 1°8
Xun is telling us in this instance that a virtuous person must not serve a weak
and ineffective ruler.
Similarly, Xun advocates rising up against oppressive, unjust, or misguided
rule. Here is an example of the way he glosses the “Commentary on the Iudg
ments” regarding the Fu hexagram (24), which refers to an inauspicious “con
fused return” (mifu):
It would be fitting [for the yang line in the first place] to go to the fifth
position [i.e., that of the “ruler”] and to occupy it. The Way of the firm is to
grow gradually. Pu is the hexagram of the winter solstice; yang rises from
the first nine [a gang line]. It is the heart and mind of Heaven and Earth,
the beginning of the myriad things, and what goes before good and bad
fortune. Thus, [the “Commentary on the Judgments” says that in the Pu
hexagram] “the heart and mind of Heaven and Earth can be seen.”1°9
Xun’s idea is that the first yang line will eventually rise through the yin lines
above it, but not before it encounters serious resistance. Thus, he interprets
the inauspicious reading of the top line statement of the Pu hexagram in the
following terms:
The [upper] Kun trigram symbolizes “a multitude”; thus the line state
ment refers to “setting an army on the march.” The top [yin] line sets the
army in motion to oppose the beginning line. As yang accumulates and
rises, the forces of yin must disperse; thus the line statement refers to “a
great defeat in the end.” 11°
Xun’s exegetical style is called rising and falling (shengjiang), an approach that
treats both individual hexagrams and hexagram relationships in a particularly dy
namic although not entirely consistent way.111 In this system, hexagram change
unfolds according to the yin and gang tendencies of lines (and occasionally tri_
grams), and although, as in most other line-oriented interpretive systems, aus
piciousness is a function of proper position, We can see that Xun is concerned
more with dynamic qualities of the lines than with their “fixed” positions.
Thus, although both Zheng Xuan and Xun Shuang employed the Yijing to shed
light on social and political problems, they often came up With significantly
different interpretations!“ For instance, when Zheng encounters the hexagram
Kui (“Contrariety” [3 8]), in which the lines occupy incorrect positions (the sym
bolic ruler of the hexagram, normally in the fifth place, is a yin line instead of a
yang line, while a yang line resides in the subordinate second place), he focuses
on “responsiveness” rather than “correctness.” Hence, he explains the judg
ment, “In small matters there is good fortune,” by remarking: “The second and
fifth lines mutually respond [xiangging]. The ruler is yin, the minister [or, more
generally, the ruled] is yang. The ruler must respond to the ruled; therefore, ‘In
small matters there is good fortune.’ ”113
But Xun Shuang sees things quite differently. He glosses the same judgment
in the following way: “Small matters are matters concerning the ruled. The firm
[second line] is the ruler, and thus the weak [fifth line], although occupying a
central position, should respond to the ruler.”114 Here, Xun abandons the as
sumption that the line position is the most important variable in favor of an
interpretation in which the yin or yang character of a line looms largest. This
sort of flexibility encouraged him to advocate radical political change. For in
stance, because the “Modesty” hexagram (Qian [15]) has only one yang line, and
although that line is in the third place instead of the fifth, he claims that the yang
line has the right to rule. Zheng Xuan, by contrast counsels only modesty and
restraint.115
Yu Fan is credited with developing a number of techniques first employed by
Meng Xi and Iing Fang, as well as some of the interpretive traditions associated
with Xun Shuang. But overall, Yu placed far more emphasis than Xun (and Zheng,
for that matter) on images and numbers, developing preexisting concepts such
as guaqi, najia, and hugua (see above) and inventing his own theories concerning
lost images (yixiang) and laterally linked hexagrams (pangtong gua). Although none of
Yu’s works have survived in complete form, as with the writings of Zheng Xuan
and Xun Shuang, a great many of his commentaries on the Changes were pre
served in Li Dingzuo’s Zhouyi jijie and later carefully analyzed by Qing dynasty
scholars .116
Lost images refers to trigram associations made by Yu Fan that were not in
cluded in the original “Discussion of the Trigrams” (Shuogua) wing of the Yijing.117
For eX3mpl€, in glossing the phrase “resonating with the limitless qualities of
earth” (ying di wuqiang), which appears in the “Commentary on the Judgments”
regarding Kun (2), Yu equates resonance (ying) with the trigram Zhen (“Thun
def»), an association derived from a phrase in the Shuogua that relates the tri
grams Zhen and Sun (“Wind”) but does not explicitly identify resonance as a
“trigram quality” (guade). Similarly, in his comments on the top line of the Lii
hexagram (56) he equates laughing (xiao) with the Zhen trigram, perhaps be
cause it implies a response. From this type of imagined association a great many
others followed.118
Indeed, over time Chinese scholars compiled huge lists of lost images, most
of them drawn from the commentaries of Yu, Xun Shuang, and other Han
devotees of the Changes that had been preserved in the Zhouyi jijie. Zhang Hui
yan identified more than 450 of these lost images, and by the late Qing period
enterprising Chinese scholars had managed to come up with several hundred
more. A modern authority on Han Yijing studies, Liu Yujian, has pointed out in
a recent book that among the 6 3o or so images that he considers “reliable,” the
largest number are associated, not with Qian, as one might expect, but rather
with Kun.119
The notion of laterally linked hexagrams has to do with the organization of
the received text of the Changes, in which fifty-six of the sixty-four hexagrams are
arranged in pairs (see fig. 2.3). In each case, the second hexagram of the pair is
produced by inverting (fanclui) the first.11° Thus Zhun (3) turned upside down be
comes Meng (4). The remaining eight hexagrams — Qian (1), Kun (2), Yi (27), Da
guo (28), Kan (29), Li (30), Zhongfu (61), and Xiaoguo (62) —are paired accord
ing to the principle of lateral linkage. That is, the second hexagram of the pair
is produced by changing each line of the first from yin to yang or gang to yin. By
employing this technique, Yu and subsequent interpreters of the Yijing, notably
Lai Zhide (1525-1604), Wang Fuzhi (1619-92), and Iiao Xun (1763-1820), found
it possible not only to explain certain obscure passages in the Changes but also
to establish sophisticated numerical and other correlational schemes (see esp.
chapters 6 and 7) .121
In the hands of Yu Fan, the pangtong approach, as Well as a related procedure
known as giwei (lit., “changing positions,” involving the arbitrary transposition
of lines), came to be applied to trigrams as well as hexagrams. Together with
other forms of analysis, including overlapping trigrams and lost images, a for
midable arsenal of interpretive techniques made it possible for Yu to explain
virtually anything about any given hexagram or combination of hexagrams?"
Let us take, for example, the top line statement of Lii, “The Wanderer” (56),
discussed briefly above. It reads: “This bird gets his nest burnt. The Wanderer
first laughs and later howls and wails. He loses his ox in a time of ease, which
means misfortune.” Yu explains the relationship between this line statement,
the structure of the hexagram, and the line statement of a derivative hexagram
as follows:
The trigram Li is a bird and is fire; the trigram Sun is wood and is high.
The fourth line loses its position, changing into the trigram Zhen, which
is a basket, the image of a nest. Now, the image of a nest is not apparent;
therefore the bird burns its nest. The trigram Zhen refers to laughing, and
. . . [it also signifies the idea of] a beginning, and thus We have laughing
at the outset. The response is in the trigram Sun. Sun signifies howling
and Wailing, and the image of Sun [signifies the idea of] afterward; thus,
howling and wailing take place later. When the third line moves [changes
to a yin line], the trigram Kun is an ox, and when the fifth line moves
[changes to a yang line], it forms the trigram Qian, and Qian is ease. The
top line loses the third line. The fifth line moves in response to the sec
ond line, thus the ox is lost in time of ease. Losing its position and being
Without a response, it is therefore inauspicious. If the fifth line changes, it
forms the hexagram Dun [“Withdrawal” (33)], the second line [of which
refers to the idea of] “holding with yellow ox hide”—the lost ox of the
traveler’s family.“-‘*
In order to understand this passage, one needs to know all of the techniques
ascribed to Yu above,124 and yet even with this knowledge we are still left with no
clear clues as to how to make sense of the original line statements.
Viewed from the standpoint of opening up interpretive possibilities, Yu Fan
brought Yijing exegesis to a new level of sophistication. But as we shall see in
subsequent chapters (esp. chapters 4 and 7), a number of scholars felt that he
had gone much too far. This critical view is also shared by some modern Chinese
authorities. Qu Wanli, for example, writes that by adding changed trigrams and
lost images to his repertoire, Yu managed to create an approach to the Changes
in which a trigram image could always be found to explain any part of the text.
As he puts the matter caustically, “If a single hexagram could expand into the
meanings of all sixty-four hexagrams . . . [by virtue of line changes and other
interpretive devices], then one hexagram would already suffice for the entire
Zhouyi. ” What need, he asks, would there then be for the other sixty-three? This,
he concludes, is the extreme that the “delusion of [the school of] images and
numbers has reached.”115
CHAPTER FOUR
The Six Dynasties through the Tang
The fall of the Han dynasty brought an extended period of division to China,
but artistic, literary, and intellectual life continued to flourish during the Six
Dynasties period (220-589 CE). This cultural vitality was in part the product of
several significant changes that had their origins in the late Han period, most
notably the introduction of Buddhism and the rise of what is sometimes called
“Religious” or “Alchemical” Daoism. Liberated from Han imperial orthodoxy,
Chinese scholars of the Six Dynasties era felt free to engage in pure conversations
(qingtan) and to explore what became known as abstruse learning (xuanxue) or “neo
Daoism.” The result was the beginning of a trend in Chinese scholarship that the
editors of the Four Treasuries project would later characterize as “jumbled” and
“unsystematic,”1 but one that was also enormously creative and captivating? It
was also a time in which Yijing hermeneutics became “a barometer of the shifts
and changes in the classical tradition and in medieval intellectual culture as a
whole.”3
Wang Bi (2z6—49), the youthful and brilliant progenitor of xuanxue, was one
of the two main culprits in the eyes of the Siku editors (the other was Chen Tuan;
see chapter 5).‘ Turning his back on most Han scholarship, especially that of
Eastern Han exegetes such as Zheng Xuan, Xun Shuang, and Yu Fan, Wang de
veloped an iconoclastic approach to the Changes that shaped scholarship on the
classic in fundamental ways for the next several hundred years.5 As indicated
briefly in chapter 3, this approach came to be known as the school of meanings
and principlesfi As one measure of Wang’s iconoclasm, the young genius went
further than any of his predecessors in incorporating elements of the Ten Wings
directly into the basic text.’ He also stripped away virtually all of the astrological
and numerical symbolism that had been attached to the work by Iing Fang and
later Han commentators.8 So influential was Wang’s self- consciously subversive
effort that many Han dynasty Yijing texts simply disappeared in the following few
centuries because they were no longer viewed as important to an understanding
of the essence of the classic.
The spread of Buddhism and Daoism during the Six Dynasties period brought
to the Yijing a great many new interpretive possibilities. At the same time, the
Changes provided symbolic resources and philosophical justifications for both
emerging belief systems? From this time on, advocates of Buddhism and Dao
ism, like Confucians, increasingly embraced the Yijing as their own classic.
Meanwhile, the Changes began to influence Chinese poetry, prose, and art in new
and enduring ways (see chapter 9).1°
The Sui-Tang period (589-907), like the Qin-Han era, was a time of radical
unification followed by cosmopolitan consolidation.“ For nearly three hundred
years Buddhism (and to a lesser extent, Daoism) received substantial official pa
tronage from the Sui (589-618) and Tang (618-907) dynasty rulers. But a series
of politically inspired persecutions directed in particular against the Buddhist
religious establishment from 841 to 845 allowed Confucianism, which had
been used somewhat selectively by the Sui-Tang rulers as a convenient source
of political theory and ritual precedent, to begin to revitalize itself. At the same
time, a newly expanded civil-service examination system began to alter not only
the way Chinese scholars thought about the Confucian classics—including, of
course, the Yijing—but also how they approached questions of social status and
bureaucratic service.” And in their ruminations on pressing political and social
issues the Changes loomed particularly large.13
0ne previously neglected repository of materials for examining Tang dynasty
beliefs and practices, including those related both directly and indirectly to the
Yijing, is a corpus of materials found many years ago in the remote area of Dun
huang—the object of a lengthy and intensive research effort undertaken by a
multinational team of scholars based in France and led by Marc Kalinowski. The
book that these scholars recently produced, Divination et société clans la Chine me'dié
vale, discusses the content of nearly 250 divinatory documents (many of them
fragments) that together shed much valuable new light on the beliefs, practices,
and publications of the period.“ These scholars have been able to show, for ex
ample, how diviners operated at the lower levels of Chinese government in the
area of Dunhuang and how local traditions of divination differed from those
operating in the metropolitan bureaucracy and the imperial court.15 A fascinat
ing feature of this research is its emphasis on how divinatory theories and prac
The Six Dynasties through the Tang 91
tices were transmitted at the local level, in part through the formal educational
System, and how divinatory traditions intersected with the ideas and institutions
of Buddhism and Daoism.
Yijing Theory and Practice in the Six Dynasties Period
The Suighu (History of the Sui Dynasty) provides a revealing description of the
unfolding of Yijing studies in the unsettling period between the fall of the Han
and the unification of the empire in 589. It begins, however, with a conventional
discussion of Fuxi’s invention of the eight trigrams, the development of the
“Three Changes” (Lianshan, Guicang, and Zhouyi), the addition of hexagram line
statements by the Duke of Zhou, and the creation of the Ten Wings by Confu
cius. It goes on to note that the Zhouyi was spared in the Qin dynasty’s “burning
of the books” but that three sections from the “Discussion of the Trigrams” were
temporarily lost. It then identifies a line of New Text transmission in which T ian
He transmitted the Changes to Ding Kuan, who transmitted it to Tian Wangsun,
who transmitted it to Shi Chou, MengXi, and Liangqiu He. Meng, in turn, trans
mitted this New Text tradition to Iiao Yanshou and Iing Fang.
The other lineage, identified with the Ancient Text version of the Changes pre
served by Fei Zhi (a.k.a. Bi Zhi) of the Han (see chapter 3), went from Pei to
Wang Huang, to Gao Xiang and his son, Gao Kang, and eventually to Mu Iiang
yong. Although this version circulated among the people (renjian), it did not have
any real standing in academic circles. But in the later Han, Fei’s teachings were
transmitted to a number of distinguished scholars, including Ma Rong and his
two illustrious disciples, Zheng Xuan and Xun Shuang, both of whom wrote
commentaries on the Ancient Text versions of the Changes. In the Wei dynasty
(220-65), Wang Su and Wang Bi did likewise, and from that period on,
Mr. Pei’s [learning] greatly flourished, and Mr. Gao’s thereupon declined.
By the Western Iin period [265-316], [the traditions of] Mr. Liangqiu, Mr.
Shi, and Mr. Gao were dead. There were still texts for Mr. Meng and Mr.
Iing, but no teachers [to transmit their teachings]. In the Liang and Chen
dynasties [sixth century CE] the commentaries of Zheng Xuan and Wang
Bi were established [as the standard works on the Changes] in the State
Academies. During the Qi dynasty [479— 502] only Zheng’s interpretations
were transmitted. [But] by the time of the Sui dynasty [589—618] Wang’s
commentaries had become prevalent and Zheng’s learning gradually di
minished [in influence]. Today [the Zheng tradition] has become nearly
extinct.“
What was it about Wang Bi’s interpretation of the Changes that gave it so mu¢h
staying power? Although he died at the age of twenty-three, he was already one
of the most profound thinkers in the history of Chinese philosophy. Living in
a period of unrest and uncertainty, in the ephemeral northern kingdom of Wei
(22o—6 5), he established a reputation for brilliance at an early age. According to
his biography in the Sanguo zhi (Record of the Three Kingdoms),
Wang Bi revealed his intelligence and wisdom even when still a child. By
the time he was only about ten years old, he had already developed a liking
for the Laozi [Daocle jing], which he understood thoroughly and could dis
cuss with ease. His father was Wang Ye, a Secretarial Court Gentleman. At
the time when Pei Hui was serving as Director of the Ministry of Personnel,
Wang Bi, who then had not reached the age of maturity [nineteen years],
went to pay him a visit. As soon as Pei saw him, he knew that this was an
extraordinary person, so he asked him, “Nonbeing [wu] is, in truth, what
the myriad things depend on for existence, yet the Sage [Confucius] was
unwilling to talk about it, while Master Lao expounded upon it endlessly.
Why is that?” Wang Bi replied, “The Sage embodied nonbeing, so he also
knew that it could not be explained in words. Thus he did not talk about it.
Master Lao, by contrast, operated on the level of being [you] .” 17
Wang is often referred to as a neo-Daoist thinker, but we can see from this
brief biographical excerpt that he had great respect for Confucius and a power
ful commitment to the values associated with the Sage. To be sure, Wang used a
good deal of language reminiscent of the Laozi and the Zhuangzi.“ Consider, for
example, his famous statement about the relationship between ideas and images
in the Yijing:
Images are the means to express ideas, and words are the means to explain
the images. To yield up ideas completely, there is nothing better than the
images, and to yield up the meaning of the images, there is nothing better
than words. The words are generated by the images, thus one can ponder
the words and so observe what the images are. The images are generated
by ideas, thus one can ponder the images and so observe what the ideas
are. The ideas are yielded up completely by the images, and the images are
made explicit by the words.19.
But Wang steadfastly maintained that images, like words, were only the
means to an end, not to be confused with the end itself. A person who remained
fixed on the words would not be able to grasp the images, and someone who
stayed fixed on the images would not be able to get the ideas. Thus he argued:
Since the words are the means to explain the images, once one gets the
images, he forgets the words, and, since the images are the means to allow
us to concentrate on the ideas, once one gets the ideas, he forgets the
images. Similarly, “the rabbit snare exists for the sake of the rabbit; once
one gets the rabbit, he forgets the snare. And the fish trap exists for the
sake of fish; once one gets the fish, he forgets the trap.” If this is so,
then the words are snares for the images, and the images are traps for the
ideas. . . . Getting the ideas is in fact a matter of forgetting the images,
and getting the images is in fact a matter of forgetting the words. Thus, al
though the images were established in order to yield up ideas completely,
as images they may be forgotten. Although the three lines [representing
Heaven, Earth, and Man] were doubled in order to yield up all the innate
tendencies of things [by means of hexagrams], as strokes they may be
forgotten.”
The point he wants to make here, of course, is that a vehicle of understanding

can turn into an obstacle if it becomes the principal object of attention.“
Although Wang’s talk of forgetting words, including the direct quotation
above, comes from Zhuangzi, his ideas also resonate with those of Confucius,
who, as we saw in chapter 2, is quoted in the “Great Commentary” as saying that
“writing does not exhaust words, and words do not exhaust ideas. . . . The sages
established images in order to express their ideas exhaustively.” 22
Like his notion of forgetting words, Wang’s use of the concept of wu (lit.,
“nonbeing,” also translated as “nonactuality”) conjures up visions of Daoism.
According to Richard Iohn Lynn, Wang’s notion of wu seems to have been “the
undifferentiated unity of things ontologically prior to their phenomenal exis
tence, the permanent, indescribable and unnameable reality underlying the
‘being’ (you) of the phenomenal universe.”23 Thus, rather than connoting noth
ingness (wuyou), wu refers in fact to a web of invisible yet still demonstrable
relationships. Here, represented schematically, is the relationship that Wang Bi
Wu You
perceived between wu and you:
What is above form (xing er shang) What is within form (xing er xia)
Dao (the Way) Qi (concrete objects)
Dao (the Way) Yinyang (manifest process)
Noumenal Phenomenal
Hidden Manifest
Totality Particularity
The one The many“
From the standpoint of Yijing divination, the idea of incipience (ji) —in the words
of the “Great Commentary,” the “infinitesimally small beginning of action . . , at
which the precognition of good fortune can occur” (see chapter 2) —was to Wang
precisely the point at which “something leaves nonbeing and enters being.”15
In some respects, Wang Bi’s eclectic outlook appears similar to that of the
famous Han scholar Yang Xiong, who has also been made at times to wear 3
“Daoist” label and whose Taixuan jing (Classic of Great Mystery) was inspired
directly by the Changes (see chapter 3).26 Yang writes at one point:
The Mystery is what. . . unfolds the ten thousand kinds [wu; lit., “things”]
and yet reveals no form of its own. Taking up and molding [spatial] noth
ingness [xuwu], it gives rise to determinacy. Connecting the divinities,
it fixes definite models. Penetrating and joining the past and present, it
divides and develops the kinds. It unfolds and arranges yin and yang, and
puts forth material force [qi]. As these now divide, now join, Heaven
and Earth are complete. The heavenly configuration and the sun rotate,
and the hard and soft [e.g., day and night] succeed one another. Running
full circle back to their point of origin, the beginning and end are set.
Now being born, now dying, the inborn nature and extrinsic givenness
(xingming) [of each] become clear. Looking up, we observe the images,
looking down we see the way things are [qing]. Examining their inborn
natures and understanding their extrinsic givenness, we can trace their
beginnings and perceive their ends. The three powers [Heaven, Earth, and
Man] follow equally the same rule, the mutual chafing of the thick and the
thin [yang and yin]. The circular [Heaven] never rests, the square [Earth]
hoards. The exhalation is the flowing substance [Heaven], the inhalation
is the coagulation of palpable form [Earth] . Thus that which shuts in all of
Heaven is called space, and that which opens up this space is called time
[shi gu he Tian wei zhi yu, pi yu wei zhi zhou] .17
The similarities in Wang’s and Yang’s language and outlook should not be
surprising, for one of the major intellectual influences on the former was Wang
Su (195-256), a renowned scholar of the Three Kingdoms period, who studied
and taught Yang Xiong’s Mystery. The eclectic outlook of all three of these
men should remind us, once again, that categorizations of individuals based
on rigidly defined schools or intellectual lineages do not do justice to creative
minds."
Like Yang Xiong, WangBi was concerned with issues of political and social
morality.” Indeed, his commentary on the Yijing seldom refers to wu and you,
whereas he often relates the Changes directly to concrete human affairs. Thus,
for example, in his remarks on the second line of Yu (“Contentment” [16]),
which reads, “Harder than rock, he does not let the day run its course. Con
Stancy [perseverance] means good fortune,” Wang writes: “This . . . [refers to]
someone who, being secure in his practice of constancy and rectitude, does not
geek thoughtless Contentment. If one is compliant but does not follow thought
lessly and is content without violating the mean, he will therefore conduct re
lationships with superiors without sycophancy and with subordinates without
insult.” 3°
The important point here is that in his approach to the Yijing, Wang was more
of an explicitly political and social thinker than is generally realized. Preoccu
pied with ethics, eager to understand and explain the changes that were occur
ring all around him, and committed to the idea of flexibility in decision making,
he was well aware that an unwise course of action might undermine a seemingly
favorable situation, just as a wise decision could salvage an unfavorable one.
Concerned about the stability of the social order, he advocated ritual as a har
monizing device and was convinced of the need for a powerful but benevolent
central government.“
Wang’s essay “General Remarks on the Zhou Changes” (Zhouyi lueli) lays out his
basic attitude toward the classic.-*2 Here, again in schematic form, are his main
arguments:
1. Each hexagram represents a separate and specific, albeit fluid, situation

(shi; lit., “time”) for which opportunities and options (yang; lit., “uses”
or “applications”) are indicated by its six lines.33
2. The images expressed in the Changes are not simply representations of
numbers, just as the words of the text are much more than symbols of
trigram and hexagram relationships. Thus, the mathematical operations
and calendrical calculations associated with the school of images and
numbers are of no value.“
3. The basic meaning or “controlling principle” of a hexagram is expressed
in its name, which is amplified by the judgment. Usually this controlling
principle resides in a single line that is the ruler (zhu) over all the others.
4. The lines of a hexagram can represent, either directly or by analogy,
different kinds of people in different positions and different social
situations. Often a line in the fifth position (the middle of the top trigram)
“rules” a hexagram by virtue of its “noble place.”35
5. Some lines resonate with one another (signifying harmonious
relationships), while others clash (signifying opposition). Generally
speaking, hexagrams with yang lines in yang positions (i.e., odd-numbered
positions, 1, 3, and 5) and gin lines in yin positions (even-numbered

positions, z, 4, and 6) indicate harmony.“
By carefully analyzing each hexagram as a self-contained symbolic
structure, one can understand the nature of change and the tendencies
of things and thus adjust one’s behavior to be in harmony with the Dao
(Way) .37
Line relationships were particularly important to Wang Bi as indicators of

how one should respond to change. Here is what he says about them in a section
of the essay titled “Clarifying How the Hexagrams Correspond to Change and
Make the Lines Commensurate with It”:
The hexagrams deal with moments of time, and the lines are concerned
with the states of change that are appropriate to those times. Moments of
time entail either obstruction or facility, thus the application [of a given
hexagram] is either a matter of action or of withdrawal. . . . Once the mo
ment of time is posited, one should either act or remain passive, respond
ing to the type of application involved. One looks up its name in order to
see whether the hexagram means good fortune or bad, and one cites what
is said about the moment involved in order to see whether one should act
or remain passive. Thus, from these things, it is apparent how change
operates within the body of one hexagram.”
And again:
Resonance provides an image of shared purpose, and the position taken

provides an image of what it means for a line to be located there. Carrying
and riding provide images of incongruity or congruity, and distance and
proximity provide images of danger or ease. The inner and the outer [tri
grams] provide images of going forth or staying still, and the first line and
the top line provide images of beginning and ending. Thus the fact that,
although distant, a line indicates that one can make a move is due to its
having acquired a resonant partner, and the fact that, although in danger,
a line indicates that one can occupya position is due to its having achieved
the right moment to be there.”
Here is a concrete example of Wang’s general analysis of the lines in the
hexagram Lii, “The Wanderer” (56):
When creatures lose their master, they go astray. . . . Yang is the leader of
creatures, and yin should always be obedient to yang, but in this hexagram,
the yin line in the fifth place rides alone atop a hard and strong line [i.e., a
yang line in the fourth place]. Nevertheless, . . . it achieves a central posi
tion in the outer [upper] trigram and in doing so provides carriage for the
yang line at the top. So all the yin lines [lines 1, 2, and 5] are obedient to
the yang and not defiant.4°
Wang’s conclusion is that although the overall situation represented by this par
ticular hexagram does not allow for personal achievement on a “grand scale,”
one can still “use this opportunity to achieve success on a small scale.”41
As we have already seen, Wang had a great deal to say about images as a means
of understanding ideas and situations, but he almost always had something very
different in mind than did those individuals identified with the so-called school
of images and numbers. In fact, we know that he advocated eventually forgetting
both words and images altogether. For Wang,
anything that corresponds analogously to an idea can serve as its image,

and any concept that fits with an idea can serve as corroboration of its
nature. If the concept involved really has to do with dynamism [as in the
case of Qian, 1], why must it only be presented in terms of the horse? And
if the analogy used really has to do with compliance [as in the case of Kun,
2], why must it only be presented in terms of the cow? If its lines really do
fit with the idea of compliance, why is it necessary that Kun represent only
the cow; and if its concept really corresponds to the idea of dynamism,
why is it necessary that Qian represent only the horse?”
Wang’s approach to the Changes was thus diametrically opposed to that of

most Han dynasty scholars, especially freewheeling individuals such as Yu Fan,
who wanted to make every metaphor into a trigram and every trigram into a
metaphor, always with an eye toward weaving them into one or another complex
system of trigram and hexagram relationships. Small wonder, then, that Wang
had no patience at all with Yu’s gloss of Lii, “The Wanderer” (56), discussed in
chapter 3 and above, with its wildly speculative line changes. And he displayed
a particular hostility toward Han interpretive techniques such as the system of
overlapping trigrams (hugua), hexagram changes (guabian), and five-agents (wu
xing) manipulations (see chapters 3, 5, and 7). In the excerpt below, his contempt
is palpable:
When the “overlapping trigrams” method proved inadequate, . . . people

went on further to the “hexagram change” method, and when this “hexa
gram change” method proved inadequate, they pushed on even further
to the “five agents” method, for once they lost sight of what the images
originally were, they had to become more and more intricate and clever.
Even though they sometimes might have come across something [con
cerning the images], they got absolutely nothing of the concepts. This is
all due to the fact that by concentrating on the images one forgets about
the ideas. If one were instead to forget about the images in order to seek
the ideas they represent, the concepts involved would then become evident
as a matter of course.“
By the end of the Six Dynasties period, Wang Bi’s commentary on the Changes,
now amplified by the commentaries of his follower Han Kangbo (ca. 3 3 2- 3 85?) ,44
had gained ascendancy among exegetes of the Yijing, but not for lack of herme
neutical competition.“ Throughout the entire era a host of Yi-oriented scholars
and practitioners vied for political, social, and intellectual influence, not only in
the relatively stable south but also in the conflicted north.46 For example, Guan
Lu (ca. 210-5 6), Wang’s Bi’s rough contemporary, was Widely known, but for a
very different reason than Wang: he was a technician (fangji or fangshi), skilled
in a Wide variety of mantic arts.”
Guan’s accomplishments as a practical diviner merit long biographies in the
Sanguo zhi (Record of the Three Kingdoms) and the Wei zhi (Record of the Wei
Dynasty), as well as in a “Separate Biography” written by his younger brother.
Moreover, later encyclopedias and compendia devote considerable space to his
remarkable divinatory exploits. According to these sources, Guan excelled in
the use of the tortoise shell and milfoil stalks, astrology, physiognomy, and the
interpretation of wind angles (fengjiao). Judging from the techniques he em
ployed and the books he read, his contemporaries were undoubtedly correct in
identifying him with the traditions of the great astrologer, numerologist, and
prognosticator of the Han dynasty, Iing Fang.“
Guan is perhaps best known for his astrologically based system of fate cal
culation, which placed special emphasis on the year, month, and day of one’s
birth. He is said to have remarked: “By the attached note [nayin] one’s fate may
be judged.” Guan’s idea was that a person’s life span was determined by the five
agents and. by various astrological configurations associated with the time of
his or her birth, a notion clearly presaged by Iing Fang’s najia and bagong sys
tems (see chapter 3). Musical phraseology came to be used by Guan because, in
keeping with Han-style correlative thinking, each of the notes on the standard
Chinese bamboo pitch pipe was associated with a particular agent, as Well a
particular hexagram.
Many of the stories told about Guan Lu revolve around his use of the Yijing.
In these tales he often takes Wang Bi to task either implicitly or explicitly for
emphasizing “the abstruse” rather than the concrete forces of yin and gang.
Here is an example of one of his Changes-related divinations, prompted when he
was asked by He Yan (190-249), a high-ranking official in Luoyang, to interpret
:1 dream involving some blue flies on He’s nose.49 Guan offered the following
analysis:
The nose is the Mountain [Gen, hexagram 52; also a trigram] . . . in the
middle of the Heavens. It is high, but not steep, and thereby continually
maintains its honored position. Now blue flies, which are foul and evil
creatures, have gathered and alighted upon it. The inevitable fate of one
whose position is high is to be overthrown, and that of one who despises
the powerful is to perish. Although changes and transformations produce
each other, if one overflows, the other will run dry. The sage, observing
the nature of yin and yang, understands the principles underlying survival
or perdition. He diminishes his gains, turning them into losses; he holds
back his advances, turning them into retreats. For this reason:
If the Mountain is in the Middle of the Earth.
it is called Modesty [Qian (15)]
and if Thunder is above Heaven,
it is called Great Strength [Dazhuang ( 34)] .50
“Modesty,” Guan added, “means ‘lessening what is too much and increasing
what is too little,’ and Great Strength means ‘not treading any course that is not
commensurate with decorum [li].’ ” He went on to say,
It is my humble wish that on the upper level your lordship should search
out the main idea of the six individual lines of each hexagram as given
by King Wen, and on the lower level think over the interpretations of
the judgments [tuan] and images [xiang] as given by Confucius. Then the
problem of whether you will reach one of the Three Ducal Offlces may be
solved, and the blue flies may be driven away.51
To this remark, Deng Yang (d. 249), president of the Board of Civil Appoint
ments, responded, “This is the usual talk of an old scholar,” whereupon Lu
replied: “This ‘old scholar’ [laosheng] perceives that someone will not live [bu
sheng]; as for the ‘usual talk’ [changyan], he perceives that someone will not talk
[butan].”51 In 249, when their patron fell from power, both Deng and He were
executed. Perhaps they should have considered Guan’s advice more carefully.
Like many divination specialists in imperial China, from Han times through
the Qing, Guan Lu drew freely from many mantic traditions, sometime in com
bination. In the following example, taken from his biography in the Sanguo zhi,
‘IOO Fathoming the Cosmos
we see how Guan employed hexagrams, nayin calculations, and fengjiao inter
pretations together to predict the impending demise of an official’s son. The
story goes like this: While visiting an official named Wang, Guan noticed a small
whirlwind arising from the east. Mr. Wang asked his guest what this occurrence
meant, and Guan replied: “A mounted messenger is about to arrive from the
east. I fear a father will be weeping for his son.” The next day a clerk on horse
back arrived with the news that Wang’s own son had died. When asked to ex
plain his prognostication, Guan responded:
That day was the fifty—second day in the sexagenary cycle, a day that corre
sponds to the eldest son. Now, wood declines in the ninth branch [shen],
and the tail of the dipper sets up shen. Shen counteracts the third branch,
yin, so this corresponds to death and mourning. The sun had entered the
sector of the sixth branch [si], as it was midday, and a wind arose, which
corresponds to a horse. The hexagram Li [3 o] means Writing, and is there
fore clearly the sign of a clerk-messenger. The junction of the hours of shen
and wei [3 :00 PM], is the time of the tiger. The tiger stands for the master.
This was therefore an indication of the father.”
Many compendia of the Six Dynasties period, notably the Shishuo xinyu (A New
Account of Tales of the World), contain instances of Yijing usage, both idiosyn
cratic and conventional, by emperors, bureaucrats, scholars, military men, and
professional specialists of various sorts, including doctors and diviners.54 In
some cases the Classic of Changes was employed as a source of philosophical or
practical advice. In others it was used to justify a policy, make a pronouncement,
or select a name (including, on more than one occasion, a ruler’s posthumous
title). The classic also served as a source of inspiration for many kinds of poetry,
prose, and painting (see chapter 9).55 Stephen Field argues, for example, that
landscape poems from the Six Dynasties period often cannot be fully appreci
ated without an understanding of Yijing imagery and symbolism as reflected in
the hexagrams, trigrams, judgments, line statements, and the Ten Wings.“
Not surprisingly, the Yi served as the focus of a great many “pure conversa
tions.”57 These spirited discussions were often launched by essays bearing titles
such as “The Images [of the Classic of Changes] Do Not Fully Express Ideas” (Xiang
bujin yi) or “The Great Worthies Need the Changes” (Daxian xu Yi).58 Here is a con
versation from the Shishuo that illustrates one style of Yijing-inspired discourse.
It begins:
Yin Zhongkan [d. ca. 4oo] once asked the monk Shi Huiyuan [334—ca.
417], “What is the substance of the Classic of Changes?”
Huiyuan replied, “Stimulus-response [ganying] is the substance of the
Changes-”
Yin continued: “When the bronze mountain collapsed in the west and
the spiritual bell responded in the east, was that the Classic of Changes? ”
Huiyuan smiled without answering.”
This exchange is based on two famous Han dynasty stories about bronze bells
that rang spontaneously to signal the collapse of a mountain. In both instances,
the explanation was that the stimulus and response had to do with the yingang
relationship between the bronze of the bell and the mountain as the source of
the metal. In the words of one interpreter,
Your servant has heard that bronze is the child of the mountains, and that
mountains are the mother of bronze. Speaking in terms of yin and yang, the
child and the mother are responding to each other. I’m afraid some moun
tain is about to collapse, and that’s why the bell is crying out. The Classic of
Changes says: “A calling crane in the shadows; its young answer it.”6°
Huiyuan’s silent response is significant because it reveals a common feature

of pure conversation. He is smiling because Yan’s example of ganying is apt, yet
inadequate. Since the substance of the Yijing is so much grander than any spe
cific example could possibly illustrate, Huiyuan’s smile indicates one of Wang
Bi’s basic ideas, namely, that when the concept has been grasped, the words can
simply be forgotten (deyi wangyan).°1
Shi Huiyuan is one of many examples of the philosophical eclecticism of the
Six Dynasties era; he is an individual whose knowledge of the Yijing and creative
synthesis of Daoism and Mahayana Buddhism bespeaks the mutual borrowing
that characterized the period. Another such individual was Xiao Yan (464-549),
who became emperor of the southern Liang dynasty and reigned from 502 to
549 as Liang Wudi. Xiao studied the Confucian classics, wrote extensive com
mentaries on various Buddhist texts, and lectured and wrote widely on the Yijing,
seeking to combine its principles with those of Buddhism. At one point dur
ing his reign, Wudi commissioned the illustrious Zhou Hongzheng (496-574),
“Erudite of the Changes,” to gather together a group of more than three hundred
scholars to discuss and explain parts of the Ten Wings. Among the members
of this distinguished group were Zhou’s students Zhang Ii (d. ca. 590) and Lu
Deming (556-627), both of whom became influential figures in the history of
Changes scholarship (see below) .61
During the Six Dynasties period, Confucianism contributed ethical values to
both Buddhism and Daoism, which helped it to stay alive at a time of temporary
intellectual eclipse. Daoism, for its part, appropriated certain Buddhist meta
physical concepts, imitated Buddhist monasteries and temples, and adopted
Buddhist forms of clerical organization, as well as Buddhist-style images, cere
monies, and canonical literature.“
Not surprisingly, both Buddhists and Daoists drew substantially from the
Yijing, as we shall see later in this chapter and again in subsequent chapters,
esp. chapters 6 and 7.64 Their debt to the Changes is evident not only in various
religious, philosophical, and alchemical writings but also in the decorative ele
ments of their pagodas, temples, monasteries, clothing, ritual objects, and talis
mans.“ Moreover, although Buddhists and Daoists both emphasized personal
behavior as the most important factor in shaping the future of individuals, both
groups used the Yijing and other forms of divination in order to “know fate.”66
Thus, we find a number of monks, priests, and lay adherents from the Six
Dynasties era and thereafter who were experts in techniques such as the use of
the tortoise shell and milfoil stalks, physiognomy, and various occult compu
tations.67 Some Buddhist and Daoist clerics also compiled mantic texts (bujing),
such as the mid-fifth-century work titled Guanding jing (Sutra of Consecration).
Such works included elements of traditional Chinese cosmology, and became
the precursors of the “spiritual stick” (lingqian) divination books that proved to
be so popular in late imperial China.“
By the end of the Six Dynasties era, Buddhism was ubiquitous in China, as
were various forms of “fate calculation.” One of the most noteworthy exponents
of the mantic arts, Xiao Ii (d. ca. 610), of the Sui dynasty, Wrote a book titled Wu
xing dayi (The Great Meaning of the “Five Agents”), in which he tried to synthe
size three major Yi-related divination systems —Liuren (The Six Yang Waters); Dun
jia (Evasive Techniques), also known as Qimen Dunjia; and Taiyi (Method of the
Taiyi [Great Unity] Spirit) .69 Grounded solidly in yinyang/wuxing correspondence
theory, and expressing the idea of an intimate relationship between Heaven,
Earth, and Man, Xiao’s work uses heavenly bodies, trigrams, and other cosmic
markers to reflect celestial images and numbers; geographical groupings such
as mountains and rivers to exemplify earthly images and numbers; and a wide
variety of social and political activities, classifications of people, and constel
lations of virtues to illustrate the images and numbers of human beings. If one
understands such images and numbers, Xiao asserts, one can understand the
workings of the universe.7° I
Tang Approaches to the Changes
During the early Tang dynasty (618-907), in the aftermath of the tumultuous
but short-lived Sui dynasty (589-618), the emperor Taizong, intent on legitimiz
ing his rule, commissioned Kong Yingda (574-648) to put together a team of
scholars to collect commentaries and write subcommentaries for the Five Clas
sics, including, of course, the Yijing. For his main commentary on the Changes,
Kong chose the Zhouyi zhu (Commentaries on the Zhou Changes), by Wang Bi and
Han Kangbo, in part, some have suggested, because of his regionally defined
(southern) exegetical outlook." In fact, however, Kong was at pains to deny
any regional bias, and he criticized southern scholars for deserting “the door of
Confucius” by importing excessive and frivolous interpretations from Buddhism
into their study of the Changes.” Moreover, Wang and Han themselves were not
beyond Kong’s criticism. Nonetheless, his approach is generally associated with
the school of meanings and principles (yili).
The final compilation, when supplemented by eight of Kong’s own essays and
his subcommentaries, became the Zhouyi zhengyi (Correct Meaning of the Zhou
Changes). This ambitious and wide-ranging work remained the official version
of the Yijing throughout the Tang and Song periods and into the Yuan dynasty;
it was the standard by which examination candidates who wrote on the classic
were measured.”
What were the major characteristics of the Zhouyi zhengyi? One important fea
ture of the work was its claim to comprehensiveness. Kong’s aim was to produce
an interpretation that would answer all major exegetical questions that might
be raised about the classic, from the meaning of its title, to its authorship, to
its structural elements and early evolution. Another feature of the work was its
focus on the role of the Yijing in providing moral guidance through its link with
the natural world. In Kong’s words,
Now, the Yi is [comprised of] images, and its lines are models. The sage has
[the capacity to] look upward and observe [the configurations of Heaven]
and to look downward [to examine the patterns of Earth]. By [grasping]
the images of Heaven and Earth, one can nurture groups of things. . . .
If one operates in harmony with [the natural order as exemplified in the
lines of the sixty-four hexagrams], then yin and yang will be ordered and
all things will be in harmony. If one’s actions are not in tune [with these
natural rhythms], the six positions will be overturned and the five agents
will be in chaos.”
Kong goes on to say that it is the sage ruler’s responsibility to be in tune with the
patterns of Heaven and Earth, nurturing and protecting all beings and assisting
in the maintenance of cosmic order.
Here we see a clear emphasis on the relationship between the cosmos, repre
sented by the lines, trigrams, and hexagrams of the Changes, and the ideal Chi
nese social and political order. From Kong’s perspective, the Kingly Way (wang.
dao) involved natural governance, exemplified by the regularities to be found in
nature and symbolically manifest in the Yijing. Guided by the Changes, the em
peror could govern without coercion (wuwei), using moral example and ritual
rectitude rather than laws and punishments."
The subcommentaries by Kong Yingda continually emphasize the need to
apply the wisdom and guidance of the Yijing in the realm of human affairs (renshi),
thus bringing a theme that was somewhat abstract and rather understated in the
Wang/Han commentaries to a much more concrete and prominent position. In
these subcommentaries, Kong often uses phrases such as “speaking in terms of
human affairs” (gi renshi gan zhi) or “applied to human affairs ” (si zhi yu renshi) to
highlight his relentless emphasis on social and political responsibility."
An example may be found in Kong’s subcommentary on the hexagram state
ment for Mingyi, “Suppression of the Light” (36), which Wang Bi apparently did
not believe required exegesis. The original hexagram statement reads: “Suppres
sion of the Light is such that it is fitting to practice constancy [perseverance] in
the face of adversity.” Kong’s gloss tells us:
Mingyi is the name of the hexagram. The character yi in the name means
impaired [shang; lit., “injured”]. The hexagram image suggests the sun
setting into the earth, symbolizing the “Suppression of the Light.” Ap
plied to human affairs, it signifies an unenlightened sovereign in the high
position and an enlightened official in the low position, [where the latter]
does not dare to show his talents. Although it is a time of utmost ob
scurity, one cannot follow the trend and lean to one side. Therefore, it
is appropriate for [the enlightened official] to put up with adversity and
to remain firmly committed [to his principles], maintaining his upright
virtue. Hence, during the “Suppression of the Light” it is fitting to practice
constancy."
Here we see Kong Yingda using the trigram symbolism of the Mingyi hexa
gram to make his point, identifying the upper trigram, Kun, with the earth, and
the lower trigram, Li, with the sun. He argues that just as the light of the sun is
suppressed by the earth, the capable official must endure corrupt rule, persever
ing in the proper path despite impediments.
Similarly, in glossing the hexagram statement of Zhen, “Quake” (51), which
refers to people who “shiver and shake” when they hear thunder, Kong draws
upon naturalistic imagery to make a concrete point about the need for strict ad
ministration. In this case he argues that a fierce storm, with crashing thunder
and violent wind, displays the awesome anger of Heaven, causing even “superior
persons” to become unsettled. How much more awe-inspiring, then, will the
In be for those of lesser intelligence and inferior rectitude?"
Stofis Tze-ki Hon has argued, the main theme of the Zhouyi zhengyi is the “abso
lute power of the king.”79 This notion is especially evident in the writings of
1(QngYingda’s contemporary Xing Shu, whose gloss on Wang Bi’s Zhougi liieli ap
pears at the end of Kong’s opus. Here, Xing repeatedly emphasizes the need for a
powerful ruler to guide and control the people. For instance, in commenting on
W3ng’S statement that “for the many to exist, there must be a single controlling
[principle] ,” and his argument that “unity requires a [single regulating] model,”
Xing transforms remarks made about the specific role of judgments in hexagram
analysis into broader assertions about the need for strong central-government
leadershi .8°
Althotfgh Kong’s Zhouyi zhengyi dominated Tang scholarship on the Changes,
it was by no means the only source of textual authority on the classic. Scholars
such as the famous philologist and erudite of the Imperial Academy, Lu Deming,
for example, wrote wide-ranging commentaries on the Yijing, from general in
terpretations to specific semantic and phonological studies." His most famous
and influential work on the Yijing is probably the Zhouyi yinyi (Pronunciation and
Meaning in the Zhou Changes). As discussed briefly above, Lu was a student of
Zhou Hongzheng, whose innovative analysis of the so-called four powers of the
Qian hexagram (1) —yuan, heng, Ii, and zhen—is quoted at length in Kong’s Zhouyi
zhengyi."
Cui Iing, for whom we have no biographical details, seems to have been a
contemporary of Kong Yingda’s. Although attracted by Wang Bi and others’ em
phasis on meanings and principles, he also followed the images-and-numbers
inclinations of Zheng Xuan, Xun Shuang, and Yu Fan.” So did Hou Guo (seventh
century?), whom Ma Guohan (1794-1857) identifies as Hou Xingguo. Hou is
known as the author of a book, no longer extant, titled Yishuo (Discussions on
the Changes) and for his use of such well-worn Han interpretive techniques as re
ceived initial stem (najia), dispersal and accumulation (xiaoxi), hexagram changes
(guabian), overlapping trigrams (hugua), and the idea of rising and falling lines or
trigrams (shengjiang) (see chapter 3).“
Moreover, as we have seen, Li Dingzuo (eighth century) offered a radical chal
lenge to Kong Yingda’s orthodoxy, seeking to turn Yijing exegesis decisively away
from Wang Bi and Han Kangbo and toward the writings of Han scholars such as
1o6 Fathoming the Cosmos
Zheng, Xun, and Yu.85 Excerpts from their works, as well as from the works of
more than thirty other scholars, thus found their way into Li’s Zhougi jijie (C01
lected Explanations of the Zhou Changes), which the editors of the Four Treasuries
project later described enthusiastically as “a true treasure,” a means of under
standing the basic meaning of the hexagrams and their lines after centuries of
eclipse.“
According to the preface of Li’s book, his aim was to “expunge Wang BPS
unorthodox comments [gewen] and to add Zheng Xuan’s lost images [yixiang] ” to
the analysis of the Yijing. In truth, however, as other parts of Li’s preface clearly
indicate, he saw difficulties in Zheng’s approach as well as Wang’s, criticizing
the former for a preoccupation with “heavenly images” and the latter for relying
too heavily on Laozi and Zhuangzi. As a Qing dynasty commentator remarked
many centuries later, in Li Dingzuo’s eyes, Zheng placed too much emphasis on
images and numbers, while Wang concentrated too single-mindedly on names
and principles (mingli).87
Yet even this dichotomy is not an entirely fair characterization of Li’s editorial
stance, for he genuinely admired Wang’s “General Remarks on the Zhou Changes”
and therefore appended this essay to the Zhouyijijie.” And, one might add, for all
of Kong Yingda’s emphasis on the meanings-and—principles approach of Wang
Bi and Han Kangbo, he was certainly not above citing the authority of certain
Han advocates of images and numbers, including, for example, Zheng Xuan.89
Thus we see, once again, that a full and balanced appraisal of Yijing exegesis re
quires an appreciation of the diversity of Chinese thought and a recognition of
the remarkable eclecticism of many Chinese thinkers.
Changes-related writings by Buddhist and Daoist scholars and practitioners
in the Tang period also reflect this diversity and eclecticism.9° From the Six Dy
nasties period on, exponents of Daoist alchemy (danjue; lit., “cinnabar secrets”)
continued to draw heavily upon the Yijing in their quest for longevity and even
tual immortality. Whether by means of elixirs—external alchemy (waidan) —or by
means of yogalike techniques of physical and mental cultivation—internal al
chemy (neidan)—the goal was to align the body and the mind with the cosmos.
And what better vehicle for guidance than the Changes.>91 Thus we find that tri
grams and hexagrams loom large as markers of time and space, as well as indi
cators of functions, in Alchemical Daoism.92
One of the most famous and influential of all Chinese alchemical texts is the
Zhougi cantong qi (Token for the Agreement of the Three according to the Zhou
Changes), usually known simply as the Cantong qi.93 This work first appeared dur
ing the later Han and was initially related both to the Yijing and to the apocrypha.
Traditionally, authorship of the Cantong qi has been ascribed to a legendary Dao
ist figure by the name of Wei Boyang,94 but the original version of the work may
well have been inspired by the late Han classical commentator Yu Fan, whose
3pplfO2lCh to the Changes encouraged later efforts to link alchemical and cosmo
logical processes by means of images.95
According to Fabrizio Pregadio, Yu’s lineage, based in Iiangnan, probably
transmitted the original Cantong qi during the Six Dynasties era to southwestern
China, where it interacted with local Daoist alchemical traditions. As Pregadio
points out, most authors of the period who mention the Cantong qi were closely
associated with Iiangnan, a region that preserved Yu’s traditions of Changes
studies, as well as the lore of the apocrypha.9° The result, at all events, was a
reformulated text that attained its present form by the beginning of the eighth
century and came to play an extremely important role in the development of both
internal and external alchemy (see also chapter 6).97
Quite naturally, a close connection existed between Chinese alchemy and vari
ous Chinese medical arts. Both types of physical refinement (lian) had as their
goal the establishment and maintenance of harmony within the body, and both
assumed that the body was a microcosm of the universe. In each case, trigrams
and hexagrams not only mapped this shared correlative space but also exerted in
fluence on it at the macrocosmic level.98 Such correlative assumptions also oper
ated in a wide variety of related realms, from herbal treatments and acupuncture
to therapeutic practices that came to be known by such names as Taiji quan (lit.,
“Supreme Ultimate Fists”) and Qigong (lit., “Qi Efficacy”).99 More “martial” arts,
such as Bagua zhang (lit., “Eight Trigram Hands”) and Meihua zhang (lit., “Plum
Flower Hands”), both obviously named with the Changes in mind, could also fit
comfortably under the capacious umbrella of Yi-oriented “medicine.” 1°°
Daoist appropriations of the Yijing even affected state sacrifice in the Tang,
during which, as early as the mid-eighth century, the central authorities wor
shipped the “Noble Spirits of the Nine Palaces” (jiugong guishen). In this system,
which seems to have been inspired at least in part by the Sui diviner Xiao Ii’s
Wuxing dayi, eight trigram palaces (bagua zhi gong) surrounded a central palace.
Each of these sacred spaces, including the one in the center, was occupied by a
deity associated not only with one of the eight trigrams but also with a number,
a star, a color, an agent, and a planet. In the heavens, the nine palaces governed
the tvventy-eight lunar lodges (xiu) and the nine dipper stars, and on earth they
oversaw the four rivers, the five peaks, and the nine regions .1°1
Meanwhile, Tang Buddhists, building on Six Dynasties precedents, engaged
the Changes to an unprecedented extent. The Yi-related writings of individu
als such as Li Tongxuan (635-730), Yixing (673—727), Chengguan (738-839),
Zongmi (780-841), Dongshan Liangjie (807-869), and Caoshan Benji (84o—
901) show how Buddhism—-particularly the variety known as Huayan, meaning
“Flowery Splendor,”, which arose during the Tang period—interacted with the
Yijing, not only borrowing concepts from the classic but also enriching it by ex
panding the range of its interpretive possibilities. These writings also provide
valuable background for an understanding of intellectual developments in the
Song dynasty, especially the rise of neo-Confucianism (see chapter 5).1°1
Yixing, a Buddhist monk and official court astronomer during the reign of
the emperor Xuanzong, was one of the most famous clerics of the Tang era (see
chapter 3). Renowned for his sagacity, perspicacity, and mantic skill, Yixing ex
celled in fate extrapolation, physiognomy, and geomancy, as well as in mathe
matics, calendrical science, and classical studies. He studied Han scholarship
on the Yijing, read Yang Xiong’s Taixuan jing assiduously, and—like his less Well
known contemporary, the lay scholar Li Tongxuan —was particularly attracted to
the calendrical and numerological theories of individuals such as Meng Xi and
ling Fang (see chapter 3).1°3 The author or editor of several books on astrology
and other forms of divination, Yixing served as a trusted adviser and interpreter
of portents for his imperial patron. At the same time, in self-conscious testi
mony to Buddhism’s adoption of Confucian values, he promoted the idea that
both adherence to and departure from loyalty, filial piety, humaneness, and right
behavior influenced one’s karmic fortunes.
Chengguan and his disciple Zongmi illustrate the link between Huayan Bud
dhism and the Changes. The Huayan school, influenced significantly by Daoism,
emphasized the idea that all phenomena are mutually implicated and that they
are all reflections of universal principle (Ii), often equated with ultimate reality
(fajie in Chinese, dharmadhatu in Sanskrit) or the Buddha nature (Faxing), the
ground of all being. Chengguan’s extensive writings on the Avatamsaka Sutra
(the Dafangguang F0 Huayan jing shu and the Suishu yanyi chao) and Zongmi’s essay
on meditation (Chanyuan zhuquanji duxu) indicate some of the ways that Buddhist
teachings could be linked to the Yijing, not only through trigram and hexagram
symbolism but also through illustrations.1°4 Some scholars have argued, for in
stance, that certain moonlike red and black diagrams produced by Zongmi may
have inspired the famous Taiji tu (Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate), which the
Song philosopher Zhou Dunyi popularized (see chapter 5).1°5
In Chengguan’s notes to his commentary on the Avatamsaka Sutra he cites
the judgments of the Tai (11) and Pu (24) hexagrams—both of which refer to
arriving (lai) and departing (wang) —in discussing Buddhist enlightenment:
[Manjusri once asked,] “What does it mean to have an arriving and a de
parting?” [I answerz] To observe What living beings like in their hearts
is called departing; to explain the dharma [Buddhist teachings] to them
according to their responsiveness is called returning [fu]. For a person
to enter samadhi [“mindfulness” or “concentration”; not being unsettled
by external experience] is called departing; to cause all living beings to
achieve samadhi is called returning. To practice the sagely path oneself is
called departing; to be able to teach all people is called returning. . . .To
make a vow of enlightenment to sit in the bodhi-mandala is called depart
ing; to cultivate all the practices of a boclhisarcva is called returning.1°6
Similarly, when Chengguan tells us that “the creative mirror [of the mind] is per
fectly empty and comes into permanent accord with the Great Harmony [Dahe] ,”
Zongmi explains that this particular expression is based on the “Commentary
on the Judgments” regarding the Qian hexagram (1), which reads in part: “The
change and transformation of the Way of Qian . . . keep the nature and destiny
of things correct; [and] it is by fitness and constancy that one preserves the great
harmony and stays in tune with it.” 1°7
In the realm of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, which, like Huayan and Tiantai, had a
close connection to the Yijin_g,1°8 Dongshan and his disciple Caoshan are credited
with developing a series of moonlike illustrations, similar to those of Zongmi,
called the “Diagrams of the Five Positions” (Wuwei tu).1°9 These diagrams were
designed to show how the five positions evolved out of a series of permutations
involving the hexagram Li (“Cohesion” or “Clinging” [30]). Characteristic of
much of Chan discourse, the symbolic heart of this particular school, later iden
tified as the Cao Dong [in Japanese, Soto] sect, was expressed in highly cryptic
form:
Double the trigram Li [to make] six lines.

The correct and biased [positions] interconnect [exchange places].
Piled up, there are three [configurations].
When the transformations are completed, there are five.
It is like the [five-]flavored zhi grass, in the form of the diamond rod
[_gangwu; in Sanskrit, vajra].11°
No consensus exists on the exact meaning of these verses, but the basic idea
seems to be that the changing gin and gang lines of the Li hexagram can be ma
nipulated in such a way as to yield three new patterns of lines and eventually five
different hexagram configurations?“
Why did Dongshan choose the trigram/hexagram Li to epitomize his philoso
phy? Opinions vary, but one plausible interpretation is that Li, which symbol
izes fire in the “Discussion of the Trigrams” wing of the Changes,111 represents
11o Fathoming the Cosmos
both mind and enlightenment (ming, lit., “brightness”) in Chan Buddhism_
Another possibility is that the Chinese character for the Li hexagram, which
can mean “departure from,” “freedom from,” or “separation from,” is used by
Dongshan and Cao Shan in various specifically Buddhist senses to signify ideas
such as “cutting off” evil, “abstaining from” misdeeds, “abandoning” impure
and defiling influences, “eliminating” desires, “being free” from thinking, and
“escaping” from the world. A third possibility is that the two constituent tri
grams of Li each have a yin line in the midst of two yang lines, symbolizing silent
illumination, that is, utilization of the “passive core” (yin) of the dynamic mind
(yam.-1)~113
According to most accounts of Cao Dong teachings, the five positions corre
spond roughly to five stages of mental cultivation leading ultimately to Buddha
hood. These stages are illustrated by a series of small circles in various combi
nations of light and dark, with cryptic verses for each position. But there are a
great many variants in Cao Dong texts: the verses differ, the circles do not always
appear in the same order, and in some texts the five positions are accompanied
not only by circles but also by hexagrams or other combinations of solid and bro
ken lines. Here is one description, involving an amalgamation of written texts,
hexagrams, and circles:
Stage 1, designated by the hexagram Sun (“Compliance” [57]], is marked

by a circle in which the top half is black and the bottom half is white.
It signifies an upright position (zheng; lit., “correctness”) in which
the “sovereign” is above and the “minister/subject” is below. By some
accounts, this “proper” perspective is still incomplete, because it
requires mundane logic as well as higher understanding.
Stage 2, designated by the hexagram Dui (“Ioy” [58]), is marked by a circle
in which the top half is white and the bottom half is black. It signifies a
biased position (pian; lit., “leaning to one side”) in which the “minister/
subject” is above and the “sovereign” is below. By some accounts, this
biased perspective is incomplete for the same reason stated above.
Stage 3, designated by the hexagram Daguo (“Major Superiority” [z8]),
is marked by a white circle with a black dot in the middle. It signifies
“bias in uprightness,” when particularity has the upper hand. By some
accounts, the idea here is‘a balance between words and silence.
Stage 4, designated by the hexagram Zhongfu (“Inner Trust” [61]), is
marked by an all-white circle. It signifies “uprightness in bias,” when
particulars are absorbed into a “universal emptiness.” By some accounts,
this stage also involves a balance between words and silence.
Stage 5, designated by the hexagram Li (“Cohesion” [3o]), is marked by an
all-black circle. It signifies “the support of both positions,” indicating
non-abiding nirvana. By some accounts, this stage involves “seeing
things as they [really] are” (tathata).114
These stages correspond roughly to (1) meditation (dhyana), (2) mindfulness

or concentration (samadhi), (3) attaining Arhatship, (4) Bodhisattvahood, and (5)
Buddhahood.115 The precise relationship of these stages to the five hexagrams
listed is not clear in any of the sources I have seen, but one might well imagine
that a careful study of each hexagram in turn would provide concrete guidance
on the road to enlightenment. It is not difficult to see, for example, how helpful
the Sun hexagram (“Compliance” [57]), with its commentaries and line state
ments, which speak of advancing and retreating (in the midst of doubt), obedi
ence to authority, and the need for centrality and rectitude, might be in the early
stages of one’s journey.116
Taken as a Whole, the period from about zoo CE to goo CE was one in Which,
despite periodic challenges by certain Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist thinkers,
Wang Bi’s approach to the Yijing dominated, at least in most intellectual circles.
To be sure, his more abstract or general discussions were sometimes applied
directly to particular social or political problems, and in the process Wang’s
ideas came to be modified significantly?” But his basic emphasis on the value of
analyzing individual hexagrams as a means by which “to determine the workings
of Heaven and Earth, to order human relationships, and to clarify the Kingly
Way” (cluan Tiancli li renlun er ming wangdao) was widely shared by scholars in later
times.118 In fact, his interpretive outlook continued to influence exegesis of the
Changes for many centuries, even after scholars in the Song period began to un
leash a barrage of criticisms against him.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Song Dynasty
After a brief period of disunity following the downfall of the Tang, the Song
dynasty (960-1279) reestablished centralized rule over all of China. Building on
earlyTang political institutions as well as late Tang intellectual developments and
economic changes, the Song carried Chinese material culture to new heights,
combining remarkable administrative stability with unprecedented economic
growth. Improvements in transport and communication, coupled with the rapid
expansion of block printing (a Tang invention), contributed to the production
and dissemination of the new knowledge of the period.1
The Song was an era of remarkable intellectual vitality, epitomized by a series
of extraordinary and diverse thinkers, including Chen Tuan (d. 989), Zhong Fang
(956-1016), Mu Xiu (979-1032), Zhang Boduan (ca. 983-1082), Fan Zhongyan
(989-1052), Hu Yuan (993-1059), Ouyang Xiu (1007-72), Li Gou (1009-59), Liu
Mu (1011-64), Shao Yong (1011-77), Zhou Dunyi (1017-73), Sima Guang (1019
86), Zhang Zai (1020-77), Wang Anshi (1021-86), Shen Gua (1031-95), Cheng
Hao (1032-85), ChengYi (1033-1107), Su Shi (a.k.a. Su Dongpo, 1037-1101), and
the great synthesizer, Zhu Xi (1130-1200), all of whom wrote at length and in
sightfully on various aspects of the Changes? During the Song, for the first time in
Chinese history, the Yijing received more scholarly attention than any other Con
fucian classic, and it would continue to do so for the remainder of the imperial
era.3 From a regional standpoint, it is important to note that Sichuan province
became a major center of classical scholarship on the Changes in the Song period,
although its importance declined in favor of other areas in post-Song times.4
Bureaucratic factionalism was endemic during much of the Song period, af
The Song Dynasty 113
fecting academic as well as political discourse.5 It was exacerbated intensely by
policy disputes over what to do about military threats to China’s northern fron
tiers. This strategic problem came to a head when the alien Iin dynasty (1115
1234), established by the Ruzhen people beyond the Great Wall, invaded China
proper and captured the Song northern capital at Kaifeng, forcing the dynasty to
reestablish itself at Hangzhou, in the south, in 1127. This event had a traumatic
effect on the regime, causing the Southern Song court to turn inward and even
tually to establish a narrowly conservative orthodoxy, which was then, of course,
rei nforced by the civil—service examinations.“
Through all the glory and travail, and despite fierce partisanship in both poli
tics and intellectual life, Song scholars of the Changes demonstrated time and
again the limits of arbitrary labels. Contemporaries and later scholars might
seek to pigeonhole them into one or another exegetical camp,’ and at times
they themselves might identify with one or another school or scholar, but in the
end their Yijing scholarship transcended artificial boundaries and simple lines of
affiliationfi
Iconoclasm and Creativity in the Northern Song

As Tze-l<i Hon’s recent research has clearly shown, the Northern Song was a far
more creative era in Yijing scholarship than most people have realized? In the
first place, it was highly iconoclastic. Hu Yuan, for instance, bravely assailed
Kong Yingda’s “orthodox” commentary on the Changes, replacing the Wang/Han
emphasis on nonbeing with a stress on “the [moral] Way [Dao] ,” in particular the
need for greater activism on the part of the Song literati in all realms of Chinese
political and social life. The goal of all scholars, Hu maintained, must not simply
be to find their place in the natural order; rather they must “fulfill . . . their cos
mic mission by improving their own domains.”1° Hu’s influence extended to a
number of Song thinkers, including such towering figures as Cheng Yi and Zhu
Xi (see below) .11
Another iconoclastic thinker in the early Song was the famous statesman
and scholar Ouyang Xiu, who, in his famous work Yi tongzi wen (Questions from
a Youth about the Changes), courageously challenged the long-standing belief
that Confucius had written the Ten Wings." In Ouyang’s view, based on close
and careful study, works like the “Great Commentary,” the “Commentary on the
Words of the Text,” and the “Discussion of the Trigrams” were far too repetitious,
heterogeneous, and contradictory to have been composed by the Sage. Rather,
he asserted, the Ten Wings had evolved as “ [various] scholars who studied the
Changes in ancient times gathered material unsys tematically to support their own
theories.” 13 Although this remained a minority opinion throughout the imperial
era, it was an argument that surfaced again and again, as we shall see.
The Northern Song was also a time of enormous fascination with cosmologi
cal and divinatory charts and diagrams, an interest deplored by Ouyang Xiu but
unrivaled in China since the heyday of xiangshu and chenwei theories and practices
in the Han period (see chapter 3).14 This preoccupation was in part the produq
of a long-standing interaction between elite and popular divinatory traditions
in China that scholars in both the East and the West have only recently come to
appreciate fully.15 As we shall see, the editors of the Four Treasuries collection
in the Qing dynasty were suspicious of this interaction and extremely selective
in the xiangshu-oriented authors that they included in the “Classics” section on
the Changes.“
Like almost every other facet of Yijing studies, the provenance of early Song
charts and diagrams (tushu) has long been a matter of intense and often acrimo
nious debate. One central question is whether the Changes inspired such illustra
tions or whether it was the other way around. But regardless of one’s position, it
is clear that from the Song dynasty on, charts and diagrams were never far from
the minds of Chinese scholars and practitioners of the Yijing.” Here is a typical
description, by the modern scholar Sun Guozhong, of the place occupied by
them in the late imperial era:
In the Song dynasty, the Daoist priest Chen Tuan, from Hua Mountain,
taught the images-and-numbers [xiangshu] learning of the Zhou Changes to
all under Heaven. He also introduced to later generations the Hetu [Yellow
River Chart], the Luoshu [Luo River Writing], the Xiantian tu [Chart of the
Former Heaven Sequence], and the Taiji tu [Diagram of the Supreme Ulti
mate], which had been lost for two thousand years. Thus, xiangshu learn
ing enjoyed great prosperity, and the “He Luo school” arose. Yi learning
reached its high point in the Song. Zhu Xi combined images-and-numbers
learning and meanings-and-principles [yili] learning with the three great
exponents of the “He Luo school” [Shao Yong, with his Xiantian tu; Zhou
Dunyi, with his Taiji tu; and Liu Mu, with his Hetu and Luoshu]. He praised
[these three scholars’ achievements] at the beginning of his Zhougi benyi
[Original Meaning of the Zhou Changes] and thus established the He Luo
school’s position in the history of Yi learning.“
Of course the genealogy of these illustrations, both before and after the Song
period, was far more complex than this brief summary suggests. In the first
place, as indicated in chapter 3, there is a large and growing body of literary, his
wrical, and archaeological evidence indicating that ancient versions or proto
types of these charts and diagrams may well have existed in Han, if not pre
Han, times. In the second place, the lines of transmission of these illustrated
materials are extremely convoluted, complicating the search for “origins.” As
the scholar Zhu Zhen (1072-113 8) wrote in his “Iin Zhouyi biao” (Memorial Pre
senting the Zhou Changes),
The dynasty has risen like a dragon, and people of unusual talents have
emerged. Chen Tuan . . . transmitted the Xiantian tu to Zhong Fang, Zhong
Fang transmitted it to Mu Xiu, Mu Xiu gave it to Li Zhicai [d. 1045], and
Li Zhicai gave it to Shao Yong. Fang passed the Hetu and the Luoshu to Li
Gai [fi. tenth century], Li Gai gave it to Xu Iian [fl. tenth century], Xu Iian
transmitted it to Fan Echang [tenth-eleventh century], and Fan Echang
gave it to Liu Mu. Mu Xiu transmitted the Taiji tu to Zhou Dunyi, and Zhou
Dunyi gave it to Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao.19
Chen Tuan occupies the center of most Song and post-Song accounts of the
genesis of the He Luo school.-2° A renowned Daoist master and eventual “immor
tal,” he studied the Confucian classics, especially the Yijing, as well as Chinese
history and Buddhist philosophy. Conversant with medicine, astronomy, geog
raphy, and various forms of divination, he was known for his poems (more than
six hundred by one accounting) as well as his prognostications. He is credited
with laying the foundations not only of the tradition of Daoist “inner alchemy”
(neidan) that prevailed in the Song and Yuan dynasties, but also of the most
prominent tradition of Chinese physiognomy (see chapter 9).“
Like Wang Bi, Chen lived in tumultuous times, and also like Wang, he became
preoccupied with change, instability, and uncertainty. This is undoubtedly one
reason why he sought guidance from the Yijing, which he was reportedly “unable
to put down.” At the center of Chen’s approach to the Changes was the concept
of Taiji (the Supreme Ultimate), a notion derived from the “Great Commentary,”
which reads:
[The Supreme Ultimate] is what generates the two modes [yin and gang].
The two basic modes [represented by broken and unbroken lines] gener
ate the four basic images [sixiang, broken and unbroken lines in sets of
two], and the four basic images generate the eight trigrams [by adding to
each first one unbroken (yang) line, then one broken (yin) line] .11
Figure 5.1 shows how this process unfolds to yield the Former Heaven sequence
of the trigrams.
The notion of a Supreme Ultimate had been understood somewhat differ
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ently by previous commentators. Zheng Xuan, for example, described Taiji as

“pure and undivided qi [energy, material force, etc.] ,” while Yu Fan equated the
Supreme Ultimate with the long—standing notion of the Taiyi (Great One) in Chi
nese popular lore. For most Chinese thinkers in the Song period, Taiji was less a
“thing” than a way of conceptualizing a cosmic process involving dynamic and
perpetual yinyang interaction.”
Chen Tuan, like Zheng, had a qi-based conception of the Supreme Ultimate,
and like Wang Bi, he saw Taiji as; emerging from the Wuji, or “N on-Ultimate.” In
Chen’s cosmology, Taiji generates yin and yang, which, in their ebb and flow and
interaction, produce qi, the manifestation of yin and yang and the five agents in
various combinations and forms. This qi, in turn, becomes the stuff of which all
things, animate and inanimate, are constituted.“
From Buddhism, Chen took the idea of “dependent arising,” arguing that “all
things on earth are merely borrowed from the unified qi of yin and gang” and thus
are “empty,” with no real “solidity.” The same was true, he asserted, of the eight
trigrams and the sixty-four hexagrams. This did not mean, however, that the
trigrams and hexagrams lacked their own efficacy. On the contrary, Chen’s “Dia
gram of the N aturalness of Heaven and Earth” (Tiandi ziran tu) depicts a dynamic
process by which yang energy arises out of the position of thunder (represented
by the Zhen trigram) in the northeast and passes through fire (Li) in the east and
lake (Dui) in the southeast to reach its full development in Heaven (Qian) in the
south. From there, it changes into yin energy, which arises out of the position
of wind (Sun) in the southwest and passes through water (Kan) in the west and
mountain (Gen) in the northwest to reach its own apex in the position of Earth
(Kun) in the north.” In this view, then, the trigrams were literally sites of cosmic
influence.
Chen Tuan’s cosmology is reflected in his versions of the Hetu and the Lu0
shu, discussed briefly above and also in chapter 3. As previously indicated, the
former diagram reflects a sequence of the five agents in which they generate one
another, while the latter illustrates how they overcome one another. In these two
systems, as in virtually all other approaches to the Changes, odd numbers are yang
(representing Heaven) and even numbers are yin (representing Earth).26
Chen Tuan explains the numerical symbolism of his Yellow River Chart as
follows:
The one of Heaven and the six of Earth form water [in the north]. The
trigrams Qian and Kan are joined, and water is produced from metal. This
is the winter solstice.
The two of Earth and the seven of Heaven form fire [in the south]. The
trigrams Sun and Li are joined, and fire is produced from wood. This is the
summer solstice.
The three of Heaven and the eight of Earth form wood [in the east].
The trigrams Gen and Zhen are joined, and wood is produced from water.
This is the vernal equinox.
The four of Earth and the nine of Heaven form metal [in the west]. The
trigrams Kun and Dui are joined, and metal is produced from Earth. This
is the autumnal equinox.
The five of Heaven and the ten of Earth form earth [in the center]. Rest
ing with this combination, earth is produced from fire.
All this describes the formation of things.”
Figure 5.2 depicts some of the relationships described above by Chen. As is

often the case with traditional Chinese charts and diagrams representing geo
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graphical space, the north is located at the bottom of this illustration. There, the
numbers one and six are linked with Water and associated with the Kan trigram.
In the west, the numbers four and nine are linked with metal and associated
with both the Qian and Dui trigrams. The situation is analogous for Li in the
south and Sun and Zhen in the east. Kun and Gen operate inside this structure,
oriented to the West and east, respectively.
In the Luo River Writing, as indicated in chapter 3, each vertical, horizon
tal, or diagonal set of three numbers adds up to fifteen, and the movement of
the “conquest” sequence of the five agents is roughly counterclockwise. Thus,
Water (one and six), in the lower right, overcomes fire (two and seven); fire over
comes metal (four and nine); metal overcomes Wood (three and eight); Wood
overcomes earth (five); and earth overcomes water (one and six).18 As we have
seen, not only did the Luoshu play an important role in the divinatory systems of
individuals such as Xiao Ii in the Sui but it also seems to have inspired the system
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Figure 5.3. The numbers of the Yellow River Chart (right) and the Luo River Writing (left)
of state worship in the Tang known as the “Noble Spirits of the Nine Palaces.”
Figure 5.3 contrasts a circular configuration of the Hetu numbers (right) with
a square configuration of the Luoshu numbers (left). Note that the conquest se
quence described immediately above begins in the lower right with one and six
and proceeds counterclockwise.
Whatever the actual provenance of the Hetu and the Luoshu, Chen Tuan could
not escape responsibility for bringing these two documents into the mainstream
of Yijing theory and practice during the Song. His name also came to be asso
ciated, in all likelihood erroneously, with a number of other Yi-related docu
ments of the early Song period, including the Hetu zhenshu (True Book on the
River Chart), the Hetu lishu (Numerology of the River Chart), the Longtuji (Record
of the Dragon Chart), and a commentary on a poetic interpretation of the Changes
titled Zheng Yi xinfa (The Correct Changes Method of the Mind), which was sup
posedly Written by Chen’s teacher, known only as the “Hemp-Clad Daoist” (Mayi
daozhe).19 This latter Work, consisting of about forty poems, offers a combina
tion of Daoism, Yijing philosophy, and physiognomy.3°
Not surprisingly, assessments of Chen’s role have ranged widely over the
years, from high praise to outright condemnation. In his own time he had many
followers, and he once served as an honored and trusted adviser to Emperor
Taizong. During the Yuan dynasty, Hao Iing went so far as to proclaim that Chen
had followed in the illustrious footsteps of Fuxi, King Wen, and Confucius him
self.31 But Song scholars such as Li Gou blamed Chen and others for “leading
students of the Changes astray” and “bringing harm to the sagely teachings.”31
Hu Wei, a Qing dynasty scholar, described Chen as China’s “laughing stock”
(xiaobing) for a thousand years,” and the editors of the Four Treasuries project
repeatedly denounced him for defiling the Changes and opening the door to Dao
ist understandings of the hallowed classic.3"'
A Mixed Bag: Chen Tuan’s Successors

in the Northern Song
Praise and blame also attached to a number of scholars and practitioners who
learned from Chen Tuan. On the one hand, Liu Mu’s approach to the Yijing—
epitomized by his most famous book, the Yishu gouyin tu (Investigation into
the Hidden: Illustrations of Changes Numerology) —not only inspired the well
placed censor Wu Mi (1056 jinshi) to present Liu’s writings to the Song court in
1042 but it also provoked Huang Lixian (eleventh-twelfth century) to write a
sequel to the Yishu gouyin tu.35 On the other hand, Liu received severe criticism
from a number of scholars over the centuries for his numerological theories and
correlative schemes. These critics ranged from Li Gou and Song Xian in the early
Song period to Zhang Huiyan (1761-1802) and others in the Qing.36
The situation is somewhat more complicated in the case of two other fa
mous scholars who were indebted to Chen Tuan and whose works are actually
part of the Daoist canon (Daozang): Shao Yong and Zhou Dunyi. This is because
both men were closely connected with some of the most influential thinkers
in the Northern Song period, including Sima Guang, Cheng Hao, and Cheng
Yi.37 Although not beyond criticism (see below), Shao and Zhou were eventually
canonized in the Yuan dynasty for their contributions to Confucian philosophy;
Chen Tuan, however, was not.
Like Iing Fang’s in the Han and Chen Tuan’s in the Song, Shao Yong’s name
is connected to a number of popular divinatory practices.” Indeed, in the minds
of many, Shao’s principal claim to fame was his predictive prowess.” But Shao
was also a philosopher; he was deeply interested in cosmology and ontology,
and he was fascinated in particular by the correlations he saw between natural
phenomena, natural processes, numbers, and ideas. His most famous scholarly
work, the Huangji jingshi shu (Supreme Principles That Rule the World), reflects
this fascination/*°
As a long review of this book by the editors of the Four Treasuries makes clear,
Shays work was extremely sophisticated and enormously influential; the great
Zhu X1 (see below) himself said as much. Yet even Zhu was equivocal, forced to
admit that, au fond, the Huangji jingshi shu dealt with mechanical techniques of
fate extrapolation (tuibu) rather than orthodox divination (bushi). Later critics,
5u¢h as He Tang (1474-1543), Huang Zongxi (1610-95) and Zhu Yizun (1629
1709), took Shao to task for “forcing” his correlations and for taking unjustified
liberties with the standard symbolism of the Chan_ges.41
To Shao, the Supreme Ultimate was the source of spirit (shen), which, although
itself “unfathomable” (as per the “Great Commentary”), produced numbers,
which could be understood by human beings. Numbers produced archetypal
images (xiang), which then gave rise to concrete objects (qi). All such objects
assumed their forms (xing) due to the accumulation of material force (qi). These
objects, in turn, through a process of transformation and dispersion, eventu
ally reverted to spirit.“ Numbers held the key to an understanding of all these
processes. As Shao once wrote (with Wang Bi’s antinumerological bias no doubt
firmly in mind; see chapter 4): “Images and numbers are the traps and snares,
words and meanings are the fish and hares. One may, having obtained the fish
and hares, forget the traps and snares. But I have not seen anyone succeed by
abandoning the net and snare and then seeking the fish and the hares.”43
Shao believed that the eight trigrams—representing Heaven (Qian), water
(Kan), fire (Li), thunder (Zhen), wind (Sun), lake (Dui), mountain (Gen), and
Earth (Kun) —were the basic “elements” of which all things were ultimately con
stituted. They were engendered by the interaction of gin and yang, which pro
duced four two-line images (xiang), representing greater yin and lesser yin and
greater yang and lesser yang, as well as the four related images of greater strength
(taigang), lesser strength (shaogang), greater weakness (tairou), and lesser weak
ness (shaorou).44 These images gave rise in turn to four celestial images (sun,
moon, stars, and zodiacal space), four terrestrial images (water, fire, soil, and
stone), and a host of other “natural” groupings of four.45 Below we can see a
few of these correlative categories, derived from one of Shao’s numerous charts,
titled “Chart of the Four Images of Heaven and Earth That Rule the World” (jing
shi tiandi sixiang tu):
Yin and Yang Qualities
Greater Yang, associated with the Qian trigram and correlated with
eyes, sun, cycle (yuan), heat, August One (huang), nature, heart
Greater Yin, associated with the Dui trigram and correlated with ears,
moon, epoch (hui), cold, Emperor (di), feelings, liver
Lesser Yang, associated with the Li trigram and correlated with nose,
stars, revolution (gun), daytime, King (wang), form, spleen
Lesser Yin, associated with the Zhen trigram and correlated with
mouth, zodiacal space (chen), generation (shi), nighttime, Earl (bo), body,
kidneys
Categories of Strength and Weakness
Lesser Strength, associated with the Sun trigram and correlated

with appearances (se), stone, year, thunder, the Yijing, wood, lungs (and
bones)
Lesser Weakness, associated with the Kan trigram and correlated with
sounds, soil, month, dew, the Shujing, grasses, gall bladder (and flesh)
Greater Strength, associated with the Gen trigram and correlated with
odors (qi), fire, day, wind, the Shijing, flying things, stomach (and mar
row)
Greater Weakness, associated with the Kun trigram and correlated
with flavors, water, hour, rain, the Chunqiu, walking things, bladder (and
blood)46
Shao Yong is perhaps best known for his “Fuxi Arrangement of the Sixty-four
Hexagrams,” which is also called the “Chart of the Former Heaven Sequence”
(Xiantian tu) (see fig. 5.4) .47 In it, a square-shaped configuration of the sixty-four
hexagrams (in which all the hexagrams in each horizontal row have the same
lower trigram) is enclosed by a circle-shaped configuration in a different order
(in which all gin lines at the bottom of the hexagrams are on the right side of the
diagram and all yang lines at the bottom of the hexagrams are on the left side).
Shao believed that by assigning numerical values to these hexagrams, and by
correlating them with various sets and subsets of the original four images, he
could explain all phenomena in the world— all qualities, all processes, all things,
all conditions, and all relationships. He developed, in short, a comprehensive
correlative system by which numbers linked to the hexagrams of the Changes
could express nonnumerical ideas.“
How did Shao’s system work? In brief, he assigned numerical values to two
broad classes of phenomena: forms (tishu, i.e., the numbers of living organisms
on earth) and activities (yongshu, the numbers associated with cyclical movements
in the heavens). By a series of complex arithmetical calculations based on the
“activity numbers” of the yang, gang, yin, and rou sets of images, he calculated
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the total number of moving things (animals) and stationary things (plants) on
earth to be 289,816,576 — the life of each of which could be related in some fash
ion to the structure of the sixty-four hexagrams.49 He also developed a cosmic
chronology of 129,600 years, based on four periods of time linked with “greater”
and “lesser” yin and gang and marked by twelve hexagrams (nos. 24, 19, 11, 34,
43, 1, 44, 33, 12, 20, 23, and 2), each representing a span of 10,800 years. These
four periods were known as generations (shi, 3o years), revolutions (gun, 360 years),
epochs (hui, 4,320 years), and cycles (yuan, 129,6oo).5°
Shao’s system of calculation relied on three main configurations of numbers.
One, based on the evolution of hexagrams as described in the “Great Commen—
tary,” involved numerical sets that doubled each time in succession. Beginning
with 1 (representing Taiji), the numbers moved to 2 (yin and gang), then 4 (the
four images), 8 (the trigrams) 16, 32, and 64 (the sixty-four hexagrams). Another
part of Shao’s system, which had no direct precedent in the Changes, was based
on multipliers of ten: namely, 10, 100, 1,000, and 10,000. A third configuration
was the numerology of the Yellow River Chart, discussed briefly above. Consid
ered in one sequence (“going with the flow,” shun), Shao’s numbers described
aspects of the present or the past; in a different sequence (“going against the
flow,” ni) they revealed the future.51
In certain realms of experience Shao’s explanations reflected Han dynasty
calendrical correlations; in others, especially divination, his numerical calcu
lations became considerably more complex (and often obscure). But most of
Shao’s descriptions of reality and patterns of change could be reduced to con
stellations of four. Thus, for example, the growth and decay of a flower (or of
any other living thing, for that matter) could be described in terms of hexagram
configurations marking (1) its opening (symbolized by Fu [24], composed of
all yin lines except the first); (2) its full bloom (Qian [1], all yang lines); (3) its
decline (Gou [44], all yang lines except the first); and (4) its ultimate collapse
(Kun [2]).51
One of Shao’s poems, preserved in the eighteenth-century Qing encyclopedia
Gujin tushu jicheng (Complete Collection of Illustrations and Writings, Past and
Present), suggests the comprehensiveness of his world view:
Using all nines [yang lines] you see [an auspicious] flock
of dragons;
The first [line of Qian] engenders all things.
Using all sixes [yin lines] brings eternal advantages;
Because of Qian there are benefits.
Four images times nine and you get thirty—six.
Four images times six and you get twenty-four.
Why is it that with [nothing more than] nines and sixes
All human affairs can be fathomed?53
Shao’s mathematically logical but highly mechanical binary system would

later intrigue the great European philosopher and mathematician Wilhelm Gott
fried von Leibniz (1646-1716), who learned of it from the Jesuit missionary to
China Joachim Bouvet (see chapters 7 and 8) .54 But for most of Shao’s contem
poraries (and many scholars in subsequent times), his numerology was either
too mysterious, too complex, or too mechanical.”
Zhou Dunyi is usually considered to be one of the progenitors of the Song
philosophical school known as “Studies of the Way” (Daoxue), described by some
Western scholars as “neo-Confucianism.” This approach to learning, which
simultaneously reacted against and borrowed from both Buddhism and Daoism,
relied heavily on the Yijing for metaphysical concepts as well as for “Confucian”
legitimacy. Over time, Daoxue split into two basic wings, traditionally designated
“Studies of Principle” (Lixue, also known as the Cheng-Zhu school) and “Studies
Ofthe Mind” (Xinxue, also known as the Lu-Wang school). It is well to remember,
however, that these distinctions, like those between the school of images and
numbers and the school of meanings and principles in Yijing scholarship, tend
to obscure a great deal of overlap and interaction (see esp. chapter 6).
Zhou’s reputation as a scholar of the Changes rests on two foundations. One is
that he was the teacher of two of the most famous scholars of the Song Dynasty,
Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi (see below). The other is his cosmological specula
tions, reflected in two short but highly influential works, the Taiji tu shuo (An
Explanation of the “Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate”) and the Tongshu (A Book
Penetrating [the Classic of Changes]). These works established the Ten Wings of
the Yijing as “basic textual sources of the N eo-Confucian revival,” although
most references to the Changes in these works are rhetorical rather than analyti
cal and therefore not particularly illuminating.“ Zhou was also responsible for
the development of an influential branch of Song learning that centered on Yan
Hui (a.k.a. Yan Yuan), one of Confucius’s most highly motivated and admirable
pupils. This “cult of Yan Hui” placed special emphasis on both internal and ex
ternal cultivation and seems to have shaped a generation of thinkers from Zhang
Zai to Cheng Yi.57
Zhou’s cosmogony and correlative cosmology, probably derived from Chen
Tuan but perhaps influenced more directly by Buddhism,“ was similar in its
broad outlines to Shao Yong’s, but Zhou, for his part, says very little about num
bers. Moreover, like Chen and most other Chinese thinkers in the imperial era
both before and after him—Zhou gave greater metaphysical weight to the five
agents than to the four images. Here is how Zhou explains the processes of
cosmic creativity and change:
The Supreme Ultimate in activity generates gang; yet at the limit of ac
tivity it is still. In stillness it generates yin; yet at the limit of stillness
it is also active. Activity and stillness alternate; each is the basis of the
other. In distinguishing yin and yang, the Two Modes [liangyi] are thereby
established. The alternation and combination of gang and yin generate [the
qualities associated with] Water, fire, wood, metal, and earth. With these
five [qualities of] qi harmoniously arranged, the Four Seasons proceed
through them. The five agents are simply yin and yang; yin and yang are
simply the Supreme Ultimate; the Supreme Ultimate is fundamentally the
Supreme N on-Ultimate. . . . “The Way of Qian becomes the male; the Way
of Kun becomes the female”; the two qi stimulate each other, transform
ing and generating the myriad things. The myriad things generate and
regenerate, alternating and transforming without end.59
Figure 5.5 illustrates this process. The Supreme Non—Ultimate is represented by

the empty circle at the top of the diagram; below it, the Supreme Ultimate, in its
phases of stillness (yin) and activity (yang), generates the five agents. The second
to last circle represents the mutual stimulation of Qian (male) and Kun (female),
:3 i i
e
*_._ r r Th if _~_fi._;_" .,-? _ _ — 4.;-;__ ,_—— , "Z * ’; i 7 7 _
—gi
'-'._5§
-e }
Fl},
ii?
K
’ '1
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/'"”“i Figure 5.5.

i Diagram of the Supreme
( ; Ultimate, the five agents,
\_., and the generation of the
Q10 gs myriad things, attributed
__~—_e la; e. A _ ---~ _»__e~-~ toZhouDunyi
and the final circle depicts the inexhaustible process by which the myriad things
are generated, transformed, and regenerated.
As we shall see, Zhou’s cosmology exerted a powerful influence on Southern
Song thinkers, notably the great master Zhu Xi. At the same time, however,
scholars such as Fang Shenquan (fi. 1075), tired of discourses by Yijing scholars
that focused too narrowly on metaphysics, tried to turn interpretations of the
Changes toward a clearer understanding of human affairs (renshi). In the service of
this idea, Fang compiled a volume containing the views of “one hundred schools
[ofYi_jing scholarship] ,” from Zheng Xuan to Wang Anshi, giving Kong Yingda’s
Zhouyi zhenggi (Correct Meaning of the Zhou Changes) pride of place.6°
The Genesis of Cheng-Zhu Metaphysics

The two Cheng brothers, Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi, like most other Song expo
nents of the Changes, have received an enormous amount of scholarly attention.“
Their major contribution to Song metaphysics was the joining of the concept of
material force with the idea of principle (li, sometimes translated as “patterned
principle” or “patterned regularities of existence”).62 Although previous phi
losophers of various persuasions had used the term li in ways that extended its
rather mundane basic meanings to the realm of the metaphysical, the Cheng
brothers brought the notion of principle to the forefront of Confucian cosmo
logical discourse. Emphasizing the idea that “principle is one, but its manifes
tations are many” (ligifenshu), their view was that
all things under Heaven can be understood by their principle. As there

are things, there must be specific principles of their being. . . . Due to the
interaction of the two material forces [i.e., the manifestations of gin and
yang] and the five agents, things vary as weak and strong in thousands of
ways. What the sage follows, however, is the one principle [of humane
ness, ren]. People must return to their original [good] nature [which is
one with principle]. . . . The mind of each human being is one with the
mind of Heaven and Earth, and the principle of each thing is one with the
principle of all things .63
The most famous work on the Yijing produced by the “two Chengs” was
Cheng Yi’s Yichuan Yizhuan (Commentary on the Changes by Cheng Yichuan), writ
ten while he was in political exile and the only work of his devoted solely to the
Yi.64 This highly influential study reflects, among other things, the fierce fac
tional struggles and sharp divisions of scholarly opinion that marked his time
and place. Cheng Yi had personal relationships with several major figures in
Northern Song Yi scholarship, including not only Zhou Dunyi, Hu Yuan, Zhang
Zai (his father’s cousin), and Sima Guang but also his political archenemy, Wang
Anshi, and his sometime rival and sometime ally Su Shi (for the last four schol
ars, see below). Significantly, however, despite Cheng’s political animus toward
Wang and his friendship with Sima Guang and precisely because of his personal
disagreements with Zhang Zai and Su Shi, when it came to recommending 3
strategy for understanding the Changes, Cheng’s advice to his students was to
study the work itself and then read only the “all-penetrating” writings of Wang
Bi, Hu Yuan, and Wang Anshi.65
Although there are a great many studies on Cheng Yi’s approach to the Yijing,
for our purposes there are only a few major points to keep in mind. The first is
that Cheng’s approach to the classic was relentlessly moral, focusing primarily
on the idea of cultivating sageliness within and then manifesting it in service to
society (neisheng waiwang, in the familiar idiom) .66 Time and again, his remarks
on hexagram texts emphasize the idea of moral strength directed toward moral
perfection, as we can see from the many quotations from the Yichuan Yizhuan in
cluded in the famous Southern Song compilation known as the jinsi lu (Reflec
tions on Things at Hand; see chapter 9).“
The second point to emphasize is the theme of compromise, a response,
one suspects, to the political in-fighting Cheng Yi saw all around him and from
which he occasionally suffered. Although Cheng advocated the forming of fac
tions to defend collective interests, he could also counsel pragmatic accom
modation. Consider, for example, his gloss on the fifth line of hexagram 34
(Dazhuang, “Great Strength”), which reads, “One loses a ram in time of ease, so
he has no regrets.” To Cheng this line signified the need to avoid confrontation
in the face of aggressive behavior. “The only choice available [to the fifth (yin)
line] ,” he writes, “is to harmonize and be at ease with [the ‘ramlil<e’ advancing
yang lines below it] .”68 Like many writers in the Northern Song, Cheng used the
hexagrams Tai (“Peace” [11]) and Pi (“Stagnation” [12]) to symbolize the on
going and ever-fluctuating struggle in government between “superior persons”
and “petty persons” and the need for like-minded individuals to band together
in order to protect their common interests.°9
A third point worth noting, and one revealed in the relationship between the
Tai and Pi hexagrams, is that Cheng placed special emphasis on the wing known
as the “Orderly Sequence of the Hexagrams.” Unlike most previous commen
tators on the Changes, who placed it at the end of the basic text, Cheng begins
his commentary on each hexagram with a quotation from the Xugua, followed
by a discussion of that hexagram’s relationship to other hexagrams. As we saw
in chapter 2, the Xugua explains the received order of the hexagrams. Thus, for
example, we read that Zhun (“Birth Throes” [3]) follows Qian (1) and Kun (2)
because it marks the point at which “things are first born.” Accordingly, Zhun
signifies increase and repletion (ying). Cheng sees this as a period of instability
and confusion, but also one of promise, when “the superior person perceives
the incipient and subtle [origins] of a situation.”7°
Although in his commentaries Cheng refused to see the Yijing as anything
more than a text encouraging right behavior, he was strangely ambivalent
about numerology in his conversations. On the one hand, he once told an inter
locutor:
You say in your letter that “the meaning of the Changes is ultimately derived
from numbers.” But this statement is wrong. There are principles before
there are images, and images before there are numbers. In the Changes we
depend on the images to understand the principles, and it is also from the
images that we know the numbers. If we grasp the meaning, the images
and numbers can be taken for granted. If you go out of your way to exhaust
the secrets of the images and explore the most minute applications of the
numbers, that . . . is the object of fortune-tellers, and not the concern of
a Confucian [scholar] .71
On the other hand, Cheng on occasion acknowledged that Shao Yong’s

numerology (facilitated, to be sure, by Shao’s own personal refinement) enabled
him to predict the future-—to calculate the length of life and to “infer . . . the
beginning and ending of things.”72 This was possible, according to Cheng Yi,
because “when you have li [principle] you have qi, and when you have qi you
have number. Number moves the ghosts and spirits [guishen]; it is the function
of qi.”73
Despite their political and intellectual differences, Wang Anshi and Su Shi
shared a distaste for Shao Yong’s numerology." Wang’s commentary on the
Changes has not survived, but his other writings that refer to the classic indicate
that he placed much more interpretive emphasis on ritual and law than on the
inner cultivation of sagehood.75 His approach demanded a kind of intellectual
uniformity and conformity that free-spirited but morally committed aesthetes
such as Su Shi found not only unattractive but also dangerous. In fact, a signifi
cant amount of Su’s work on the Changes can be viewed as a reaction to the views
and policies of Wang.
Su Shi was arguably the most accomplished poet, prose stylist, and calligra
pher of the entire Song period, a man of great achievement and enormous self
confidence.“ His book on the Yijing, titled Dongpo Yizhuan ([Su] Dongpo’s Com
mentary on the Changes), is considered a composite work because it includes the
writings of his father, Su Xun (1009-66), as well as those of his brother Su Zhe
(1039-1112) .77 Like Cheng Yi, Su Shi served as an imperial tutor, and on occasion
he had even been an ally of Sima Guang, but fundamentally Su and Cheng did
not get along. Su did not like Cheng Yi’s arrogance, and Cheng did not appreci
ate Su’s approach to the Changes, which relied heavily on Wang Bi and included
Buddhist ideas as well as Daoist ones.” Both men, however, tended to see moral
instruction and practical guidance rather than divination as the ultimate put
pose of the document.
So did Zhang Zai, one of Sima Guang’s teachers (see below). Zhang had an
early flirtation with Buddhism and Daoism but eventually gravitated to Confu
cianism, reportedly because of a meeting with the Cheng brothers. Both men
appreciated Zhang’s sense of mission, but Cheng Yi had little use for Zhang’s
metaphysical speculations and considered him to be too rigid and intolerant.
Moreover, as Tze-ki Hon has emphasized, Cheng’s belief that sagehood was
the product of a constant effort to achieve self-cultivation, open to all persons
and directed toward the betterment of society, conflicted with Zhang’s tendency
to see sagehood in terms of a special kind of cosmic awareness that might be
called “Confucian enlightenment.” According to Hon, Zhang’s basic goal was
the “pacification of the mind,” an essentially solitary act contingent on sincerity
(cheng).79 In short, whereas Zhang esteemed tranquility, Cheng valued activity.
Although this contrast can certainly be found in the writings of both men,
it should be noted that many of Zhang’s contemporaries considered him to be
a person of action for whom the Yijing provided a concrete model of the proper
moral life. These views are evident in Zhang’s influential book Hengqu Yizhuan
(A Discussion of the Changes by Zhang Hengqu), a work that expresses, among
other things, Zhang’s well-known preoccupation with ritual (li). Like Zhou
Dunyi, Zhang considered Confucius’s disciple Yan Hui to be the ideal role model
for a life of rectitude and ritually correct behavior. To Zhang, the story of Yan ar
gued for intensive moral cultivation as a prerequisite to any sort of government
service. Thus, Zhang interprets several hexagrams of the Chan_ges—Qian (1), Fu
(24), Ge (49), Gen (52), and Dazhuang (34) —explicitly in terms of the example
set by Yan.8°
Consider, for example, Zhang’s somewhat idiosyncratic interpretation of
the famous first line statement of the Qian hexagram (1), which reads: “A sub
merged [hidden] dragon does not act.” To Zhang, this sentence referred, not to
Confucian eremitism (as it had for a great many previous, not to mention later,
commentators on the passage), but rather to the need to avoid service until
one had become fully “rectified and centered” (zhengzhong). Similarly, Zhang saw
the second line statement, which speaks of an emerging dragon “appearing in
the field,” as referring, not to the moment when one can finally manifest his
“dragon virtue” (longde), but rather to the actual process of self-cultivation by
means of ritually correct behavior (li) and the thorough embrace of a sense of
moral dutY (Hi)-81
Zhang Zai is perhaps best known for his qi—based “moral metaphysics,” which
later generations of Chinese thinkers, including WangTingxiang (1474-1544) of
the Ming dynasty and Huang Zongxi and Quan Zuwang (1705-55) of the Qing,
identified with their own views (see chapters 6 and 7). Unlike Su Shi, and like
Cheng Yi, Zhang was highly critical of Wang Bi’s commentary on the Yijing, in
particular Wang’s distinction between the categories of being (you) and non—
being (wu). In Zhang’s view, these categories —the preoccupation of what he
considered “lesser scholars” —were of no analytical value. To Zhang, you and wu
were simply two states of qi: one in which there was condensation, giving rise
to visible and finite objects, and one in which there was dispersion, whereby qi
relinquished its form and became invisible and infinite.”
A single line from the “Great Commentary” enabled Zhang to explicate his
unitary concept of qi, although it was only one of many opportunities he had to
do so.83 The original passage reads: “Heaven and Earth mesh together [as in a
mist, ginyun], and the myriad things develop and reach perfect maturity; male
and female blend essences together, and the myriad creatures are formed and
come to life.” Zhang’s metaphysical gloss reads in part: “This [action of Heaven
and Earth] is the trigger [ji] of vacuity and concreteness, and of movement and
stillness. . . . That which floats on top is the purity of yang, and that which de
scends below is the impurity of yin. The mutual responses and the coalescence of
yin and yang give rise to wind and rain, frost and snow . . . and the flowing shapes
of the ten thousand kinds of things.” 84 Thus Zhang deconstructs the binaries
emphasized by Wang Bi, Han Kangbo, and Kong Yingda.
Zhang’s moral metaphysics struck a responsive chord with a number of other
Northern Song thinkers, including Sima Guang, whose views of the Yijing, like
Zhang’s, were influenced by his disenchantment with the Song bureaucracy, in
particular the system of recruitment and factional politics.“ Sima’s commentary
on the Yi, titled Wengong Yishuo (A Discussion of the Changes by Sima Guang), fol
lows the general exegetical authority of Wang Bi and Han Kangbo, but he is often
critical of their Daoist inclinations.“ Moreover, Sima believed that numerology
could yield a deep understanding of the Changes. Thus he investigated various
Han works concerning images and numbers, including writings attributed to
Meng Xi, Yang Xiong’s Taixuan jing, and books that formed a part of the Han
apocrypha. Although a critic of certain correlative and numerologically oriented
popular practices, notably geomancy (see chapter 9), he wrote an esoteric book,
Qianxu (Hidden Vacuity), that focuses sharply on numbers and bears a certain
similarity to Yang Xiong’s famous work (see chapter 3).87
Another prominent Song advocate of images and numbers was Zhu Zhen,
a transitional figure between the Northern and Southern Song, Whose teacher
Xie Liangzuo (1050-1121), had once been a student of the Cheng brothers. Zhu
greatly esteemed Cheng Yi, but his writings also reflect a deep interest in Han
dynasty correlative systems and mantic techniques, including huti, guabian, najia,
feifu, shengjiang, and guaqi (see chapter 3). Unlike Shao Yong, who believed that
numbers preceded images, Zhu believed that images preceded numbers.”
Southern Song Approaches to the Changes

The interest of Southern Song scholars in Han dynasty theories and techniques
related to the Yijing has seldom been adequately acknowledged. Yet, in many
ways their careful work anticipated the far more celebrated revival of Han learn
ing (Hanxue) in the Qing period (see chapter 7). According to the editors of the
Four Treasuries, Zheng Gangzhong (1088-1154) deserves much of the credit for
bringing Yi studies back to a Han-style focus on images, a focus that had been
neglected by Northern Song scholars such as Hu Yuan and Cheng Yi. Zheng’s
virtue, in the editors’ eyes, was to explore in a systematic way the writings of
major Han and Six Dynasties scholars of the Changes, including Xun Shuang, Yu
Fan, Gan Bao (fl. early fourth century) and Fan Changsheng (d. 318), comparing
and contrasting the opinions of these authors “without inclining to any particu
lar one.” In the view of the Siku reviewers, Zheng’s discussions of Han scholar
ship on the Yi were “correct, grand, refined and accurate” (zheng dajing qie).89
Other influential Southern Song scholars who valued Han interpretive tech
niques included Xue Iixuan (1134-73), Zhang Xingcheng (fi. 1150), and Zhu
Yuansheng (d. 1273). Xue, a leading figure of the so-called Utilitarian school
of Confucianism (Gongli xuepai, also known as the Yongjia school), emphasized
practical affairs, concrete things, images and numbers, and the Hetu and the
Luoshu in opposing the idealism of the two major intellectual trends discussed
briefly above—Studies of Principle and Studies of the Mind—identified, respec
tively, with Zhu Xi and Lu Xiangshan (see below).9° Zhang’s seven studies on
Yi-related topics, including the Yi tongbian (Interpreting the Transformations of
the Changes), covered a wide range of exegetical territory, from the writings of
Yang Xiong and Chen Tuan to those of Shao Yong and Sima Guang, but he seems
to have been particularly interested in Shao’s “Chart of the Former Heaven Se
quence.”91 Zhu Yuansheng’s special interestwas the Hetu and the Luoshu, which he
con-elated not only with trigrams, hexagrams, and the five agents but also with
Overlapping trigrams (hugua or huti; see chapter 3). Moreover, he was fascinated
by the putative precursors of the Zhou Changes, namely, the Guicang (Return to the
Hidden) and Lianshan (Linked Mountains), discussed in chapters 1 and 2.92
But many Southern Song writers followed the interpretive contours of the
school of meanings and principles. Some, like the Well-known poet Yang Wanli
(1124-1106), gravitated toward the views of Cheng Yi but supported their opin
ions primarily with examples from Chinese history. Although this practice was
decried by at least one scholar as “sufficient to impress literati but incapable of
¢()I1VlI1ClI'1g those well versed in the classics,” the editors of the Four Treasuries
found no fault in it.93 An interesting related case that displays the ambivalence
of the editors toward certain Song scholars is that of Li Qi. On the one hand,
they praised his Zhouyi xiangjie (Detailed Analysis of the Zhou Changes) for its use
of historical examples in the tradition of Zheng Xuan of the Han and Li Guang
(1Q78—1159) and Yang Wanli of the Song.94 On the other hand, they sharply criti
cized him for quoting too much from the Laozi and the Zhuangzi in the fashion
of Ye Mengde (1077-1148), who claimed that “the essence of the Yi is all in the
Zhuangzi and Liezi.” This false logic, they argued, showed the pernicious effect
produced by Wang Bi’s thorough rejection of Han learning.95
The major intellectual force in the Southern Song era was, of course, Zhu Xi,
arguably the most influential thinker in all of Chinese history after Confucius
himself. Zhu’s enormous effect on Yijing scholarship, and on many other realms
of Chinese scholarship as well, is extremely well documented.9° I would like to
emphasize here just a few major points about Zhu’s two most famous studies of
the Changes, the Zhouyi benyi (Original Meaning of the Zhou Changes) and the Yixue
qimeng (Introduction to the Study of the Changes) .97 We will encounter his ideas
on the Yi again in chapters 6-9.
Zhu’s great contribution in the realm of Yi learning was to synthesize the
thought of his Northern Song predecessors, including individuals like Zhou
Dunyi and Cheng Yi, who otherwise had very little in common.98 Zhu’s influ
ential cosmology reflects this wide-ranging synthesis. It involved the following
major variables: the Supreme Ultimate, the cosmic forces of yin and gang, the
five agents, principle (li), and material force (qi). In brief, Zhu’s view was that the
Supreme Ultimate, which generated the cosmic forces of yin and yang, served as
the source (and sum) of the principles, around which qi coalesced to comprise
all existing phenomena. Things differed according to their natural endowment
(i.e., different combinations of the five agents), and number (shu) entered the
picture as an index of the Way in which qi became “divided, limited, joined and
measured.”99 This extremely simplified picture of Zhu’s far more sophisticated
and expansive worldview is intended merely to indicate his debt to previous Song
thinkers and to underscore the way his wide-ranging vision could be, and was
linked in an elaborate, Han—style correlative cosmology.1°° ,
In some respects Zhu’s approach to the Yijing Was closer to Shao Yong’s than
to Cheng Yi’s, since he maintained that the document was originally a book of
divination and that “what is described in it is simply images and numbers by
which to foretell one’s good or evil fortune.” 101 This did not mean, however, that
Zhu failed to appreciate the moral dimension of the document or that he thought
Cheng’s ethics were somehow wrong. On the contrary, Zhu’s morally grounded
view was precisely that the ultimate purpose of the Changes was to contribute to
self-cultivation and that without sincerity and the rectification of character it
would be of no use in divination. Like most Confucians, he drew a sharp distinc
tion between superficial techniques of fortune-telling, which involved numeri
cal calculations but remained “far from the Da0,” and proper use of the Yijing,
which brought a personcloser to a true understanding of the Way.1°2
Zhu believed that the original Yijing, created by Fuxi, consisted only of hexa
grams (which had evolved out of the eight trigrams) and no written text. Much
later, in a time of trouble, King Wen had composed the judgments, and soon
thereafter the Duke of Zhou had added the line statements. Several centuries
later, according to Zhu-—once again in a time of strife—Confucius had ap
pended the Ten Wings in order to clarify even further the graphic and oracular
significance of the hexagrams. To Zhu Xi, the Ten Wings were valuable but not
fundamental to the Changes; thus, he separated them from the basic text in his
Zhougi benyi, following the lead of his close friend and collaborator Lii Zuqian
(1137-81) .1°3
Yet in his effort to get back to basics, Zhu could not resist making his own
contributions to the received text. One contribution, which earned him the
scorn of many later scholars, particularly during the Qing period (see chapter 7),
was to include the Hetu and the Luoshu at the very beginning of his edition of the
Changes, thus embracing these two highly problematic diagrams as authentic
relics dating from the time of Fuxi. Zhu’s Yixue qimeng, admirably translated by
Joseph Adler, explains at length, in a question-and-answer format, his under
standing of the background, numerological significance, and utility of the Hetu
and the Luoshu.1°4
Zhu Xi’s argument was that Fuxi, in laying the foundations of the Changes,
drew upon the numerology of the Hetu and the Luoshu. But this numerology did
not become explicit until itappeared in the “Great Expansion” (Dayan) discus
sion of the “Great Commentary.” Zhu was aware, of course, that Ouyang Xiu
had called into question the provenance of the “Great Commentary” as well as
that of the two charts. But his view was that even if the diagrams had not, in
fact, been available to Fuxi, they still demonstrated, by means of positions and
exchanges (weizhi laiwang), how the numerical symbols in the Yijing could reveal
the activities of Heaven and Earth, the interactions of yin and gang, the origins
of good and bad fortune (jixiong), and the processes of decrease and increase
(xiaozhang). In his view, arguments about the authenticity of the Hetu and the
Luoshu were as useless as “biting the bone instead of eating the meat.” Even if the
documents are not authentic, he maintains, we can at least gain from them some
understanding of the origin and principles of the numbers contained within the
ChangeS_1o5
Zhu Xi also drew on the work of Han scholars such as Yu Fan in an effort to
show how certain hexagram changes (guabian) explained the relationship be
tween nineteen particular hexagrams in such a way as to make them compatible
, ll
with certain obscure phrases that pertained to them in the “Commentary on the
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judgment” (see fig. 5.6).1°6 Moreover, he employed the so-called eight-palace
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system ofling Fang (see chapter 2) to illustrate how the eight trigrams changed
systematically into the sixty-four hexagrams. According to the editors of the
Four Treasuries, the fact that Zhu did not focus on Iing’s idea of overlapping
trigrams does not necessarily mean that he eschewed this technique.1°7 He did,
however, explicitly reject several Han interpretive theories, including najia (the
“received initial stem” system) and the idea of feifu (“manifest” and “latent”
hexagrams).1°8
In short, although Zhu criticized the advocates of meanings and principles
for their “scattered” approach and lack of concreteness and the devotees of
images and numbers for their “forced associations” (qianhe) and specious claims
of sagely authority,1°9 he tried mightily to achieve a balance between the two
positions. And in the minds of many of his successors, including Yu Yan (1253_
1314), the well-known poet of the Song-Yuan transition, he succeeded admi
rably. Yu’s approval of Zhu Xi’s synthesis is particularly important, coming from
a man credited with making significant discoveries in his own work on the Yijing
(see chapter 6).11°
A number of other Southern Song scholars sought to achieve a similarly bal
anced approach to the Changes. Cai Yuanding (1135-98), a friend of Zhu Xi’s,
was heavily influenced by Shao Yong and fascinated by diagrams such as the
Hetu and the Luoshu, but he attempted to reconcile his interest in numerology
with an ethical understanding of the Yijing; his son, Cai Yuan (1148-1236), one
of Zhu Xi’s disciples, tried to do the same.111 Wei Liaoweng (1178-1237), for his
part, adopted the strategy of “using images and numbers to seek meanings and
principles” (yi xiangshu qiu yili).111 Xiang Anshi (d. 1208), meanwhile, attempted
to supplement Cheng Yi’s single-minded emphasis on meanings and principles
with an analysis of images and numbers, placing special emphasis on the ad
vance and retreat (jintui) of images, which, he claimed, reflected the patterns of
change in the Yijin_g.113 Li Xinchuan (1167-1244), following in the footsteps of his
father, attempted a particularly broad synthesis of the Work of Wang Bi, Zhang
Zai, Cheng Yi, Guo Yong (1091-1187), and Zhu Xi.114
Zhu Xi’s major intellectual rival in the Southern Song was, of course, Lu
Xiangshan (a.k.a. Lu Iiuyuan, 1139-93), whose emphasis on meditation and the
innate goodness of the human mind (renxin) contrasted dramatically with Zhu’s
stress on book learning and thelneed to understand principle from the outside,
through direct observation. Lu’s view, put simply, was that there was an essen
tial unity underlying the universe and humanity; thus the mind was identical
with nature: “self-sufficient, all-embracing, and originally good.” Lu, who wrote
comparatively little, produced no major commentary on the Changes, but he did
write two short essays on the classic—the longer of which, titled Yi shu (Numer
Ology of the Changes), discussed various numerical and correlative systems de
rived from the “Great Commentary” and other early texts.115
Lues m0St famous disciple, Yang Iian (1141-1226), was an extremely important
figure in Southern Song Yijing studies and a major influence on Wang Yangming
(147-2-1519) and others during the Ming dynasty (see chapter 6).116 So averse was
Yang to Zhu Xi’s Studies of Principle that he reportedly avoided entirely the term
[i in his writings on the Changes and claimed that the word Yi in the title of the
yijing meant “self” rather than “change,” hence the title of one of his books,]i yi
(The Self as Change). In keeping with his notion that the mind Was equivalent
to nature, he wrote in the ji yi that the “four virtues” conventionally associated
with the judgment of the Qian hexagram (1) ——guan (humaneness), heng (ritual),
Ii (duty), and zhen (rectitude, zheng) —were innate in his own mind (and that of
others) -117
Since most Qing scholars despised the Studies of the Mind, we should not
be surprised to find that Yang’s book Yangshi Yizhuan (Yang Iian’s Commentary
on the Changes) received harsh criticism from the editors of the Four Treasuries.
To be sure, they acknowledged that because the Yijing Was “broad and great,”
encompassing everything, it was capable of teaching people in a variety of Ways.
Naturally, then, matters of the mind and nature were part of its magnificent and
capacious message. The problem, they argued, was that by focusing exclusively
on xin, at the expense of “images, numbers, and human affairs,” Yang and his
followers had drifted into a state of dreamlike “confusion and nihilism” (huanghu
xuwu). And by emphasizing things that were illusory and mysterious (huanyao),
they were headed down the path of Chan Buddhism.118 For these and other rea
sons, Zhu Xi once remarked that “Yang’s writings should be destroyed.”119
Yet Zhu had included in his own writings on the Changes certain materials
that he considered dangerous, including Zheng Xuan’s quotations from Han
prognostication texts. According to the Siku editors, Zhu’s logic was that such
materials should be preserved so that they could be rejected. That is, if a person
had acquired fame both in his lifetime and thereafter (like Zheng), all of his
writings had to be made available so that later generations would be able to see
his mistakes and shortcomings as well as his virtues. For precisely this reason,
the reviewers of the Yangshi Yizhuan maintained that Yang Iian’s writings also had
to be preserved}-2°
Before concluding this chapter, we may pause to consider briefly the scientific
implications of Song dynasty scholarship on the Changes, a topic to which I shall
return in chapter 9. As Yung Sik Kim’s research has made abundantly clear, there
were distinct and significant limits to the inquisitiveness of even such a towering
figure as Zhu Xi. Although his scholarship was prodigious and extraordinarily
wide ranging, it was not of a sort that prized methodological rigor, consistemy’
experimentation, or even direct and sustained observation. According to Kim,
Zhu Xi “accepted objects and phenomena of the natural world in a quite matter
of-fact manner, and did not feel the need to explain them in terms of hidden
mechanisms or external causes.” Zhu read extensively, but he was not interested
in theoretical speculations about space, time, matter, motion, and so forth, AS
a result, Zhu’s “science” was “a thoroughly ‘common-sense’ natural knowledge
that covered everything in the world.” 121
And even among Song-era scholars who had a more experimental temper,
there were limits to what and how things might be known. In his Mengxi bitan
(Brush Talks from Dream Brook) the great polymath Shen Gua, who was among
many other things a professional astronomer, wrote:
It seems that those who discourse on numbers [i.e., all regularities that
make prediction possible] can only deal with their crude after-traces
[ji]. There is a very subtle [wei] aspect to numbers that those who rely on
mathematical astronomy are unable to know; and what they can know
of this aspect is, all the more, only after-traces. As for the ability [of the
sagely mind as exemplified in the Classic of Cl1anges,] “when stimulated to
encompass every situation in the realm,” after-traces can play no role in
that [wisdom]. This is why “the spirituality that makes foreknowledge
[possible] ” cannot readily be sought through after-traces, especially when
one has access only to the crudest ones. As for the very subtle traces I have
mentioned, those who in our time discuss the celestial bodies depend on
mathematical astronomy to know them, but astronomy is no more than
the product of speculation (yi).122
For Shen, as for most scholars in late imperial China, a scholarly interest in
“strange happenings, predestination, prognostication, and divination” did not
appear to be in conflict with scientific studies of nature. Thus, for example, in
explaining why the same divination technique might yield varying results when
used by different people, he wrote:
“The ability to respond spiritually and make the truth manifest depends
on the person” [and is thus particular to that person]. . . .The human mind
is by nature spiritually responsive, but since it is unavoidably burdened,
one must, in order to gain access to it, use as a substitute [yu] some thing
that does not have a mind. The result of divination can only be explained
by what makes one’s own spiritual response possible. . . . In fact, anything
that can be seen, heard, thought about, or speculated upon can be used as
1
a Substitute for this purpose. . . . Only with someone able to understand
the pattern common to all this can one discuss the spiritual response that
makes foreknowledge pOSSibl(-3.123
In short, the typical Chinese belief was that “natural processes wove a pattern of
COIISIIHII trelations too subtle and too multivariant to be understood completely
by Wh at we would call empirical investigation or mathematical analysis. Sci

entific explanation merely expressed, for finite and practical human purposes,
partial and indirect views of that fabric.”1-14
CHAPTER SIX
The Yuan and Ming Dynasties
The invasion of the Mongols and the founding of the Yuan dynasty (1279—13 68)
brought rising despotism and racial discrimination directed against the Han
Chinese. For this reason, among others, many Chinese scholars in subsequent
eras, and especially in modern times, have tended to neglect, disparage, or down
play the achievements of the Yuan. Yet life in the expansive Mongol empire was
vibrant in many respects, as China became increasingly “globalized” and “multi
cultural” in response to the openness of these self-styled world conquerors to
alien influences of all kinds. And although the Yuan rulers eventually imposed a
comparatively rigid orthodoxy on the content of the civil-service examinations in
1313 (which lasted until 1905), the dynasty continued to draw upon Mongol and
other non-Chinese traditions in various political, social, economic, intellectual,
and cultural realms}
The intellectual openness of the Yuan period is evident in three main areas
of Yijing-related scholarship, each of which is represented by a special section in
the Four Treasuries. One is the huge classical category, known simply as “The
Changes” (Yi lei), into which most of the commentarial works discussed in chap
ters 4-7 of this book fall. Another is the smaller but still substantial technical
category, “The Arts of Calculation” (Shushu lei), where we find many of the com
pilations discussed in chapter 3., The third is an extremely small category des
ignated simply “Daoism” (Daojia lei), whose size reflects, among other things,
the Siku editors’ well—known neglect of Buddhist and Daoist literature? From
the standpoint of scholarly prestige, a huge gulf separated the second and third
categories from the first, but a striking feature of Yuan scholarship on the Yijing
The Yuan and Ming Dynasties 141
is the degree to which works in the first category reflect a substantial interest in
certain issues addressed by works relegated to the second and third.
The founder of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, expelled the Mongols in
1363, but he continued the Yuan dynasty’s trend toward despotic rule. Overall,
however, Ming despotism neither stifled artistic and literary activity nor hin
dered economic growth. Moreover, contrary to stereotype, the Ming was a time
of considerable vitality and diversity in Chinese intellectual life. To be sure, the
parameters of the Ming examination system were in some ways more narrow
than during the Yuan; for example, only Cheng Yi’s and Zhu Xi’s commentaries
on the Classic of Changes (and later, Zhu Xi’s alone) now counted, whereas under
the Mongols a somewhat greater range of interpretations had been possible?
Despite this rigidity, or perhaps because of it, the Ming period produced a
number of creative and iconoclastic thinkers, including such well-known expo
nents of Lu Xiangshan’s Studies of the Mind (Xinxue) as Wang Yangming (1472
15;9) and his disciples, Wang Gen (1483-1541), Wang Ji (1498-1583), and Li
Zhi (1527-16oz).4 It also yielded such broad-minded syncretists as Lin Zhaoen
(1517-98) and Jiao Hong (1541—162o).5 Moreover, the late Ming witnessed Chris
tian missionary contact, which brought new scientific, technological, and reli
gious knowledge to China, not to mention some fancy exegetical footwork on
the part of certain Jesuit scholars who hoped to demonstrate the biblical origins
of the Yijing (see chapter 7).
There was some overlap between these two groups. For example, Li Zhi and
several other prominent late Ming scholars were acquainted with the famous
missionary Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), the architect of the Jesuit accommoda
tion strategy in China.6 Moreover, during the Ming-Qing transition, the famous
savant Fang Yizhi (1611-71) tried explicitly to link scientific knowledge acquired
from the Jesuits with the images-and-numbers learning of the Changes, an
idea that became particularly attractive in the Kangxi era of the Qing dynasty
and played an important role in the history of Chinese science (see chapters 7
and 8).
Yuan Approaches to the Changes

Most modern Chinese studies of Yijing scholarship give comparatively short
shrift to the Yuan dynasty and far more attention to the Ming, perhaps in part
because of nationalistically inspired prejudices.’ But the Qing dynasty editors
of the Four Treasuries project saw matters quite differently. One reason seems
to have been that the Qing government sought, in Kent Guy’s words, to “p1ay
up its own contributions to Chinese scholarship at the expense of the dynasty
it had conquered.”8 Another reason may well have been a desire on the part of
the Manchus to emphasize the intellectual achievements of another conquest
dynasty, especially since the Cheng-Zhu brand of Confucianism that the Mon
gols established as state orthodoxy was also patronized by the Manchus. A third
reason might have been that the work of Yuan exegetes reflected preoccupations
shared by many scholars in the Qianlong period (17 36-9 5), in particular a desire
to accommodate various Han dynasty approaches to the Yijing within the general
framework of the Qing government’s official orthodoxy.
Whatever the motives of the Siku editors, their interest in Mongol-era scholar
ship on the Changes cannot be denied. Indeed, measured proportionally by length
of reign, the Yuan dynasty entries on Yijing scholarship in the main “Classics”
section of the Four Treasuries are better represented than those of both the Song
and the Ming dynasties. Whereas there are fifty-six reviews of works written dur
ing the Song dynasty, a reign of more than 300 years, and tvventy-four reviews
of works written during the Ming dynasty’s 276 years, there are twenty-three
reviews of works written during the fewer than 1oo years of Mongol rule.9 In
all, at least from the standpoint of the editors of the Four Treasuries project,
high-level Changes scholarship in the Yuan period seems to have been at least as
impressive as that of the Song.1°
A number of Yijing scholars in the early Mongol era admired the interpreta
tions of Zhu Xi, even before his thought was established as official orthodoxy.11
The famous Song-Yuan transitional figure Yu Yan, discussed briefly in chapter 5
and more fully below, was one—at least initially. Yu wrote a number of books
on the Yijing, several of which have been lost. Still extant, however, are the Du
Yi juyao (Essentials of Reading the Changes), a collection of topically organized
essays and an annotated bibliography on Yi-related scholarship, and the Zhouyi
jishuo (Collected Discussions on the Zhou Changes), which brings together a num
ber of Yu’s favorite commentaries on the classic.“
Xu Heng (1209-81), one of the most famous Chinese supporters of the Mon
gols, was a particularly prominent advocate of Zhu’s thought. His Du Yi siyan
(Private Words on Reading the Changes) is not an overtly political tract, however.
Rather, it focuses narrowly on the interpretive qualities or capacities (de) of the
six hexagram lines. In general, Xu’s approach is to elaborate on certain ideas
suggested by the “Great Commentary,” such as the way lines that occupy dif
ferent positions can have a similar function (tonggong yiwei) and the conditions
under which yin lines will fail and yang lines will succeed (rouwei gangsheng).
Xu examines in particular all of the lines occupying the sixth position of each
hexagram, categorizing them in terms of qualities such as health (jian), com
pliance (shun), movement (dong), stopping (zhi), speaking (shuo), pitfalls (xian),
and beauty (Ii). He also shows, through an analysis of the judgments, the “Big
Image Commentary,” and the “Small Image Commentary,” how variables such
as fortune and misfortune (jixiong) and remorse and regret (huilin) depend on the
timing (shi) of a situation as described by the lines. A key factor in all calculations
is the capacity of the person using the Changes to determine how to gain the cen
ter (de zhong, i.e., the second or fifth line position) and thus to act in accordance
with the mean.13
I-Iu Yigui’s (1260-1346) self-appointed mission was to preserve Zhu Xi’s
understanding of the Yijing, which, he claimed, had been abandoned by most
Scholars a mere century after Master Zhu’s death. But judging from the number
of Yuan dynasty works on the Changes that celebrate Zhu’s views on the classic,
I-Iu had nothing to fear on this score. In any case, his intellectual orientation can
be seen clearly in two major works. The first, Yi benyifulu zuanshu (Appended Sub
commentaries to [Zhu Xi’s] Basic Meaning of the Changes), adopts Zhu’s approach
to the Changes entirely, ignoring alternative approaches such as Yang Wanli’s
well-reviewed and historically grounded Chengzhai Yizhuan (Commentary on the
Changes from the Study of Sincerity), which closely followed Cheng Yi’s inter
pretations of the classic.“ According to the editors of the Four Treasuries, this
neglect of Yang’s work occurred because scholars of the late Song and early Yuan
from the Xin’an area, like Hu, “were extremely strict about their [academic]
affiliations [humen zuiyan].”15 Here, once again, we see an example of the im
portance of personal ties and local identifications in the shaping of classical
Chinese scholarship.
Another work by Hu, Yixue qimeng yizhuan (Appended Commentaries to [Zhu
Xi’s] Introduction to the Studg of the Changes), was an elaboration of a similarly titled
work produced by his father, Hu Fangping. According to Yigui’s preface, despite
Zhu Xi’s effort to clarify the place and purpose of the Hetu and the Luoshu in his
Zhouyi benyi, scholars of the Yi “continued to repeat Liu Mu’s mistakes,” and al
though, thanks to Master Zhu, the divinatory numerology of the Changes was now
“as clear as red and blue,” there were still scholars who “valorized the abstruse
and illusory.”16 Hu Yigui thus took it upon himself to refute the arguments of
scholars like Ouyang Xiu in the Song and Song Lian (1310-81) in the Yuan, who
claimed that the Hetu and the Luoshu were both Song-era fabrications."
The Yixue qimeng yizhuan contains three “inner” chapters: (1) “Presenting Es
sentials” (jugao), which focuses primarily on phrases and divinatory images; (2)
“Clarifying Milfoil Divination” (mingshi), which examines historical instances
of divination; and (3) “Distinguishing the Doubtful” (bianyi), which addresses
similarities and differences between the Hetu and the Luoshu. A single “outer
chapter” is devoted to various divinatory works related to the Yijing in one way
or another but considered outside the mainstream tradition of Changes exege
sis. These works include Iing Fang’s Feihou (Awaiting Manifestation), Iiao Yan
shou’s Yilin (Forest of Changes), Yang Xiong’s Taixuan jing (Classic of Great Mys
tery), Sima Guang’s Qianxu (Hidden Vacuity), and Shao Yong’s Huangji jingshi shu
(Supreme Principles That Rule the World).18
Wu Cheng (1249-1333) is generally considered to be the most profound, pro
lific, and influential thinker in the entire Yuan dynasty, although debates over
his specific political and intellectual allegiances continue to this day.19 Gener
ally speaking, Wu was a synthetic thinker who, influenced by Daoism, tried to
transcend conventional neo-Confucian dualisms and to reconcile the divergent
viewpoints of Zhu Xi and Lu Xiangshan (see chapter 5). Above all, he emphasized
the value of assiduous study, personal experience, and creative interpretation.
Revealingly, he once wrote: “Empty the mind in order to delight in the interpre
tation of the lines of the hexagrams. Reform the character in order to investigate
its real nature, and read Widely and submit to all restraints. Unite all the extra
neous details, and one day you will suddenly have an awakening. Then what you
grasp won’t merely be the dregs of the ancients.”1°
During subsequent dynasties, Wu’s eclectic ideas influenced a wide range
of philosophers, from Xue Huan (1389-1464), Wu Yubi (1397-1469) and Wang
Yangming in the Ming period to Li Fu (1675-1750) and Quan Zuwang (1705-55)
in the Qing.21 Among other things, his exhaustive discussions of the Supreme
Ultimate and his emphasis on moral self-discovery may have contributed to a
decline in metaphysical speculation during post-Yuan times, at least in some
circles, and a heightened emphasis on self-realization and concrete moral
action.
According to the editors of the Four Treasuries project, Wu Cheng’s Yi zuan
yan (Collected Words on the Changes) was one of the great achievements of Yuan
dynasty scholarship on the Yijing. One reason for their praise, We can safely as
sume, was that Wu shared with them an enthusiasm for Han studies of the clas
sics (see chapter 7). In the Yi zuanyan, Wu employs Lii Zuqian’s edition of the
“ancient” Changes (see chapter 5), identifying for every hexagram both its ruling
line(s) and its basic transformations (see chapter 3 for discussions of these and
related ideas). Similarly, under each hexagram line he lists its changes and divi
nation images (xiangzhan). He also attaches phonetic interpretations and textual
studies (yinshi kaozheng) to each hexagram, as well as to each of the Ten Wings,
drawing from such diverse scholars as Zi Xia (a.k.a. Bu Shang, trad. b. 507 BCE),
Iing Fang (77-37 BCE), Xu Shen (first-second century), Zheng Xuan (127-200),
Xun Shuang (128—9o), Yu Fan (164-233), Lu Ii (187-219), Wang Su (195-256),
Cui Iing (ca. seventh or eighth century), and Lu Xisheng (ninth-tenth century).
The editors of the Four Treasuries approve of most of Wu’s format changes on
the grounds that they are broadly based and grounded in accurate scholarship,
although they take him to task for arbitrarily moving passages from the “Great
Commentary” to the “Commentary on the Words of the Text.” 22
Another of Wu’s works, the Yi zuanyan waiyi (Collected Words on the Outer
Wings of the Changes), also receives high praise from the Siku editors, despite
their reservations about its lack of a unified organization. As the titles of the
twelve chapters of Wu’s book reveal, the Yi zuanyan waiyi covers a great deal of
interpretive ground, much of it based on Han scholarship.” The twelve chap
ters are: (1) guatong (the textual privileging of “pure” hexagrams composed of
doubled trigrams); (2) guadui (the creation of pairs of hexagrams that have oppo
Site gin and yang lines in the same positions); (3) guabian (hexagram changes,
based on progressions of odd and even numbers); (4) guazhu (hexagram rulers,
based on the “Commentary on the Judgments”); (5) biangua (changing hexa
grams, a process by which, through “the interaction of the firm and the yield
ing,” one hexagram can be transformed into all sixty-four); (6) hugua, or huti (the
system of overlapping trigrams); (7) xiangli (the categorization of images for the
purpose of showing hexagram relationships); (8) zhanli (examples of evaluative
terms used in divinations); (9) cili (examples of judgments, revealing what can
not be seen in the xiangli and zhanli chapters); (10) bianli (examples of divination
by milfoil stalks); (11) Yiguan (origins of the Changes, focusing on the Hetu and
the Luoshu, as well as the Former Heaven and Later Heaven diagrams); and (12)
Yiliu (a listing of derivative systems based on the Changes, beginning with Yang
Xiong’s Taixuan jing).2"'
Unfortunately, by the mid-Qing period nearly half of these chapters were
either missing or incomplete. Nonetheless, what seemed abundantly clear to
the Siku editors was that Wu’s work, with its admirable emphasis on images
and numbers,” had decisively undermined the authority of Kong Yingda’s Zhouyi
zhengyi (see chapter 4), putting Changes exegesis on a more proper course after
centuries of dominance by Wang Bi’s orthodoxy. Despite certain organizational
flaws, the Yi zuanyan waiyi Was exemplary, and some of its discussions were truly
outstanding. Indeed, according to the Siku editors, Wu’s explanation of why the
basic text of the Yi came to be divided into “upper” and “lower” segments (dis
cussed in the guatong and guadui chapters) surpassed the scholarship of Cheng Yi
and Zhu Xi themselves on this question.“ The editors had similarly high praise
for Wu’s xiangli chapter.”
Like Wu Cheng, Huang Ze (1259-1346) emphasized the idea of clarifying the
symbols of the Changes in his Yixue lanshang (The Spilling Over of Changes Studies).
Unhappy with Wang Bi for “abandoning images and numbers” and for drifting
into the abstruse (xuanxu), but also displeased with Han exponents of images
and numbers for becoming lost in redundancy, Huang sought a “middle path”
of understanding, in short, a more balanced appraisal. But unlike Wu Cheng
and most other previous scholars, Huang focused on the “Orderly Sequence of
the Hexagrams” wing of the Yijing, guided by examples of Changes interpretation
that he found in the famous commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals known
as the Zuozhuan (see chapter 2). After devoting forty years to the study of images,
Huang felt that he was the first person since Confucius to have truly grasped
the subtleties of the Yijing.” The editors of the Four Treasuries were not quite
so effusive, but they gave him substantial credit for setting a high standard of
scholarship, even though he never actually finished his own book.”
Ironically, at about the same time that the Yuan dynasty restored the examina
tion system (1313) and began to encourage at least a limited Cheng-Zhu ortho
doxy, we find a number of works produced by mainstream scholars that devote
considerable attention to nonmainstream views of the Yijing. Zhang Li (fl. ca.
1314) is an example of one such scholar. His Yixiang tushuo (An Illustrated Dis
cussion of the Images of the Changes) appears in the “Arts of Calculation” section
of the Four Treasuries collection rather than in the “Classics” section. It has a
clear prophetic thrust, and it draws substantially upon Daoist-inspired scholar
ship, including the alchemical tract known as the Zhouyi cantong qi (Token for the
Agreement of the Three According to the Zhou Changes), or Cantong qi, ascribed to
Wei Boyang and discussed briefly in chapter 4.3°
The editors of the Four Treasuries project liken Zhang’s book to a Song dy
nasty work titled Yi tongbian (Understanding the Transformations of the Changes),
written by Zhang Xingcheng (fl. 115o).31 Both studies, they point out, valorize
the numerology of Song scholars such as Chen Tuan and Shao Yong, and both
place a heavy emphasis on the interpretation of various diagrams, including, of
course, the Hetu and the Luoshu. Both works also reflect an interest in the Daoist
traditions of the Cantong qi. For these reasons, among others, the Siku editors
maintain that both the Yi tongbian and the Yixiang tushuo should be viewed as
derivatives of Shao’s Huangjijingshi shu (see chapter 5).” The comparison seems
especially apt in the case of the Yixiang tushuo because of its clear preoccupation
not only with an understanding of cosmic cycles of destiny (yuan and hui), sea
sonal changes, heavenly bodies, and patterns of order and disorder but also with
an appreciation of the relationship between principle (li) and desire (gu), the
function of ritual and music, and even the drawing of administrative boundaries
by the ancient kings.”
Another, more “orthodox” work by Zhang Li, the Da Yi xiangshu goushen tu
(Diagrams [Reflecting] a Deep Investigation into the Images and Numbers of
the Great Changes), although included in the “Classics” section of the Four Trea
suries collection, follows Chen Tuan’s theories almost exclusively. Many of the
150 or so charts included in this three-juan work focus on conventional Yijing
illustrations, such as the “Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate,” the “Chart of the
Eight Trigrams in Position” (Baguafangwei tu), and various configurations derived
fmm the Hetu and the Luoshu. Nonetheless, the texts accompanying these charts
and diagrams reflect Zhang’s particularly wide-ranging and eclectic views.“
The same is true of a number of other, more original diagrams that feature,
for example, well-known images derived from the judgments or the line state
ments of more than fifty different hexagrams. Among these we find “Illustration
of the Tiger’s Tail in Lii” (hexagram 1o, “Treading”), “Illustration of Departing
and Arriving in Pi and Tai” (12, “Obstruction,” and 11, “Peace,” respectively),
“Illustration of Heavenly Patterns in Bi” (22, “Elegance”), and “Illustration of
the Viscount of Ii [Iizi] in Mingyi” (36, “Suppression of the Light”) .35 Still other
illustrations, also distinctive in one way or another, are named for passages from
the Ten Wings, for instance, “Chart of Qian’s Mastery of the Great Beginning of
[Things] ” (Qian zhi dashi tu), “Chart of Kun’s Acting to Bring Things to Comple
tion” (Kun zuo chengwu tu), “Chart of the Fifty-five Numbers of the Great Expan
sion” (Dayan wushiwu shu tu), “Chart of Looking Up to Observe the Configura
tions of Heaven” (Yangguan Tianwen tu), and “Chart of Looking Down to Examine
the Patterns of Earth” (Fucha dili tu).36 Figures 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4 provide ex
amples of some of Zhang’s diagrams.
In addition, the Da Yi xiangshu goushen tu includes illustrations inspired by texts
that were well outside the mainstream of Changes interpretation, such as Yang
Xiong’s Taixuan jing and Sima Guang’s Qianxu. It also features an elaborate and
somewhat unconventional chart showing Yijing lineages “from ancient times to
the present.” 37 During later periods, Zhang’s illustrations exerted a great influ
ence on thinkers such as Zheng Shida (fl. 1750), who in 1753 produced a book
based upon them titled Da Yi tu xiang pu (A Record of [Zhang Li’s] Illustrated
Images of the Great Changes)?“
The Yixue ji (Record of Changes Studies), of Li Iian (fl. ca. 1320), discusses a
total of forty-six separate schools of Yijing scholarship, chosen, according to
the author himself, with the express aimlof collecting as many variant inter
pretations of the Changes as possible. In general, this work, undertaken with
the assistance of his contemporaries Zhang Zhongyong, Liu Yi’an, and Wang
Zhonghui, imitates the compilation scheme of Li Dingzuo’s Zhouyi jijie and also
Fang Shenquan’s (fl. 1075) less well known Zhouyi yihai (Sea of Meanings for the
Zhou Changes).39 Often, but by no means invariably, the first-mentioned inter
pretation for a given hexagram line comes from Cheng Yi’s Yichuan Yizhuan (see
chapter 5).4°
Initially Li Iian simply collected several dozen interpretations — sixty-four in
2../£2 xi/fé; Figure 6.1. (left)
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Figure 6.2. (below)
”l||ustration of Departing and Arriving
in Pi and Tai," by Zhang Li
Figure 6.3. (opposite, top)

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Configurations of Heaven," by Zhang Li
Figure 6.4. (opposite, bottom)

”Chart of Looking Down to Examine the
Patterns of Earth," by Zhang Li
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all, according to the editors of the Four Treasuries collection—with the idea of
allowing later scholars to pick and choose from the available set of possibili
ties. But he then decided to reedit the materials that he had previously amassed,
Among the works cited by Li that are no longer extant we find the Wushi jiajie
(Fifty Schools of Yijing Interpretation), by Yang Binfu, and the Sanshijiajie (Thirty
Schools of Yijing Interpretation), by Shan Feng. Most of the texts representing
the “sixty-four schools” also no longer exist, but as the Siku editors point out,
“Now, thanks to Li ]ian’s efforts, We can still see a tenth of them.” They go on
to say that Li “at first collected [his references] broadly and in the end made
them concise” (shi bo zhong yue). As a result, he was able to produce a book with
comments that were “pure and substantial, not trivial” (chun shi bu zhi), a contri
bution no less substantial, the editors note, than those of Li Dingzuo and Fang
Shenquan (see chapters 4 and 5, respectively) .41
Dong Zhenqing (fi. ca. 1330), author of the Zhouyi huitong (A Comprehensive
Compilation on the Zhou Changes), also saw virtue in a wide variety of approaches
to the Yijing. In his view, all traditions of scholarship on the Changes, regardless of
how great the differences between them might seem to be, sought a similar path
of understanding; thus, they all had the same basic goal. With this idea firmly in
mind, Dong sought to avoid the prejudices and quarreling that had marked so
much of previous Yijing scholarship. He read broadly and selected his evidence
ecumenically, “not adhering to any one particular viewpoint” (bu zhu yi shuo). The
result was a book that not only sought to strike a balance between the images—
and-numbers and meanings-and-principles approaches to the classic but also
embraced works by authors such as Su Shi (1037-1101), Zhu Zhen (1072-1138),
and Lin Li (twelfth century), whose writings on the Changes had been expressly
rejected by Zhu Xi. According to the editors of the Four Treasuries, Dong’s vision
was thus much broader and more comprehensive than that of his mentor, Hu
Yigui.41
Although not as wide-ranging and eclectic as Zhang Li, Lilian, or Dong Zhen
qing, Long Renfu (fl. ca. 1320) was an innovator nonetheless. To be sure, his
Zhouyijizhuan (Collected Commentaries on the Zhou Changes) was based primarily
on the opinions of Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi; hence it fell within the parameters of
the dynasty’s newly established state orthodoxy. But in the eyes of the Siku edi
tors, Long, like Dong, broke new ground by refusing to adhere slavishly to “the
old views of people like Hu Bingwen [1250-13 3 3, the son of Hu Yigui] and his
ilk.” 43 In certain important respects Long’s approach to the Changes emphasized
simplicity over complexity. Thus, for example, he reduced the symbolism of Kun
(hexagram 2) to “settled” or “at peace” (an); Zhun (3), to “solid” (gu); Bi (8), to
“join in” or “enter” (ru); and Zhen (51), to “kill” (sha). Such meanings all differ
from the ones normally attached to these hexagrams by virtue of their names
and judgments/*4 From the standpoint of the Four Treasuries editors, Long’s
approach was creative but also solidly grounded, justifying the evaluation in the
Yuanshi (History of the Yuan Dynasty) that he had dealt effectively with matters
that previous Confucians had not yet managed to handle.45
The Yixue biantong (Adaptations in Changes Scholarship), by Zeng Guan (fl. ca.
1330), receives high marks from the Siku editors for the clarity and substance
Qf its interpretations and for Zeng’s careful effort to compare the line state
ments of related hexagrams. In their view, Zeng’s analysis was both “subtle”
(wei) and “meticulous” (xi), expressing ideas that were not only “pure” (chun) but
also “upright” (zheng). This attention to subtlety and detail enabled him to sur
pass the work of many previous scholars. Although Zeng is characterized in the
FourTreasuries as a single-minded advocate of the meanings-and-principles ap
proach to the Yijing, his exegesis sometimes employed the overlapping-trigrams
method and other Han dynasty interpretive techniques that are usually asso
ciated with the school of images and numbers.“
Significantly, the Four Treasuries review of the Yixue biantong notes explicitly
that Zeng died a martyr to the Yuan dynasty; yet, tragically, his name was never
recorded in the “Biographies of the Loyal and the Righteous” section of the
Yuanshi. This, the editors clearly imply, was a grave oversight because Zeng was,
in their view, a “perfected man” (wanren). Thus, they write: “We have now com
piled his works and recorded them not only because of the importance of his
writings but also in order to manifest his great integrity and bring to light his
hidden virtues.” 47
Qian Yifang’s Yijing tushuo (Discussion of the Illustrations [related to] the
Classic of Changes), completed in 1346, traces the evolution of nearly thirty charts
and diagrams associated with the Changes, attributing most of them to the likes
of Chen Tuan, Mu Xiu, Li Zhicai, and Shao Yong (see chapter 5). Arguing that
all these later illustrations, unlike the original Hetu, were composed to explicate
the Yijing rather than the other way around (yin Yi erh zuo tufei gin tu er zuo Yi), Qian
criticizes Song dynasty claims for the ancient provenance of these later “inven
tions,” including the fifty-five-point version of the Hetu and the forty-five-point
version of the Luoshu. He also takes Zhu Xi to task for relying on Shao Yong in his
discussions of the Former Heaven and Later Heaven sequences that appear in
the Zhouyi bengi. The editors of the Four Treasuries commend Qian highly for the
clarity and incisiveness of his critique of Song-era charts and illustrations, but
they fault him for accepting the argument that “the nine divisions [jiuchou] of
the Mingtang [in the Liji (Record of Ritual)] correspond with the [nine-number]
turtle pattern [of the Luoshu] .”48
The Zhouyi cangi (A Combined Interpretation of the Zhou Changes), of Liang
Yin (1303-89), offers a spirited defense of Cheng-Zhu orthodoxy. As the title
suggests, this late Yuan work attempts to reconcile the “slightly different” per
spectives on the Yijing of Cheng Yi, with his well-known emphasis on principle
(li), and Zhu Xi, with his putative emphasis on images (xiang). According to the
editors of the Four Treasuries, Liang’s book, which follows the “ancient Yi ” (gu
Yi) version of the Changes as edited by Lii Zuqian and adopted by Zhu,49 is straight
forward and accessible: he “touches on principle without winding into the ab
struse, and he talks about images without pressing [his own views] .” His work
is, they go on to remark, “concise, accurate, detailed, and clear,” not at all like
the confusing works of many other scholars. Although his analysis is not very
subtle or sophisticated, it is nonetheless “pure and correct” — the words of a true
Confucian.5°
The Zhouyi yaobian yiyun (Meaning and Essence of the Line Transformations in
the Zhou Changes), by Chen Yingrun (fourteenth century), provides a particularly
vigorous critique of the way various interpretations of the Yijing were “contami
nated” by readings based on Laozi and Zhuangzi, as well as by Alchemical Daoist
works such as the Zhouyi cantong qi. Yet Chen himself was not immune to Daoist
influences. For example, we know that he used Wang Bi’s version of the Yijing in
composing his commentaries, and although the Four Treasuries editors describe
him as a pioneer in breaking free from the esoteric interpretations of Chen Tuan
and the abstract formulations and Daoist-influenced diagrams of Shao Yong and
Zhou Dunyi in the Song, they also acknowledge his reliance on Iiao Yanshou’s
Yilin (Forest of Changes), a rather esoteric work in its own right (see chapter 3).
In the end, what seems to have redeemed Chen Yingrun’s approach to the Yijing
in the eyes of the Siku editors was his careful selection of historical examples
to interpret individual lines and his use of concrete hexagram images “to re
veal good and bad fortune,” just as, they believed, the sages who composed the
Changes had originally intended.51
Given the general emphasis on Confucianism in the Four Treasuries collec
tion, as well as the relative neglect of books dealing with explicitly Buddhist or
Daoist themes, we should not be surprised to discover that few of the Yuan
era works on the Yijing reviewed in the “Classics” section of the compendium
reveal any real sympathy for nonorthodox philosophies.” This does not mean,
however, that Changes-related works with an explicitly religious orientation did
not circulate widely during the Yuan period. Consider, for example, the case of
Li Daochun (fl. 1290), a famous Daoist scholar who authored or coauthored at
least two important books that devote a great deal of attention to the Changes:
the Zhonghe ji (Collection [of Writings] on Centered Harmony) and the San Tian
Yisui (Essence of the Changes from the Three Heavens).53
In both of these works, which are laced with quotations from, and allusions
to’ the Yijing, we find a remarkable combination of Confucian, Buddhist, and
Daoist thought, the sort of eclectic philosophical blend most often identified
with Ming dynasty syncretism (see below). In the case of the Zhonghe ji, for in
stance, Li takes his title from a line in the Liji, a Confucian classic, but he draws
heavily upon Buddhism and especially A1chemicalDaoism to convey his under
standing of the “Heavenly Way.” His goal is to offer a means by which human
beings can attain their full potential through a complete awareness and mastery
of the cosmic patterns of movement and rest.54 Similarly, in the San Tian Yisui Li
uses all three belief systems to explicate the principles of the Changes. To be sure,
his primary emphasis is Daoism, but his appreciation of Buddhist and Confu
cian thought is clear. As one indication of Li’s extraordinary eclecticism, he
argues that the Supreme Ultimate (Taiji) of Confucianism, the Pearl of Mystery
(Xuanzhu) of Buddhism, and the Golden Elixir (jindan) of Alchemical Daoism are
simply three names for the same metaphysical reality.55
Another Yuan dynasty scholar whose Yi-related work extended well beyond
Confucian orthodoxy was the Well-known poet Yu Yan, discussed earlier in this
chapter. Like Zhu Xi, whom he admired, Yu is known for composing a com
prehensive commentary on the Daoist alchemical tract Zhouyi cantong qi.56 This
commentary, dated 1284, bears the title Zhougi cantong qi fahui (A Clarification
of the Token for the Agreement of the Three According to the Zhou Changes) .57 As we have
already seen, Yu Yan also wrote a number of fairly conventional books on the
Yijing, including the Du Yi juyao and the Zhouyi jishuo.
But a more interesting example of Yu’s versatility is a work titled Yiwai biezhuan
(Separate Transmission beyond the Changes), preface dated 1284.58 In many re
spects, this small but significant book reflects the orientation of Song Daoist
masters such as Zhang Boduan (see chapter 5).59 In the Yiwai biezhuan, Yu Yan
often cites the Cantong qi and other explicitly alchemical texts to illustrate his ap
proach to Daoist self-cultivation. For example, he asserts: “The way of internal
refinement [neilian] is extremely simple and utterly easy; the only requirement is
for the fire of the mind to descend into the cinnabar field [dantian] .” There—in
the center of the belly, behind the navel and in front of the l<idneys—the yin and
the yang of the human body interact in such a way that they “ascend to the brain
[niwan; lit., ‘mud ball’], where they float like a cloud,” eventually transforming
into a “sweet marsh” (ganze, an elixir, like Laozi’s “sweet dew,” which enables a
heightened level of consciousness) .6°
Illustrations figure prominently in Yu’s book, foreshadowing their promi
nence in a number of Yijing-related works of the Ming period (see below). In fact,
Yu begins his study with a diagram of the Supreme Ultimate as a simple circle,
first citing Shao Yong’s statement that “the mind is the Supreme Ultimate” and
then following it with Zhu Xi’s remark that “the Supreme Ultimate is the image
of the empty center [xuzh0ng].”61 Subsequently, Yu employs a number of Shao
Yong’s writings and particularly his “Chart of the Former Heaven Sequence”
(Xiantian tu) to explicate his decidedly Daoist vision.“ Like Shao’s Huangji jingshi
shu, the Yiwai biezhuan devotes a great deal of attention to establishing correla
tions between the phases of change that are marked in Chinese thought by con
cepts such as yin and yang, the wuxing, the ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly
branches, the eight trigrams, and the sixty-four hexagrams.
Several of Yu’s illustrations focus primarily on trigram relationships and
interactions. For example, early in the book he presents two circles that show
“the workings of the mind” (fig. 6.5) .63 Inspired by a quotation from Shao Yong,
as well as by certain well-known passages in the “Great Commentary” of the
Yijing, Yu shows us, by means of a circle on the right-hand side, how the head
(shou, represented by a small circle inside the larger one at the top, inscribed with
the Qian trigram) governs form; how the mind (xin) governs spirit (shen, repre
sented by a small, empty circle in the middle); and how the belly (fu, represented
by the Kun trigram in a circle at the bottom) governs energy (qi). Although the
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head and belly are spatially separated, the mind, according to Yu, can trigger, by
means of its domination over spirit, a yingang interaction between the two, thus
replicating the creative ginyang interaction of Heaven and Earth.
Similarly, the large circle on the left-hand side shows how the eyes (yan,
represented by the Li trigram in a small circle at the top) control vital essence
(jing); how the heart/mind controls spirit (again represented by a small, empty
circle); and how the kidneys (shen [a term that also refers to the genitals], repre
sented by the Kan trigram in a small circle at the bottom) control qi. Quoting
Shao Yong’s remark that “the spirit of Heaven manifests itself in the sun, and the
spirit of human beings manifests itself the eyes,” Yu Yan advances the argument
that “wherever the eyes can extend, there also goes the mind.” Thus, an effective
and time-efiicient means of self-cultivation is simply to “look at the nose with
the eyes and then correlate the nose with the navel, causing the fire of the mind
[xinhuo] to descend into the sea of energy [qil1ai].”64 In so doing, one balances the
yin and yang aspects of Kan and Li within the body, contributing to the process
of alchemical refinement.
Another pair of circle-shaped diagrams depict a similar process (fig. 6.6).
Here, Yu Yan provides an illustration of the well-known correlations, articulated
in the Wing of the Changes called “Discussion of the Trigrams,” between Heaven
and Qian, Earth and Kun, the sun and Li, and the moon and Kan. He also cites
the relationships noted in the same work between Qian and the head, on the one
hand, and Kun and the belly, on the other. His suggestion for an understand
ing of alchemical processes within the body is that the head, which is round
and above, is the place where yang collects, while the belly, which is hollow and
below, is where qi returns (to the “sea of energy”). He goes on to say:
Heaven is black and Earth is yellow [another well-known Yijing correla

tion]; thus the Taixuanjing considers Kun to be the Yellow Mansion [Huang
gong]. The sun rises in the east and the moon rises in the West; therefore
the Changes considers Li the sun and Kan the moon. Respiration [huxi] goes
out and in, up and down, back and forth inexhaustably. Thus, the Yellow
Court [Huangting] considers respiration to be the sun and the moon.“
Yu Yan continues with the symbolism of both water and the color yellow, mov
ing toward a description of how the superior person can, by “riding upon the
unceasing flow of respiration, alternating back and forth,” find a way to be in
tune with the rhythms of Heaven—able to find, and thus to avail of, the incipient
moments (ji) of cosmic change.“
Using the dynamic water imagery of hexagram 29 (Kan, “The Sink Hole,”
“The Abysmal”) but eschewing its implications of danger, Yu draws upon the
symbolism of the “Commentary on the Words of the Text” regarding Kun (2,
“Pure Yin,” “The Receptive”) to spell out his vision of the perfected individual. In
the words of the Yijing, to which he unmistakably alludes, this person, “garbed in
yellow and maintaining the Mean, thoroughly grasps the principles of things. . . .
Excellence abides within him, emanating through his four limbs and expressed
in his deeds—the very apex of excellence.” 67 Figure 6.7 provides an illustration
of some additional cosmic variables involved in Yu’s approach to alchemical self
cultivation. Note in particular the twelve sovereign hexagrams (jungua or bigua)
in the fifth ring, which together represent the dispersal (xiao) and accumulation
(xi) of yin and yang as described in chapter 3.
Despite Yu Yan’s repeated references to the Yijing and to a number of highly
respected Song neo-Confucian thinkers, including Zhu Xi, Cheng Yi, Yuan Shu
(1131-1205), and others, it is evident that his enthusiasm for Alchemical Dao
ism went much further than that of any of these scholars. In the case of Zhu Xi,
for example, the Cantong qi was fundamentally an object of scholarly curiosity,
nothing more. For Yu, however, it seems to have been a major intellectual and
personal preoccupation. _,
To be sure, Yu’s admiration of the Changes was genuine. This is clear from his
more mainstream publications, such as the Du Yijuyao and the Zhougijishuo, dis
cussed above. Thus, we have no reason to doubt his sincerity when he states that
works such as the Cantong qi naturally borrowed from the Changes, because “the Yi
is like the universe, and the human body is also like the universe.” We may even
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Figure 6.7. ”Fire phases" (Huohou), correlating lunar mansions, hexagrams, days of the
month, earthly branches, trigrams, seasons, and the ”four emblematic animals," by Yu Yan
accept his assertion that Whereas the Yijing Was concerned with moral cultivation
and the general welfare, the Cantong qi was much more narrowly concerned with
the preservation of the body as a matter of personal self-interest.“ Nonetheless,
the editors of the Four Treasuries had no illusions about the Yiwai biezhuan. For
all of the author’s Yijing-inspired rhetoric, they still considered this work to be a
Daoist tract, not a Confucian one. Thus, they relegated it to the “Da0ism” sec
tion of the Siku collection.
Ming Approaches to the Changes

Scholarly interest in the Yijing blossomed during the Ming era, a time when more
than six hundred major works on the classic appeared. But as indicated at the
outset of this chapter, despite this great outpouring of scholarship, relatively
few Ming dynasty books on the Changes were actually included in the main “Clas
sics” section of the Four Treasuries collection. Why? One reason seems to be
that much Ming scholarship on the Yijing went no further than the scholarship
of the preceding Yuan dynasty. Another factor seems to have been the narrow
ness and rigidity of Ming orthodoxy, an inheritance from the late Yuan period,
This orthodoxy, based on the thought and commentaries of Cheng Yi and Zhu
Xi, was powerfully reinforced at every turn by the Ming civil-service examination
system.69
In 1414 the Yongle emperor ordered Hu Guang (1370-1418) and his associ
ates to put together a Work that became known as the Wujing sishu daquan (Great
Comprehensive [Compilation of] the Five Classics and Four Books). This com
pendium, completed less than a year after it had been commissioned, and graced
with a preface written by the emperor himself, naturally included a section de
voted to the Yijing, titled the Zhouyi daquan (Great Comprehensive [Compilation
of] the Zhou Changes).
This hastily edited work, based primarily on excerpts from Hu Bingwen’s
(1250-1333) Zhouyi benyi tongshi (A Thorough Explanation of [Zhu Xi’s] Basic
Meaning of the Zhou Changes) and a few other similar celebrations of Cheng-Zhu
orthodoxy, focused almost exclusively on Cheng Yi’s Yichuan Yizhuan and Zhu Xi’s
Zhouyi benyi (see chapter 5). Although somewhat “incomplete,” “inconsistent,”
and relatively narrow in terms of its ideological scope (at least according to the
editors of the Four Treasuries project), this compendium had the virtue of “not
deviating from [the path] of rectitude” (bushi qi zheng).7° Moreover, it marked a
clear rejection of the ontological approach to the Changes favored by Wang Bi
(see chapter 4) .71 For this reason, among others, the Zhouyi daquan served for
more than two hundred years as the primary textual authority for Ming scholars
preparing for the Yi-oriented segments of the civil-service exams.
The downside of this narrow ideological orthodoxy was that Ming scholar
ship on the classics became, in the view of the editors of the Four Treasuries,
“stiff and shallow.” As the prolific writer Zheng Xiao (1499-1566) claimed in his
bookjinyan (Present Words), “When the civil-service examinations began in the
Hongwu [emperor’s] reign, the Five Classics all followed old commentaries and
the [major] Song scholars. . . . [But] later, all the old commentaries were aban
doned. We do not know when this first occurred, but some suggest that it may
have taken place when the court commissioned the Wujing daquan.”72 As if this
were not enough, later examination hopefuls, “disliking the length of Cheng
Yi’s commentary, excluded it from their reading, and used Zhu’s Xi’s Zhouyi benyi
exclusively.”73
Thus, during the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries Zhu Xi’s interpreta
tions of the Yijing dominated scholarship on the classic," and relatively few com
mentaries were written on it.75 Wang Yangming, the great exponent of Studies of
the Mind in the mid-Ming, like Lu Xiangshan before him in the Song, referred
to the Changes on a number of occasions in explaining and justifying his ideas,“
but it fell mainly to his disciples, notably Liu Zongzhou (see below), to use the
yijing in a more systematic way. And even among the small core of Ming scholars
identified at this time with the so-called school of images and numbers, most,
including Wang Iing (fl. ca. 1433) and Fang Xianfu (d. 1544),” tended to follow
the Zhu Xi-endorsed “mathematical” interpretations of Shao Yong rather than
the writings of other Song (or Han) scholars.
But later in the sixteenth century, in an environment marked by a renewed
interest in the Chinese classics and in all manner of visual illustrations, schol
ars flocked to the Changes, and many of them focused in particular on issues re
lated to the images-and-numbers approach." Thus, for example, of the eleven
sixteenth-century works on the Changes that came to be included in the main
“Classics” section of the Four Treasuries collection, five can be classified at least
roughly as xiangshu.
The Zhougi xiang zhijue lu (A Record of the Determinations of the Images in
the Zhou Changes), by Xiong Guo (1529 jinshi), provides an apt example of the
sixteenth-century shift in orientation. Initially, as Xiong tells us in the preface to
his book, he had been an admirer of Cai Qing (145 3-1508), a steadfast advocate
of Zhu Xi’s brand of Song neo-Confucianism and perhaps the single most influ
ential scholar of the Changes in all of fifteenth-century China.” But in the course
of his exegetical investigations Xiong came to believe that Cai had failed to give
due attention to the images of the Yijing and that this neglect had to be rectified.
After all, as the “Great Commentary” indicates with characteristic succinctness,
the images are the Changes (Yi zhe xiang ye).8° The result was that Xiong moved
back into the Han era, and although his studies of Han scholarship on the Yijing
were not fully developed (again, according to the editors of the Four Treasuries),
they were nonetheless rigorous and productive, and they included sophisticated
investigations of, among other things, philology and phonetics.81
Another apt illustration of the sixteenth-century interest in images and num
bers, one that also focuses squarely on Han learning, is the Yixiang goujie (An
Investigation and Explanation of the Images of the Changes), written by Chen Shi
yuan (1544 jinshi).82 Although Chen’s reliance on certain dubious sources and
questionable intellectual “lineages” left something to be desired in the eyes of
the Four Treasuries editors, his effort to reconstruct the numerological systems
and divinatory techniques of the Han scholar Iing Pang indicate a concerted
effort to get beyond Song scholarship on the Yijing, in particular to challenge
some of the prejudices of Master Zhu, who expressly rejected concepts that had
been wholeheartedly embraced by Iing, such as najia and feifu (see chapters 3
and 5).”
As suggested above, a significant feature of Ming scholarship on images and
numbers was the appearance of a great many studies of Yi-related charts and
graphs, part of a more broadly based interest in collections of illustrated ma
terial, including maps, that emerged in mid- and late-Ming China.“ In addition
to illustrations concerning the Changes that appeared in more general compendia
by such well-known scholars as Wang Qi (1565 jinshi) and Zhang Huang (15 27_
16o8),85 the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries witnessed the publication
of the following groundbreaking books: the Yitu (Changes Illustrations), by Tian
Yiheng (fl. ca. 1550); the Zhouyi yicong (Collectanea of the Meanings of the Zhou
Changes), byYe Liangpei (1513 jinshi); and the Yijing tu quanji (Complete Collection
of the Illustrations of the Classic of Changes), by Hu Bin (1506-57) and Wu Wei (fl,
1550)-8°
Two other works contributed to this remarkable flowering of illustrated com
pendia on the Yijing. One, by Yang Shiqiao (15 31-1609), was a sixty-four-volume
tour de force titled Zhouyi gujin wen quanshu (Complete Collection of Ancient and
New Text [Studies of] the Zhou Changes). Although strongly oriented toward
orthodox Cheng-Zhu learning, this collection contained a full set of Yi-related
charts and graphs, including not only all preexisting ones but also a number of
newly minted ones, some of which Yang invented himself.“ The other monu
mental compilation of this kind was the Yixue quanshu (Complete Book of Changes
Studies), put together by Zhuo Erkang (1570-1644). This work was both an an
thology of commentaries on the Changes and a collection of Yi-related illustra
tions.”
Of all the scholars represented in Zhuo’s expansive collection, perhaps the
most famous Ming exponent of charts and graphs was Lai Zhide (1525-1604),
praised by contemporaries as an individual who had produced the “ultimate
study” (juexue) of the Changes.” The editors of the Four Treasuries felt that such
accolades were undeserved, but they nonetheless praised Lai for his steadfast
ness, thoroughness, ingenuity, and “profound mental eI'fort.”9° Lai’s exegetical
labors, entailing thirty years of assiduous study, finally yielded his 1599 magnum
opus, Zhouyijizhu (Collected Commentaries on the Zhou Changes). Throughout the
centuries, this work has occasioned great praise for clarifying hexagram rela
tionships, as well as substantial criticism for simplifying and distorting them.91
But few works in the exegetical traditions of the Changes have had such staying
power in the last few centuries. We might therefore examine his ideas in some
detail.
For Lai, as for all exam-trained Chinese scholars before and after him, the
The Yuan and Ming Dynasties ~ 161
Study of the Yijing took place within a philosophical framework informed by
numerous other writings.” In Lai’s case, these works included not only the Con
fucian canon and various commentaries on it but also Buddhist writings.93 From
his readings, he developed a worldview based on the practical idea that selfish
desires had to be curbed and on the broader philosophical notion that the nature
of each thing (and its destiny as well) cannot be separated from its form (xing)
and its physical constitution (i.e., qi).94 In Lai’s words:
[Since all things] have a certain form and material substance [qi], there
is [always] a certain image and number [associated with each of them].
Since there are such images and numbers, even Heaven and Earth cannot
escape them. How much more then [is it so with respect to] Man? From
the moment of their birth, human beings already have a form and a ma
terial substance, as well as a fixed number [which determines all matters,
including] death and life, wealth and high position or poverty and low
estate, progress or impediment, drinking and eating.95
Lai’s gloss on the hexagram Qian (1) illustrates the way that he believed
number, nature, and the need to curb human desire might find expression in
the Yijing. A pre-Song rendering of the cryptic judgment might be: “Qian con
sists of fundamentality (yuan), success or prevalence (heng), fitness (li), and con
stancy (zhen).”9° But Lai, following Song dynasty grammatical and semantic
understandings of such strings of characters, took the first two graphs to mean
“great penetration [i.e., accessibility] ” (clatong) and the second two to mean “it
is appropriate [i.e., advantageous] to be correct” (yizheng). His interpretation,
then, was that yuanheng is a reminder that the foundation of Heaven’s way is
number (shu) —which can, after all, be understood—while lizhen reminds us that
principle (Ii) dictates what is proper in human affairs—which can, and should,
be followed. Since number and principle are not far apart, Lai argues, there will
be advantage in following the proper path, illuminated, so to speak, by numbers.
But if selfishness gets in the way, there will be nothing but impediments.”
Lai wanted to do more than simply apply his personal philosophy to individual
hexagrams in the Changes, however. He also sought to identify unified patterns of
meaning within the document as a whole— to identify how different judgments,
line statements, trigram symbols, and whole hexagrams were related and how
they expressed the cosmic order.98 As we have seen, this was hardly a new im
pulse. But Lai believed that prior commentators on the Changes, including the
authors of the Zhougi daquan, had not grappled successfully with the problem of
images (by which he meant primarily the hexagrams and their constituent linear
structures and only secondarily the concepts expressed in the written texts that
accompanied them), and so he sought a new interpretive solution, striking out
boldly in the fashion of such innovative system builders as Yang Xiong of the Han
and Shao Yong of the Song (see chapters 3 and 5, respectively) .99
Lai’s fundamental ontological assumption was that all phenomena were
“images of qi”—each distinct in its own way as the member of a certain dis
crete class of entities, but all conforming to a pattern or principle (Ii) of cycli
cal development and behavior that was reflected in numbers (shu). Lai assumed
further that in order to understand this pattern as manifested in the Changes, it
Was necessary to understand its preverbal structure (hexagram, trigram, and
line relationships) before explicating its verbal meanings (e.g., judgments, line
statements, and the Ten Wings). At the same time, however, he saw that a careful
analysis of cross-referenced verbal texts could help to reveal preverbal relation
ships.
At the core of Lai’s approach to analyzing the preverbal structure of the Yijing,
articulated in a famous 1597 essay, were two long-standing concepts to which he
gave “new” names: cuogua (interchanging hexagrams) and zonggua (inverse hexa
grams), both expressions derived from passages in the Ten Wings.1°° In Lai’s
writings, the former term referred to what earlier writers had designated pang
tong gua, “laterally linked hexagrams,” or bianyi gua, “changed hexagrams,” that
is, pairs of hexagrams that were related by virtue of having opposite lines (gin vs.
yang) in all six line positions. The latter term referred to What earlier commen
tators had called fandui gua, “inverted hexagrams,” that is, pairs of hexagrams
that were linked because each of them appeared to have been formed by turning
the other one upside down.1°1 These two terms had their respective counterparts
in Lai’s concepts cluidai (displacement by opposition) and liuxing (flow through
phases), which informed the view of reality that Lai’s organization of the hexa
grams sought to capture.1°2 “Figure 6.8 shows how Lai sought to depict various
line, trigram, and hexagram relationships in a set of twelve vertical columns
for each hexagram. These relationships include trigram images, interchanging
hexagrams, inverse hexagrams, middle lines (i.e. the middle four lines of a hexa
gram’s two overlapping trigrams), hexagrams with similar combinations of gang
and yin lines, and so forth. The last six columns display the elaborate symbolic
consequences of line changes in each of the six positions of a given hexagram
(in this case, Qian [15]).”
In brief, Lai conceived of each pair of hexagrams in the received version of
the Changes as a “subcycle” of information, part of a larger pattern of cosmic
Figure 6.8. (opposite) Some of Lai Zhide's correlations and

transformations for the Qian hexagram ("Modesty" [15])
change and interaction that the ancient sages had been able to perceive and
understand.1°3 But in Lai’s interpretive system, these pairs were not limited to
the binary choices spelled out in the Ten Wings or, for that matter, by the Spegu
lations of previous commentators.1°4 Thus, for example, Lai seems to have been
the first commentator in Chinese history to see a clear connection between Shi
(“The Army” [7]) and Tongren (“Fellowship” [13]), based on the second line
statement of Shi: “The king [wang] confers a three-fold commendation.” 1°5
According to Lai’s cuogua approach, the link between these two hexagrams
becomes apparent when, through the process of “interchanging,” the Kun tri
gram at the top of Shi morphs into the Qian trigram (signifying “sovereign”
[jun], as per the Shuogua commentary) at the top of Tongren. This relationship,
illuminated by images of rulership and reinforced by the common understand
ing that the second line of Shi is its “ruler” (Zhu), explains the shared theme of
warfare— a constant preoccupation of kings —in the paired hexagrams. Accord
ing to Lai, the connection between these two seemingly dissimilar hexagrams at
tests to the “marvelous subtlety” of the Yijing’s images, “which later Confucians
had a difficult time understanding.” 1°°
With respect to the principle of zonggua (inverse hexagrams) the symbolic
linkages are often much easier to discern. For example, when we view Sun
(“Diminution” [41]) and Yi (“Increase” [42]) as linked by the principle of inver
sion, our attention cannot but be drawn to an identical passage that occurs in
the fifth line statement of the former hexagram and the second line statement
of the latter: “Of tens of coteries [or pairs, shipeng] of tortoises, there are none
that can act in opposition.”1°7 Of course, the meaning of this particular cryptic
statement will probably always remain in doubt, and Chinese commentators
have long argued intensely over it. Wang Bi and Kong Yingda, for example, took
the word “tortoises” to mean “the wise, the talented, and the worthy.” Cheng Yi
believed that it referred to the “general consensus” of the masses, which would
assuredly accord with “right principles.” Zhu Xi, for his part, felt that the phrase
“coteries of tortoises” referred to “great wealth,” symbolized by ten pairs of
shells.1°8
Lai also used an interpretive system known as “Big Images” (daxiang), which
expanded his already ample repository of symbolic possibilities.1°9 The salient
feature of the original approach, attributed by some to Iing Fang in the Han, was
the identification of six “big hexagrams,” aside from Qian and Kun, which had
the same basic appearance as six of the eight trigrams—for instance, Zhongfu
(61), which looks like the trigram Li (imagine Li with each of its three lines
doubled). In the minds of a number of scholars, including Zhu Xi, the similarity
in appearance invested these six hexagrams with all of the many trigram quali
ties (guade) identified in the “Discussion of the Trigrams” section of the Ten
WingS_11o
What Lai did was to extend this visual logic to each of the hexagrams, arguing
that “all [the hexagrams] that have yang [lines] above imitate Gen and Sun, and
all those that have yang [lines] below imitate Zhen and Dui. Those having yang
[lines] above and below imitate Li, and those having yin [lines] above and below
imitate Kan.”111 Using this form of reasoning, at least two other hexagrams in
addition to Zhongfu—Yi (27) and Yi (42)—came to be linked with the trigram
Li, greatly increasing the symbolic associations attached to each.112
Prom the standpoint of numbers, Lai drew inspiration from Iing Pang, Shao
Yong, and Zhu Xi, and he gave a certain amount of attention to the Hetu and
the Lu0shu.113 But his theory of how the eight trigrams generated the sixty-four
hexagrams owed more to Iing than to Shao and Zhu, departing significantly
from the jia yibei (increase by a factor) approach popularized by Shao and ap
propriated by Zhu.114 Moreover, whereas Shao Yong and others had postulated
an a priori quality to Fuxi’s Former Heaven sequence of the trigrams and an a
posteriori quality to King Wen’s Later Heaven sequence, Lai maintained that the
two charts represented two interdependent depictions of the ongoing processes
of “displacement by opposition” and “flow through phases.” 115
Thus, for example, the trigram Qian in the Fuxi sequence represents Heaven
(as opposed to Earth), while in the King Wen sequence it represents metal (in
terms of five-agents correlations). In Lai’s view there was no priority, only com
plementarity.11° This same logic applied to his “Fuxi and King Wen Diagram of
Interchanging [Hexagrams] and Inverse [Hexagrams]” (Fuxi Wenwang cuo zong
tu). This depiction was inspired by Shao Yong, but once again Lai intended it
to emphasize patterns of opposition and flow rather than a fixed conception
of anteriority and posteriority. If a distinction had to be made between the two
patterns, it would be between what was “interior” (rising, flourishing, replen
ishing) and what was “exterior” (falling, declining, dying) .117
Lai’s rough contemporary Lin Zhaoen represented another mid-Ming phe
nomenon that was in certain respects as striking and significant as the interest
of sixteenth-century philosophers in images and numbers, charts, graphs, and
other illustrations. This was an unprecedented enthusiasm for “Three Teach
ings” (Sanjiao) syncretism, that is, the self-conscious reconciliation of Confu
cianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. For instance, we find Confucians advocating
the use of Daoist ledgers of merit and demerit (gongguo ge) to encourage proper be
havior, and we also find Buddhists and Daoists seeking common ground with
Confucians in the related realms of ethics, thought, and practice. One indica
tion of this sort of intellectual accommodation is the remark by Yuan Zongdao
(1560-1600) that “we can understand Confucianism for the first time only after
we have studied Chan [Buddhism] .” 118
Lin Zhaoen, who established a Three Teachings school “for students of 311
religions and social classes,” was in many Ways the poster child for this mid
Ming fashion.119 His syncretic outlook can be found in any number of his essays,
including one titled “The Method of the Mind in Keeping the Back Still” (Genbei
xinfa). In it, Lin uses imagery from the Yijing, particularly the Gen hexagram (“Re
straint” [52]), often understood as “Keeping Still” in Buddhist as well as neo
Confucian texts, to promote a nine-stage process of Daoist-style meditati0n.12°~
The judgment of Gen begins, “Restraint [or Stillness] takes place with the back,”
which Lin glosses in the following way:
The character bei [back] is composed of two parts, the radical “meat” and
the phonetic bei for “north.” Hence, the back of a man’s body is the meat
of the north. Now, in the four cardinal directions the agent of “water”
belongs to the north, . . . When we direct the water from the back of the
north and push it to the south, where the fire of the heart lies, [the fire
will be quenched]. This is why in the Classic of Changes it is said, “The sages
having, by their possession of [certain virtues associated with the yarrow
stalks and hexagrams], cleansed their minds, retired and laid them up in
secrecy,” which is also the “understanding from mind to mind” taught at
the gate of Confucius.121
Lin then goes on to explain, in language even more reminiscent of Daoist al
chemy, how to achieve the “extreme of the Way.” The process begins by imitating
the hexagram Gen in order to seek calmness of the mind and then establishing
a link between the brain and the belly on the model of the Qian (1) and Kun (2)
hexagrams; by this means one’s qi can flow freely?”
Zhang Xianyi (fl. ca. 1576) offers another example of Yi-related eclecticism
and accommodation in sixteenth-century China. The authors of the Four Trea
suries describe him as something of a wild man, utterly uninhibited and strange
in word and deed, yet capable of remarkable evenhandedness, correctness, and
penetration when it came to interpreting the Changes. This evaluation is espe
cially remarkable since much of Zhang’s outlook was shaped by an attraction to
the abstruse and largely discredited doctrines of Wang Bi. But what redeemed
Zhang in the eyes of the Siku editors was his admiration for Cheng-Zhu Confu
cianism and his receptiveness to the idea that concepts in the Yijing such as good
and bad fortune, remorse and regret, progress and regress, survival and demise,
were in the tradition of sagely admonitions, expressly designed to provide guid
ance in human affairs?”
This emphasis on the theme of service to society, which can be seen time
and again in the reviews of books on the Changes that are included in the Four
Treasuries project,124 occasionally led the editors to include works that had little
more merit than that of utility. One such late Ming product was Chen Zunian’s Yi
gong (Use of the Changes), based on the hermeneutical idea of “seeking principle
in the lines” (zhu yao xun li). In support of this interpretive approach, Chen cites
Zhu Xi to the effect that if one can read and study a hexagram as thoroughly as
one reads a line of text, applying it first to human affairs and then to oneself,
“the principles of good and bad fortune and increase and decrease, as well as the
Way of progress and regress and survival and demise, can all be grasped.”125
Thus Chen believed (as per the “Great Commentary”) that “once the superior
person finds himself in a [certain] situation, he observes the images [of the
Yijing] and ponders the phrases involved, and once he takes action, he observes
the change [of the lines] and ponders the prognostications involved.”126 And
again: “Perfect concepts [jingyi] come about by entrance into the numinous [ru
shen], which, once attained, allows one to extend their application to the utmost.
The utility of these applications comes about by making one’s person secure,
which allows for the subsequent exaltation of his virtue.”127
In the view of the Siku editors, the Wanli reign (1573-1619) marked the be
ginning of an unfortunate downward slide not only in the Ming dynasty’s for
tunes but also in its scholarship; it was a time when the meaningful study of the
classics became increasingly neglected. “Solid scholars,” the editors lamented,
“confined themselves to narrow textual studies [wenju], contributing no [inter
pretive] insights, while intelligent people [gaomingzhe] drifted into the abstruse
and became unrestrained.”128 Thus, only a few late Ming scholars merited re
views in the main section of the Four Treasuries collection on the Changes. And
among these, only Wei Jun (1604 jinshi) —whose careful work focused on the way
understandings of the images of the Yi had evolved from the early Zhou dynasty
through the Tang, and on Han dynasty interpretative techniques such as guabian,
huti, and fandui (see chapter 3)—stood out as an individual who had “broadly
investigated old texts and also preserved ancient meanings.” 119
One particularly striking feature of the late Ming era was the popularity
of Wang Yangming’s Studies of the Mind. This “intuitive” approach to moral
knowledge—anticipated by Zhu Xi’s intellectual rival in the Song, Lu Xiangshan
(see chapter 5) — emphasized the innate ability of all human beings to recognize
goodness (liangzhi), without the need for formal study of the sort advocated so
persistently and energetically by Master Zhu.13° Not surprisingly, the Siku editors
deplored what they described as the “mad Zen” (kuang Chan) approach to the
classics espoused by Wang and especially his successors .131 But as with all other
schools and intellectual traditions in imperial China, there were many different
varieties of Xinxue and many different ways in which its exponents interpreted
the Yijing.131
The Zhouyi yijian shuo (Discussion of the Ease and Simplicity of the Zhou
Changes), by Gao Panlong (1561—16z6),133 represents one of the more creative
of these hermeneutical approaches.134 In this work, Gao seeks to erase or at
least minimize the distinction that many scholars tried to draw between the
Studies of Principle and the Studies of the Mind. As he puts the matter in his
Zhouyi yijian shuo, “There are minds under Heaven that defy the Yi, but there is
no Yi that defies the mind [Tianxia youfei Yi zhi xin er wufei xin zhi Yi]. This is why
learning is important. Through learning, one [comes to] know that to defy the
Yi is to defy the mind and that to defy the mind is to defy the Yi.” Thus, he goes
on to say, “following the Yi will bring good fortune and defying the Yi will cause
misfortune, remorse, and regret.”135
From these statements, the editors of the Four Treasuries point out, we can
see that Gao “emphasized study of the Yi in order to examine the mind——unlike
Yang Iian [1141—1226], Wang Zongchuan [1181jinshi], and others, who, in their
view, brought the Yi to the Studies of the Mind and [then] brought the Studies
of the Mind to Chan [Buddhism] .”136 People like Yang and Wang, they go on to
say, “excluded images and numbers, departed from human affairs, and retreated
to the illusory and abstruse.” Therefore, although Gao sounded at times like an
adherent of the Lu-Wang school, the fact that he emphasized book learning and
not some sort of inward-looking mysticism convinced the Siku editors that he
could not be faulted for interpreting the Changes in terms of the mind.137
By contrast, the Yi-related work of the Ming loyalist Liu Zongzhou (1578
1645) —who came to Lu-Wang neo-Confucianism comparatively late in life and
who wrote a number of wide-ranging essays about the Supreme Ultimate, yin
and yang, the five agents or activities, the Hetu and the Luoshu, the eight trigrams,
and the sixty-four hexagrams—found no purchase in the reviews published in
the main “Classics” section on the Changes in the Four Treasuries collection.138
We should not be surprised. Liu’s belief was that the images of the Yi, like the
forms of Heaven and Earth, were all immanent in the mind—a view expressed
repeatedly and forcefully in works such as his Du Yitu shuo (On Reading the Illus
trations Associated with the Changes) .139
Other adherents of the Lu-Wang school, such as Wang Ii and Li Zhi, were
similarly neglected by the Siku editors. Again, it is easy to see why. Wang Ii’s
approach to the Yijing was heavily influenced by Buddhism, and as Zhu Bokun
has discussed at length, Wang made a concerted effort to link the ideas of the
Changes with the notion of liangzhi, turning passages from the Ten Wings to his
own interpretive purposes as adroitly as various proponents of other Confucian
teachings, including the Cheng-Zhu school, had done to support their views.14°
Thus, for example, Wang argued that phrases from the “Great Commentary”
Sudq as “absence of consciousness,” “lack of deliberate action,” and “utter still
ness” were nothing less than “the foundation of liangzhi.”141
Li Zhi is not generally considered to be an Yijing scholar, and yet he viewed
his jiuzheng Yi yin (Ninth Revision of the Logic of the Changes), completed shortly
before his death, as his greatest scholarly achievement. Like virtually every other
author in imperial China, Li used quotations from the Changes to make his argu
ments, but in his case the arguments were often quite radical. One noteworthy
example, discussed at length by Pauline Lee, is his famous essay “On Husbands
and Wives” (Fufu lun), in which he seems to argue for the equality of men and
women, based on a creative, albeit selective, analysis of the Qian (male) and Kun
(female) hexagrams?“
In many ways, Zhixu (a.k.a. Ouyi Zhixu, 1599-1655) represents the culmina
tion of Ming dynasty syncretism, iconoclasm, and Buddhist-inspired Yijing exe
gesis.143 Zhixu was raised to be a Confucian scholar, but he turned to Buddhism
while still in his teens after reading two books by the well-l<nown Buddhist cleric
Zhuhong (15 35-1615). Later he studied under one of the disciples of the great
Chan master Hanshan (1546-1624). Both Zhuhong and Hanshan were famous
for their eclecticism, and Zhixu clearly followed their path. Although his writ
ings reflect an unmistakable Chan orientation, they also reveal a substantial
knowledge of Confucianism, Daoism, and several varieties of Buddhism.144
As the preface to Zhixu’s Zhouyi Chanjie (A Chan [Zen] Interpretation of the
Zhou Changes) indicates, Zhixu’s purpose is a simple one: “I am explicating the
Changes,” he states, “for no other reason than to use Chan to penetrate Con
fucianism—in order that Confucianism [might then] be encouraged to know
Chan.”145 But the process of bringing his readers to this kind of understanding
was, of course, a complex one, involving study, contemplation, purification of
the senses, and insight. It also involved paradox. Thus we find Zhixu claiming
that his book is about change (yi) nonchange (fei yi) and neither change nor
nonchange (fei yifeifei yi).146
In order to guide his readers toward enlightenment, Zhixu often analyzes
the hexagrams of the Changes in terms of the various states of clhgana (medita
tion, absorption, etc.) and prajna (wisdom, insight, etc.). He also assigns spe
cific Buddhist attributes to certain hexagram lines. Thus, for example, the line
positions for Qian (1) represent not only movement beginning with “immanent
principle” and ending with “nirvana” but also various types of being, ranging
from “mortal” (line 1) to “buddha” (line 6). For each position, Zhixu also gives
concrete advice, suggested by the original line statement?” In addition, he adds
to the already ample symbolic repertoire of each hexagram by providing his own
“judgments.” For instance, he tells us that
Qian means strength. In Heaven it is yang [or the sun]; on Earth it is firm
ness [gang]. In human beings it is intelligence [zhi] and a sense of duty
[yi] ; with respect to the essence of mind [xing, i.e., “the Buddha nature”]
it is clear light [zl1ao; in Sanskrit, prabhaasvara]; in spiritual practice it is
observation [guan; i.e., “visualization”]. In the physical world it is what
provides cover [fou (for the sentient beings who inhabit it?)]. In the physi
cal body it is the head, the higher ruler. In the family it is the patriarch; in
the country it is the king; in the empire it is the emperor.148
He even goes so far as to analyze the Hetu in terms of the “ten realms of sentient
beings” and the “qualities” associated with them.149
Significantly, Zhixu’s writings, like those of Wang Yangming and his dis
ciples, fell into relative obscurity when the Ming dynasty fell.15° Indeed, several
prominent scholars of the early Qing period blamed the demise of the Ming
precisely on “mad Chan,” with its abstract, idealistic, and impractical writings
(see chapter 7) .151
It is perhaps appropriate to end this chapter with a brief comment on the Yi
related work of the well-known Ming calligrapher Ni Yuanlu (15 9 3-1644). Like
previous Chinese scholars who had lived in troubled times, Ni linked the late
Ming era with the period in which the Yijing itself had been written, the Shang
Zhou transition, an epoch marked by calamity, sorrow, and pain.152 As we shall
see in the following chapter, this theme of traumatic dynastic upheaval had im
portant implications for Changes scholarship, especially when the new dynasty
happened to be a foreign one. Fortunately for Ni, the editors of the Four Treasur
ies lived in a time far removed from the tumult of the mid-seventeenth century.
They were thus confident enough to give his writings on the Changes a favorable
review. Indeed, they commended him precisely for capturing the mood of the
late Ming, illuminating the times in a way that shed useful light on the classic
itself—in much the same way that Dong Zhongshu’s Chunqiu fanlu (Luxuriant
Gems of the Spring and Autumn Annals) had illuminated another great classic.153
Like the Yi-related writings of the famous Ming loyalist Huang Daozhou (15 85
1646), Ni had “established instructions in accordance with the classics” (yijing
lixun). Thus, his words, like his acts, should be remembered by posterity.154
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty (1644-1912), established by the alien Manchus, was the sec
ond great period of foreign conquest in China. Like the Yuan dynasty before it,
the Qing was a time of dramatic expansion, globalization, and self-conscious
multiculturalism. To be sure, the Manchus sought to legitimize themselves as
the protectors of China’s cultural heritage, patronizing and promoting tradi
tional Chinese scholarship, values, political and social institutions, rituals and
other social practices, art, literature, and music} But their worldview encom
passed far more than the Middle Kingdom, as evidenced by the special admin
istrative arrangements they made, as well as the vocabulary they used to express
their self-image as pan-Asiatic rulers?
The philosophical consequences of Manchu multiculturalism remain to
be more fully elaborated. What seems clear, however, is that the Qing dynasty
offered scholars of the Confucian classics—including, of course, those with a
particular interest in the Yijing—new hermeneutical strategies as well as pos
sible political risks. On the one hand, the Manchus officially espoused a rigid
intellectual orthodoxy based narrowly on the thought of Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi
and powerfully reinforced by the Chinese civil-service examination system?‘
Moreover, the Manchu monarchs had a heightened sensitivity to any culturally
oriented interpretations of the classics (and other works as well) that might cast
a negative light on their ethnic origins or challenge their political legitimacy!‘
On the other hand, a number of changes in late Ming political, social, and eco
nomic life had important implications for Chinese scholarship. These changes
included the urbanization of the lower Yangzi area, the growth of regional trade,
the emergence of a national market in bulk commodities, increased geographi
cal mobility, the expansion of popular literacy, an increase in the size of the
scholarly elite (the so-called gentry class), and the power of local lineage groups,
Such changes, in turn, contributed not only to transformations in the style of
local politics and in patterns of personal and intellectual afiiliation but also to
the growth of new regional and local centers of iconoclastic scholarship.5 Mean
while, Western missionary activity, initiated by Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) and
maintained well into the eighteenth century, brought new Western scientific,
technological, and religious knowledge to China, challenging certain traditional
Chinese views and contributing to new scholarly discoursesfi
The upshot of these changes was a burst of energy, vitality, and variety in
Chinese intellectual life? To be sure, there would continue to be certain limits
to Chinese philosophical discourse under the Manchus, and “mad Chan” her
meneutics continued to be officially stigmatized. But the period as a whole wit
nessed a wealth of careful and creative scholarship, a good deal of which focused
directly on the Yijin_g.8 Naturally enough, as in all previous periods of Changes
exegesis, individual scholars responded in personal ways to the problems and
preoccupations of their times; thus the chaos and uncertainty of the Ming-Qing
transition resulted in an emphasis in many commentaries on themes of sorrow
(you), worry (huan), danger (wei), and fear (ju).9 But the consolidation of Manchu
rule brought greater optimism to Yi-oriented scholarship, a trend quite con
sciously promoted by the Qing monarchs themselves.1°
On the whole, this scholarship revolved around several distinct but related
hermeneutical concerns. One was the ever-elusive meaning of the basic text,
that is, the sixty-four hexagrams, their judgments, and their line readings."
Another was the authenticity, authority, and efficacy of certain commentaries,
charts, and diagrams associated with the Yijing, notably the Hetu and the Luoshu,
which Zhu Xi, in the Song period, had appended to his Zhouyi benyi as an inte
gral part of the text." A third was the utility of various interpretive schemes and
strategies of Han, Six Dynasties, Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming provenance.“ And
a fourth was the question of whether the inherited cosmology, as expressed in
oflicial Qing publications such as the Xieji bianfang shu (Book of Harmonizing the
Times and Distinguishing the Directions),14 was adequate as an explanation of
the complex workings of Heaven and Earth.
As with previous chapters, the discussion below can only provide a few illus
trations of these fundamental concerns; it cannot come close to conveying the
richness of the discussions and debates that surrounded them.15 Nor can it give
an adequate sense of the importance of locally developed traditions of Yijing
scholarship, such as those that flourished in the Yangzi River valley during the
early and middle Qing period.“ In any case, we should remember that in the
The Qing Dynasty 173
Qing, as in all previous periods of Chinese history, local social networks and
intellectual affiliations contributed significantly to the diversity and continued
vitality of Chinese thought.
Early Qing Scholarship on the Changes

The reaction to late Ming philosophical speculation in the early Qing took two
somewhat different forms. One, a response from above, was to reaffirm the
orthodoxy of Cheng-Zhu neo-Confucianism; the other, primarily a reaction
from below, was to emphasize fresh, new “solid scholarship” (shixue), an ap
proach also known as “evidential studies” (kaozheng xue).17 The elaborate inter
play between these two scholarly impulses created an intellectual environment
characterized on the one hand by philological rigor and critical inquiry and on
the other, somewhat paradoxically, by a surprising degree of eclecticism and
accommodation. Thus we find that the sharp distinctions often drawn by spe
cialists in Qing thought between the school of meanings and principles and
the school of images and numbers, or between Han learning (Hanxue) and Song
learning (Songxue) blur on closer examination.“
Gu Yanwu (1613-82) is generally viewed as the progenitor of kaozheng scholar
ship, which is often rather simplistically equated with Han learning. On the
whole, scholars of evidential studies valued Han dynasty materials over Song dy
nasty sources, believing that they were closer to the time of Confucius and also
free from corrosive Buddhist and neo-Daoist influences. Aside from Gu’s highly
technical tract titled Yiyin (Phonology of the Changes), which exposed various
errors made by Zhu Xi and other scholars, he did not produce a single work de
voted specifically to the Changes. But we find that in the first chapter of Gu’s most
representative general study, the Rizhi lu (Record of Daily Knowledge), there are
more than fifty entries on the Yijing.19
Generally speaking, Gu was a follower of Zhu Xi’s interpretations of the
Changes. But he rejected as inauthentic the versions of the Hetu and the Luoshu
that Master Zhu had included in his Zhouyi benyi, and he was highly critical of the
“Daoist” orientation of some Song scholars whom Zhu Xi admired, such as Shao
Yong (see chapter 5).1° Moreover, he argued that the Lianshan and Guicang texts
were not as closely related to the Zhou Changes as many believed. One of Gu’s most
ardently held convictions was that the ancient sages taught divination in order to
enable people to eschew profit (li) and embrace humanity and righteousness (ren
yi) rather than to avoid danger and pursue material benefits. He was therefore
highly critical of what he called the “occultist Yijing” (fangshu zhi Yi).21
Two other giants of the early Qing period, Huang Zongxi (1610-95) and
Wang Fuzhi (1619-92), viewed the role of the Changes similarly.” Like Gu, both
men were Ming loyalists from the Yangzi River valley, who steadfastly refused to
serve the Manchus.23 Significantly, both Huang and Wang followed Liu Zong_
zhou (1578-1645) against the Cheng-Zhu orthodoxy in arguing that principle
(li) and material force (qi) were simply “two names for the same thing” (yiwu
er liangming), not two different things. Zongxi is particularly famous for a cri
tique of autocratic government known as the Mingyi daifang lu (A Plan for the
Prince), whose title he drew from the Mingyi hexagram (“Suppression of the
Light” [3 6]).14 He is also well known as a staunch critic of both Cheng-Zhu Con
fucianism and Buddhism, believing that neither of these philosophical systems
understood nature because neither of them understood the concept of mind.25
Zongxi was a great admirer of the late Ming loyalist and martyr Huang Dao
zhou (1585-1646), author of an influential book on the Yijing titled Yixiang zheng
(Rectification of the Images of the Changes). This work, included in the main
“Classics” section of the Four Treasuries collection, promotes a vision of cosmic
change not unlike that of Shao Yong (see chapter 5).2° Yet Zongxi’s Yixue xiangshu
lun (Discussion of Images and Numbers in Changes Scholarship) is fiercely critical
of Shao’s Huangji jingshi shu (Supreme Principles That Rule the World) and quite
Well disposed toward the system of cosmic correlations constructed by Huang
Daozhou.” This view seems to call into question Zongxi’s reputation as a con
sistent enemy of correlative cosmology, or at least it suggests that his dynastic
politics and personal prejudices may have trumped his critical judgment in this
particular case.
Overall, however, Huang’s Yixue xiangshu lun was a wide-ranging attack on the
proponents of images and numbers, including not only Shao Yong but also Iing
Fang, Jiao Yanshou, and Chen Tuan (see chapters 3 a11d 5). In this work, Huang
distinguished between “correct” and “incorrect” images?!“ and disparaged the
received versions of the Hetu and the Luoshu, which, he claimed, lacked “histori
cal authenticity.” He also critiqued Han-era works such as the Qian zao du (Open
ing Up the Regularities of the [Hexagram] Qian) and Yang Xiong’s Taixuan jing
(Classic of Great Mystery), both discussed briefly in chapter 3.29
Like virtually all Chinese scholars both in the past and during his own time,
Zongxi accepted the view expressed in the “Great Commentary” that the Yijing
was a book that was “broad and great, encompassing everything.” But he also
believed that its original meaning had been obscured by many centuries of
scholarly wrangling.3° In Huang’s mind, only the third-century savant Wang
Bi (see chapter 4) had been able to purify matters. By attacking “spurious Han
scholarship on the Changes,” said Huang, Wang had “drained a muddy pond and
refilled it with crystal clear, icy water.”31
ZQngxi’s brother Zongyan (1616-86) was also an accomplished scholar of
the Yijing, and his studies of images-and-numbers commentaries on the classic
likewise undermined the reputations of Chen Tuan, Zhou Dunyi, and others.”
Like his illustrious brother, Zongyan had a positive view of Wang Bi’s accom
plishments, and he also shared Zongxi’s conviction that the “four sages” —Fuxi,
King Wen, the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius—all understood the Yijing in the
same basic way. This decidedly ahistorical viewpoint, which informed much of
the later research on the Changes in the Qing period, ran counter to Zhu Xi’s as
sertion that for each of these four individuals, the Changes “should be understood
in its own circumstances and context.”33
Wang Fuzhi, a fierce critic of “barbarians” (including the Manchus), wrote
3 great deal on the Yijing, but most of his work on the classic did not appear in
print until the early nineteenth century.“ Thus, he did not have much influence
on early Qing scholarship.” Nonetheless, the editors of the Four Treasuries in
cluded and reviewed two of his works—the Zhougi baishu (A Detailed Commen
tary on the Zhou Changes) and the Zhougi kaoyi (An Examination of Discrepancies
in the Zhou Changes) — praising Wang, with some justice, as the most “solid” Yijing
scholar of his time. In their view, one of Wang’s greatest achievements was to
have critiqued the misguided teachings of ling Fang and Chen Tuan without
employing the empty and abstruse rhetoric of Daoism. “What he says can be
substantiated,” the editors aver, “and his interpretations accord with the prin
ciples [of the sages].”36
Wang, whose thought was deeply influenced by Zhang Zai (see chapter 5),
developed a theory of hexagram changes similar to that of Lai Zhide (see chap
ter 6), although he does not seem to have acknowledged Lai’s influence in any of
his writings. Like Lai, Wang identified a system of inverted cuo (interchanging)
hexagrams and zong (inverse) hexagrams. The former, marked by sets of two
hexagrams having opposite lines, expressed to Wang “the duality of similarity
and dissimilarity,” While the latter, characterized by pairs of inverted hexagrams,
represented to him “the duality of contraction and expansion.” But whereas Lai
emphasized relations of mutual opposition (similarity and dissimilarity), Wang
stressed relations of reversion (contraction and expansion) .37
Like Gu Yanwu, Wang Fuzhi admired many aspects of Zhu Xi’s thought. But
he criticized Zhu’s emphasis on the Yijing as a book of divination: he believed
that by focusing primarily on its mantic functions, Zhu had made consultation
of the classic little more than a “minor technique” (xiaoji) of the sort practiced by
such well-known but pernicious fortune-tellers as Iing Fang, Guan Lu, and Guo
Pu in the Han and Six Dynasties periods.” In Wang’s view, the classic should be
used as a tool for moral cultivation and moral completion, as well as for under
standing and, above all, managing the world.-‘*9 Yet Wang readily acknowledged
that the ancient sages had used the Changes for both divination and study (zhan
Yi xue Yi shengren zhi gong Yi er clao), and he himself used the classic to foretell the
future. Furthermore, although he lamented the extremes to which numerolo
gists such as Shao Yong had gone, he did not assail numerology as such.4°
In fact, Wang, in his Zhougi neizhuan fali (Prolegomena to an Esoteric Com
mentary on the Zhou Changes), faults Wang Bi and Cheng Yi for going too far in
their negative reaction to the Han tradition of images and numbers.41 Wang’s
primary objection to schemes such as Shao’s Yong’s Former Heaven sequence
of the hexagrams was that it yielded a false representation of nature and natu
ral processes by placing numbers (shu) ahead of images (xiang) in an essentially
arbitrary way. Like Zhu Xi (and many Qing thinkers as well), he felt that Shao’s
rigid cosmological construct was entirely too deterministic.“
Wang had his own interpretive axes to grind. In his Zhouyi waizhuan (An Exo
teric Commentary on the Zhou Changes), for instance, he developed an unusual
theory about the relationship between Heaven and Earth, yin and yang, and Qian
and Kun. Unlike conventional commentaries on the Yijing, which tended to con
flate or at least closely correlate these three sets of concepts, Wang argued that
they performed entirely different functions: “Heaven and Earth refer to position
[wei],” he wrote, “gin and yang refer to material [cai], and Qian and Kun refer to
efficacy [de].” Metaphorically speaking, then, the three dual sets had different
but more or less equal roles to play in the architecture of the cosmos/*3 Heaven
and Earth together provided the place where the material components of a given
structure could function in accordance with their proper positions.“
Two other early Qing intellectuals deserve at least brief mention here: Mao
Qiling (162 3-1716) and Hu Wei (1633-1714). Mao was by any standard a prolific
scholar, and his writings on the Changes are more abundantly represented in the
Four Treasuries collection than those of any other single Qing commentator.“
But his interest in the classic, like that of many of its other exponents, was not
purely academic. Indeed, his frequent and sustained use of the Yijing as a fortune
telling device during the tumultuous Ming-Qing transition, followed by his
abrupt abandonment of Yi divination after his own personal crisis had passed,
reminds us that scholarly exegesis and pragmatic self-interest were never mutu
ally exclusive or even necessarily very far removed from each other.“
Mao, who received great inspiration from the ideas of his elder brother,
Xiling,” was a pioneer in calling for a revival of Han scholarship on the Changes
a call more forceful than that of either Gu Yanwu or Huang Zongxi in the eyes
of the editors of the Four Treasuries. As their review of his most representative
Work, the Zhongshi Yi (My Elder Brother’s Changes), indicates, Mao had little good
to say about the commentaries of other periods. He felt that Tang scholarship
was incomplete, he despised Song exegesis, and he also heavily criticized the ap
proach of Ming scholars such as Lai Zhide and He Kai (1625 jinshi).48 Yet some of
Mao’s own ideas—for instance, his notion of “extrapolating from the Changes,”
a form of hexagram-change (guabian) theory—were not unrelated to those of
the very people he assailed. Moreover, Mao’s views have themselves received
c1‘itiCiSII1 by Japanese scholars such as N emoto Tsfimei and Toda Toyosaburo for
being fragmentary, incoherent, and ambiguous.”
I-Iu Wei’s most famous work on the Yijing is his Yitu mingbian (A Clarifying
Critique of the Illustrations Associated with the Changes) .5° In it, Hu assails the
view that the Hetu and the Luoshu are in any way fundamental to an understand
ing of the Yi, and he faults Zhu Xi for placing these two “fraudulent” diagrams at
the beginning his Zhouyi bengi. By doing so, Hu argues, and by discussing these
two charts at length in his Yixue qimeng, Zhu had, in effect, relegated the inter
pretation of the trigrams, hexagrams, and the appended phrases to a secondary
position.51 Significantly, however, Hu did not despise all Song scholars. Indeed,
like Huang Zongxi, he had the highest respect for Cheng Yi.52
According to the late Qing scholar Liang Qichao (1873 -1929), the combined
efforts of Mao Qiling and Hu Wei dealt a “mortal blow” to Song scholarship in
the Qing period.53 Nonetheless, as we shall see, throughout the Qing era inter
est in Song exegesis, charts, and divinatory techniques remained high, and the
reputation of the Yijing itself remained unimpaired, even in the eyes of the most
radical kaozheng scholars. Moreover, a number of individuals, such as Diao Bao
(1603-69), dutifully followed the commentaries of Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi even as
they were also attracted to the Studies of the Mind.“
The Kangxi Era in Changes Scholarship

As is well known, the Kangxi emperor (r. 1662-1722) was an ardent admirer of
the Yijing.55 He shared this esteem for the cryptic classic with a number of high
officials, in particular his trusted grand secretary, Li Guangdi (1642-1718). Li
has often been portrayed as a blind defender of Cheng-Zhu orthodoxy, but as
On-cho N g has clearly demonstrated, he was in fact an innovative and insightful
thinker Whose “nature-based” ontology—inspired in part by Zhou Dunyi and
Zhang Zai and focused on human nature (xing)—broke important new philo
sophical ground.“ Nonetheless, like Lu Shiyi (1611-72), Lu Longqi (1630-93),
and a number of other early Qing scholars, Li continued to endorse the orthodox
cosmology of the state, which included the Hetu and the Luoshu and various other
systems of numerological correspondence.”
Two of Li’s books on the Yijing are included in the main “Classics” section of
the Four Treasuries: the Zhouyi tonglun (Comprehensive Discussion of the Zhou
Changes) and the Zhouyi guantuan (Observing the Judgments of the Zhou Change;),5a
According to the Siku editors, Li’s work ably synthesizes a number of different
interpretations of Song dynasty scholarship, including Lu Xiangshan’s officially
stigmatized Studies of the Mind. But because Li’s synthesis never loses sight
of the need to manage human affairs, the editors do not accuse him of straying
from the proper path in the fashion of Yang Iian (see chapter 5).59 Similarly, in
reviewing Li’s other book they note his careful scholarship and comment that al
though his general ideas are not quite the same as those of Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi,
they are mutually illuminating— different but not in fundamental conflict.“
Li’s greatest claim to fame as an Yijing scholar is his editorship of the im
perially commissioned Zhouyi zhezhong (A Balanced Compendium on the Zhou
Changes [1715]), the most important official monument to Yijing scholarship
in the Kangxi reign and perhaps the entire Qing period.61 Li’s mission was to
synthesize all the variant opinions on the Changes, striking a balance between
those emphasizing meanings and principles and those focusing primarily on
images and numbers.“ It was also to eliminate the inconsistencies (boza) that
plagued the Ming official text of the Yijing, the Zhouyi daquan (see chapter 6), and
to overcome the biases of earlier imperially commissioned Qing compendia on
the Changes, in particular the Yijing tongzhu (Comprehensive Commentary on the
Classic of Changes), edited by Pu Yijian (1609-65), and the Rijiang Yijing jieyi (Daily
Lectures Explaining the Meanings of the Classic of Changes), edited by Niu Niu
(1648-86).°3
Li’s approach to the problem was to provide a broad range of scholarly opin
ions on the Changes—eighteen from the Han, five from the Six Dynasties period,
one from the Sui, eleven from the Tang, ninety-eight from the Song, two from
the Iin, twenty-two from the Yuan, and sixty-one from the Ming64—but to em
phasize the interpretations of Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi. Thus, for each of the two
main sections of the Zhouyi zhezh0ng—the basic text (i.e. the hexagram pictures
with their judgments and line statements) and the Ten Wings—he provides four
main categories of commentary. The first is reserved for Zhu Xi, the second for
Cheng Yi, the third for the opinions of others (jishuo), and the fourth for Li’s
own editorial comments (an). By separating the basic text from the Ten Wings
(as Zhu himself had done), Li wasable to present the classic in chronologically
separate “layers,” allowing him to give credit to xiangshu commentators for seek
ing to explain the “original” images connected with the hexagram pictures of
Fuxi, while at the same time applauding advocates of the yili approach for their
effort to elucidate the moral messages advanced by King Wen and the Duke of
Zh0u,65 He was thus able to reconcile both the divinatory and the more philo
Sophical dimensions of the Yijing.“ Figures 7.1 through 7.5 provide examples of
1,iGuangdi’s efforts to link ancient trigram configurations (the Former Heaven
and Later Heaven sequences) not only with each other but also with diagrams of
more recent (and less generally accepted) provenance: the Hetu and the Luoshu.
A significant feature of Kangxi-era scholarship on the Changes, which I have
discussed at length elsewhere and will take up again in the follow-up volume
to this book, was the exegetical activity of a few talented Iesuit missionaries,
notably Joachim Bouvet (1656-1730) and some of his colleagues.“ Their evan
gelical strategy was to apply a European Figurist hermeneutical discourse to
China, that is, to show by means of textual analysis how key elements of biblical
prophecy could be found in ancient Chinese scriptures. Bouvet’s special interest
was the Yijing, and his advantage was that as a tutor to the Kangxi emperor in
mathematics and science he had managed to win the Qing monarch’s trust and
admiration.“
Bouvet’s effort to link the religious traditions of China and the West through
the Classic of Changes can be seen not only in his well-known correspondence
with G. W. Leibniz and other Europeans, beginning in 1697 (see chapter 8) but
also in his many Chinese-language writings, most of which seem to date from
1711-16. The opening chapter of Bouvet’s Yijing zonglun gao (Draft of a General
Discussion of the Classic of Changes) articulates his basic hermeneutical strategy,
which sounds quite conventional from the standpoint of traditional Chinese
exegesis:
The Yi as a classic contains principles [ii], numbers [shu], images [xiang],

and charts [tu]. The charts cannot be separated from the images, the
images cannot be separated from the numbers, and the numbers cannot
be separated from the principles. The principles generate the numbers,
the numbers generate the images, and the images generate the charts.
When the charts are prepared, the images become manifest; when the
images stand out, the numbers are set forth; When the numbers emerge,
the principles show. Therefore, for knowing the principles, there is noth
ing better than understanding the numbers; for understanding the num
bers, there is nothing better than observing the images; and for observing
the images, there is nothing better than exploring the charts.“
A Song dynasty triangular diagram known as the “Chart of Heavenly Superi
ority and Earthly Subordination” (Tianzun dibei tu) provided inspiration for a set
of triangular, square, and circular illustrations produced by Bouvet that went by
the same name (derived from the beginning lines of the “Great Commentary”).
Figure 7.1. (left)
"A Chart Showing the Transformation
of the Former Heaven Sequence of
the Trigrams into the Later Heaven
an
\ Sequence," from the Zhouyi zhezhong
(A Balanced Compendium on the
Zhou Changes)
ii":
Figure 7.2. (below, left)
’”>/~ "A Chart Matching the Former Heaven
mir§t’Z’ Sequence of the Trigrams with the Images

of the Yellow River Chart," from the
alll~w::| ii: elite Zhouyi zhezhong
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Figure 7.5.(below)
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These illustrations, accompanied by written texts in Chinese and Latin, became
the means by which the Prench Jesuit sought to integrate the numerology of
the Hetu and the Luoshu into a single mathematical “grand synthesis,” similar in
certain respects to Shao Yong’s “Chart of the Former Heaven Sequence.” Like
Shao’s diagram, Bouvet’s “Chart of Heavenly Superiority and Earthly Subordi
nation” attempted to convey “the quintessence of heavenly configurations and
earthly patterns” (tianwen dili zhi jingyun), illustrating not only the evolution of
the hexagrams and their constituent trigrams and lines but also the interaction
between them. And like Shao’s numerical calculations, Bouvet’s diagrams were
supposed to yield an understanding of good and bad fortune, as well as an
appreciation of the larger patterns of cosmic regularity and cosmic change.7°
Figure 7.6 originally appeared in Zhang Li’s Da Yi xiangshu goushen tu (see chap
|@
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Figure 7.6. The foundation for Bouvet's ”Chart of Heavenly Superiority

and Earthly Subordination" (Tianzun dibei tu)
my 6). As indicated above, Bouvet used it as the foundational diagram of his own
Tianzun dibei tu.
According to a recent article by Han Qi, Bouvet’s wide-ranging investigations
of the Yijing, together with his numerologically grounded speculations about
the past, present, and future, helped encourage the Kangxi emperor to order Li
Guangdi to begin compiling the Zhougi zhezhong. As the chief editor of this work,
Li not only took into account Bouvet’s scholarship on the Changes but also shared
his Yijing-related work with the French Jesuit. In Han’s opinion, by helping the
Kangxi emperor to understand the “mathematical mysteries” (shuxue aomi) con
tained within the Changes, Bouvet played a significant role in sustaining the em
peror’s interest in the classic, and in so doing he contributed in a direct way to
the general burst of scholarship on the Yijing in the Kangxi era and thereafter."
Eventually, however, the emperor and his officials tired of Bouvet, and they
began to criticize his writings, describing them as prolix, repetitive, fragmented,
and tedious. They also stigmatized some of his ideas as strange, confused, re
dundant, and unfathomable. As if this were not enough, the Catholic establish
ment repudiated his hermeneutical strategy and refused to let him write any fur
ther about the Changes. Thus, Bouvet’s life in China became a microcosm of the
failed Jesuit evangelical effort, even as it illustrated the initial open-mindedness
of the Qing court.”
Later Qing Scholarship on the Changes

The latter half of the Qing era witnessed a parade of highly capable Chinese
scholars of the Changes, but none of them were distinguished as either systems
builders or particularly innovative thinkers. Nonetheless, several merit mention
for one reason or another. Hui Dong (1697-1758) is one such person.” Hui, who
followed in the intellectual footsteps of Mao Qiling and spent about thirty years
of his life on the Yijing, is generally regarded as a more profound thinker than
Mao and as the Qing scholar who put the highest premium on ancient studies
and Han learning.“ In Hui’s view, Wang Bi was the great villain of Yijing exege
sis, a man who single-handedly threw the classic into “chaos” by drawing upon
Huang-Lao traditions of Daoism to bolster his “borrowed” theory of images.
The result, according to Hui, was that under Wang’s pervasive influence, Han
learning came to be completely eclipsed."
Hui is best known for his book Yi Hanxue (Han Scholarship on the Changes),
a work based on fragments of Han dynasty commentaries preserved in works
such as Li Dingzuo’s Zhouyi jijie (Collected Explanations of the Zhou Changes).
The Yi Hanxue evaluates five major scholars of the Han period: Meng Xi, Yu Fan,
ling Fang, Zheng Xuan, and Xun Shuang (see chapter 3), giving considerable
attention to their intellectual lineages and affiliations.76 Hui not only “clarified
and illuminated” the ideas of these pioneering individuals but also developed
his own etymologically grounded (although sometimes contradictory) theories
of Yijing interpretation.”
Of the five abovenamed Han scholars, Hui most admired Yu Fan, who he
believed had synthesized the best ideas of Meng, Iing, and Xun.78 Significantly,
the positive evaluations of Yu’s scholarship by Hui, Zhang Huiyan (see below),
and other advocates of Han learning eventually contributed to the building of a
memorial temple to Yu at Guangzhou’s Guangxiao si (Monastery for Glorifying
Filial Piety) in 1811. This event, in turn, brought a greater appreciation of Han
learning, and especially of Yu Fan’s interpretations of the Yijing, to a part of the
empire that had not been greatly affected by Yu’s ideas for many centuries.”
Iiang Yong (1681-1762), a considerably more wide-ranging individual than
Hui Dong, offers a particularly fascinating example of the intellectual diversity
that was possible in late imperial China. A Wholehearted supporter of Jesuit
astronomy and mathematics, he was also a loyal follower of Zhu Xi (although
a critic of Zhu’s rudimentary math and science). In addition, he was a famous
evidential scholar and an ardent exponent of divination. But unlike many other
kaozheng advocates, including the well-known and influential astronomers Wang
Xichan (1628-82) and Mei Wending (16 3 3-1721), Iiang did not feel the need to
privilege Chinese tradition over Western science or to argue for the Chinese ori
gins of Western learning (Xixue Zhongyuan).
]iang’s specific intellectual interests included ritual, phonology, mathemati
cal astronomy, and harmonics, and he is well known as the author of several
influential publications, including the Lishu gangmu (An Outline of Books on
Ritual) and the Shuxue (Study of Mathematics). What is less well known is that
he also wrote at least two books on Yijing numerology: the He Luo jingyun (Quin
tessence of the Hetu and the Luoshu) and Buyi yuanji (The Perfected Mechanics
of Changes Divination). The latter work apparently is no longer extant, but the
former reveals Iiang’s deep commitment to several different traditions of “Chi
nese” learning, including the long line of creative and contentious scholarship
associated with the Yellow River Chart and the Luo River Writing (see chapters
5 and 6).8°
The title and organization of ]iang’s He Luo jingyun was inspired by Zhou
Dunyi’s (1017-73) well-known statement that “the Sage shows the essence
[jing] of his ideas by drawing the trigrams and hexagrams, and explicates the
substance or significance [gun] by interpreting the trigrams and hexagrams.” 81
Its content ranges broadly, from kaozheng-influenced textual exegesis (he in
cludes, for example, a long and illuminating analysis of the use of the Changes
in the Zuozhuan) to medicine, mathematics, astrology, geography, and various
divination systems, including qimen dunjia and fengshui (see chapters 4 and 8).
Iiang Yong has been identified as an ardent critic of correlative cosmology
(see below), and in some respects he certainly W21S.82 Moreover, he believed that
Western astronomy and mathematics, with all their scientific precision, held
promise of assisting the Chinese in fathoming principles (Ii), thus eventually
yielding a fuller understanding of the Confucian Dao. Although Western astron
Qmy could not displace Cheng-Zhu orthodoxy in the moral realm, it could none
theless reveal cosmic patterns and regularities more effectively than Chinese
astronomy.”
Yet Jiang also embraced a number of beliefs, abundantly documented in the
He Luojingyun and his other works, that seem utterly incompatible with the West
ern science he so ardently defended. One was the view that China was located on
the “face” (mian) of the earth, and thus in a superior geographical and cosmo
logical position. Although ideas of this sort, often linked Withfenye (field alloca
tion) schemes, had been under attack since the early Qing,84 Iiang claimed that
fenge divination could be specifically and uniquely applied to China even though
the constellations on which it was based Were shared by all people on earth.“
This strain of cosmological thinking, also reflected in the evidential writings
of Iiang’s contemporary Li Pu (1675-1750), proved to be remarkably tenacious,
even in late Qing times, as Wang Erh-min has demonstrated convincingly.“
For Iiang Yong, the myriad things had their origins in the Hetu and the Luoshu.
He notes in his preface to the He Luo jingyun:
The Hetu, the Luoshu, trigrams and hexagrams, and individual lines all
emanate from the same source, [reflect] common trends, and are mutu
ally interactive; hence, concepts such as gougu [a traditional system of tri
angulation] and chengfang [multiplication squares] in mathematics, the
five sounds and six notes [wuyin liulii] in music, the positions of the seven
luminaries [qiyao] in astrology [tianwen], the najia and nayin systems of
five-agents specialists, the resonant and pure consonants in phonetics,
the li and qi of the geomancers’ compass, the doushou and qimen methods
of day-selection [zeri] experts, and even the foundations and principles of
medicine—including the five movements and six breaths of heaven [wu
gun liuqi] and the veins of the human body— all emanate from the Hetu, the
Luoshu, trigrams, hexagrams, and lines.“
Similarly, he argues, the degrees of the celestial sphere, the zodiacal signs,
and the tvventy-four fortnightly periods had their origins in the Hetu and the
Luoshu. So did mathematical harmonics and the pitch pipe, which Iiang linked
with standard units of length, capacity, weight, and even money.“ Other cor
relations, including the harmonic sounds of the qin (lute), focused on the “two
poles” of yin and yang, the “three powers” of Heaven, Earth, and Man, and the
five agents. These qualities, in turn, were linked to a diagram of the Former
Heaven sequence of the eight trigrams (Xiantian bagua hengtu), an arrangement
of the sixty-four hexagrams, the fortnightly periods, and the nayin system (see
chapter 3). Yet another of Iiang’s many fascinating illustrations is a comprehen
sive three-page chart purporting to show, by correlative logic, that the principles
for all things had their source in the Yellow River Chart.”
The towering mid-Qing scholar Dai Zhen (1724-77) had a far different world
view, at least as far as we know. Dai did not produce a specific monograph on
the Changes, but he often used the Yi to represent the Six Classics as a whole. In
his view, “after studying the Yijing one can speak of nature [xing] and the Way of
Heaven [Tiandao], for . . . the two are inherent in the classic.”9° Like a number
of other Qing scholars, including Wang Fuzhi, Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi, Yan
Yuan (1635-1704), and Li Gong (165 9-173 3),91 Dai was highly critical of what he
considered to be Zhu Xi’s sharp metaphysical distinction between principle (Ii)
and material force (qi), arguing that there was no “principle” apart from material
force and thus no evil inherent in qi.91
Zhuang Cunyu (1719-88), for his part, approached the Changes from a New
Text (jinwen) perspective (see chapters 3 and 8), using kaozheng methods to ad
vance a view of the classics that was decidedly moralistic. Like the New Text
scholars that preceded him, and like those to come in the nineteenth century,
Zhuang sought to find “profound meanings” (dayi) in the “subtle language”
(weiyan) of the classics. His revival of New Text scholarship focused primarily
on the cryptic text known as the Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals) and its
commentaries, notably the “Gongyang Commentary,” but he also used the Yijing
to illustrate the relationship he perceived between the mind of Heaven and the
minds of human beings (Tianren heyi).93
Zhuang’s grandson Liu Fengliu (1776-1829) sought to apply more rigorous
kaozheng scholarship to New Text learning in an effort to bring his grandfather’s
Gongyang-oriented teachings into the mainstream of Han learning. But while
Liu generally gravitated to the New Text interpretations of later Han scholars
such as He Xiu (129-82), he also drew upon the scholarship of Old Text schol
ars such as Zheng Xuan (127—2oo; see chapter 3). Liu’s Yijing-inspired summary
of the Tianren heyi relationship is captured in the following quotation: “One
who studies humanity well must seek corroboration from the cosmos; one who
studies the cosmos well must seek verification from humanitiy.”94
Liu Yiming (1724-1831) is best known for his Daoist interpretation of the
yijing, which originally appeared in 1796 under the title Zhouyi chanzhen (Elucidat
ing the Truth of the Zhou Changes) .95 Liu studied the Confucian classics when he
was young, but he turned toward Daoism after a succession of serious illnesses
and eventually became not only a famous master of Daoist inner alchemy (neidan)
but also an expert in Chinese medicine. Despite his self-image as a Daoist, Liu
sought to unify the Three Teachings using the Confucian work known as the
Zhongyong (see chapter 2) as a foundational text. In Liu’s mind, unification was
expressed in Confucianism primarily by the idea of centrality and commonality
(zhongyong); in Buddhism by the notion of the One Vehicle (Yicheng; in Sanskrit,
ekegdna); and in Daoism by the Golden Elixir (jindan).96
Liu’s view was that the Yijing was not a book of divination but a profoundly
philosophical work that dealt with the exhaustive investigation of principle
(qiongli) as well as with matters of nature (xing) and fate (ming). His approach
was to bring together in his commentaries the best of the Confucian and Daoist
traditions, drawing upon a variety of sacred texts and commentaries and accom
panying them with more than forty different Yi-related illustrations. Many of
these charts and diagrams would be at least vaguely familiar to any Confucian
trained reader of the Changes, but a number have a distinctly Daoist flavor.”
Liu Yiming’s goal in amplifying the Yijing with Confucian and Daoist written
materials and illustrations was to encourage methods of both mental and physi
cal cultivation, and to help readers of his book to lead dedicated, righteous, and
Worthwhile lives. This meant assisting them to perfect their timing, to avoid
overstriving, and to realize their innately good minds and moral capabilities
(liangzhi liangxin).98 Thus, near the end of his book Liu cites Zhang Zai’s oft
quoted statement, “The Yi is for the planning of the superior man, not for the
planning of the petty person” (Yi weijunzi mou bu wei xiaoren m0u).99
Zhang Xuecheng (1738-1801) also demonstrated a remarkable philosophi
cal eclecticism. He is, of course, famous for declaring that “the Six [Confu
cian] Classics are all history.” But Zhang considered the Yijing a special case,
for no other Confucian classic had such an elaborate and revealing symbolic
system—one based, as he saw it, on both “natural” and “man-made” images.1°°
In Zhang’s view, these multifaceted images seemed to provide “glimpses of the
Dao” to those seeking the Way, particularly when things and affairs were “in
the midst of coming from stillness and beginning to move.” 1°1 The interest
ing point about Zhang’s perspective on the Yijing is that he believed the use of
Buddhist imagery could provide a means by which misinterpretations of the
classic’s “basic ideas” could be avoided. Convinced that Buddhism proceeded
“originally from the teaching of the Changes,” he argued that Confucians should
not be shocked by the unusual imagery of its sutras. Rather, he pointed out, they
should try to understand the abstruse symbolism of Buddhist texts metaphori
cally, as one might with the Yijing, which referred to such things as “dragons with
dark and yellow blood.” 1°1
The scholarly approach of Zhang Huiyan (1761-1802) was of a more narrow
sort, although his output was prodigious.1°3 In general, he followed the inter
pretive path blazed by his fellow provincial Hui Dong, bringing textual analysis
of the Changes in the Qing to new heights with two major works.1°4 His Zhouyi
Yushi yi (The Meaning of the Zhou Changes Based on [the Interpretations of] Yu
Fan) refined Hui’s explanation of Yu’s significance as an interpreter of the Yijing,
while his Yiyi bielu (Supplement to the Meaning of the Changes) offered a Com
prehensive analysis of fifteen schools of Han and Iin scholarship that went well
beyond Hui’s Dong’s Yi Hanxue in both scope and sophistication.1°5 Zhang also
established a clear link between the scholarship of Yu Fan, whom he greatly
admired, and that of Yu’s Han dynasty predecessor Xun Shuang.
But Zhang’s work did not go unchallenged. Scholars such as Iiao Xun (176 3
182o), Wang Yinzhi (1766-1834), and Qian Daxin (1728-1804) did not share
Zhang’s enthusiasm for Yu Fan, criticizing Yu for adopting Iing Fang’s “Dao
ist” najia system and stigmatizing Yu’s scholarship as arbitrary, inconsistent,
strained, and fragmented.1°6 Iiao Xun also assailed the theories of a great many
other Han-era scholars, including Meng Xi, Iing Fang, Zheng Xuan, and Xun
Shuang, even though, as Toda Toyosaburo has pointed out, in a certain sense
he was following their early lead.1°7 Iiao was especially hostile to the najia and
yaochen systems and to the “forged” (i.e., Song) versions of the Hetu and the Lua
shu.1°8 At the same time, he evinced a certain admiration for Wang Bi and tried to
defend him against the charge that the damage Wang had done to Yijing exegesis
was, analogically speaking, even worse than the heinous crimes committed by
the two most evil tyrants in all of Chinese historiography, Iie Gui of the Xia dy
nasty and Zhou Xin of the Shang.1°9
Iiao is known as a talented mathematician and also an evidential scholar who
perceived “a computational logic lying at the heart of the numerology of the
Yijing. ” According to the standard view, Iiao sought to “demythologize studies of
the Changes” in order to demonstrate that the classic contained “firm, discover
able mathematical principles.”11° He is particularly celebrated for his mathe
matically sophisticated theory of analogues, known as bili.
Iiao’s approach to hexagram interpretation was inspired in part by a long
standing scholarly interest in the way that the same or similar expressions ap
peared in the individual line statements of different hexagrams, such as the
admonition “do not act” (wuyong; lit., “don’t use [the divinatory information
under consideration] ”), which appears in Qian (1), Shi (7), Yi (27), Kan (29), and
mi (63). During the Qing period some scholars, such as the philologist Wang
Yinzhi, explored these line relationships primarily for insights into language,
while others, such as the textual critic Feng Dengfu (1783-1841), treated them
rather more like sophisticated riddles.111 A typical question might be, Why in the
hexagram Tongren (13) does the subject of the fifth line first “howl and wail” and
then laugh, while in the sixth line of Lii (56) the subject first laughs and then
howls and wails?112 A similar “riddle” might be, Why does the expression “dense
ClOl.1dS do not rain” (miyun buyu) appear in both the judgment of Xiaochu (9) and
the fifth line statement of Xiaoguo (62)?113 When Iiao Xun was only fourteen
years old, his father posed this latter question to him, and Iiao could not answer
it.114 In apparent reaction, he spent the remainder of his scholarly life devising
his theory of analogues to explain hexagram and line relationships.115
Briefly, ]iao’s bili approach involved two types of hexagram relationships,
pangtong (lateral linkages) and xiangcuo (mutual interchanges), both of which
had antecedents that extended back for centuries.116 Lateral linkages, as we have
already seen (chapters 3 and 6), involve hexagrams that become related when
each of their yin and yang lines are transformed into their opposites, for example,
when Gen (52) changes into Dui (58). Mutual interchange takes place when the
lines of the lower trigram of a transformed pangtong hexagram change in the
same pangtong fashion while the upper trigram remains intact. This forms a third
hexagram (in the case above, Xian [31]), which, in turn, becomes transformed
through the pangtong process into a fourth hexagram (in this case, into Sun [41]).
The fourth hexagram then reverts to the first by virtue of xiangcuo. Thus, we have
an “equation” in which the first hexagram is related to the third in the same way
that the second is related to the fourth. This puts us in a position to see certain
affinities in the line statements of these related pairs. For example, Gen’s fifth
line and Xian’s sixth line both refer to the jaws or jowls, and Gen’s second line
and Xian’s second line both refer to the calves of the leg (see fig. 7.7) .117
Although this sort of methodology may seem as problematical as the ap
proaches of Yu Fan and others whom Iiao dismissively castigated in his writings,
they impressed Iiao’s contemporaries and later scholars as well. For example, his
friend Wang Yinzhi wrote:
I am in receipt of your discussion of the Changes. It is similar to the instan

taneous dissolution of all chaos and confusion, or the dispelling of all
fog and mist. One might say it is a crack military force that cuts down all
opposition. Every interpretation has been carefully formulated, and each
is most detailed and most authentic. The book’s basic principle can be
summarized by the expression bili.118
2) 58) Xian (31) Sun (41)

Figure 7.7. One of Jiao Xun's bili "equations"
Yet in all, Iiao seems to have been concerned less With using numbers as
a means of explaining natural phenomena than with using them as an aid to
understanding “the Way of Fuxi, King Wen, the Duke of Zhou, and Confu
cius.”119 Time and again, in the fashion of Gu Yanwu, Iiao writes about Yijing
divination in terms of moral choices and moral actions, pointing out that the
sages’ purpose in composing the Changes was simply to teach people how to cor
rect their mistakes and become good.12° As a result, one of Iiao’s contributions
to Yi learning was his application of the principles of numerology “to determine
comparatively the amount of good fortune or calamity which, according to the
Changes, ensued from various types of conduct.”111
To close this section, I have chosen four of well over two hundred late Qing
exponents of the Changes to represent briefly some important Yi-related schol
arly concerns of their time: Yang Renshan (1837-1911), Wu Rulun (1840-1903),
Pi Xirui (1850-1908), and Hang Xinzhai (1869-1924) .122 It should be noted that
the late Qing was a period when the Yijing began to enter public discourse, not
only in the editorial writings of the new-style Chinese periodical press but also
in a number of reformist publications. As we shall see in chapter 8, radical, even
revolutionary, politics and classical scholarship were by no means incompatible.
This was also a time when Women’s scholarship on the Changes began to enter
the emerging public sphere.123
Yang Renshan is important as both an example of and a contributor to the
late Qing revival of Buddhism that occurred in the aftermath of the devastating
Taiping Rebellion (1851-64) .124 In order to replace the many books that had
been destroyed during the massive uprising, Yang established the Iinling Sutra
Publishing Center (Iinling kejing chu) in Nanjing, and with the assistance of a
Japanese scholar by the name of N anjo Bunryu (1870-1966) he arranged to bring
a number of lost books from Japan to China for reprinting. One of these works,
eventually published in 1915, after the fall of the Qing, was the Ming Buddhist
scholar Zhixu’s Zhouyi Chanjie (A Chan [Zen] Interpretation of the Zhou Changes;
see chapter 6).125
Wu Rulun, a prominent advocate of Tongcheng (Ancient Prose) learning
in Hebei province, wrote a two-volume study of the Yijing titled Yishuo (On the
Changes), in which he drew from a number of different scholarly traditions, in
cluding Yang Xiong’s Taixuanjing (see chapter 3).1-‘*6 Wu’s Yishuo is distinctive not
only because of its eclecticism but also because of its philological rigor and its
use of the hexagram and trigram symbolism of the Yijing as a means of elevating
the status of women, an increasingly common concern in the late Qing period.
For instance, Wu uses a sophisticated etymological analysis of the second line
of the Iiaren hexagram (“Family” [37])—which refers to a wife’s duty to “stay
within and prepare food” —to argue for the ritual responsibilities of women in
the home, a role far more important in his view than merely carrying out mun
dane domestic chores such as cleaning, cooking, and weaving?”
Pi Xirui is well known for his two influential treatisesjingxue lishi (A History of
Classical Studies) and jingxue tonglun (A Comprehensive Discussion of Classical
Studies). Less well known is his Yijing tonglun (A Comprehensive Discussion of
the Classic of Changes; preface dated 1907), which offers a systematic evaluation
of the major Yi-related commentarial traditions from Shi Chou and Meng Xi in
the Han to Zhang Huiyan and Iiao Xun in the Qing?” As a dedicated philologist
and a diehard Confucian of the Han-learning persuasion with decidedly New
Text leanings, Pi also gave a great deal of attention to Yi-related exegetical issues
related to the origins of the classic and the Ten Wings?” An admirer of the radi
cal New Text scholar Wang Kaiyun (1833-1916),13° Pi held some radical views
of his own. One of the most spectacular of these, given his otherwise careful
scholarship, was that Confucius had written both the judgments and the line
statements of the Classic of Changes.131
Hang Xinzhai was a renowned late Qing and early Republican scholar of the
Changes with a half-dozen works on the classic to his credit.132 An ardent advo
cate of images and numbers, he sharply criticized the school of Han learning for
its general hostility to Shao Yong’s “Chart of the Former Heaven Sequence” and
to diagrams such as the Hetu and the Luoshu. Like a great many scholars before
him, Hang argued that the numerology of the Changes expressed in such illus
trations was not something invented by human beings but an expression of the
mathematical order of the universe. The Yijing was, in other words, “the product
of nature rather than of artificial manipulation.” 133
In his scholarship Hang made some matters personal. He claimed, for in
stance, that Huang Zongxi’s Yixue xiangshu lun was nothing more than an erudite
attempt to distance himself from his earlier interest in numerology. And why?
Because Huang feared that his early preoccupation with this sort of disesteemed
“minor occupation” (xiaodao) would tarnish the illustrious reputation he later
acquired as a Confucian scholar.134 But ironically, Hang went on to say, since
Huang wrote in detail about the things he rejected, “rejection turned into pres
ervation.” Similarly, the work of scholars such as Mao Qiling and Hu Wei had
the ironic eifect of contributing valuable commentary to the Hetu, the Luoshu,
88Y.
and other useful but sti matized instruments for lookin clearl at the worl
“Thus,” Hang argued, “we understand that the more we argue about the reality
of things under Heaven, the more refined [the reality] becomes.”135
The Question of the “Decline of Chinese Cosmology”

As should be clear by now, one of the most divisive issues in Chinese thought
during the Qing dynasty was how best to understand the complex structure and
wondrous workings of the universe. Everyone agreed that the Yijing was critical
to any kind of comprehensive understanding, but there could be little consensus
beyond this. The late Ming scholar Ni Yuanlu spoke for many in asserting that
after more than “ten thousand generations” of written commentaries, there was
still no standard interpretation of the Changes.136
John Henderson argues in his admirably wide-ranging and highly influential
book The Development and Decline of Chinese Cosmology that one of the most sig
nificant trends in Chinese intellectual history during the late imperial era was
the “assimilation of cosmologically subversive technical and empirical studies
such as classical philology, mathematical astronomy, and historical and physi
cal geography into the mainstream of Confucian scholarship.” Assaults by Qing
scholars on the inherited cosmology were so effective, he claims, that the radical
intellectual leaders of the New Culture Movement (ca. 1915-25) “did not think it
necessary to compose a comprehensive [cosmological] critique.”137
As I have argued elsewhere,138 there can be no doubt that a fundamental epis
temological shift took place in Chinese thinking during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries and that this shift had important intellectual implications.
Yet it seems increasingly evident to me that Henderson has overemphasized the
subversive impact of kaozheng scholarship}-‘*9 In the first place, the seventeenth
and eighteenth-century emphasis on Han learning in China led paradoxically
to a revival of interest in ancient cosmology. For instance, a number of kaozheng
scholars found themselves preoccupied with editing ritual texts in which cor
relative cosmology was a deeply embedded and central element. In the Words of
Angela Zito, Han notions of correlative resonance “underlay the logic of ritual
performance in the eighteenth century whether or not the most advanced phi
losophy [i.e., evidential studies] still found it compelling.”1"'°
In the second place, we should remember that the critiques of most Qing
intellectuals remained focused narrowly on the faults of one or another schema
rather than on the inherited cosmology as a whole. Most such scholars felt that
the problem rested primarily with misguided efforts to “force a [cosmological]
fit” (qiangpei), not with basic assumptions about the actual workings of the uni
Verse. Although, as Henderson has shown, a new recognition of anomaly as
“¢()I‘1SlZllIL11IlV6 of the fundamental order, or disorder, of the cosmos” undoubtedly
led at least some Qing intellectuals to doubt that traditional numerological and
other correlative systems (and even Western science) could adequately describe
the nature of the universe, few, if any, of them abandoned the Yijing as a device
for discovering basic patterns of cosmic change, including those bearing on the
future.141
To be sure, as We have seen, Qing scholars argued bitterly over the provenance
and/or value of certain cosmic diagrams associated with the Changes, notably
the Hetu and the Luoshu.142 On one side of the debate, in the skeptical tradition
of Ouyang Xiu of the Song, we find a number of Qing savants, such as Huang
Zongxi, Wang Fuzhi, Huang Zongyan, Mao Qiling, Hu Wei, and Wang Maohong
(1668-1741), who Were sharply critical of such charts. On the other side, follow
ing Zhu Xi, a number of illustrious scholars, including Lu Shiyi, Tang Bin (1627
87), Lu Longji (16 30-9 3), Li Guangdi, Hu Xu (1655-1736), Yang Fangda (fl. ca.
1714), and Iiang Yong, believed earnestly that the charts were both authentic and
valuable. Still other Qing intellectuals, such as Dai Zhen, Fang Dongshu (1772
1851), and Hang Xinzhai, defended the inclusion of these diagrams in works
such as the Zhouyi benyi and the Zhouyi zhezhong on the grounds that whatever
their provenance, they preserved a rich and valuable traditional understanding
of the text.143
What seems evident, in any case, is that Pi Xirui was incorrect in asserting
that by the late Qing period no one believed in the Hetu and the Lu0shu.144 There
is simply too much evidence to the contrary. In addition to the testimony of late
Qing scholars such as Hang Xinzhai and others, we have compilations such as
Yuan Shushan’s massive Zhongguo lidai buren zhuan (Biographies of Diviners in
China by [Dynastic] Periods) and other such compendia, which indicate that
numerologically oriented charts of this sort continued to be studied and used by
awide variety of people, many of them scholars, throughout the Qing period and
into the Republican era.145 For every critic of ling Fang, Chen Tuan, or Shao Yong
there were dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Qing scholars who embraced at least
some of their views and employed at least some of their interpretive methods.
Moreover, as Benjamin Elman’s recent study of the Chinese examination sys
tem reminds us, the line between elite and popular cosmology is often difficult
to draw. For example, in an effort to contend with the pressures of examina
tion competition, the literati of Ming and Qing times often “turned to religion
and the mantic arts.” Elman documents at length how “many Chinese, whether
elite or peasant, . . . turned to gods, temples and local religious practices” to
negotiate the terms of their “uncertain” daily existence, emphasizing that the
interaction between Chinese popular culture, Buddhist and Daoist religious
practices, and divination in the lives of Ming—Qing elites “tells us how far off
the historical mark our earlier accounts of ‘Confucian agnosticism’ or elite reli
giosity have been.”14°
No prominent Confucian scholar denied the idea of a spiritual link between
man and the cosmos, and none proved willing to abandon correlative thll'll<lng
altogether. All drew upon yin and yang as conceptual categories, and all relied
upon the lines, trigrams, hexagrams, and written texts of the Yijing to under
stand the nature of reality. Furthermore, they all believed that participation,
rather than some sort of “scientific” detachment, was the key to meaningful
knowledge (see chapters 5 and 8). Although the idea of an immutable Dao, or
Way, of ultimate truth began to give way to the notion of a relativized Dao em
bodying only transient and finite truths, no one doubted the Yijing’s basic prem
ise that this Dao, however conceived, could in some sense be apprehended. For
all the iconoclastic work done in the Qing period, no one offered a comprehen
sive attack on the foundations of orthodox cosmology, much less a radically
different alternative worldview?”
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Changes in Modern China
The evolution of the Yijing in tvventieth-century China, as in previous periods,

has had much to do with the way that both the Chinese world and the larger
transnational community changed during that time. New ideas, new technolo
gies, new political, social, and economic institutions and practices, and new
ways of knowing presented unprecedented challenges (as well as previously un
imagined opportunities) to nearly everyone on earth. At the same time, certain
long-standing ways of thinking and acting came under attack throughout much
of the world, including China.1
During the last few decades of the Qing dynasty a series of crises in domestic
and foreign policy brought to Chinese intellectuals a new awareness of the need
for various kinds of political, social, economic, and intellectual change. Some
believed that relatively moderate reform would be sufficient for China’s new
needs — that the foundation (ti) of Chinese culture was still solid enough but that
certain practical applications (gong) borrowed from other cultures were neces
sary to build “national wealth and strength.” Others felt that more fundamental
changes were necessary for China to be able to survive in a new Darwinistic
environment. In the end, state-sponsored reforms in the early twentieth cen
tury had revolutionary consequences, and the Qing dynasty was overthrown in
1911-12?
After the fall of the Qing, China entered a period of profound self- examination
known as the New Culture Movement (ca. 1915-25). This movement, led pri
marily by overseas-educated Chinese such as Chen Duxiu (1880-1942) and Hu
Shi (1891-1962), was an iconoclastic assault on traditional Chinese culture
motivated by the search for new values and institutions in the midst of political
chaos, social unrest, economic distress, and foreign imperialism. Nearly every
aspect of the inherited civilization, including Confucian ethics and the “teach
ings of ritual,” came under attack by Chinese intellectuals. Meanwhile, there
was a tremendous surge of interest in Western political and social thought and
a widespread belief in the efficacy of Western science. Indeed, in the minds of
many Chinese intellectuals, the two great heroes of the New Culture period were
“Mr. Science and Mr. Democracy.”
For the next several decades, two successive Mainland Chinese govern_
ments — the first under the Nationalist Party (Guomindang), from 1928 to 1949,
and the second under the Communist Party (Gongchandang), from 1949 to
the present— pursued a “modernizing” strategy aimed, among other things, at
building national strength and “destroying superstition” (po mixin), including,
of course, the use of the Yijing for mantic purposes. These campaigns varied in
intensity over time, and they diminished dramatically in Taiwan after the Nation
alist retreat to the island in 1949. There, the use of the Changes for divination, as
well as the scholarly study of it, proceeded essentially unfettered?’
From 1949 to 1978, Changes scholarship on the Mainland languished. But after
the declaration of the “Open Policy” by the People’s Republic of China (PRC)
in 1978, the study and practical use of the Yijing on the Mainland began to take
off. This development was not unrelated to a growing perception on the part of
certain PRC scholars that a new perspective on the Changes might not only prove
compatible with China’s “modernizing” agenda but also satisfy the powerful
nationalist feelings of both the Chinese people and the Chinese state.4 At the
same time, Chinese scholars became increasingly aware of how foreign cultures
had been responding to the Yijing over the years, especially in the West. Although
a systematic treatment of this theme of global transmission awaits another vol
ume, in the last section of this chapter I provide an example of one way that
Western understandings of the Changes have helped to shape tvventieth-century
Chinese perceptions of it.
The Yijing at the End of an Era

As indicated briefly above, China’s growing contact with the West and Japan dur
ing the latter half of the nineteenth century brought unprecedented challenges,
as well as a host of new ideas, to the Middle Kingdom. In part because of this set
of unique circumstances, the late Qing was a period of considerable creativity
in Chinese intellectual life. New strains of Confucianism emerged as reformers
and revolutionaries sought answers to pressing political, social, and cultural
questions. Meanwhile, old controversies, such as the debate over whether New
The Changes in Modern China 197
Text (jinwen) or Ancient Text (guwen) versions of the Confucian classics were the
most authoritative (see chapters 3 and 7), acquired an overtly political dimen
sion.5 There was also an identifiable Buddhist revival in the late Qing period, and
in the midst of all this intellectual fervor the Classic of Changes loomed largefi
Like Japanese intellectuals prior to the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912) ,7 Chi
nese reformers in the late Qing repeatedly invoked the Yijing to bolster their argu
ments for political, social, and cultural change and for acquiring new knowledge
from the West. In fact, China’s Self-Strengthening Movement, which lasted from
1862 to 1895, derived its name from the “Commentary on the Images” regarding
Q1311 (“Pure Yang” [1]). During this period a number of Chinese intellectuals
claimed, as they had done at the time of the Jesuits, during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, that foreign science and mathematics were all based on
the principles of the Changes.“
Conservative reformers such as Zhang Zhidong (1837-1909) employed terms
from the Yijing to show an essential complementarity between the Chinese
“moral Way” (Dao) and Western manifestations or concrete things (qi) and thus
the possibility of grafting Western function onto Chinese substance.9 At the
same time, more radical reformers, notably Yan Fu (1853-1921), Kang Youwei
(1858-1927), Tan Sitong (1865-98), and Liang Qichao (1873-1929), used the
symbolism of the Changes to express (and justify) their vision of a new and better
World order.1° Revolutionaries such as Zhang Taiyan (a.k.a. Zhang Binglin, 1869
1936) and Liu Shipei (1884-1919) did the same, often with reference to Daoism
and/or Buddhism.“
As in earlier periods of dynastic crisis, critics of the regime increasingly re
ferred to the hexagrams Ge (“Radical Change” [49]) and Ding (“The Cauldron”
[5o]) to symbolize the two-stage processes by which, in the words of the com
mentary known as the “Hexagrams in Irregular Order,” it becomes necessary to
“get rid of the old” and “take up the l'l6W.”12 But other hexagrams also served
the purpose of expressing politically inspired sentiments, both hopes and fears.
Thus, to some intellectuals, the Gou hexagram (“Encounter” [44]) seemed to
have special significance for occasions when an empress dowager (such as Cixi)
“held court behind a [silken] screen” (chuilian tingzheng).13
What differed in the late Qing period was that for the first time in Chinese
history, advocates of political change sought to link the Yijing explicitly to new
Western and Japanese sources of knowledge. Yan Fu, for example, argued in the
foreword to Tianyan lun, his famous translation of Thomas Huxley’s On Evolution,
that the Classic of Changes contained within it the basic categories of “number,
logic, mass, and motion” and that it offered a cogent explanation of scientific
processes such as natural selection. In addition, he used the language of the
Yijing to articulate the cosmological and metaphysical ideas of his great hero,
the Social Darwinist Herbert Spencer, who spoke of the manifold phenomena
of reality “evolving” out of the womb of the “Unknowable.”14
Tan, for his part, invoked the Changes to spell out a program of historical
evolution based on the specific guidance provided by the six successive line
statements of the Qian hexagram (1). Describing the Yi as a Work of “the ut
most profundity” embracing “all the principles within the world,” Tan posited 3
two-stage historical process in which the first three—part phase, marked by the
inner (lower) Qian trigram, represented devolution (from prehistoric times to
the time of Confucius) and the second three-part phase, marked by the outer
(upper) Qian trigram, represented evolution (from the time of Confucius to an
age in the future). At the end of this evolutionary process, symbolized in the
Yijing by the imagery of “a flight of dragons Without heads,” “all sentient beings
will have attained Buddhahood,” and there would thus be no need for religion,
social institutions, or governance.“ Zhang Taiyan, also influenced by Buddhist
philosophy, developed somewhat similar evolutionary theories based on the
Changes.“
Meanwhile, the anarchist Liu Shipei, inspired by the sociological Writings
of Zhang and drawing upon the numerological ideas of Iiao Xun (see chap
ter 7), used a detailed analysis of the judgments, images, and line statements
of the Yijing to show an afiinity between what he considered to be the concerns
of modern Western sociology and the “learning of the Changes.” His goal was
to advance an argument for historical progress that had an explicitly utopian
outcome. As Liu put the matter: “The Way of the Zhou Changes is nothing more
than storing What is past [cangwang], examining what is to come [chalai], inves
tigating the mysterious [tanze], and finding hidden meanings [suogin] .” Thus he
believed that the Yijing, like the number-based theories and practices of modern
sociology, could be used for what might today be called a program of “social en
gineering.” 17
We cannot be certain what motivated these strategies of accommodation and
reconciliation. On the one hand, scholars like Yan, Tan, Zhang, and Liu no doubt
felt that it made sense to explain the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar, particu
larly since most late Qing intellectuals were Well versed in classical philosophy.
On the other hand, it is certainly possible that they genuinely believed that cer
tain ideas expressed in the Yijing were similar to those of the modern West.
There are other interpretive possibilities as well. We know, for example, that
Yan Fu used the Classic of Changes to divine (see chapter 9), and perhaps his faith in
its spiritual capacities also encouraged some sort of confidence in its scientific
capabilities. What is clear, in any case, is that Yan, like most other “modern
minded” intellectuals of his time, recognized clearly that while the ancients may
have discovered the beginnings of scientific and mathematical principles, “later
men [in China] were unable to follow through.”18
Ultimately, the Qing dynasty succumbed in 1911 to a nationalistically in
spired, anti-Manchu, “republican” revolution, and as in the case of previous
dynastic transitions, the enemies of the old regime found in the Yijing a justi
fication for their political activities. One striking example is the effort by Wu
Zhiying (1867-1934), an outspoken feminist critic of the Qing government, to
use a sophisticated hexagram analysis in her praise of the antidynastic efforts
of the famous woman martyr Qiu Iin (1865?—19o7) .19 Wu’s explicitly gendered
essay, which focused in part on the Ge and Ding hexagrams, discussed above,
shows affinities with certain articles in the late Qing periodical press that cited
the Yijing in support of arguments for a new, equal status for Chinese women.
Some of these arguments, one might add, are reminiscent of Li Zhi’s iconoclas
tic writings about gender during the late Ming era (see chapter 6).2°
After 1911 the Yijing lost virtually all of its institutionally reinforced canonical
and cosmological authority.“ The process began with the regime’s abolition of
the traditional civil-service examination system in 1905, and it culminated in the
destruction of the dynastic system itself. To be sure, classically trained Chinese
scholars would continue to use exegesis of the Changes to display their erudi
tion; this cultural habit was hard to break. Moreover, there were always those
who considered the Yi to be a sacred scripture, even after it no longer received
institutional support from the throne. Increasingly, however, intellectuals such
as Gu Iiegang (189 3-1980), the leading spirit behind what became known as the
Doubting of Antiquity movement, came to view the Yijing as nothing more than
a historical artifact, a collection of individual divination records that shed useful
light on the past but had no relevance for contemporary Chinese society.”
From his Western-trained mentor Hu Shi, Gu appropriated the idea of a “sci
entific method” (kexuefan_qfa) in analyzing the past that could, and must, he felt,
transcend culture. Although he acknowledged that scholars of evidential re
search (kaozheng xue) in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and New Text
advocates such as Kang Youwei in the late nineteenth had played a useful role in
challenging conventional wisdom about the Chinese classics, Gu criticized them
for remaining hostage to the moral and cosmological authority of the works
themselves.”
It was a knowledge and appreciation of Western ideas that helped Gu to dis
tance himself from previous scholarly traditions and historical models in China.
Drawing upon a wide range of newly introduced concepts and methodologies,
including Social Darwinism, Deweyan pragmatism, and historical materialism,
Gu fashioned an approach to China’s past that has remained both alluring and
controversial in the eyes of Chinese intellectuals up to the present day.“ For
our purposes, the significance of Gu’s “scientific” approach to the classics is
that it colored Republican-era scholarship on the Yijing in fundamental ways,
“Traditional” attitudes toward the Changes naturally continued to carry weight
in some intellectual circles, but even in these circles it is easy to detect the ways
that specific Western thinkers, as Well as more general Western currents of
thought, helped to shape, or at least to validate, time-honored ways of viewing
the classic.
Works such as Cai Shangsi’s Shijia lun Yi (Ten Scholarly Discussions on the
Changes [1993]), Yang Qingzhong’s Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi (A History of
Changes Studies in Twentieth-Century China [20o0]), and Lai Guisan’s Taiwan
Yixue shi (A History of Changes Learning in Taiwan [2006]) provide a wealth of
information on virtually all of the most famous and influential names in Yijing
scholarship during the first half of the twentieth century. These names include
transitional figures such as Liao Ping (18 52-19 3 2), Zhang Binglin, Hang Xinzhai
(1869-1924), Shang Binghe (1870-1950), and Liu Shipei, as well as such notable
Republican-era scholars as Yang Shuda (1885-1956), Xiong Shili (1885-1968),
Qian Xuantong (1887-19 3 9), Guo Moruo (1892-1978), Gu Iiegang, Feng Youlan
(1895-1990), Yu Xinwu (1896-1984), Wen Yiduo (1899-1946), Fang Dongmei
(a.k.a. Thomé Fang, 1899-1977), Dai Iunren (1901-78), Li Iingchi (1902-75), Iin
Iingfang (1902-2001), Gao Heng (1900-1986), Qu Wanli (1907-79), Gao Ming
(1909-92), and Yu Yongliang (fl. 1920s) .15 As for earlier periods of Chinese his
tory, an evaluation of all major figures and their Yi-related Writings would require
far too much space, but a discussion of at least a few of these individuals, as well
as some of the significant issues they addressed, may suggest the Wide range of
interpretive possibilities that existed for scholars of the Changes in twentieth
century China.
Certainly one of the most significant themes in modern Chinese history is
nationalism (minzu zhuyi). Although Chinese nationalism has taken many dif
ferent forms and has been expressed in many different ways over the years, an
abiding concern with national identity, national interests, and especially China’s
international standing has often informed Chinese discourses, both popular
and scholarly. We should hardly be surprised to find, then, that in the twentieth
century the Yijing has served as a significant focus for nationalistically motivated
discussions of China’s past, present, and future.
Such discussions have often revolved around the issue of modernization (jin
dai hua or xiandai hua). Like nationalism, modernization has been, and remains,
a slippery concept. But for nearly all Chinese in the twentieth century it carried
wnnotations of scientific and technological advancement. The term has also
generally involved the idea of promoting institutional and educational changes
both to encourage and to exploit the development of science and technology.
Modernization often implies competition, usually between nation-states, and
thus it is closely connected to nationalism. Viewed in this way, modernization
may be seen as a cross-cultural phenomenon, as distinct from reform, which
is essentially intracultural. Or, to use a racing metaphor, reform pits the horse
against the clock (its own “best time”), While modernization stacks the horse
up against other horses.-"*6
How, then, did the Yijing fit into discourses of modernity in post-1912 China?
At the risk of oversimplifying matters, on the one hand, those who champi
oned the goal of modernization sought either to put the document in the ser
vice of their political or social agendas or to claim that the one-time classic
was simply no longer relevant to China’s needs. On the other hand, those who
questioned whether modernity alone could provide sufficient spiritual satisfac
tion attempted to show that China’s cultural heritage—including, of course, the
Changes—still had something important to offer.
The Changes in Republican China

During the radically iconoclastic New Culture era, as in both the recent and
the distant past, Chinese scholars and other devotees of the Changes continued
to approach the document from the standpoint of their own respective back
grounds, educational experiences, philosophical orientations, intellectual net
works, careers, and historical circumstances. And as with the introduction of
Buddhism from India many centuries earlier and the introduction of Christianity
by the Jesuits in more recent times, the new knowledge that poured into China
from Japan and the West during the late Qing and early Republican periods
posed a challenge to inherited understandings of the Yijing.
To be sure, never before had the superiority of Chinese culture been in serious
doubt, and never before had Chinese intellectuals contemplated the wholesale
rejection of the inherited culture in order to “save the country.”27 Nor had there
ever been a time in the previous two thousand years when the Changes lacked
institutional support from the central government and local officials, as was the
case during the early Republic and thereafter. Nonetheless, mutatis mutandis, the
remarkable feature of Yijing exegesis from the New Culture Movement on is how
similar it was to that of earlier eras. Although some champions of the Changes
may have been especially eager to offer it up as an alternative to, or at least an
equivalent of, foreign ideologies, others enthusiastically pressed it into the ser
vice of those very ideologies, just as their precursors had done with Buddhism,
Daoism, Islam, and Christianity in past centuries.
Prior to the growth in popularity of Marxism-Leninism during the 1920s and
thereafter, most studies of the Yijing in China focused on historical and philo_
logical questions that were informed by a new critical (i.e., “scientific”) atti
tude, but not, on the whole, a comprehensive ideological framework. Scholars
debated issues relating to the dating, authorship, and evolution of the Changes,
the philosophical nature of the document, its interaction with various systems
of thought and belief over time, the meaning of its written texts and symbolism,
and its use as a record of ancient Chinese beliefs and practices."
This historically motivated scholarship sought to distinguish between myth
and history, and it also tried to get beyond the somewhat artificial dichotomies
separating the school of images and numbers from the school of meanings and
principles, or Song learning from Han learning, which had been so prevalent in
the imperial era.19 Nonetheless, intellectual and personal rivalries, some based
at least in part on old-style philosophical affiliations, continued to affect both
public and private discourses on the Changes in the Republican era.3°
Guo Moruo’s studies of the Yijing, beginning with his celebrated 1927 article
“Zhouyi shidai di shehui shenghuo” (Life and Society in the Era of the Zhou
Changes), marked the beginning of a long period in China during which Marxist
categories and concerns played a major role in the analysis of the Yijing.31 Of
particular interest to such scholars was the idea of dialectical materialism, as
well as the related notion of changing modes or relations of production. Over
time this sort of Marxist philosophical framework accommodated an imagina
tive “folkloric” approach to the Changes, pioneered by individuals such as the
America-trained writer and artist Wen Yiduo.32
Meanwhile, Yi-oriented humanistic thinkers such as Xiong Shili and, later,
Fang Dongmei tried to find ways to counter Marxist and modernist theories by
“revitalizing” traditional Chinese thought.” Xiong is particularly well known
for advocating a “new,” Consciousness-Only (Xin Weishi) brand of Buddhism,
which celebrated Confucian moral values, drew heavily on the metaphysics of
the Changes, and also owed a certain debt to Western intellectuals, including the
French philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941).“ This metaphysics of oneness
and ceaseless creativity is most fully developed in Xiong’s 1961 book Qian Kun yan
(An Explication of the Meanings of the Qian and Kun Hexagrams). In Xiong’s
view, only a revival of the fundamental Confucian values of “benevolence and
righteousness” (ren yi) could save China from the “spreading heresies” of the
New Culture era.35
Like Xiong, Fang sought inspiration from the Changes in constructing his
vision of a “new,” metaphysically oriented Confucianism, and he too looked
to philosophical traditions that were at least in part outside of Confucianism
and external to China. Fang’s grand synthesis recalls not only Western thinkers
Such as Bergson but also the “process metaphysics” of Alfred North Whitehead
(1861-1947) .36 Yet in the end it was a “matrix of change,” enabled by the Supreme
Ultimate and expressed in the lines, trigrams, and hexagrams of the Yijing—
not the willfulness and generative power of a Western-style creator deity—that
served as the “primordial ground of potentiality” for Fang’s notion of cosmic
creativity.”
Synthesizing the pangtong (lateral linkage) theories of Yu Fan of the Han and
Iiao Xun of the Qing (see chapters 3 and 7, respectively), Fang created his own
eighteen-stage explanation of cosmic change, which, he believed, accounted
for the generation and interrelationship of the sixty-four hexagrams without
either the inconsistencies of Yu Fan’s system or the complex elaborations of Iiao
Xun. His explanation rested on a series of processes involving concepts such as
selective “cross-linkages” (xiangsuo), analogical “superimpositions” (chulei), and
derivative “extensions” (yins|1en).38
This humanistic, cosmologically oriented approach to the Yijing continued to
be a dominant theme in the scholarship of the disciples of Xiong and Fang, in
cluding such prominent figures as Tang Iunyi (1909-78), Xu Fuguan (190 3-82),
Mou Zongsan (1909-95), and Fu Weixun (a.k.a. Charles Wei-hsun Fu, 1933-96),
who found their way to Taiwan, Hong Kong, or the West after 1949. These indi
viduals are often viewed as the architects of what has been called “New Confu
cianism,” an attempt, in the words of Shu-hsien Liu, to “revitalize the insights
implicit in the Confucian tradition before they became extinct under the domi
nation of current ideas imported into China by the Western powers.”39
A third approach to the Changes in the Republican period was from the per
spective of modern science.4° We have seen in previous chapters, and we will see
again in chapter 9, that a great many Chinese thinkers in imperial times tried to
use the Yijing to explain the natural world. But efforts to link the Changes to math
and science in the twentieth century were now predicated on modern Western
understandings of these two realms of knowledge.
Naturally enough, Chinese scholars in the New Culture era began to explore
and exploit the link between the Yijing and binary mathematics that Joachim
Bouvet and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz had first identified in the seventeenth
century (see chapter 7). The particular Chinese text that encouraged this idea
was, of course, Shao Yong’s diagram of the “Fuxi Arrangement of the Sixty-four
Hexagrams,” also known as the “Chart of the Former Heaven Sequence” (Xian
tian tu) (see fig. 5.4).
Leibniz’s binary system, unlike the decimal numbering system in use through
out most of the world both then and now, was capable of making all calculations
on the basis of just two numerical symbols, zero and one—like the computers of
our own time. In the decimal system, the numbers 0-9 occupy the units place,
10-99 occupy the tens place, and 100-999 occupy the hundreds place; thus the
number 381 appears as 300 plus 80 plus 1). But in the binary system, each num
ber position can only store two values, not ten. S0 instead of numbers that in
crease by a factor of ten with each number position, in binary configurations the
numbers go up by a factor of two:
01 10
Decimal / Binary Equivalents
Decimal form Binary form
10
11
100
101
110
111
1000
10 1010 1001
In the binary system, then, 381 would be expressed as 101111101 (no thousands,
three hundreds, 8 tens, and 1 one).
On the basis of his research into the Yijing, as well as his correspondence
with Leibniz, Bouvet had observed that if the broken (yin) lines of Shao Yong’s
diagram Were replaced by zeros, and if the solid (yang) lines Were replaced by
ones, the structure would be a developmentally binary one. Thus, proceeding
counterclockwise to the top (and then again clockwise from the bottom to the
top) in the case of the circle, and proceeding from left to right and downward,
horizontal column by horizontal column, in the case of the square, the regular
sequence of hexagrams Kun (2), Bo (23), Bi (8), Guan (20), Yu (16), Iin (35),
Cui (45), Pi (12), Qian (15), Gen (52), and so forth, to Qian (1) would produce
the following progression, corresponding to 1 through 9 in the decimal system:
000000, 000001, 000010, 000011, 000100, 000101, 000110, 000111, 001000, . . .
111111. To Bouvet and Leibniz, this binary system had a universal religious and
spiritual significance, denoting the idea that God (represented by the number 1)
had created everything out of nothing (0). But for mathematically minded Chi
nese of the twentieth century, it appeared simply to be a powerful scientific
instrument that could be traced to a Chinese source.“
From this one “rediscovered” source of mathematical inspiration all kinds
0f creative scholarship followed. Much of this scholarship seems to have been
motivated at least in part by national pride. One long-standing issue, which con
tinues to be debated to this day, was whether Shao Yong’s diagram inspired
Leibniz’s binary theory or merely confirmed it (the weight of the evidence sug
gests confirmation rather than inspiration) .41 But a far more important issue
to most Chinese scholars, especially those educated in the West, was whether
3 meaningful relationship existed between the structural elements of the Yijing
and various realms of modern mathematics and science.
A noteworthy pioneer in this enterprise was Ding Chaowu (1884-1979), a
well-l<nown political activist from the 1920s on, who, in the late thirties and
early forties, sought to link the texts, trigrams, hexagrams, charts, and other
illustrations of the Changes with various natural phenomena, invoking the ideas
of a few prominent Western scientists.“ Over time, other Chinese scholars, fol
lowing Ding’s lead, explored connections between the Yijing and new develop
ments in the West, from linear algebra and quantum mechanics to the fields of
molecular biology and computer coding.“ The impulse to find such correlations
seems often to have been essentially the same as in imperial times, although
the idea that the ancient Chinese might have anticipated modern science was
a particularly heady one for scholars long accustomed to the view that modern
science had passed China by.45
Changes Scholarship after 1949

In Taiwan and Hong Kong, Republican-era traditions of Yijing scholarship con
tinued without significant interruption following the founding of the People’s
Republic of China.“ Established scholars such as Fang Dongmei, Dai Iunren,
Qu Wanli, Gao Ming, Zhu Gaozheng, Huang Iinhong, Gao Huaimin, Qian Mu,
Mou Zongsan, Tang Iunyi, Yan Lingfeng, and Luo Guang—followed by younger
Yijing specialists, including Huang Peirong (a.k.a. Wong Pui Iong), Xu Qinting,
Liao Mingchun, Lai Guisan, Dai Lianzhang, Zhu Gaozheng, Chen Guying,
Zheng Iixiong, Liu Hanping, Xie Daning, Huang Zhongtian, Sun Iianqiu, and
many others—continued to explore a wide range of historical, philosophical,
and philological issues connected with the classic." As in the past, these issues
had to do primarily with questions of authorship, dating, the nature of the basic
text and the Ten Wings, and the analysis of various commentaries. At the same
time, the Changes entered popular culture in Taiwan and Hong Kong in a variety of
forms, from newspaper and magazine articles, almanacs, andfengshui manuals
to comic books and television shows. It even found a place in high-level political
discourse in Taiwan.“
Meanwhile, on the Mainland, scholars such as Yang Shuda, Guo Moruo, Gu
Jiegang, Yu Xinwu, Li Iingchi, Li Iingjun, Iin Iingfang, Gao Heng, and Feng You
lan—and later, Lii Shaogang, Huang Shouqi, Tang Mingbang, Zhu Bokun, Li
Shen, Yu Dunkang, Liu Dajun, Zhang Liwen, Dong Guangbi, Zhang Shanwen,
Zhang Qicheng, and a host of others49—made great strides in Changes scholar
ship, energized by dramatic archaeological finds of the sort discussed briefly in
chapters 1- 3. The academic issues they addressed were similar in many ways to
those addressed by scholars in Taiwan and Hong Kong, but their access to new
data was far more substantial. On the other hand, Mainland scholars always had
to be mindful of the capricious twists and turns of party politics.
Prior to 1978, Mainland scholarship on the Yijing was relatively limited in
scope and output. Some writers celebrated the “naive dialectics” (pusu de bian
zhengfa) of the work, but relatively few departed from orthodox Marxist socio
economic concepts and categories, notably, relations of production and class
struggle.-‘*° During the late 1950s and early 1960s, for example, newspapers such
as the Guangming Ribao (Guangming Daily) and academic journals such as Zhexue
yanjiu (Philosophical Research) carried articles that discussed the nature of the
Zhou dynasty’s “slave society” as depicted in the basic text of the Changes, and
scholars debated whether the Ten Wings expressed an “objective idealist” or
a “primitive materialist” point of view. One major debate revolved around the
question of whether the Ten Wings were of any value in interpreting the basic
text. Most authorities, including Feng Youlan and Li Iingjun, believed that they
were, but others, such as Fang Li and Wang Ming, argued that such commen
taries were simply too far removed in time from the “original” Changes to shed
significant light on it.51
During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) the Yijing came under fierce attack
as a remnant of “feudal superstition.” This was part of a more general assault on
all traditional beliefs and practices. But after Chairman Mao’s death in Septem
ber 1976, and especially following the declaration of the Open Policy two years
later, scholarship on the Changes exploded in the PRC, rivaling that of Taiwan
and Hong Kong in the range of its subject matter and vastly outstripping the
scholarship of both areas in terms of output.” And although Yijing-based div
inatory practices continued to be discouraged by the state, particularly if prac
ticed by “professionals,” Chinese bookstores and bookstalls everywhere began
to display a wide variety of Yi-related books, from academic studies and reprints
of earlier scholarly works to vernacular translations and popular treatises em
phasizing the value of the Changes for an understanding of such modern topics
as business management and psychology (see below) .53
One reason for this explosion of public interest in the Yijing has been a spiri
tual crisis (jingshen weiji) that developed during the 1980s and accelerated dra
matically after the terrible events at Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in 1989.
since that time, large numbers of Chinese have sought spiritual guidance and
intellectual inspiration in their own (and other) religious and philosophical tra
ditions, including those relating to the Changes. This helps to account for the
“Yijing fever” that swept over China during the 1980s and 1990s. This enthusi
asm for the classic had both a popular and an academic dimension, and it was
manifest in an avalanche of newspaper and magazine articles. One noteworthy
feature of Chinese scholarship on the Changes at this particular time was an in
tense interest in cross-cultural comparisons between East and West,54 an ap
proach facilitated by the explicitly comparative work of Western-trained Chinese
scholars such as Chung-ying Cheng (Cheng Zhongying), at the University of
Hawaii.“
Today, throughout much of the Mainland, as in virtually all of Taiwan and
Hong Kong, bookstores and bookstalls carry a wide variety of academic trea
tises and compendia, vernacular renditions, and popular studies of the classic.
There are even comic-book versions of it. Yijing study groups have arisen in every
major city, and public lectures on the Changes are now more or less common fare.
Moreover, historical sites associated with the Yi have become tourist attractions,
for instance, the Zhouyi Theme Park (Zhougi yuan) in Fuling, Sichuan, a vast and
somewhat garish complex marking the spot where, nearly a thousand years ago,
the Song scholar Cheng Yi, in banishment, completed his famous commentary,
Yichuan Yizhuan (see chapter 5).56
Meanwhile, in contemporary Chinese spiritual life, particularly on Taiwan,
the Yijing plays a variety of symbolic and substantive roles quite apart from its
continued use as a mantic text.57 Take, for example, the temple dedicated to
“Mr. Fuxi, the Progenitor of Chinese Culture and the First Teacher of the Eight
Trigrams” (Zhonghua wenhua shizu Fuxi shi bagua zushi) in Taibei, or the Zhou Changes
Study Association of the Republic of China (Zhonghua Minguo Zhougi xuehui) in
Tainan. This state-approved organization, headed by Wu Qiuwen, a soft-spoken,
charismatic man who turned fifty in 2005, was established in the early 1980s
and has grown into an extremely wealthy “church,” with about twenty-three
thousand students, past and present, all of whom faithfully follow the interpre
tations of Mr. Wu.58 Although these interpretations are influenced significantly
by Buddhism, the iconography of Wu’s organization is Confucian: Fuxi presides
over the three sages-—King Wen, the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius—to whom
Wu’s students solemnly pay their respects in periodic ritual and liturgical per
formances.59
Yijing-inspired themes and images appear with some frequency in contempo
rary Chinese art and literature on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.6° Some fepre
sentations reflect modern or postmodern fashions, but others have a decidedly
nostalgic orientation. Consider, for example, the views of the Mainland writer
Yang Lian, whose poems have a certain “international” quality but whose work
also reveals a passionate attachment to Chinese tradition. In a 1983 essay Yang
wrote:
We [Chinese] are rooted in a common culture, in the unique form of a

psychological structure. It is a form . . . [that] never determines the moder
nity of the subject matter, but instead dictates certain peculiar modes of
feeling, thinking and expression. It commands our obedience in each act
of artistic creation. I believe that no individual artist in his creative work
can betray his [cultural] tradition. Either consciously or unconsciously,
every artist’s work . . . is to a greater or lesser degree permeated with the
“intrinsic elements” of his tradition.“
In this essay Yang identifies the following elements as part of what he calls the
“eternal present” of Chinese culture: (1) China’s “unique symbolic system,” ex
emplified in the Classic of Changes; (2) the “objectivity” of Chinese thought; (3) a
philosophical inclination to synthesize (rather than to divide in an Aristotelian
fashion); (4) a tradition of “transcending utilitarianism”; (5) a poetic conception
of nature and natural imagery (something he terms “the unique visual language
of Chinese poetry,” a consciousness of “multi-gradational concrete imagery”);
(6) the “organic compound structure” of Chinese poetry, deriving from the an
cient works of Qu Yuan; and (7) modes of thinking that include notions of both
“enlightenment” (wu) and “tranquility” (jing).
The “Scientific” Value of the Changes

Since the 1980s, Chinese scholars have continued to explore connections be
tween the Yijing and modern math and science, not only on Taiwan but also, and
perhaps especially, on the Mainland.“ In his opening address to a pathbreaking
conference on the Changes in Wuhan during the summer of 1984, Xiao Shafu
remarked:
[We] must engage in a deep comparative analysis of Chinese and West

ern, ancient and modern, philosophical categories and scientific concepts
and forms of thought. We must uncover both their similarities and their
differences and truly grasp the inherent cycles (spirals) of the historical
development of philosophical and scientific thought, and reveal the suc
cessive links of association and the intermediaries of change Within these
cycles of development. It is only through this kind of concrete historical
analysis and logical analysis that it will be possible to explain concretely
the intermediate links, the steps by which certain modern scientific con
cepts seem to be returning to the past, seem to be finding correlations
with the ancient system of the symbols or the forms of thinking of the
Book ofChanges.63
The stated assumption of the Wuhan scholars was that this comparative en
deavor would “clearly depend upon the joint efforts of both Chinese and for
gign philosophers and scientists.” 64 Thus, the early 1980s marked the first time
in Mainland China since the eighteenth-century Jesuit interlude that foreign
scholars were invited to join high-level discussions and debates on the Yijing,
and from the late 1980s on, foreigners have been integrally involved in Changes
related conferences and other cooperative ventures.
One result of this interaction between Chinese and foreign academics on the
Mainland has been an outpouring of works on the Yijing that seek to show that
the “concepts, categories, and forms of thought” of ancient Chinese philosophy
are “similar to the macro and micro views of the universe revealed by modern
science.” 65 Thus we have contemporary scholars such as Yang Li arguing, along
the same basic lines as Fang Yizhi and Iiang Yong in the Ming-Qing era, that the
numbers of the Hetu and the Luoshu are “the deriving coefficient” of everything
in the cosmos.“
Similarly, Feng Youlan contends that the Yijing contains an incipient “algebra
of the universe”; Xie Qiucheng maintains that the hexagrams of the classic were
originally designed as a high-efficiency information-transfer system analogous
to contemporary computer coding based on optimal units of two (the number
of basic trigrams in each hexagram) and three (the number of lines in each tri
gram); and Tang Mingbang, drawing on the writings of Xie and other contem
porary Chinese scholars, asserts that the forms of atomic structure in nuclear
physics, the genetic code in molecular biology, and the eight-tier matrix in linear
algebra all seem to be related to the logic of the Changes.“ Obviously, the binary
structure of the Yijing’s yin (0) and yang (1) lines, together with its combina
tions of threes and eights, gives the work an enormous explanatory versatility,
enabling correlations not only with binary numbers but also with quaternary
numbers (0-3), octal numbers (0-7), decimal numbers (0-9), and hexadecimal
numbers (0-9, A-F, 10-19, etc.).°8
One of the most common eiforts by Chinese scholars to link the Yijing to mod
ern science revolves around similarities between the number of combinations
of nucleotides (the four “base” components of DNA molecules, convention
ally designated A [for Adenine], T [Thymine], G [Guanine], and C [Cytosine],
and known in their three-part combinatorial forms as codons) and the sixty
four hexagrams of the Changes. These similarities have to do with the process
by which DNA codes become transcribed into RNA codes, which in turn are
“translated” into the twenty types of naturally occurring amino acids that form
protein molecules. That is, the amino-acid sequence in proteins is determined
by the “information molecules” of RNA, derived from the four bases in the origi
nal DNA sequence that generate triplet codons. Thus, for example, the DNA base
Thymine is replaced in the RNA molecule by its complementary opposite, Uracil,
transforming base A into U.
These changes are the product of eight possible transformations in the three
positions of a given RNA codon, a total of sixty-four possibilities (UUU, UUC,
UUA, UUG, UCU, UCC, etc.) . When mapped as hexagrams on three—dimensional
space, the sixty-four possibilities can be seen as a gene cube consisting of sixty
four sub-cubes, each of which has three sets of two-line digrams, one for each letter
of a given RNA codon. These digrams correspond to the so-called four images
(sixiang) of the Yijing, that is, (1) “old yin” (two yin lines, oo in binary code); (2)
“young yang” (a yin line below and a yang line above, 01); (3) “young yin” (a gang
line below and a yin line above, 10); and (4) “old yang” (two yang lines, 11). Using
these four configurations, the DNA-to-RNA transformation of A into U can be
represented by two yang lines; C into G, by two yin lines; T into A, by a lower yin
and an upper yang; and G into C, by a lower yang and an upper yin. The catalytic
action of enzymes, then, can be viewed as a function of the different reactions
associated with each of the four images: going backward or forward (yin or yang,
respectively) and speeding up or slowing down (old or young, respectively) .69
There are, of course, different ways that the letters of the RNA code can be
rendered into systems of trigram and hexagram correspondence. One of the
most elaborate of these systems — devised by Zhang Linwei, of Anhui University,
and derived in part from the configurations of such imperial-era luminaries as
Liu Mu of the Song dynasty, Lai Zhide of the Ming, and Hu Wei of the Qing
looks like an eight-ringed geomantic compass. At the center is the Taiji tu, fol
lowed by the eight trigrams; letters denoting the various amino acids; the names
of the sixty-four hexagrams, which correspond to them; the corresponding RNA
codons; the six lines of each hexagram picture (viewed from the center outward);
and then letters indicating the changes in the RNA codons and amino acids,
which follow sequential changes in the hexagrams of the fifth ring (organized in
order as binary numbers, 0-63) . The outer ring depicts the thirty-tvvo hexagrams
formed by pairs of hexagrams having the same nuclear trigrams (i.e., lines 2, 3,
and 4 and lines 3, 4, and 5).7°
But, as with the cosmological correlations of imperial times, all but the sim
plest systems of correspondence between genetic structures and the sixty-four
hexagrams display inconsistencies, making them vulnerable to the same charge
Once leveled by Qing dynasty kaozheng critics against the systems builders of
earlier times: that of “forcing a fit” (qiangpei). Liu Zheng, for instance, wrote
in 1989 that “not a single work on the study of the Yijing . . . [has been able to]
prove any sort of mutually engendering relationship or any logical evolutionary
law existing between the Zhouyi and . . . [the disciplines of biology, chemistry,
physics, physiology, and computer science].” From Liu’s perspective, modern
exponents of the so-called scientific school of Yijing studies, including the likes
of Pan Yuting, Zhao Dingli, Zhu Cansheng, Feng Zidao, and Shen Ciheng, have
made the mistake of subjectively identifying modern science with the philoso
phy of the Changes without objective evidence. As Liu puts it, the use of “modern
scientific and technological theories to explain and read the ancient Yijing is
simply not a scientific attitude.”71
Yet while Liu thinks that the Classic of Changes cannot be “explained” by refer
ence to modern science and technology, he believes that the classic can perhaps
provide a new methodology by which modern science and technology might
be better understood." Similarly, growing numbers of contemporary Chinese
social scientists have begun to view the Yijing as a source of methodological
inspiration. This is particularly true in the field of psychology, where the inter
action between Chinese and Western scholarship has been particularly close and
complex.
The Psychological Value of the Changes

The Classic of Changes has long had an explicitly psychological dimension. In the
words of an early-nineteenth-century commentator, “The Changes is a book that
teaches people to be fearful and to cultivate introspection.”73 Although I will
address the question of how the Yijing has been transmitted and transformed
through translation in another volume, some comments on the work of the Ger
man scholar Richard Wilhelm seem apposite here, primarily because of the inte
gral relationship between his rendering of the Changes and its place in the work
of the influential psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875 -1961). Wilhelm’s Das Buch
derwanlungen first appeared in 1924. Based on the imperial edition of the Zhouyi
zhezhong (see chapter 7), it was translated with the assistance of an able Chinese
collaborator, Lao Naixuan (1843-1921). Wilhelm, who had been a missionary in
China before embarking on a more “scholarly” career, sought to make the Yijing
into a universal book of wisdom. Like the French Jesuit Joachim Bouvet, Wilhelm
considered the Changes to be a global property and a work of timeless wisdom,
but unlike Bouvet, he treated it solely as a Chinese document, with no genetic
links with the ancient West or the Near East."
Wilhelm also tried to “demystify” the Changes by providing elaborate com
mentaries that paraphrased and explained away the “spiritual” material that he
felt might confuse European readers. This strategy of “rationalization,” char
acteristic of much academic discourse in early-tvventieth-century Europe, can
also be found in Jung’s foreword to Wilhelm’s translation of the Yijing. Jung’s
essay conveys an essentially secular understanding of the document, one that
resists the notion of spiritual agency that is so central to most traditional Chi
nese conceptions of the Yijing but nonetheless celebrates its potential as a tool
of self-knowledge. Indeed, self-awareness is the dominant message of Jung’s
foreword, which uses an actual consultation of the Changes to illustrate the Way
the document can provide insight into one’s “unexpressed state of doubt.”75
Jung believed that the Yijing both embodied and expressed two of his most basic
ideas: archetypes and syncronicity.
Jungian archetypes are often described as instinctive, universal, and uncon
scious psychological forces or patterns that shape the way human beings think
and act. These archetypes are expressed in symbols (archetypal images), which
appear in our art, our myths, our literature, and our dreams. Although relatively
few fundamental patterns exist at the unconscious level, myriad specific images
may point to them. Thus, for example, the archetype of the Shadow (i.e., the
dark and threatening side of human experience) might become manifest in tales
about bandits, ogres, and other enemies or in stories about the wilderness. To
understand ourselves, then, it is necessary to understand the role that arche
types and archetypal images play in our lives, and in order to do this we must
bring the unconscious to consciousness, so to speak—to understand that the
object of every perception is inextricably bound to the “psychic condition” of the
observer. Clearly the Yijing was, in Jung’s view, an important symbolic medium
by which this might be done.
Jung’s conception of synchronicity appears explicitly and prominently in
his foreword to Wilhelm’s translation of the Changes?“ He defines it as a “co
incidence of events in space and time . . . [that means] something more than
mere chance, namely, a peculiar interdependence of objective events among
themselves as well as with the subjective (psychic) states of the observer or ob
servers.”77 From Jung’s perspective, nothing ever occurs by chance; every event
and circumstance has a meaning that expresses “transpersonal patterns and
powers.”78 In the words of M. D. Faber, the Yijing interested Jung precisely be
cause
it was based on psychological projection, on the participant’s capacity to
find in a specific passage a link to his own idiosyncratic preoccupations.
It was not mere chance that made the book work; it was the user’s cre
ative ability, his flare for reading his own personal agenda into the cryptic
message. Here was an obvious link to synchronicity: a coincidence, an
accident, brings to the surface a connection one could not quite see on
his own.79
Jung provides a simple example of a synchronic opportunity: “If a hand

ful of matches is thrown to the floor, they form the pattern characteristic of
that moment. But such an obvious truth as this reveals its meaningful nature
only if it is possible to read the pattern and to verify its interpretation, partly
by the observer’s knowledge of the subjective and objective situation, partly by
the character of subsequent events.”8° What Jung clearly appreciates about the
Yijing is that it provides a means by which a person’s subjective concerns can be
connected with the symbolism of the hexagrams. As his example indicates, any
object or configuration of things can be read symbolically, but the Changes offers
a particularly rich set of images for contemplation.
In the end, Iung’s attitude was that the value of the Yijing rested in its prag
matic utility:
The I Ching insists upon self-knowledge throughout. The method by which

this is to be achieved is open to every kind of misuse, and is therefore not
for the frivolous-minded and immature; nor is it for intellectualists and
rationalists. It is appropriate only for thoughtful and reflective people who
like to think about what they do and what happens to them—a predilec
tion not to be confused with the morbid brooding of the hypochondriac.
As I have indicated above, I have no answer to the multitude of problems
that arise when We seek to harmonize the oracle of the I Ching with our
accepted scientific canons. But needless to say, nothing “occult” is to be
inferred. My position in these matters is pragmatic, and the great disci
plines that have taught me the practical usefulness of this viewpoint are
psychotherapy and medical psychology.”
A 1994 translation of the Changes by Rudolf Ritsema and Stephen Karcher

represents an effort to reconcile a traditional “Chinese” understanding of the
text with an explicitly Jungian perspective. Their translation, they write,
is an attempt to present the oracular core of the I Ching as a psychological

tool. The purpose is to recover oracular language and the use of divina
tion as a connection between the individual and the unseen—the world
of images [xiang] described by myth, dream, shamanic journey or mystery
cult. . . . The fundamental concern is to give people the means to live
and choose in a meaningful Way by making them aware of its imaginative
value. For the I Ching fills an important gap in the modern approach to
the psyche. Its oracular texts connect the study of what C.G. Jung called
the archetypes, and What the ancient world called the Gods, directly to
individual experience. The present translation is an attempt to go behind
historical, philological and philosophical analysis to revive the divinatory
core, the psychological root of the book as a living practice.“
In short, Ritsema and Karcher seek to provide a rendering of the Yijing that is
based on a comparatively recent redaction of the text—the Qing dynasty com
pilation known as the Zhouyi zhezhong (see chapter 7) —but theoretically not lim
ited to the commentaries that this particular version imposes upon it. Theirs is
a self-described effort to draw upon the “Old Chinese” of the earliest layers of
the Changes in “an attempt to make the imaginative power [of its primal images]
available to the modern user.” Hence, they maintain that “no a priori meaning
is assumed or imposed [on the words of the basic text}. The possible meanings
are gathered together with no presumption that they must conform to a single
interpretation. The terms are seen as the centers of force-fields in the imagina
tion that have gathered meanings over time. They are translated as functions, all
of which can exist in any individual.” 83
In fact, however, as rich and evocative as Ritsema and Karcher’s rendering is
in terms of the interpretive possibilities that it provides (and encourages), their
translation is still incomplete. For instance, their understanding of the charac
terfu (often translated as “faithfulness” or “sincerity”) in the judgment of the
Kan hexagram (29) does not include the most probable of its early meanings,
“a human captive,” an expression that would seem to be especially redolent as a
source of primal symbolic significance.“
We should not be surprised to find that despite such limitations, Ritsema and
Karcher’s version of the Changes quickly found its way to China, not, of course,
because of their rendering of the terms and phrases of the classic, which, as
We have seen, Chinese scholars have explored far more exhaustively, but rather
because of their Jungian understanding ofYiji11g symbolism. Jungian psychology
came to the PRC after the inauguration of the Open Policy, at a time when a great
many other Western theories and practices, including Freudian psychoanalysis,
were attracting the attention of Chinese intellectuals.‘-"5
Of the many realms of Western knowledge that were introduced to China in
the twentieth century, therapeutic psychology has been relatively slow to catch
on, in part because of inherited Chinese attitudes toward mental illness and
mind-body relationships and also because of a certain cultural aversion to ex
plicit discussions of sexual ideas and imagery, which are common in Jungian
analytical psychology and especially in Freudian psychoanalysis.“ Yet despite a
certain general resistance to Freud’s theories in China, dozens of his writings
have been rendered into Chinese. According to Alf Gerlach,
Today [1999] every Chinese university has a psychotherapeutic advice cen

tre for students, and almost every general hospital has a psychotherapy
department, in which the staff up to now have had to derive their knowl
edge and skills largely from the literature available to them. As far as the
field of psychoanalysis is concerned, the practical work often resembles
“wild psychoanalysis,” since it has not yet been possible to acquire a
deeper understanding of the therapeutic processes of transference and
countertransference and their difficulties, or to encounter them first-hand
through psychoanalytic self discovery."
In some respects, Jungian psychology seems to be more compatible with

long-standing Chinese beliefs and practices than Freudianism, particularly,
many have argued, Jung’s emphasis on archetypes and synchronicity. Therefore,
it is not surprising to find a number of Chinese-language Web sites devoted
exclusively to Jung’s analytical psychology.“ But Jung has suffered in Chinese
academic circles from the same comparative neglect that he has experienced
in many Western universities. Moreover, certain key Jungian concepts, such as
individuati0n—that is, the development of a “psychological individual” that is
distinct from the general “collective psychology” — have not found a particularly
receptive audience among collectively minded Chinese psychologists. Nonethe
less, at this writing about thirty books on Jung’s thought have been translated
into Chinese, and a Chinese Institute of Analytical Psychology has recently been
established. The first international conference on analytical psychology and Chi
nese culture was convened in 1998, the second in zooz, and the third in 2006. We
can even see Jung’s name invoked in mainstream Yijing scholarship.”
One of the most visible and influential exponents of a Jungian approach to
psychology in contemporary China is Shen Heyong, a Jungian analyst and pro
fessor of psychology at South China Normal University, in Guangzhou. Profes
sor Shen has written widely on Jungian topics in works such as “Rongge xinli
xue yu Zhongguo wenhua” (Jung’s Psychology and Chinese Culture) and “Yijing
yu Zhongguo wenhua xinli” (The Classic of Changes and Chinese Cultural Psychol
ogy).9° He is an ardent advocate of the notion of synchronicity, and he is also
enthusiastic about the translations of the Yijing by both Ritsema and Karcher
and Richard Wilhelm.91
In a recent article coauthored with his colleague Professor Gao Lan that
has been reprinted on countless Chinese Web sites, Professor Shen claims that
China, a country with a long history of scholarly and practical preoccupation
with problems of the “heart and mind” (xin), is the “homeland” (guxiang) of
psychology.” This preoccupation, Shen argues, is clearly reflected in the Yijing,
where one can find a great many psychological insights that are expressed not
only in the Ten Wings but also in a number of psychologically potent hexagrams,
including Bi (“Closeness” [8]), Kan (“The Sink Hole” [29]), Xian (“Reciprocity”
[31]), Mingyi (“Suppression of the Light” [36]), Iiaren (“The Family” [37]), Y1
(“Increase” [4z]), Iing (“The Well” [48]), Gen (“Restraint” [52]), and Lii (“The
Wanderer” [56]).93
As one of several examples of the psychological orientation of the Changes
and the primal power of its “archetypal” images, Shen cites a line in the “Dis
cussion of the Trigrams” commentary that refers to the doubled trigrams of
Kan, “The Sink Hole,” as symbols for anxiety (you) and “heartsickness” (xinbing)
in the realm of human affairs.“ He goes on to say that a number of traditional
Chinese commentators, including both Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi, have identified Kan
as a hexagram reflecting not only the problems but also the potential powers of
the mind. Thus, for example, in glossing the judgment of Kan, which refers ex
plicitly to the “success” or “prevalence” (heng) of the heart and mind of a person
who possesses true sincerity, Cheng Yi avers, “With the most highly developed
sincerity, [the heart and mind of a human being] can penetrate metal and stone,
and overcome water and fire, so what dangers and difficulties can possibly keep
it from prevailing?”95
Shen then puts forward the hexagram Xian (“Reciprocity”) as a prime example
of the psychological orientation of the Changes. His analysis, which posits affini
ties between the symbolism of this hexagram, Western-style stimulus-response
theory, and “a combined psychology of consciousness and unconsciousness,”
draws upon a number of time-honored exegetical techniques, including ref
erences to the Ten Wings, an examination of various line relationships (both
within the Xian hexagram and involving comparisons between the line state
ments of Xian and those of other hexagrams), trigram symbolism, and even the
dissection of characters (chaizi) into their constituent elements.
Shen begins by quoting from the “Commentary on the Judgments” regarding
Xian, which states:
Reciprocity is a matter of stimulation. Here the soft and yielding [Dui tri
gram] is above and the hard and strong [Gen trigram] is below. The two
kinds of material force [qi] stimulate and respond and so join together.
The one is passive, and the other joyous. The male takes its place below
the female. . . . It is by the mutual stimulation of Heaven and Earth that
the myriad things are created. It is by the sage stimulating the hearts and
minds of human beings that the entire world finds peace. If we observe
how things are stimulated, the innate tendencies [qing] of Heaven and
Earth and the myriad things can be seen.9°
He goes on to suggest that this passage embodies a central truth about the na
ture of all human interactions, including sexual ones, and he drives home his
point about the link between the psychology of such relationships and the Xian
hexagram by noting that the Chinese written character for stimulation (gan) is the
same as the character for Xian, with the addition of the heart-and-mind radical
(bushou) at the bottom. Further, he points out, the characters for stimulus and
response, which occupy such a prominent position in the Changes, and in Chinese
philosophy more generally, both contain the heart-and-mind radical.
Finally, Shen links certain references in the “Great Commentary” —notably,
sentences such as “The sages used . . . [the meanings inherent in the Changes] to
cleanse hearts and minds” and “Through its pronouncements of good fortune
and misfortune, [the Yi] shows that it shares the same anxieties as the common
folk” — explicitly with Jungian efforts to explore the psyche and the unconscious
by means of both “spirituality” and “wisdom.”97 In Shen’s view, the symbolism
of the Yijing provides a natural but somewhat neglected tool for achieving these
therapeutic ends. This approach, one might add, seems more productive of
psychological insight than that of individuals such as Iiang Zutong, whose Yixue
xinlixue (Changes Learning Psychology [zoo 5]) pays lip service to Western theories
of mind, including those of Jung, but devotes far more attention to typologies of
personality and character (e.g., five-agents correlations) that are linked rather
mechanically to the Yijing and seem to be designed primarily to appeal to the
newly emergent management mentality in China.”
CHAPTER NINE
The Yijing as a Source of

Cultural Pride and Inspiration
As We saw in the previous chapter, despite the widespread rejection of the Changes
as a source of political, social, and moral authority in the first several decades
of the twentieth century, the last few decades have witnessed a dramatic revi
val of interest in the document. Much of this interest has been generated by a
sense that the Yijing still has a significant role to play in the modern world—in
the realm of scientific inquiry, as a psychological or spiritual guide, as a mana
gerial handbook, and so forth. But there is more to the matter than this. The
Classic of Changes has also become a vehicle for the contemporary expression of
a revitalized cultural pride, focused squarely on China’s long and glorious past.
This state-sponsored celebration of Chinese “tradition” stands in stark contrast
to, and yet also complements, at least from the standpoint of modern Chinese
nationalism, the anti-imperialist narratives of national shame (guochi) that have
also been energetically endorsed by the People’s Republic}
Over the past thirty years or so, Chinese authors on both sides of the Taiwan
Strait have documented at length the multifarious ways that the Yijing has in
fluenced China’s cultural development. Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other
comprehensive compilations by authors and editors such as Huang Shouqi, Li
Shuzheng, Lin Yin, Liu Yujian, Lii Shaogang, Pan Yuting, Qiu Xiaobo, Shi Wei,
Tang Mingbang, Wu Hua, Yan Lingfeng, Zhang Qicheng, Zhang Shanwen, Zhou
Xifu, and Zhu Bokun have chronicled at great length the Yi ’s wide-ranging cul
tural contributions? So have general studies such as Wang Shusen’s Zhouyi yu
Zhonghua wenhua (The Zhou Changes and Chinese Culture), Zhai Tingpu’s Zhouyi
yu Huaxia wenming (The Zhou Changes and Chinese Civilization), Ying Ding
The Yijing as a Source of Cultural Pride 219
C1-1eng’s Zhongguo wenhua zhi benyuan (The Origins of Chinese Culture), and Zheng
w3n’geng’s Zhouyi gu xiandai wenhua (The Zhou Changes and Modern Culture).
During the same period, a number of more narrowly focused works have ap
peared in a spate of scholarly series such as the Yixue wenhua congshu (Collectanea
of the Culture in Changes Studies) and the Yixue zhihui congshu (Collectanea of the
Wisdom in Changes Studies). The individual volumes in these two series alone
¢()V€1‘ topics that include the relationship between the Yijing and Confucianism,
Daoism, Buddhism, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, the humanities, histo
riography, aesthetics, geomancy, architecture, qigong and other forms of tradi
tional physical and mental cultivation (yangsheng), and so forth.
We can find a great many individual monographs that cover similar ground.
To name just a few: Xu Daoyi’s Zhouyi kexue guan (The Scientific Outlook of the
Zhou Changes) and his Zhouyi gu dangdai ziran kexue (The Zhou Changes and Con
temporary Natural Science), two of many similarly titled books and articles; He
Shiqiang’s Yixue yu shuxue (Changes Studies and Mathematics); Iiang Chengqing’s
Yijing yu Zhongguo yishu jingsheng (The Classic of Changes and the Chinese Artistic
Spirit); Chen Liangyun’s Zhouyi yu Zhongguo wenxue (The Zhou Changes and Chinese
Literature); Chang Bingyi’s Zhouyi gu Hanzi (The Zhou Changes and Chinese Char
acters); Wang Zhongyao’s Zhongguo Fojiao yu Zhouyi (Chinese Buddhism and the
Zhou Changes); Zhan Shichuang’s Yixue yu Daojiao sixiang guanxi ganjiu (Research
on the Relationship between Changes Studies and Daoist Thought); Kang Yu’s
Zhonghuajianzhu zhi hun: Yixue kanyu yujianzhu (The Spirit of Chinese Architecture:
Changes Studies, Geomancy, and Architecture); Wang Zhenfu’s Zhouyi di meixue
zhihui (The Aesthetic Wisdom of the Zhou Changes); Shao Xuexi’s Yixue yu bingfa
(Changes Learning and the Art of War); and Yang Li’s Zhouyi yu Zhongyi xue (The
Zhou Changes and Chinese Medicine).
A complete inventory of the Yijing’s contributions to Chinese culture would
certainly require another book (or two or ten), so in the interest of space, I focus
attention in this chapter on a few areas of traditional Chinese life in which the
contributions of the Changes seem particularly significant in the eyes of Chinese
scholars past and present.3
The Legacy of the Changes in Language,

Philosophy, and the Arts
There is widespread agreement among both Asian and Western scholars that
the Yijing profoundly influenced the way Chinese elites, and much of the rest of
Chinese society as well, comprehended the world and expressed their under
standing of it. Mark Lewis states, for example, that “the Yi ’s prominence . . . [in
premodern China] lay in its attempt to ground writing and the scholastic enter
prise in the world of nature through creating a protoscience of graphic signs.”4
From the Han period on, these signs were viewed as “the fountainhead of both
kingship and scholarship,” serving as the foundation of writing itself (at least in
the traditional Chinese view) and providing a source of the images and numbers
that offered the possibility of mastering both time and space.5 Bo Mou, for his
part, goes so far as to argue that hexagrams can be viewed as “ideographic sym
bols” that operate like “collective nouns”; hence they serve as a “subsystem” of
the Chinese written language?
As discussed briefly in chapter 1, in the earliest strata of the Yi ’s basic text we
can find a sensitivity to rhymes and homophony conducive to puns and double
entendres, as well as a tendency to pair words and concepts with opposite or
complementary meanings in such a way as to encourage associational or correla
tive logic, a long-standing and integral feature of traditional Chinese thought.’
Although a number of other classical texts exhibit similar tendencies, these lin
guistic forms are particularly well developed in the Changes. The key notion of
complementary opposition, for example, is vividly illustrated in the “Commen
tary on the Judgments” regarding the hexagram Kui (“Contrariety” [3 8]), which
states in part: “Heaven and Earth may be contrary entities, but their task is the
same. Male and female may be contrary entities, but they share the same goal.
The myriad things may be contrary entities each to the other, but as functioning
entities they are all similar.”8
The Yijin_g’s numerological and metaphorical symbolism, together with its
yinyang-oriented “logic of correlative duality” (to borrow a phrase from Zhang
Dongsun), contributed substantially to the Chinese preference for allegory,
analogy, and the use of numerical and other forms of relational symbolism in
making an argument? At the same time, the style of the Ten Wings, both elegant
and allusive, encouraged a certain indirection in making a point. The “Great
Commentary” describes the Yi ’s discursive approach as one in which the “lan
guage twists and turns but hits the mark.” Although the names connected to the
hexagrams and lines may appear “insignificant,” the “Great Commentary” goes
on to say, their meanings “are far-reaching.” The things and events dealt with
“are obviously set forth, but hidden implications are involved.”1°
From a philosophical standpoint, the Changes exerted more influence in China
than any other Confucian classic. In the first place, it established the concep
tual underpinnings for much of traditional Chinese cosmology, as well as the
point of departure for most philosophical discussions of space and time. More
over, it contributed significantly to an enduring general emphasis in Chinese
thought on “becoming” over “being,” “events” over “things,” and “relations”
over “essences.”11 Also, as we shall see below, the trigrams and hexagrams of
the Changes provided a virtually inexhaustible repository of symbols to represent
and explain nearly every realm of human experience, from the visual arts, music,
and literature to science, medicine, and technology."
The Changes provided an indispensable philosophical vocabulary for a wide
range of Chinese thinkers. Zhang Dainian’s Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy
(zooz), originally published in Chinese in 1989, devotes a substantial section to
philosophical concepts derived from the Classic of Changes. These include Taiji (the
Supreme Ultimate), shenhua (numinous transformation), bianhua/yi (change),
dongjing (movement and stillness), ji (incipience), xiang (image), and yuan heng
li zhen (which as a phrase Zhang considers emblematic of the “cosmic moral
order”). Moreover, much of the rest of Zhang’s book focuses on concepts that
are central to the Yijing, not least Tian (Heaven), Dao (the Way), li (principle), qi
(material force, energy, etc.), yin and yang, waxing (the five agents), sheng (life),
fan (return), ming (destiny), jingshen (essence and spirit), Daoqi (Way and vessel),
xingshang/xingxia (before form and after form, i.e., metaphysics), tongyi (identity
and difference), he (harmony), and a whole range of additional moral and epis
temological ideas .13
Not surprisingly, the great authority of the Changes made it especially well
suited for the exegesis of other texts. Thus, as John Makeham points out, by
reading the Confucian Analects in the “intertextual light of selected passages
from the Changes,” the editors of the Lunyu jijie (Collected Explanations of the
Analects) invested the Analects with a “cosmological grounding it had hitherto
lacked.”14 At the same time, Makeham shows how two oft-cited hexagrams—
Tai (“Peace” [11]) and Pi (“Obstruction” or “Standstill” [12]) — provided a sym
bolic vocabulary that helped to explain the enduring question of why the Sage
never obtained a leadership position commensurate with his sagacity.15
But Confucians were not the only ones to draw upon the Changes. As we have
seen in previous chapters, Chinese thinkers of every philosophical persuasion
used it to bolster their cosmological, epistemological, ontological, and moral
arguments.“ And even advocates of monotheistic religions such as Christianity,
Judaism, and Islam tried to promote their respective traditions using the au
thority of the Yi.17
The importance of the Yijing to Chinese aesthetic life has long been appreci
ated and often remarked upon.18 As we have already seen, from the Han period
on, the classic was closely associated with music, an extraordinarily important
domain of Chinese culture.19 And beginning in the Six Dynasties period, theo
ries of artistic and literary creativity drew increasingly upon certain basic as
sumptions about cosmology, correlative thinking, and conceptions of spirit
(shen) that had been articulated centuries before in the “Great Commentary” of
the Changes.”
By late imperial times the aesthetic influence of the Yijing was evident every
where—in areas from music, painting, calligraphy, poetry, and prose to flower
arranging, dance, architectural design, craft productions, and even “the culture
of eating and drinking”—either as a direct source of inspiration or as an in
terpretive frame of reference." To be sure, the comparative paucity of colorful
stories and anecdotes in the Changes diminished its capacity to inspire the kind
of artistic and literary avalanche provoked by the Bible in the West. It did, how
ever, encourage a preoccupation with nature and natural process and provided
a symbolic and analytical vocabulary that proved to be as serviceable in art and
literature as it was in philosophy.”
Trigrams were ubiquitous as decorative motifs on craft productions of all
types, and we can find many examples of paintings and line drawings depict
ing scholars (including, of course, the great sages) contemplating the Changes.
Hence, works such as Liu Songnian’s (1174-1224) famous painting Reading the
“Yijing” in the Pine Shade and Linqing’s (1791-1846) less well known illustration
Meng Xiang Discusses the “Changes.”-13
Yijing symbolism also informed artistic and literary criticism. The hexagram
Bi (22), for example, signified beauty, grace, and simplicity of form, while Yu
(16) indicated energy, enthusiasm, and emotion. Kuai (43) stood for resolute,
critical judgment, and Li (30), logical clarity. Qian (1) generally denoted cre
ativity and spirituality, while Kun (2) suggested passive intelligence. Thus we
find the poet Yuan Mei justifying his preoccupation with landscape gardens by
reference to “the grace of hills and gardens,” and we find Zhang Xuecheng, in
a much-admired critique of Han dynasty historical scholarship, describing the
writing of Sima Qian as “round and spiritual” and that of his successor, Ban
Gu, as “square and sagacious.” In both cases the critical vocabulary employed
by these scholars was drawn verbatim from the Changes.“
Naturally enough, the Yijing influenced Chinese literature in a wide variety
of ways.” The famous literary critic Liu Xie (ca. 465-522) tells us, for example,
in his Wenxin diaolong (The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons), that the
Changes not only provided a particularly powerful model for the linguistic paral
lelism that was invariably prized in traditional Chinese writing" but also was
the specific origin of several major types of prose, including lun (discussions),
shuo (argumentation), ci (oracular pronouncements), and xu (prefatory state
ments).27 Similarly, the trigrams, hexagrams, and other images and texts of the
Yijing played a significant role in shaping the form and even the syntax of certain
kinds of rhyme prose (fu) and landscape poetry during both the Han and the Six
Dynasties periods (see chapter 4) .28
From the Han period to the Qing, Chinese scholars wrote literally thousands
of essays on the Yijing, many of which, along with various inscriptions; memori
als, eulogies, and works of rhyme prose focusing on the classic, found a place in
the massive Qing encyclopedia Tushu jicheng under the heading “Classics” in the
section on the Yi.29 In addition, the editors brought together in the compendium
thirty-four poems on the Changes, the earliest by Fu Xian in the third century.-‘*°
One of the most famous poets represented in the collection is Meng Iiao
(751-814). His piece, titled “Sent in Parting to the Hermit Yin, upon his Return
to Seclusion after Talking about the Changes,” reveals the joy of Yi explication by
a close friend:
When you talk about Heaven and Earth

It is as if I am listening to the numinous turtle itself.
Mystery upon mystery, unknown to men,
One by one, you clarify for me.
From the autumn moon issues the white night;
A cool breeze rhymes harmoniously with the clear source.
Through inference, swiftly we reach the remote;
Spirits resonating in silence, with no display of words.
A sudden awakening dissolves ten thousand tangles;
Evening thoughts pour out the troubles of the morning.
The traveler’s boat resists stopping on the waves,
And the tethered horse neighs at the departing carriage.
We are dedicated and sincere men of the thicket
Who truly understand each other.31
Another poem, by Lei Fa of the Yuan dynasty, also celebrates the idea of seclu
sion; after the invigorating experience of viewing mountains, the author “burns
a stick of incense and studies the Chan_ges.”32
Most of the other Yi-related poems in the Tushujicheng are significant more for
their subject matter than for their style or sentiment, but several are noteworthy
because they came from the brushes of individuals discussed at some length
in previous chapters, including Shao Yong, Ouyang Xiu, Zhu Xi, Hu Bingwen,
Lai Zhide, and Gao Panlong. Other distinguished contributors to the collection
include the Tang scholar Zhu Qingyu, the Song scholar Qiu Cheng, the Yuan
scholars Liu Yonglian and Huang Geng, and the Ming scholars Fang Xiaoru, Xue
Xuan, Zhuang Chang, Hu Iuren, Chen Xianzhang, Wang Ii, Yang Iue, and Chen
Iiang.
Many of the poems in the Tushujicheng focus on the idea of yinyang interaction,
and a number employ trigram and hexagram names and images. Some include
actual lines from the Yijing, usually judgments. Two works refer to Zhou Dunyi’s
“Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate,” and another to the Hetu and the Luoshu,
Approximately one-fifth of the Yi-related poems in the Tushu jicheng mention
the supposed inventor of the trigrams, Fuxi (alternatively Baoxi), and about the
same number refer to Confucius. Several poems allude to the famous story about
the Sage breaking the bindings of his copy of the Changes three times, and several
more refer to Shao Yong, either by elliptical reference to plum blossoms or by
explicit reference to the Former Heaven configuration. Wang Bi merits specific
attention in a poem by Xue Xuan, and he is referred to critically but obliquely in
a poem by Zhu Xi.
All three works by Shao Yong in the collection have a somewhat technical feel
(we encountered one of them in chapter 5). The following poem, for example,
titled “Chanting the Great Changes,” reads like a miniature essay on hexagram
relationships:
Heaven and Earth have their fixed positions;

Pi (“Obstruction” [1z]) and Tai (“Peace” [11]) oppose and
complement [each other].
Mountains (Gen, “Restraint” [5z]) and marshes (Dui, “Joy” [58])
communicate through qi;
Sun (“Diminution” [41]) and Xian (“Reciprocity” [31]) manifest
meaning.
Wind (Sun, “Compliance” [57]) and Thunder (Zhen, “Quake” [51])
overlap;
Heng (“Perseverance” [3z]) and Yi (“Increase” [4z]) give rise to ideas.
Water (Kan, “Sink Hole” [z9]) and Fire (Li, “Cohesion” [3o]) shoot at
each other.
Iiji (“Ferrying Complete” [6 3]) and Weiji (“Ferrying Incomplete”
[64]).
The four images interact;
Sixteen things are accomplished.
Eight hexagrams tossing one another about
Becoming sixty-four.”
Zhu’s Xi’s six poems, numbering more than those of any other single author,
are all deeply philosophical, with references to being and nonbeing, diligent
study and deep thoughts (qianxin). In a poem titled “Reading the Changes” he
laments the superficiality and pettiness of most interpreters of the Yijing:
The various schools discuss the Yi, with nothing at all in common.
Each sees the profusion of branches, but never the root.
Observing images, they vainly argue about huti [the theory of
overlapping trigrams];
Playing with phrases [wanci, a term from the “Great Commentary”
implying careful consideration], they boast using empty words.
We must know that one root can become two branches
Before we can believe that it is capable of producing myriad offspring.
Adhering to Fuxi’s idea that [the Changes] is for the people,
Alas, over thousands of years, with whom can one discuss it?-‘*4
Fang Xiaoru writes simply:
The Six Classics are not merely conventional writings;

They contain inexhaustible meanings.
Since the emergence of the Hetu,
Nothing can remain a secret.”
Lai Zhide, for his part, wonders who will make the secret known:
Originally there was a Former Heaven Changes.

Now a newly added diagram of the Supreme Ultimate adorns the wall.
Someone may desire Fuxi’s throne,
But in the light of day, where can such an ordinary person be found?“
Gao Panlong, reflecting Zhu Xi’s attitude toward the classic despite his own
embrace of the Studies of the Mind, emphasizes the utility of the Yijing as a man
tic tool:
Seeing the Changes, it becomes even more necessary to employ the

Changes;
The sages originally used nothing but centrality and commonality
[zhongyong].
When firmness and yielding are manifest, availing of the incipient
moment brings good fortune.
When centrality and correctness are lost, action results in misfortune.
Those who are fearful, from beginning to end, can avoid blame.
Those who embrace sincerity, whether within [themselves] or openly,
will become dragons.
Do not say that divination trivializes [the Yijing];
The time-honored principle of the Changes is to divine [in
circumstances involving] movement and quiescence?”
Andrew Plaks has argued that the Yijing’s principles of bipolarity, ceaseless
alternation, presence within absence, and infinite overlapping are not only the
keys to appreciating China’s greatest novel, Honglou meng (Dream of the Red
Chamber) but also “basic to a major portion of the Chinese literary tradition.”38
Although this view has not gone unchallenged,” it is quite clear that the Change;
played a significant role in shaping the contours of Chinese narrative literature,
not only in terms of the structure of certain novels but also in terms of their sym
bolism and characterization. For example, Zhang Xinzhi’s well-known late Qing
exegesis of the Honglou meng places special emphasis on hexagram relationships
in the analysis of personalities, as we can see plainly in the following passage
concerning the four “sisters” of Iia Baoyu:
Yuanchun corresponds to the hexagram Tai [“Peace” (11)], the hexagram

of the first month, so she is the eldest sibling. Yingchun corresponds to
the hexagram Dazhuang [“Great Strength” (34)], the hexagram of the sec
ond month, so she is the second oldest daughter. Tanchun corresponds to
the hexagram Kuai [“Resolution” (43)], the hexagram of the third month,
so she is the third oldest daughter. Xichun corresponds to the hexagram
Qian [“Pure Yang” (1)], which is the hexagram of the fourth month, so she
is the fourth oldest daughter. But since all . . . are female, their yang lines
are changed [by virtue of the pangtong transformative principle] into yin
lines. Thus Yuanchun’s Tai becomes Pi [“Obstruction” (1z)], Yingchun’s
Dazhuang becomes Guan [“Viewing” (2o)], Tanchun’s Kuai becomes Bo
[“Peeling” (z3)], and Xichun’s Qian becomes Kun [“Pure Yin” (2)1. This is
one of the most important messages in the book, and I comment on this
in turn during the biographies of each of them.4°
Similarly, Wen Tong, a Manchu Bannerman in Qing times, developed the theory
that several of the main characters in the Ming novel Shuihu zhuan (Water Mar
gin), as well as a few minor figures, were directly related to images derived from
the Yijing/'1
The Changes as a Divinatory Tool

As I have discussed at length elsewhere, divination was a mainstream cultural ac
tivity among the Chinese elite for well over two thousand years, into the twenti
eth century.“ Yet since Han times Chinese intellectuals have tended to condemn
any prognostic activities that did not involve their own use of the Yijing, stigma
tizing other techniques as the work of crass, unscrupulous, self-interested, and
wealth-seeking occultists.43 This is one reason why in the Qing period the edi
tors of imperially commissioned compilations such as the Siku quanshu and the
Tushu jicheng made such a concerted effort to distance the “orthodox” tradition
0fYi scholarship from various “magical practices.”
At the same time, exponents of these practices —including numerology (shu
xue), meteorological divination (zhanhou), siting or geomancy (xianzhai xiangmu,
also known as kanyu and fengshui), physiognomy (xiangshu), fate calculation (ming
5h1,1), and other such commonly employed prognostic techniques (jishu)—were
of course eager to assert that the origins of all these methods of “knowing fate”
could be found in the Yijing. In fact, even the editors of the Four Treasuries col
lection make this claim in their introduction to the section titled “The Arts of
Calculation.”44 Generally speaking, numerological practices such as Liuren, Dun
jia, and Taiyi (see chapter 4) were held in the highest esteem among what the
editors referred to as “outer interpretations of the Changes” (Yiwai biezhuan).45
In their view, although these mantic techniques did not yield a precise fit with
reality (bu qie shi), they at least “approximated reason” (_|'inli).46
In all of the abovementioned forms of Chinese divination, and in a number of
others as well,” the contribution of the Changes was essentially the same. From a
theoretical standpoint, the “Great Commentary” provided the idea of a concrete
link between the realms of Heaven, Earth, and Man. Within these interrelated
and interpenetrating realms, patterns of cosmic change could be discovered and
delineated. Thus by understanding one’s place in the universe, and responding
appropriately to any given preordained situation, a person could not only “know
fate” but actually “establish fate.”
From a practical standpoint, the Yijing gave prestige and legitimacy to any
divinatory system that used its powerful and pervasive trigram and hexagram
symbolism; and most of them did, in one way or another.“ This was true, for
example, of the “ancestral-temple,” or “pattern-and-energy,” school of siting
(fengshui), which placed special emphasis on certain Yi—related cosmic variables
displayed on geomantic compasses (luopan). These variables, several of which
came to be connected with the Changes only in the Han period (see chapter 3), in
cluded not only the eight trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams of the basic text but
also the five agents, the eight palaces (bagong), the ten heavenly stems and twelve
earthly branches, the tvventy-four directions, the tvventy- eight lunar lodges, and
so forth.49
The use of the Yijing itself for divination was always supposed to be a serious
and reverential affair, conducted solely with the use of milfoil stalks to build
hexagrams (see below) and without reference to the cosmic variables that had
gained such popularity in the Han, including those mentioned directly above.
According to the “Great Norm” chapter of the Shujing, milfoil divination was to
be reserved solely for resolving “doubts on great matters.”5° Yet we know that
the Changes provided divinatory guidance in virtually every realm of Chinese ex
perience, from life-and-death situations to the most mundane of human prob
lems. The poet Yuan Mei (1716-98), for instance, consulted the Yi to find out
what to do about a toothache.”
The Yijing was also used at all levels of Chinese society. Emperors and ofl-i
cials employed it in policymaking, in the conduct of war and diplomacy, in the
administration of justice, in construction projects, and in the hiring and firing
of subordinates, not to mention in the management of their family affairs.“
Scholars used the document not only in their personal lives but also to make
decisions about their academic and professional lives.53 And commoners sought
its guidance for every conceivable purpose, often through the medium of a pro
fessional fortune-teller.54
In contrast to the enormous corpus of philosophical, literary, and exegetical
writings on the Changes produced by Chinese scholars, detailed accounts of its
use as a prophetic instrument are comparatively rare. To be sure, references to
Yijing divination abound in Chinese essays, diaries, letters, and biographies, but
they are relatively brief and take much for granted.“ Few individuals indicate
the method they used to construct a hexagram, and fewer still provide specific
illustrations of how they went about interpreting it.
The most one can usually hope for is a diary like that of the famous scholar
translator Yan Fu (see chapter 8) for the year 1911. In that tumultuous time,
the end of the Qing dynasty, Yan kept two separate journals, one for describing
contemporary events and the other for recording divinations. The latter work
contains numerous references to Yi consultations undertaken on behalf of Yan’s
friends and relatives. It regularly includes information concerning not only the
subjects inquired about (generally wealth, official position, scholarship, busi
ness, travel, and family matters) but also the hexagrams drawn, their changes,
and their yingang and wuxing correlations. Yan often mentions the advice he gave,
and occasionally he discusses the actual outcome. Unfortunately, however, the
specific interpretive techniques he employed are extremely difficult to trace.“
Most Chinese memoirs thatI have seen are far less revealing than Yan’s. The
lengthy diary of Weng Tonghe (1830-1904), for instance, refers to many Yijing
divinations, but only in the most superficial way. A characteristic entry, for
March 3, 1862, notes only that he divined twice at night and got Xiao Chu (9),
which changed to Sun (57), and then Dayou (14), which changed to Ding (50) .57
Many Chinese scholars, perhaps a majority, divined without mentioning it at
all. Li Hongzhang (182 3-1901), for example, is reported on reliable authority to
have been very much attracted to Yijing divination, but one could hardly guess it
from his extant writings.” Nonetheless, there is enough information available
to provide a sense of how the Changes worked as a divinatory instrument in late
imperial times.
From the Yuan period on, the great authority of Zhu Xi (see chapters 5-7)
profoundly influenced the way Chinese intellectuals approached the classic as a
mantic text. For instance, his famous essay “Milfoil Etiquette,” which appears
as an appendix to the Zhougi benyi (Original Meaning of the Zhou Changes), can be
found appended to or discussed in a great many other works on the Yi, as can
the basic guidelines for hexagram interpretation drawn from his Yixue qimeng
(Introduction to the Study of the Changes).
Zhu’s divinatory rituals, which underscore the spiritual dimension of Yijing
consultation, involved a table (located ideally in a secluded room), a divining
board, an incense burner, incense, a container of fifty milfoil stalks, and writ
ing materials. According to Zhu, after engaging in preliminary ceremonies of
ablution and purification, the diviner enters the room from the east, approaches
the divining board (situated on a table extending west to east), and burns in
cense to “show reverence” (zhijing). Taking the bundle of milfoil stalks from
a container located to the north of the divining board, the person consulting
the Changes then holds the stalks with both hands and passes them through the
smoke rising from the incense burner, located to the south of the container,
below the board. The diviner then addresses the stalks: “Availing of you, great
milfoil with constancy [i.e., reliability], I, official so-and-so, because of thus
and-such affair, wonder if I may express my doubts and concerns to the spiritual
powers [yushen yuling]. Whether the news is auspicious or inauspicious, involves
a gain or a loss, remorse or humiliation, sorrow or anxiety, you alone with your
divine intelligence can provide clear information [about the situation] .”59
Following this petitionary statement, the diviner removes a single milfoil
stalk from the bundle and returns it to the container, symbolizing the unity of
the Supreme Ultimate. Next, the remaining forty-nine stalks are divided into
two, symbolizing the cosmic powers of yin and yang, and placed on either side
of the divining board. The person now picks up the group of milfoils on the left
side of the board with the left hand and takes a single stalk from the right side
with the right hand, placing it between the small finger and the fourth finger of
the left hand. This symbolizes the tripartite aspect of the Yijing, the connection
between Heaven, Earth, and Man. Then the diviner counts off the milfoil stalks
by fours—symbolizing the four seasons—until there are four or fewer stalks
remaining. These remaining stalks are placed between the fourth finger and the
middle finger of the left hand.
After returning the milfoils counted off by fours to the left side of the divining
board, the diviner does the same thing with the bundle of milfoils on the right
side. If the» remainder from the left side is one stalk, then the remainder from
the right must be three, and so forth. The total number of milfoils from the twg
remainders, together with the single milfoil initially taken up, equals either five
or nine. The “five,” having one four, is regarded as odd; the “nine,” having two
fours, is regarded as even. Following the return of the milfoils to the right-hand
side, the diviner takes the stalks from between the fingers of the left hand and
places them to the west (left) of the left—hand bundle.
Two more manipulations follow with a diminished number of stalks, either
forty-four or forty. This set of three manipulations yields a yin or a yang line,
based on the numerical value assigned to each composite remainder. For ex
ample, if, after three manipulations, the combination of milfoil stalks placed in
three small groups to the west of the left-hand bundle is thirteen (five plus four
plus four), then the line is designated “old yang” (laoyang), with a numerical value
of nine and marked with a small circle to indicate that it is in movement (chang
ing to its opposite) .6° If the total is twenty-five (nine plus eight plus eight), then
the line is designated “old yin” (laoyin) with a numerical value of six and marked
with an X (jiao) to show that it is moving. Totals of seventeen or twenty-one are
“young yin” (shaoyin), with a value of eight, and “young yang” (shaoyang), with a
value of seven, respectively, and neither is in motion. After obtaining this initial
(bottom) line, the diviner repeats the same three-phase process five more times,
building an entire hexagram in a total of eighteen steps. After drawing, marking,
and identifying the hexagram(s) in question, the diviner burns more incense
before leaving the room to contemplate the possible meanings.“
Zhu Xi’s basic instructions for examining prognostications derived in this
fashion appear in chapter 4 of his Yixue qimeng:
Any hexagram may have all unchanging lines. In that case we prognosti
cate on the basis of the original hexagram’s judgment [tuan], taking the
inner trigram as zhen [the question, or present situation] and the outer
trigram as hui [the prognostication]. . . . When only one line changes,
we take the statement of the original hexagram’s changing line as the
prognostication. . . . When two lines change, we take the statements of
the two changing lines of the original hexagram as the prognostication,
but we take the uppermost line as ruler. . . . When three lines change, the
prognostication is the judgment of the original hexagram and the result
ing hexagram, and we use the original hexagram as zhen and the resulting
hexagram as hui. . . . When four lines change, we use the two unchanging
lines in the resulting hexagram as the prognostication, but we take the
lower line as the ruler. . . . When five lines change, we use the unchanging
line of the resulting hexagram as the prognostication. . . . When all six
lines change, in the cases of Qian and Kun, the prognostications of both
are used. For other hexagrams, the prognostication is the judgment of the
resulting hexagram.“
One might ask, How closely were Zhu Xi’s guidelines followed? Anecdotal
evidence suggests that many individuals adhered to Zhu’s general protocols, if
not to all of his specific interpretive techniques.“ Consider, for example, a letter
written by Zeng Iize (18 39-90) to his illustrious father, Zeng Guofan (1811-72),
in 1870. At the time, the elder Zeng was embroiled in delicate negotiations re
lated to the so-called Tianjin Massacre, an antiforeign outbreak in North China
precipitated by the rash actions of a French consul. In his letter, Iize indicated
deep filial concern about his father’s health under the unfavorable circum
stances, and not knowing how or when the affair would be settled, he divined in
the late afternoon of a certain day, drawing the hexagram Shi (“The Army” [7]),
which changed to Xie (“Release” [40]). The augury, he suggested hopefully to
his father, was at least slightly favorable (weiyou jixian_g).°4
What makes this letter so revealing is the appended “charge” to the milfoil
stalks by Zeng Iize asking for information regarding the outcome of the “Tian
jin affair” on behalf of his father. This document, which conforms precisely in
language to the model suggested by Zhu Xi in his “Milfoil Etiquette,” includes
an illustration of the Shi hexagram, together with the X indicating a changing
yin line. To the left of the hexagram is the appropriate line reading, written in
very small characters, “Fourth yin: If the army pitches camp to the left [retreats],
there will be no blame,” as well as the commentary on the image, “If one ‘pitches
camp to the left [retreats], there will be no blame,’ for he has not violated the
true Dao.”65
Both the elder Zeng and his son knew that because line 4 was yielding and
not central, retreat was to be expected, just as they understood that because its
place was “correct” in the hexagram (i.e., a yin line in an even number), retreat
was also appropriate. Significantly, Zeng Iize made no mention of the overall
symbolism or significance of the Shi hexagram (the army needs a strong and
forceful leader), nor did he refer to the symbolism or significance of the deriva
tive hexagram Xie, which usually refers to a time when tensions and complica
tions begin to be eased.“ These things, we can assume, were taken for granted
by both men.
One might imagine that the more serious the issue, the more “orthodox”
the divinatory ritual would be, at least for members of the Chinese elite. But
there is abundant evidence to show that even scholars did not always resort to
the elaborate rituals of milfoil divination. One “unorthodox” technique, some
times called the “Forest of Fire Pearls Method” (Huozhulin fa) or the “King Wen
Approach” (Wenwang ke), involved throwing three copper coins simultaneously
and seeing whether they came up heads (yang) or tails (yin). Heads had a value of
three; tails, a value of two. Thus, three heads yielded a nine; three tails, a six; and
so on." Using this technique, a hexagram could be constructed rapidly without
sacrificing the interpretive possibilities of changing lines. Some Chinese schol
ars criticized this sort of “coin divination” (qianbu) for its base origins, its sta
tistical anomalies, and its inconsistent application by professional soothsayers,
but it seems to have enjoyed widespread popularity nonetheless.“
Similarly, although a great many scholars followed Zhu Xi’s general guide
lines for hexagram interpretation, it is clear that many did not. At any given
historical moment, certain exegetical conventions and prevailing orthodoxies
might exert a significant influence on understandings of the basic text as a div
inatory instrument,” but since there had never been any hermeneutical con
sensus on the Changes as a philosophical text, how could here be any general
agreement on how to use the document for mantic purposes? Thus, all of the
interpretive approaches discussed in previous chapters were available to anyone
who wished to use the Yijing as a fortune-telling tool. As a result, individuals
seeking to “know fate” left few interpretive options unexplored, including the
mantic systems devised by such controversial figures as Iing Fang, Yang Xiong,
and Iiao Yanshou in the Han, Guo Pu and Guan Lu in the Six Dynasties period,
and Chen Tuan and Shao Yong in the Song.7°
And even among those who embraced more “orthodox” approaches to divi
nation with the Changes, there were still any number of interpretive variables.
For example, some diviners emphasized the judgments, believing them to be
the key to understanding “the principles of good and bad fortune, the rise and
fall of things, the way of advance and retreat, and [the ultimacy of] existence or
destruction.”71 Some individuals focused primarily on lines and line statements,
at times in rather idiosyncratic ways." The late Qing scholar Chen Maohou, for
example, invariably emphasized the fifth line in each hexagram," while Cheng
Shirong, another Qing scholar, claimed to be able to evaluate three-year seg
ments of time based on paired hexagram lines, two lines for each year." And,
of course, as had been the case since the late Zhou period, many diviners de
voted their main attention to a close examination of trigrams and trigram rela
tionships.75
The Changes in Chinese Social Life
The Yijing exerted enormous influence at all levels of traditional Chinese so
ciety, quite apart from its use as a source of creative inspiration, an evaluative
frarneworl< for art and literature, and a divinatory instrument. In the first place,
it provided a cosmologically grounded justification for the political and social
hierarchies of imperial China from the Han period through the Qing.76 In ortho
doxy society, just as the eight trigrams symbolized unequal family relationships
(see chapter 2), various hexagrams legitimated other relations of subordination.
The hexagram Guimei (“Marrying Maid” [54]), for example, casts the role of
women solely in terms of their subservience to men in marriage, concubinage,
or slavery." Iiaren (“The Family” [3 7]) indicates that the woman of a household
should submit totally to her husband’s authority, attending only to her domestic
chores and neither following her whims nor dallying and laughing."
By definition all hexagrams had potential application to human affairs.
Among those most relevant to Chinese social and political life, in addition to the
ones mentioned above, were Qian (1), conventionally signifying male control;
Kun (2), female compliance; Song (6), litigation; Shi (7), military affairs; Bi (8),
union and accord; Lii (10), circumspect behavior; Qian (15), modesty; Yu (16),
comfort or satisfaction; Gu (18), decay; Shihe (21), criminal law; Pu (24), return;
Wuwang (25), absence of falsehood; Daguo (28), excess; Kan (29), danger; Heng
(32), perseverance; Tun (33), retreat; Iin (35), advance in rank; Mingyi (36),
failure to be appreciated; Kui (38), separation or alienation; Kuai (43), break
through; Gou (44), social intercourse; Cui (45), people gathered around a good
ruler; Sheng (46), the career of a good official; Kun (47), difliculty; Ding (50),
nourishment of talents; Iian (53), slow and steady advance; Feng (55), pros
perity; Lu (56), travel and strangers; Huan (59), dispersion; Iie (60), restraint;
Zhongfu (61), l<ingly sway; Iiji (63), accomplishment; and Weiji (64), something
not yet completed.”
The extraordinarily influential neo-Confucian compilation known as thejinsi
lu (Reflections on Things at Hand) employs about fifty different hexagrams, in
cluding most of those mentioned above, to illustrate various social and political
themes. In the chapter on governing, for example, Zhou Dunyi remarks:
It is difficult to govern a family whereas it is easy to govern the world, for

the family is near while the world is distant. If members of the family are
separated, the cause surely lies with women. This is why the hexagram Kui
[“Contrariety” (3 8)] follows the hexagram Iiaren [“The Family” ( 37)], for
“When two women live together, their wills move in different directions.”
This is why [the sage emperor] Yao, having put the empire in order, gave
his two daughters in marriage to Shun in order to test him and see whether
the throne should be given to him. Thus it is that, in order to see how he
governs his empire, we observe the government of his family.”
The Yijing also played a significant role in framing Chinese concepts of law,
Although hexagrams never featured prominently in the specific statutes of any
particular dynasty, several of them had long been considered applicable to legal
affairs, especially decision making. As indicated above, these included Kan (“The
Sink Hole” [z9]) and Shihe (“Bite Together” [21]). Kan was in a sense founda
tional. Although it emphasized danger, it also “governed” the administration
of law. The preface to the Tang Code (Tanglii), which served as the model for all
subsequent law codes in imperial China, makes this point explicitly, using the
imagery of Kan to drive home the point that law should be comparable to the
“dependability ofWater.” This reference to the Classic of Changes invested codified
law in China, like most of the rest of Chinese social life, with a cosmological
foundation.“ At the same time, the judgment and various wings connected with
the Kan hexagram emphasized the need for sincerity, strength, steadfastness,
carefulness, proper conduct, and “moral transformation” under threatening cir
cumstances.”
The judgment of Shihe underscores the punitive thrust of Chinese law: “Bite
Together means prevalence [success], for here it is fitting to use the force of
criminal punishment.” But the “Commentary on the Images” suggests at least
a degree of flexibility: “Thunder and Lightning: this constitutes the image of
Bite Together. In the same way, the former kings clarified punishments and
adjusted laws.” 83 Other hexagrams also counsel discretion in legal affairs. Re
garding Zhongfu (“Inner Trust” [61]), for example, the “Commentary on the
Images” states: “Above the Lake there is Wind: this constitutes the image of
Inner Trust. In the same way, the superior man evaluates criminal punishments
and mitigates [or delays] the death penalty.” 84 Xie (“Release” [4o]) goes even
further. With respect to this hexagram the “Commentary on the Images” reads,
“Thunder and Rain perform their roles: this is the image of Release. In the same
way, the superior man forgives misdeeds and pardons wrongdoing.”85 Xie thus
became the symbol in China of “lenience and loosening,” associated with legal
dispensations in the spring.“
The hexagram Song (“Contention” [6]) seems to refer primarily to civil con
fiicts and bureaucratic impediments. The judgment says in part, “Exercise pru
dence in handling obstruction”; and the “Commentary on the Images” notes
that “contention cannot be protracted forever.” 87 Lii (“The Wanderer” [5 6]) like
wise advises dispatch in legal affairs, noting that “the superior man uses punish
ments with enlightenment and care and does not protract cases at law.”’-*8 Feng
(“Abundance” [5 5]) suggests timeliness. The “Commentary on the Images” tells
us; “Thunder and Lightning arrive together: this constitutes the image of Abun
dance. In the same way, the superior man decides legal cases and carries out
punishments.”89 The Qing dynasty’s “Records of Imperial Activity” (Qiju zhu) for
each reign provide many examples of how Chinese emperors used such counsel
to administer the law.9°
Even Chinese sexual life came to be understood in part by reference to the
Yijing. According to R. H. van Gulik, Chinese handbooks on sex (fangshu) and
collections of erotic paintings often cited the following passage from the “Great
Commentary” to indicate the naturalness of the sex act: “Heaven and Earth
mesh together, and the myriad things develop and reach perfect maturity; male
and female blend essences together, and the myriad creatures are formed and
come to life.”91 The hexagram most emblematic of sexual union was Iiji (“Ferry
ing Complete” [63]). It consists of the Li trigram (symbolizing “fire,” “light,”
and “man”) below and the Kan trigram (symbolizing “water,” “clouds,” and
“woman”) above.”
Other hexagrams have also been interpreted in sexual terms, such as Bo
(“Peeling” [2 3]), with its reiterated bed imagery,93 and Xian (“Reciprocity” [31]),
which Wang Ming, a contemporary expert in Daoism, believes refers to foreplay,
based on references in the “Commentary on the Judgments” to “stimulation,”
to the interaction of “soft and yielding” and “hard and strong,” and to “joining
together.” He also points to references in the line statements that indicate a
clear progression from the feet to the calves, the thighs, the upper back, and the
“jowls, cheeks and tongue.”94
The Role of the Changes in the Chinese Sciences
As suggested in chapters 3 and 5, the sharp lines that modern-minded individu

als tend to draw between science and metaphysics, logic and intuition, medi
cine and folk remedies, and mathematics and numerology were not delineated
so clearly in imperial China. For example, the traditional terms for “calcula
tions”—shuxue and sl1usl1u—refer not only to mathematics but also to numer
ology, astronomy, astrology, and music.95 Similarly, the premodern expression
for “the investigation of things,” gewu, which has sometimes been translated
by Western scholars as “science,” included a wide variety of phenomena, both
“natural” and “supernatural.” 9° Thus, for virtually the entire imperial era there
was often no clear demarcation between What people of today might distinguish
as the natural sciences, human affairs, and spirituality.
The Yijing itself made no such sharp distinctions, which perhaps is one rea
son Why it served so long as a source of “scientific” authority in China. Until
the dawn of the twentieth century most Chinese intellectuals believed that the
Changes could explain virtually everything in nature, a view attested to as late as
1899 by the well-l<nown translator of the Yijing James Legge.97 Since the “Great
Commentary” indicated clearly that trigrams and hexagrams expressed the prin
ciples and patterns of all phenomena through images and numbers, everything
seemed susceptible to interpretation and classification in terms of the classic.
A glance at the index to any of the many volumes in Joseph N eedham’s monu
mental Science and Civilisation in China under the subject heading “I Ching” reveals
that there were very few realms in the natural world for which the Changes did
not provide some sort of meaningful explanation.98 The terrain covered by the
Changes included not only the fields we now know as mathematics, biology,
chemistry, physics, and medicine but also other areas of scientific knowledge,
such as geography, topography, and cartography.”
Quite often, Yi-grounded scientific explanations consisted of established
trigram or hexagram relationships. For instance, the early Ming scholar Wang
Kui could state confidently that “the upper eyelid of human beings moves, and
the lower one keeps still. This is because the symbolism of the hexagram Guan
[‘Viewing’ (zo)] embodies the idea of vision. The trigram Sun [Wind] is moving
above, and the trigram Kun [Earth] is immobile below.” Similarly, the hexagram
Iiji came to be employed to describe the physiology of sex because the constitu
ent trigrams, Li (Fire) and Kan (Water), reflected, respectively, the responses of
men (quick to heat, quick to cool) and women (slow to heat, slow to cool) .1°°
But trigrams and hexagrams did more than symbolize correlative functions.
As indicated in chapters 2, 3, 4, and 6, rather like force fields, they also “con
trolled” time, phenomena, and situations in a concrete way. Some hexagrams
were considered donators, others receptors; some involved movement, others
immobility; some encouraged aggregation, others disaggregation; some en
tailed progression, others retrogression. Trigrams possessed similar attributes,
Whether paired as opposites in the Former Heaven sequence or arranged de
velopmentally in the Later Heaven sequence.1°1 Thus, in a certain sense, symbol
and substance were indistinguishable.
The branch of traditional Chinese knowledge described by Western scholars
as Daoist alchemy (see chapters 4-6) aptly illustrates the “scientific” application
of Yijing symbolism. In one system of “external alchemy,” for instance, the sixty
four hexagrams functioned: as (a) “stoves” (lu) and “reaction vessels” (ding), in
the cases of Qian (1) and Kun (2), respectively; (b) primary substances, in the
Q3868 of Li (30), representing fire, and Kan (29), representing water; or (c) “fire
times” (huohou), in the case of the remaining sixty hexagrams (see fig. 6.7) .1°1 In
another alchemical system—one closely related to Iing Fang’s theory of accu
mulation and dispersal (discussed in chapter 3)—twelve sovereign hexagrams
(bigua), beginning with Fu (24) and ending with Kun (2), marked the “sinelike”
fluctuations in heat needed to “compress time” and produce elixirs of immor
tality.1°3 One might add that these processes, in which the relevant hexagrams
exerted “control,” had their precise parallels in the upward and downward cir
culation of “essence” (jing) in “internal alchemy.”1°4
Chinese medicine provides many additional examples of how the trigrams
and hexagrams of the Changes, representing not only developmental processes
but also positions in space, exert their influence. Below, the Qing dynasty physi
cian Li Yanshi (1628-97) discusses the evaluation of pulse sites (xue) on the
hands:
North is Kan, the site of water. South is Li, the site of fire. East is Zhen, the
site of wood. West is Dui, the site of metal. The center is Kun, the site of
earth. Try facing south and looking at the sites in the two hands. The heart
belongs to fire and resides in the cun [inch] site. This also is in the south.
The kidneys belong to water. They reside in the chi [foot] site. This also
is in the north. The liver belongs to wood. It resides in the left. This also is
in the east. The lungs belong to metal. They reside in the right. This also
is in the west. The spleen belongs to earth. It resides in the guan [pass] site.
This also is in the center.
Li’s assumption here is that each significant site on the body is enmeshed in
correlations.1°5 '
a specific network of stimulus and response, dictated by position and wuxing
Scholars such as Joseph N eedham and Ho Peng-Yoke have blamed the Yijing
for inhibiting the development of Chinese science (by which they mean, of
course, a Western model of scientific development). Needham writes, for ex
ample:
I fear that we shall have to say that while the five-element [wuxing] and
two-force [yinyang] theories were favourable rather than inimical to the
development of scientific thought in China, the elaborated symbolic sys
tem of the Book of Changes was almost from the start a mischievous handi
cap. It tempted those who were interested in Nature to rest in explana
tions which were no explanations at all. The Book of Changes was a system
for pigeon-holing novelty and then doing nothing about it. . . . It led to a
stylisation of concepts almost analogous to the stylisations which have in
some ages occurred in art forms and which finally prevented painters from
looking at Nature at all.1°6
Similarly, Ho Peng-Yoke claims that if the Chinese “were fully satisfied with an
explanation they could find from the system of the Book of Changes they would
not go further to look for mathematical formulations and experimental verifi
cations in their scientific studies.” Thus, he says, “looking at the system of the
Book of Changes in this light, one may regard it as one of the inhibiting factors in
the development of scientific ideas in China.”1°7
But did the Yijing actually impede China’s scientific development, and what
does this assertion actually mean? Nathan Sivin has launched a vigorous attack
on the abovementioned views of Needham and Ho, showing the fallacies that
surround this sort of reasoning. One of these fallacies has to do with mistakenly
identifying as a “cause” or a “necessary condition” a culture’s earlier state or its
way of operating, in other words, “blaming the earlier state for the later state.”
The other fallacy, complementing the first, assumes inhibition in the absence
of a subsequent state, that is, “using the absence of something modern at one
point to explain the unattainability of modernity later.” Sivin goes on to say, “It
is unfortunate to see the remarkably interesting technical language of the Book
of Changes, so powerful in systematically relating broader ranges of human ex
perience than modern science attempts to encompass, written off as an obstacle
before anyone has taken the trouble to comprehend it thoroughly.”1°8
Sivin’s point is an important one. The history of world science should not
be seen as “a saga of Europe’s success and everyone else’s failure, or at best in
herently flawed and transitory success, until the advent of redemption through
modernization.”1°9 The limitations of this sort of praise-and-blame approach
are obvious, although comparisons of one sort or another are also nearly in
evitable. Sivin himself argues that in the seventeenth century China experi
enced a genuine scientific revolution, comparable in certain respects to the one
that began in the West at about the same time.11° He points out, however, that
China’s
did not generate the same pitch of tension as the one going on in Europe
at the same time. It did not burst forth in as fundamental a reorientation
of thought about Nature. It did not cast doubt on all the traditional ideas
of what constitutes an astronomical problem. It did not narrow people’s
views of what meaning astronomical prediction can have for the ultimate
understanding of Nature and of man’s relation to it. Most important, it
did not extend the domain of number and measure in astronomy until it
embraced every terrestrial phenomenon. . . . The most striking long-range
outcome of the encounter with European science, in fact, was a revival of
traditional Chinese astronomy, a rediscovery of forgotten methods, that
were studied once again in combination with the new ideas and that sup
ported what might be called a new classicism. Rather than replacing tradi
tional values, the new values implicit in the foreign astronomical writings
were used to perpetuate traditional values.111
Sivin goes on to explain:
Revolutions in science as well as in politics take place at the margins of

society, but the people who made the one in seventeenth-century China
were firmly attached to the dominant values of their culture. At the time
there could be no students of astronomy motivated to cast off traditional
values. There were no groups of intellectuals alienated enough to follow
ideas where they led even if the society around them fell apart. . . . If we
seek in China those for whom science was not a means to conservative
ends, those for whom a proven fact outweighed values that had evolved for
thousands of years, we do not find them until the late nineteenth century.
Then it was people with little or no stake in the old society who became
the first modern scientists?"
Science in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries developed

increasingly beyond the institutional control of either the church or the state. But
in imperial China the state’s potential for intervention in all areas of Chinese life
went essentially unchallenged. Thus, until the late Qing period, by which time
the weakness and ineffectiveness of the Manchus had become apparent to all,
the incentive to use science (or any other branch of knowledge) for countercul
tural purposes was basically absent in China. This explains the otherwise curious
fact that although Chinese astronomical science progressed rapidly during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries under the stimulus of the West, this new
knowledge had virtually no impact on state-sponsored astrology.113
Let us return now to the Yijing for some brief suggestions as to why the history
of Chinese science unfolded in the way that it did. As should be apparent, the
structure and symbolism of the Changes presented a field of virtually limitless
epistemological options and interpretive possibilities. That Chinese scholars
did not take the Yijing in directions that conformed to Western hopes or expec
tations should neither surprise nor disappoint us. It is true that Western-style
mathematics appealed to a number of Chinese scholars in late imperial times,
but not, for the most part, as a way of explaining natural phenomena in the
Newtonian fashion.
As we have seen in previous chapters, a few prominent scholars, such as Fang
Yizhi (1611-71) and Iiang Yong (1681-1762), had a deep interest in the role of
numbers in explaining natural relationships and processes, as well as a substan
tial knowledge of Western mathematics. But their understanding of the natural
world was profoundly influenced by inherited numerological ideas that were
reflected in the Hetu and the Luoshu and in configurations such as Shao Yong’s
“Chart of the Former Heaven Sequence.” Indeed, Fang tells us explicitly that
“the images and numbers of the Hetu and the Luoshu manifest the rules govern
ing everything [in nature] .” 114 Iiang, as we saw in chapter 7, held the same basic
view. In short, the number symbolism of the Yijing in imperial times remained
numerological, never, with the possible exception of the work of a few scholars
like Iiao Xun (chapter 7), truly mathematical.
For virtually all Chinese intellectuals in the imperial era, the key to meaning
ful knowledge was active engagement, not detachment. This sort of participa
tion included value judgments and ethical commitments, which were critical
components of the morally grounded, organic and expressive universe of which
they were an integral part.115 From an institutional standpoint, this philosophi
cal disposition, epitomized by the Yijing, was reinforced by the civil-service ex
amination system, with its emphasis on the idealistic and highly metaphysical
interpretations of the classics put forward by Zhu Xi.116
To be sure, as Benjamin Elman has noted, by the late eighteenth century the
Chinese examination curriculum had begun to reflect the preoccupations of the
schools of Han learning and evidential studies, with their rigorously scientific
analysis of ancient texts, their hostility toward Song learning, and their assault
on certain elements of the inherited cosmology (see chapter 7). But as Elman
himself acknowledges, scholars of the period remained steadfast “moral gener
alists” who continued to believe that the Changes and other classics were the re
positories of the most profound and ultimately valuable knowledge.117 Although
certain designated scientific subjects (“natural studies,” or ziran zl1ixue)—includ
ing astronomy and mathematical harmonics—had a significant place in the ex
amination system at some times,118 it was morality and/or statecraft rather than
science that preoccupied most Chinese scholars.119
Concluding Remarks
The Changes in Comparative Perspective
As I have tried to indicate in this admittedly general and preliminary study, in

many respects the Yijing is a unique cultural product, nurtured in identifiably
“Chinese” soil over an extraordinarily long period. It has been both a reflection
of and an influence on Chinese political, social, artistic, and intellectual life
for some three thousand years. In many ways it epitomizes both the unity and
the diversity of traditional Chinese culture. On the one hand, we can see in ap
proaches to the Changes the exquisite variety of Chinese thought, reflected not
only in the many different ways that the Yijing came to be interpreted and used
by countless scholars and practitioners over time and across space but also in
the complex and sometimes contradictory mix of ideological and interpretive
perspectives that any given individual might bring to the document—a diversity
that calls into question the conventional labels that have for so long shaped (and
in my view distorted) our view of Yijing scholarship, and Chinese scholarship
more generally. At the same time, however, we can also detect in exegetical ap
proaches to the Changes the powerful unifying impulses of scholarly elites who
sought to champion and protect the Chinese state’s vision of orthodoxy against
what they considered to be heterodox theories and practices.
As I plan to demonstrate in another volume,1 despite the uniqueness of both
the origins and the domestic development of the Yijing, the process by which it
evolved in China can be viewed as part of a broader pattern of cultural diffusion
and adaptation that is clearly evident in the way the document (and others like
it) came to be used and understood not only in areas of East Asia such as Korea,
Japan, Vietnam, and Tibet but also in Europe and the Americas. Similarly, it is
evident that the exegetical strategies employed by Chinese intellectuals in their
approaches to the Changes mirror quite closely the “classical” hermeneutics of
other cultures and times. How and why might this be so?=’- In the remarks that
follow, I offer a few comparative reflections on the way commentaries can trans
form seemingly parochial texts into works of enormous staying power and "truly
global significance?
In a recent essay titled “What Makes a Classic?” Philip Ivanhoe suggests three
main criteria for identifying “classical” texts: First, they focus on matters of
great cultural importance, reflecting central and enduring human concerns (and
providing some sort of guidance for dealing with them). Second, they address
these concerns in beautiful, moving, and memorable ways. Third, they are com
plex, nuanced, comprehensive, and profound.‘ One might add that such “clas
sics” are usually perceived to be both timeless and timely and that they are often,
if not invariably, considered to be the product of some special, often spiritual,
inspiration. Classics also seem to be foundational in some important sense,
essential in fundamental ways to a given culture’s self-image.5
These criteria accord with Chinese conceptions of classics (jing) that date
from preimperial times. In Chinese, the word jing refers to the warp (the lead
thread) of a fabric, as opposed to the woof. One of the first Chinese philosophers
to give systematic attention to the concept was Xunzi (d. 238 BCE), who wrote
that the wordjing was related to another similarly structured character, also pro
nouncedjing, meaning a straight path or a direct route. A jing was, then, the best
avenue to the original teachings of a great sage. And because jing also had the
verbal sense of passing through, it conveyed the idea of a work that could stand
the test of time by virtue of its excellence in terms of both style and content.
Thus, to Xunzi, and to most subsequent Chinese thinkers, the wordjing became
an apt metaphor for that which “imparts definition, order and utility over the
long course of history.”6
Assuming, then, an affinity between the Yijing and other great spiritually and
metaphysically oriented works—including the Iewish and Christian bibles, the
Qur’an, the Vedas, and various paradigmatic Buddhist writings, such as the
Lotus Sutra, the Heart Sutra, and the Diamond Sutra—what sort of comparisons
might be drawn between these diverse “classics”?7 At first glance, the differ
ences between them may seem to be so striking as to suggest utter incommensu
rability. What, for instance, would be comparable to the central significance of
hexagrams in any of the abovementioned works? And where in the Yijing might
one find the elaborated myths and powerful narrative structures that character
ize most other “classics” of world literature?
Unlike the Changes, the works mentioned above are all grounded in major
religious traditions—Iudaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism,
respectively. From the standpoint of origins, the four Vedas were presumed to be
magical, revealed texts, to be transmitted orally rather than in writing in order to
Concluding Remarks 243
preclude, we are told, the possibility of their divine power falling into the wrong
hands.8 The Torah, the Bible, and the Qur’an, for their part, were supposed to
represent the holy word of a transcendent God—divinely revealed in the fashion
of the Vedas but rendered into writing at an early stage of their development?
In the case of Buddhism, as it unfolded over time certain statements attributed
to the historic Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Sutta Pitaka in Pali, became
“religious” pronouncements."
The Yijing, by contrast, claimed to be based solely on the natural observations
of human beings—sages, to be sure, but mortals nonetheless—and the order,
or Dao, that it purported to reflect had no personality or particular identity.“
Lacking any sort of sustained narrative, the Changes says nothing of purposeful
beginnings or dramatic endings; it speaks only of recurrent, cyclical patterns of
change. And although we may be reasonably certain that many, if not most, of
the line statements in the basic text were first spoken and then later committed
to Writing, the kinds of oral traditions that seem so important in the lives of
many other sacred texts seem on the whole to be less significant in the case of
the Yijing.12
Stories of origin may have enormous cultural importance, but they do not
always tell us much about the actual evolution of what came to be considered
sacred texts. We know from both archaeological research and linguistic analysis
that virtually all of the documents identified above developed in stages and that
their content is not only diverse but often contradictory. So how did they become
revered “classics” in the sense that Ivanhoe has defined them? How in particular
did they come to be considered comprehensive and profound?
The answer, in large measure, is through commentaries.” As John Makeham
has insightfully remarked with reference to Chinese interpretive traditions, in
the absence of “a commentarial context in which flesh is added to the very spare
bones of the text,” a foundational work like the Confucian Analects “reads largely
as a cryptic mixture of parochial injunctions and snatches of dry conversation.”14
The Yijing, as I have indicated in preceding chapters, conforms more or less to
this description, but it represented an even greater hermeneutical challenge.
Hence the Ten Wings.
Like the Zhou Changes, the Hebrew Bible (known, with some rearrangement of
material, as the “Old Testament”), the Qur’an, the Vedas, and the early recorded
pronouncements of Siddhartha all proved remarkably open to additional ma
terial. In part, this was because these texts had such heterogeneous content to
begin with. This is particularly obvious in the “bewildering profusion” of even
the earliest of Buddhist teachings—a function of different groups of Siddhar
tha’s disciples preserving the records of his pronouncements in different places
at different times. And when Buddhism traveled to other parts of the world, the
hermeneutical situation became even more complex.“
In the Middle East we find an almost chaotic diversity. Northrop Frye, in The
Great Code, describes the Hebrew Bible as a veritable mosaic of literary forms,
including “commandments, aphorisms, epigrams, proverbs, parables, riddles,
pericopes, parallel couplets, formulaic phrases, folktales, oracles, . . . legends,
snippets of historical documents, laws, letters, sermons, hymns, ecstatic
visions, rituals, fables, genealogical lists and so on almost indefinitely.”1° And
even the Qur’an, a much more cohesive text, still represents what has been aptly
described as “an arbitrary arrangement of short passages . . . uttered by the
Prophet at various times and at various places throughout his lifetime.”17
Moreover, as an article in the January 1999 issue of the Atlantic Monthly points
out, recent archaeological discoveries of early Qur’anic texts dating from the
seventh and eight centuries reveal significant “aberrations” when compared
with the received text. In a sense these inconsistencies are comparable to those
in the different versions of the Changes found at Mawangdui, Wangjiatai, Bao
shan, and elsewhere. But whereas these Chinese manuscripts have simply gener
ated intense scholarly interest among specialists at home and abroad, the Qur’an
fragments have produced what amounts to a theological crisis."
Another common denominator of the Yijing, the Qur’an, the Bible, the Vedas,
and various Buddhist texts is their claim that certain wise and insightful men,
whether they came to be styled seers, prophets, sages, or something even more
exalted, were the human conduits of spiritually inspired wisdom. They “heard”
in their hearts or “saw” through symbols and various other revelations eter
nal messages that bespoke some sort of unifying truth: the Dao, Yahweh, God,
Brahman, Ultimate Reality, and so forth.19 In this particular sense, figures such
as Moses, Confucius, and Vyasa, as well as Jesus and Muhammad, were all early
commentators, interpreters of what in Yijing scholarship came to be called the
basic text. Viewed from this standpoint, the New Testament as a whole becomes
a commentary on, and a reading of, the Jewish scriptures."
At one or another point in time, each of the aforementioned classics came to
be considered “closed,” at least in the eyes of certain adherents. When a work
became canonical, as the Changes did in 136 BCE, commentaries on it acquired
a somewhat different status than they had previously enjoyed. From that point
on, the function of scholarly and popular exegesis was not only explanation but
also legitimation.
One of the most important legitimating claims made for virtually all of the ca
nonical works mentioned above was that they were all-encompassing, that they
contained all significant knowledge. For two thousand years Chinese scholars of
every persuasion repeated the cliché of the “Great Commentary” that the Yijing
was “broad and great,” complete in every way. Similarly grand assertions were
¢()I'I‘1I'I1Ol'1lY made for the Bible, the Qur’an, and the Vedas, and even the original
Torah, comprising only the original five books of Moses, was commonly called
“The Book with Everything in It.”21
Yet in all of these traditions, additional writings, sometimes derived from
oral sources, acquired a type of canonical authority, supplementing the main
text without necessarily claiming to do so. As I have already indicated, in China
this was true for Wang Bi’s commentary on the Yijing from the third century
to the tenth and for Zhu Xi’s from the fourteenth century to the seventeenth.
Rabbinical Judaism likewise held that the original Torah needed further elabo
ration, thus paving the way for the canonization of an “Oral Torah” (the two
Talmuds).12
Sunni Islam, for its part, distinguished between the extant Qur’an and its
heavenly archetype. This facilitated the acceptance of oral accounts of the ac
tions and practices of Muhammad (sunna) as a means of filling gaps.” And in
Hinduism, the idea of a fifth Veda, variously identified, left open the possibility
that other texts would supersede the original four. Thus a work like the Bha
gavad Gita could emerge as a statement of, to quote one authority, “all that is
most central and important in the Hindu world of ideas” and “the essence of all
scriptures.”14 The Lotus Sutra has long had a similar standing in certain sects
of Mahayana Buddhism, notably the Tiantai school.”
The diversity of basic texts and supplementary materials in these various ca
nonical traditions created difficulties for later commentators, who felt obliged
to maintain that the classics were cohesive, coherent, and consistent. They in
variably rose to the challenge, however. The impulse—perhaps I should say im
perative—of the human mind to impose order on all that it confronts encour
aged a variety of creative solutions to these sticky textual problems. In the case
of the Yijing, most efforts to show some sort of thematic unity in the diverse
layers of the text hinged on the idea that each stratum built upon or comple
mented the previous one. Su Xun, the father of Su Shi (see chapter 5), main
tained, for example, that each of the three main layers of the Changes illuminated
a different aspect of cosmic reality: “ [Fuxi] observed the images of Heaven and
Earth to make the lines of the trigrams. [King Wen] comprehended the alterna
tions of the yin and gang to make the hexagrams. [And Confucius] investigated
the circumstances of ghosts and spirits to make the words [which form the
Ten Wings] .”26 Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist commentators
came up with similar explanatory schemes.”
The problem of internal contradictions seems to have been more acute in
some exegetical realms than in others. In the rabbinic tradition, for example,
discrepancies had legal implications because the Torah was widely regarded as 3
book of law, the record of God’s commandments for Israel. The Qur’an also had
a legalistic orientation, governing, as it did, the entire life of the Muslim com
munity.“ In Vedanta, the urge to reconcile contradictory passages in the various
texts of Hinduism proceeded primarily from theological motives. This was also
true of Christian biblical exegesis, particularly from the time of St. Augustine
on.19 In the case of the Yijing, neither law nor theology mattered much, but com
mentators still strove mightily to show a fundamental unity in the multilayered
text.
Among the many hermeneutical strategies pursued by order-conscious com
mentators, one common approach to divergence was to posit different levels
of meaning. In the West, a standard device was allegory—the legacy, Stephen
Prickett maintains, of “pre-Babylonian and Egyptian hermeneutics.”3° In Indian
scriptures, both Hindu and Buddhist, a characteristic explanation for textual in
consistencies was the notion of expedience, the idea that different messages are
appropriate to different audiences. Confucius was famous for this sort of per
sonalized pedagogy.“ In Buddhism this technique is known as “skillful means
(Sanskrit: upaya).”31 In the words of Fabio Rambelli,
One of the core [concepts] of Buddhism . . . is that the Buddha taught

many different doctrines according to his audience’s faculties and possi
bilities of comprehension. This is in accordance with Indian cosmology
and psychology, which recognize various levels of existence and stages in
the development of consciousness: a certain truth and a certain set of doc
trines correspond to each one. Therefore, Buddhist exegesis presupposes
some interesting points for the semiotician: different levels of truth, and
a semiotics of textual cooperation.”
As is well known, the Qur’an proclaims itself free from inconsistencies. But
Islamic commentators implicitly recognized and tried to resolve contradictions
in the text, often through a device known as “abrogation.” According to this doc
trine, later pronouncements of the Prophet had the eflfect of rendering his earlier
pronouncements null and void. In a similar fashion, Qur’anic commentators
argued that certain discrepancies in canonical utterances were simply the result
of a particular exception to a general rule.34 Likewise, Buddhist commentators
noted that the Buddha himself sometimes dismissed the ultimate validity of a
teaching he had espoused unequivocally, arguing that the conceptual schemes
he had previously set forth for interpreting his ideas were “merely conditional,”
despite his claim to be “incapable of self-contradiction.” And not surprisingly,
as Etienne Lamotte has observed, each Buddhist school has tended “to take
literally the doctrinal texts which conform to its theses and to consider those
which cause dilemmas as being of provisional meaning.”35
Rabbinic and Vedic commentators have generally resisted explanations that
hinged on this sort of particularity. For them, both the Torah and the Vedas were
timeless documents, for which by definition there could be “neither earlier nor
later.” As Joseph Neusner has said of the compilers of the Palestinian Talmud,
they acknowledged “no gradations in revelation.”36
One approach to reconciling discrepancies in canonical texts was to claim
that certain terms had different meanings, even if they occurred within the
same passage. Perhaps the best-known example in the West is the apparently
divergent characterizations of “God” in the Bible, notably the mention of two
“Lords” in Genesis 19:24. One explanation by Christian commentators has been
that the first refers to Jesus, that is, God the Son, and the second refers to God
the Father. Some scholars have suggested that the Christian notion of the Trinity
may itself have originated in an effort to solve the hermeneutical problem of how
to explain divergent representations of God in the Scriptures?”
Parallel strategies can, of course, be found in other cultures. In China, for
instance, the familiar philosophical distinction between substance (ti) and func
tion (gong) allowed commentators on the Yijing to handle a number of discrep
ancies in the text with relative ease. For example, Li Dingzuo, of the Tang (see
chapter 4), explained the variant characterizations of the first hexagram, Qian,
which appear in two different parts of the Ten Wings, by writing: “The Zagua
[wing] says that Qian is ‘hard,’ speaking of its substance; [while] the Shuo
gua [wing] says that it is ‘strong,’ speaking of its function.”38 In a similar vein,
Zhu Xi wrote that the reason one chapter of the “Great Commentary” associates
knowledge with Heaven and the next associates humaneness with Heaven is that the
first “speaks [of Heaven] in terms of clarity and turbidity,” while the next “speaks
in terms of movement and quiescence.”39
A fundamental problem facing the interpreters of all the canonical works
under discussion was the obscurity of certain passages. In the case of the Yijing,
as I have shown in previous chapters, virtually all of the so-called basic text falls
into this category. Without the Ten Wings, the Changes would no doubt have
remained at best an omen text. As noted in the introduction to this book, in ap
parent recognition of the Yijing’s combination of stark simplicity and awesome
obscurity, the seventeenth-century commentator Diao Bao wrote that “although
a child can practice it, a white-haired man cannot fathom it.” Similar statements
can be found for the Bible, the Qur’an, the Vedas, and various Buddhist texts.4°
Divination provided one early tool of understanding. As Iohn Henderson has
noted, the commentarial traditions of many cultures can plausibly be traced to
the interpretation of omens, oracles, and dreams. In rabbinic Judaism, for in
stance, “the techniques of midrashic interpretation were adapted from ancient
procedures of dream interpretation,” down to such details as style, spelling,
and vocabulary. In Christian biblical commentaries too the terms employed for
“typological exegesis,” a specific method for interpreting the historical events
of the Old Testament, had their origins in the evaluation of dreams. Qur’anic
commentary likewise has been identified by at least some authorities with tech
niques of dream interpretation. In China and India, the link between canonical
Writings and divination practices is especially strong and direct.41
Correlative schemes ranging from simple homologies to complicated numero
logical systems can be found in all the hermeneutical traditions discussed above.
They are, of course, especially prominent at all levels of Changes exegesis, but
they also appear in a variety of Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, and Hindu
texts.“ Perhaps the most comprehensive correlative system ever attempted by
a Western scholar was that of the Renaissance philosopher and theologian Gio
vanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-94), who sought to integrate the correlative
ideas of the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, the Arabs, and the Jews, as well
as “a wide range of esoteric and magical traditions,” into a “generalized notion
of cosmic correspondence.”43
Often, numerical correlations were encouraged by the numerological content
of the canonical works themselves. We have seen the prevalence of numerology
in Yijing interpretation, but it also appears in various biblical, Qur’anic, and Vedic
commentaries.“ In all such works, exegetes have been at pains to correlate the
symbolism of numbers with both heavenly and earthly phenomena. And where
numbers were not manifest in the sacred texts themselves, they could often be
found in “codes.” From medieval times to the present both the Bible and the
Qur’an have been interpreted in this way. Consider, for instance, popular pre
occupation with the so-called Bible code.45
Kabbalism is perhaps the best-known esoteric system of decoding a sacred
scripture. The doctrines of the Kabbala are based on a linguistic analysis of the
Hebrew Bible, in which heavenly mysteries are assumed to be revealed in the
letters, words, numbers, accents, and spaces of the sacred text. The aim, in
Divine.“ I
other words, is literally to read God’s mind and thereby to become one with the
As will be discussed at length in my book in progress on the “globalization”

of the Yijing, a number of Western commentators from the time of the Jesuits on
have remarked upon affinities between the mystical symbolism of the Kabbala
and that of the Changes.” Recently, individuals such as E. A. Tortchinov have
identified a number of interesting similarities between the SeferYeziral1 (Book of
Creation) and the kinds of correspondences that are reflected in various schools
of Yijing exegesis. As Tortchinov puts the matter, anyone familiar with Chinese
studies who reads the Sefer Yezirah simply cannot help “thinking of the rich Chi
nese lore of numerology and classificationism [sic] (xiang shu zhi xue, i.e., ‘the
study of images and numbers’).”48
The Zohar has been called the bible of the Kabbalists. Like the basic text of
the Yijing, the Zohar is a composite work, with diverse writings dating from dif
ferent periods, including several fragments from ancient treatises. The Zohar
contains three major interpretive schemes. One involves transforming words
by interchanging letters of the Hebrew alphabet in systematic patterns, a pro
cess roughly analogous to the way lines, trigrams, and hexagrams can be trans
formed and related in the Classic of Changes. Another interpretive device of the
Zohar is to calculate the numerical values of the letters of certain words in order
to correlate them with other words that have the same or similar combinations
of numbers. This too suggests a basic hermeneutical strategy of the Yijing. A
third system involves the practice of constructing words by using the initials of
several other words or constructing a sentence by using all the letters of a single
word to stand for the initials of a string of words.49 Again, there are rough par
allels in the Chinese divinatory practice of character dissection.
I have mentioned similarities between the Zohar and the Yijing not only be
cause of the intriguing parallels but also to underscore a fundamental differ
ence, quite apart from the obvious lack in the Chinese tradition of a Judaic-style
Creator-God who was the source and agent of all universal processes: The rise
of the Kabbala, as Harold Bloom has pointed out, was an “esoteric” response to
the oppression and despair of medieval ]ewry,5° and Kabbalistic teachings have
remained outside the mainstream of Jewish culture ever since. The Changes, by
contrast, emerged out of standard elite divinatory practices, and the Yijing held
pride of place among the Confucian classics for more than two thousand years,
until the classics themselves were rejected by Chinese intellectuals in the early
twentieth century.
In short, although I have barely scratched the surface in these concluding re
marks, it seems evident that the comparative study of great works (and “lesser”
works as well) allows us excellent opportunities for cross-cultural understand
ing, for as the context broadens, our understanding deepens. New avenues of
exploration yield new insights, not only about the “Other” but also about the
self—which is, of course, the Other’s “Other.”51
APPENDIX A
A Note on Sources
Western Scholarship on the Yijing

Every scholar’s nightmare is that another person working on the same basic material
will beat him or her to the punch. In a sense this has happened with the publication of
Bent N ielsen’s indispensable book A Companion to Yi jing Numerology and Cosmology (2003).
But it is a dream rather than a nightmare. Many obscure points of interpretation that I
have worked so very hard to clarify in my own research have been made admirably clear
in Nielsen’s book, and many of the Asian-language sources that I have painstakingly
accumulated over the years have already been tracked down and cited by him. As a result,
for the most part I refer to the explanations and citations that appear in A Companion to
Yi jing Numerology and Cosmology rather than to my own. The only exceptions are on those
rare occasions where I have found Nielsen’s materials to be somewhat unclear or incom
plete.
Ialso owe an enormous debt to the pioneering scholarship of Edward Shaughnessy,
who for more than twenty—five years has been the leading authority in the West on the
Changes. My debt to him, and to his extremely able former student Tze-ki Hon, is abun
dantly evident in the notes of this book. Other scholars in the West whose original work on
Yijing-related topics has been particularly useful to me include Joseph Adler, Thomas Ayl
ward II, Anne Birdwhistell, Alison Black, David Cheng, Claudia van Collani, Paul George
Fendos, Stephen Field, Howard Goodman, Ming Dong Gu, John Henderson, Peng Yoke
Ho, Francois Jullien, Marc Kalinowski, Young-Oak Kim, Yung Sik Kim, Richard Kunst,
Richard John Lynn, Benjamin N g, Michael Nylan, Willard Peterson, Timothy Phelan,
Fabrizio Pregadio, Hyong G. Rhew, Richard Rutt, David Schaberg, Larry Schulz, Iulian
Shchutskii, Nathan Sivin, Kidder Smith, Lynn Struve, Gerald Swanson, Dongliang Wang,
Wen Xing, Douglass White, Helmut Wilhelm, and Richard Wilhelm.
Asian Scholarship on the Changes

My most profound debt to an Asian Changes scholar is to my good friend Wang Mingxiong
(a.k.a. Tony Wang), who for as long as I can remember has been a source of inspiration,
252 Appendix A
as well as a font of useful information. His writings on the Yijing, not all of which are
listed in my Asian-language bibliography, testify to his great appreciation of the docu
ment and to his deep understanding of its cultural significance. I have also relied heavily
on the very different scholarship of Zhu Bokun, although I do not always agree with his
Marxian analysis.
Among the many other Chinese, Japanese, and Korean scholars who have done admi
rable work on the Changes, the following deserve special mention: Chang Hyon-gwang,
Chen Guying, Gao Heng, Gao Huaimin, Gu Iiegang, Guo Moruo, Han Qi, Huang Shouqi,
Imai Usaburo, Lai Guisan, Li Iingchi, Liao Mingchun, Liu Dajun, Liu Yujian, Pan Yuting,
Qu Wanli, Ryu Sung—guk, Song Chae-guk, Sun Guozhong, Tang Mingbang, Toda Toyosa
buro, Tojo Itsudo, Wang Xuequn, Wen Yiduo, Xu Daoyi, Xu Qinting, Yan Lingfeng, Yang
Hongsheng, Yu Dunkang, Zhai T ingpu, Zhan Shichuang, Zhang Liwen, Zhang Qicheng,
Zhang Shanwen, Zheng Iixiong, and Zheng Wan’geng.
Particularly valuable as reference works on the Changes include: YJYY; ZYZS; Li Shu
zheng and Zhou Xifu, Shiyong Yixue zidian; Lii Shaogang, Zhouyi cidian; Wu Hua, Zhouyi da
cidian; Xiao Yuan and Liao Mingchun, Zhouyi da cidian; Zhang Guiguang, Zhouyi zhanbu
ciclian; and Zhang Qicheng, Yixue da ciclian.
A Note on the ZMT Y
The editors of the Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao (Annotated General Catalogue of the Com
plete Collection of the Four Treasuries), or ZMTY, indicate that in the course of compiling
the Siku quanshu (SKQS) at least 10,231 works were examined, 3,448 of which were consid
ered important enough to include in the project. The remaining 6,783 were categorized
as “not included” (weishou) and given abbreviated reviews in the “extant” (cunmu) section
of the ZMTY. According to the “principles” (fanli) of the ZMTY, “the learning of the sages
emphasized clarifying the essential principles in order to achieve utility. All writings that
cannot reveal the reality of things are wasted words.”1
To be admitted into the SKQS collection, books had to be “of real benefit to human
understanding” or “very seldom seen.” Works considered entirely praiseworthy were in
cluded in special compendia (138 titles were designated “the assembled pearls” [juzhen],
and 473 titles formed “the essence” [huiyao] of the collection); books of lesser value but
still praiseworthy were included in the SKQS; and those that were basically blameworthy
received only a mention in the ZMTY. In other words, the criteria for inclusion were funda
mentally moral. Among the biases in the SKQS project were those against Ming writings,
in particular those of Wang Yangming and his disciples. Kent Guy notes that the ZMTY
expressed “the imperial view of scholarship and literature” and was “a complex tapestry,
Woven of many strands of imperial interest and scholarly conviction.” He concludes that
in its “intellectual stance” the ZMTY “primarily reflected the views of k’ao-cheng [kaozheng]
scholarship, but some of its formulations were undoubtedly constrained by Manchu
ethnic sensitivities and imperial pride.“
APPENDIX B
Some Examples of Changes Scholarship

from the People's University Database
(CD-ROM)
The database is in two parts:
1. The Fuyin baokan ziliao “suoyin” zonghui is a selected index to academic journal
articles from more than three thousand periodicals in Chinese for the years 1978
2oo1.
2. The Fuyin baokan ziliao quanwen shuju is a full-text database set for the same collec
tion from 1995 onward. The actual databases are separated into large subsets such as
history, economics, and education, but they can easily be combined, and the search
engine is very powerful, with many types of Boolean operators.
A simple search using only the keywords Zhouyi and Yijing—not “eight trigrams,” “64
hexagrams,” the names of any individual trigrams or hexagrams, the names of conceptual
schemes associated with the Yijing (e.g., Hetu, Luoshu, Xiantian, Houtian, etc.), divination
systems based on the Changes (e.g., Taiyi, Qimen dunjia, Taixuan jing, Yilin, etc.), personal
names (e.g., Fuxi, Wang Bi, Shao Yong), or titles of books and commentaries associated
with or based on the Yijing—yielded a total of 472 articles from 1978 to 2001 (most in the
last several years). Here are just a few representative titles in no particular order:
“A Review [huigu] of Research on the Zhou Changes since Liberation [1949] ”

“Confucius Did Not Consider the Zhou Changes to Be a Book of Divination”
“Laozi and the Zhou Changes”
“Sima Qian and the Zhou Changes”
“The Special Characteristics [tezheng] of Traditional Chinese Culture as Seen in the Zhou
Changes and Its Commentaries”
“The Special Linguistic Characteristics of the Zhou Changes”
“The Zhou Changes and the Culture of Chinese Martial Arts”
“The Zhou Changes and Chinese Martial Arts”
“The Zhou Changes and the Theoretical Framework of the Wenxin diaolong”
“The Wenxin diaolong and the Zhou Changes”
254 Appendix B
“The Relationship between the Wenxin diaolong and the Zhou Changes”
“The Symbolism of the Philosophical Poetry of the Zhou Changes”
“The Zhou Changes and the Violin”
“The Zhou Changes and the Art of Beijing Opera”
“A Comparison of the Zhou Changes and the ‘Minor Odes’ [Xiaoya] Section of the Classic
of Poetry”
“The Awareness of Suifering [youhuan] in the ‘Minor Odes’ [Xiaoya] Section of the
Classic of Poetry and the Line Statements [guayao] of the Hexagrams in the Zhou
Changes”
“From the Zhou Changes a Collection of China’s Earliest Philosophical Poetry Can Be
Compiled”
“A Discussion of the Literary Value of the Iuxtaposed Line Statements [guayao] of the
Zhou Changes”
“The Position of the Zhou Changes in the Literary History of Our Country Viewed [from
the Standpoint of] the Literary Elements of the Hexagram Line Statements in the
Zhou Changes”
“An Elementary Introduction to the Special Characteristics [tese] of the Romantic
Folksongs [geyao] in the Line Statements of the Hexagrams in the Zhou Changes”
“Shang and Zhou Folksongs [min’ge] in the Line Statements of the Hexagrams of the
Zhou Changes and the Classic of Poetry ”
“Shang and Zhou Folksongs [min’ge] in the Line Statements of the Hexagrams in the
Zhou Changes”
“A Brief Critique [jianping] of Hui Dong’s Scholarship on the Zhou Changes and Critical
Interpretive Scholarship [xungu xue] on the Nine Classics”
“A Preliminary Discussion of the Enigmatic Poetry [yinshi] of the Zhou Changes”
“Eight Essays on Chinese Poetics and the Zhou Changes”
“Some Questions about the Zhou Changes and Chinese Music”
“The Mystery of the Sixty-Four [Hexagrams]: The Zhou Changes, Yingang Theory, and
[Musical] Meter [jiepai] ”
“The Zhou Changes and Musical Notation”
“An In-Depth Analysis of the Syntax of the Ancient Text [gujing] of the Zhou Changes”
“An Investigation into the ‘Form Words’ [xuci] of the Zhou Changes”
“The Zhou Changes and the Names and Words of the Ancients”
“The Zhou Changes and the Culture of Traditional [Chinese] Architecture”
“A Discussion of the Zhou Changes and Traditional Chinese Painting”
“The Special [or Privileged] Position [teshu diwei] of the Pattern of Thought [siwei
fangshi] of the Zhou Changes in the Development of Chinese Painting”
“The Aesthetics of Chinese Opera and the Zhou Changes”
“An Exploratory Essay on the Special Literary Characteristics of the Hexagram Line
Statements of the Zhou Changes”
“On the Line Statement Literature of the Hexagrams in the Zhou Changes and Ancient
History and Poetry”
Appendix B 255
7)
“An Exploratory Essay on the Songs and Poems of the Zhou Changes
“Q11 the Relationship between the Zhou Changes and Pre-Qin Literature”
“The Zhou Changes and Popular Literature”
“The Zhou Changes from a Literary Point of View”
“The Zhou Changes and Ancient Literary Theory”
“The Relationship between the Dialectics [bianzhengfa] of the Zhou Changes and the
History of the Rise and Decline of the Iia Household in Honglou meng [Dream of the
Red Chamber] ”
“An Exploratory Essay on the Literary Value of the Zhou Changes”
“An Examination of Zhen [Constancy] and Hui [Remorse] in the Line Statements of
the Hexagrams of the Zhou Changes.” There is also a “continuation” (xupian) of this
article.
“On the Vitality of the Political Thought of the Yizhuan [Ten Wings]: Together with a
Discussion of the Puzzle of Why the Zhou Changes Were Spared in the Book Burning
by the First Emperor of the Qin”
“On the Time in Which the Author of the Zhou Changes Lived”
“A New Explanation of the High Antiquity Folksong [gegao] in the Top [Yin] Line of the
‘Marrying Maiden’ [hexagram 54] of the Zhou Changes”
APPENDIX C
Individuals Associated with the Changes

prior to the Twentieth Century
The Chinese characters for the names given below, as well as the characters for other
names, terms, and titles in this book, can be found in R. Smith, “Yijing (Classic of Changes)
Resources.” Many of the individuals listed below are discussed in Nielsen, Companion, and
Yao, RoutledgeCurzon Encyclopedia of Confucianism.
Bai Guang (1st century BCE) Chen Xianwei (H. 1234)

Bai Yuchan (1134-1229) Chen Xianzhang (1428-1500)
Bai Ziyou (1st century BCE) Chen Xiyi (d. 989)
Ban Gu (32-92) Chen Yingrun (14th century)
Baoxi. See Fuxi Chen Yuan (1st century BCE)
Bi Zhi. See Fei Zhi Chen Zunian (late Ming dynasty)
Bouvet, Joachim (1656-1730) Cheng Dachang (1123-95)
Bu Shang. See Zi Xia Cheng Dawei (1533-1606)
Cai Qing (1453-1508) Cheng Hao (1032-85)
Cai Yuan (1148-1236) Cheng Iiong (12th century)
Cai Yuanding (1135-98) Cheng Yi (1033-1107)
Caoshan Benji (840-901) Chengguan (738-839)
Chao Gongwu (ca. 1102-87) Chu Zhongdu (5th-6th century)
Chao Yuezhi (1059-1129) Chunyu Shutong (2nd century)
Chen Baisha (1428-1500) Confucius (551-479 BCE)
Chen Chun (1159-1223) Cui Iin (5th-6th century)
Chen Guan (1057-1122) Cui Iing (ca. 7th or 8th century?)
Chen Li (1810-82) Cui Zhuan (fl. 1st century)
Chen Menglei (b. 1651) Dai Zhen (1724-77)
Chen Shiyuan (1544 jinshi) Diao Bao (1603-69)
Chen Tuan (d. 989) Ding Kuan (2nd century BCE)
Chen Tu’nan. See Chen Xiyi Ding Yan (1794-1875)
Chen Xiang (1017-80) Ding Yidong (fl. ca. 1280)
Appendix C 2
Dingshan (807-69) Han Kangbo (ca. 3 32-ca. 385?)
Dong Yu (2nd— 3rd century) Han Xin (d. 39)
pang Zhenqing (fl. ca. 1330) Han Ying (2nd century BCE)
Dong Zhongshu (ca. 179-ca. 104 BCE) Hang Xinzhai (1869-1924)
Dongshan Liangjie (807-69) Hanshan (1546-1624)
Duke of Zhou. See Zhougong Hao Iing (Yuan dynasty)
Fan Changsheng (d- 313) He Kai (1625 jinshi)
Fan Echang (10th-11th century) He Tuo (late 6th century)
Fan Ying (fl. 106-44) He Xiu (129—82)
Fan Zhongyan (989-1052) He Yan (190-249)
Fang Dongshu (1772-1851) He Yin (446-531)
Fang Kongzhao (fl. ca. 1630) He Yufu (fl. 1880)
Fang Shenquan (fl. 1075) Hong Yixuan (1765-1837)
Fang Wenyi (fl. 12th century) Hou Guo (7th century?)
Fang Xianfu (d. 1544) Hu Bin (1506-57)
Fang Xiaoru (1357-1402) Hu Bingvven (1250-1333)
Fang Yizhi (1611-71) Hu Fangping (13th century)
Fei Zhi (ca. 50 BCE—1O CE) Hu Guang (1370-1418)
Feng Dengfu (1783-1841) Hu Hong (1106-61)
Feng Iing (1652-1715) Hu Iuren (143 4- 84)
Fu Manrong (ca. 420-502) Hu Wei (1633-1714)
Fu Yijian (1609-65) Hu Xu (1655-1736)
Fuxi (trad. r. 2852-2738 BCE) Hu Yigui (1260-1346)
Gan Bao (fl. early 4th century) Hu Yuan (993-1059)
Gao Panlong (1561-1626) Huan Wen ( 312-73)
Geng Nanzhong (fl. ca. 1680) Huang Daozhou (1585-1646)
Gong Yuan (fl. ca. 1060) Huang Lixian (11th—12th century)
Gongsun Long (ca. 320-240 BCE) Huang Peifang (fl. ca. 1810)
Gu Huan (5th century) Huang Shi (19th century)
Gu Shusheng (fl. 1880) Huang Shulin (1672-1756)
Gu Yanwu (1613-82) Huang Xie (d. 238 BCE)
Guan Lang (5th-6th century) Huang Ze (1259-1346)
Guan Lu (ca. 210-56) Huang Zongxi (1610-95)
Guan Zhidao (1536-1608) Huang Zongyan (1616-86)
Guo ling (8th-9th century?) Huangdi (a.l<.a. the Yellow Emperor, trad
Guo Pu (276-324) r. 2697-2597 BCE
Guo Yong (1091-1187) Huangfu Mi (215-82)
Guo Zhongxiao (d. 1126) Hui Dong (1697-1758)
Guo Zichang (1542-1618) Hui Pannong (fl. ca. 1720)
Han Bangqi (1479-1555) Hui Shi (ca. 380-300 BCE)
Han B0. See Han Kangbo Hui Shiqi (1671-1741)
Han Fei (d. 233 BCE) It6 Zenshé (fl. 1770)
258 Appendix C
Ii Kang (223-62) Li Zhi (1527-1602)

Iia Gongyan (7th century) Li Zhicai (d. 1045)
Iia Kui (30-101) Lian Doushan (fl. 1775)
Iiang Yong (1681-1762) Liang Wudi. See Xiao Yan
Iiao Gan. See Iiao Yanshou Liang Yin (13 03-89)
Iiao Hong (1541-1620) Liangqiu He (ca. 90-40 BCE)
Iiao Xun (1763-1820) Lin Li (12th century)
Iiao Yanshou (ca. 70-10 BCE) Lin Xiyuan (fl. ca. 1517 jinshi)
Iiaozi (4th century BCE) Lin Zhaoen (1517-98)
Iing Fang (77-37 BCE) Lin Zhi (12th-13th century)
King Wen. See Wenwang Linqing (1791-1846)
King Wu. See Wuwang Liu An (d. 122 BCE)
Kong Anguo (2nd century BCE) Liu Biao (142-208)
Kong Qiu. See Confucius Liu Bingzhong (1216-74)
Kong Yingda (574-648) Liu Bowen (fl. ca. 1400)
Lai Zhide (1525-1604) Liu Fengliu (1776-1829)
Lang Yi (fl. 126-67) Liu Huan (434-89)
Lei Siqi (12 30-13 01) Liu Ii. See Liu Bowen
Li Cai (1520-1606) Liu Mu (1011-64)
Li Chunfeng (602-70) Liu Songnian (1174-1224)
Li Daochun (fi. 1290) Liu Tan (4th century)
Li Dingzuo (8th century) Liu Xiang (77—6 BCE)
Li Pu (1675-1750) Liu Xin (d. 23)
Li Gai (fl. 10th century) Liu Xuan (6th-7th century)
Li Gong (1659-1733) Liu Yiming (1724-1831)
Li Gou (1009-59) Liu Zhou (6th century)
Li Guang (1078-1159) Liu Zongzhou (1578-1645)
Li Guangdi (1642-1718) Long Renfu (fi. ca. 1320)
Li Heng (1100-1178) Lu Deming (556-627)
Li Iian (fl. ca. 1320) Lu Ii (187-219)
Li Qi (Song dynasty) Lu Iingyu (6th century)
Li Qingzhao (ca. 1084-ca. 1151) Lu Iiuyuan. See Lu Xiangshan
Li Shi (1108-81) Lu Longqi (1630-93)
Li Shunchen (d. 1182) Lu Shiyi (1611-72)
Li Shunchen (1499-1559) Lu Wenchao (1717-95)
Li Tao (1115-84) Lu Xiangshan (1139-93)
Li Tiaoyuan (1734-1803) Lu Xisheng (9th—10th century)
Li Tongxuan (635-730) Lii Cai (600-665)
Li Xinchuan (1167-1244) Lii Dalin (1040-92)
Li Yanping (1088-1171) Lii Gong (1603-64)
Li Yanshi (1628-97) Lii Kun (1536-1618)
Li Yong (1627-1705) Lii Zuqian (1137-81)
Appendix C 2
L110 Hongxian (1504-64) Shi Zheng (Tang dynasty)
Lug Qinshun (1465-1547) Shu Cai (4th century)
Ma Guohan (1794-1857) Shui Yuquan (13th century)
Mao Qiling (1623-1716) Sima Guang (1019-86)
Ma Rong (79-166) Sima Qian (ca. 154-ca. 86 BCE)
Mayi Daozhe (10th century) Song Xian (11th century)
Mei Wending (1633 -1721) Song Zhong (2nd-3rd century)
Mencius (ca. 372-289 BCE) Su Dongpo. See Su Shi
Meng Xi (ca. 90-40 BCE) Su Iing (1st century)
Mengzi. See Mencius Su Shi (1037-1101)
Mozi (ca. 470-391 BCE) Su Xun (1009-66)
Mu Xiu (979-1032) Su Zhe (1039-1112)
Ni Tianyin (11th century) Sun Sheng (ca. 302-73)
Ni Yuanlu (1593-1644) Sun Tang (fi. ca. 1800)
Niu Niu (1648-86) Tan Qian (542-607)
Ouyang Xiu (1007-72) Tang Bin (1627-87)
Ouyi Zhixu. See Zhixu Tang Iian (1778-1861)
Peng Shaosheng (1740-96) Tang Yan (1857-1920)
Pi Xirui (1850-1908) Tian He (ca. 202-143 BCE)
Qian Chengzhi (1612-93) Tian Yiheng (fl. ca. 1550)
Qian Daxin (1728-1804) Wang Anshi (1021-86)
Qian Dehong (1497-1574) Wang Bi (226-49)
Qian Shi (fl. 13th century) Wang Chong (b. 27)
Qian Yiben (15 83 jinshi) Wang Pu (ca. 80-160)
Qiao Ding (11th-12th century) Wang Fuzhi (1619-92)
Qiao Lai (1667 jinshi) Wang Gen (1483-1541)
Quan Zuwang (1705-55) Wang Ii (1498-1583)
Ren An (124-202) Wang Iing (fl. ca. 1433)
Ren Liang (1st century BCE) Wang Kaiyun (1833-1916)
Ren Qiyun (1670-1744) Wang Lang (d. 228)
Ruan Yi (11th century) Wang Maohong (1668-1741)
Ruan Yuan (1764-1849) Wang Qi (1565 jinshi)
Shao Bowen (1057-1134) Wang Renjun (1866-1913)
Shao Yong (1011-77) Wang Shi (12th-13 th century)
Shen Gai (12th century) Wang Shu’nan (1851-1936)
Shen Gua (1031-95) Wang Su (195-256)
Shen Linshi (ca. 418-503) Wang Tao (1828-97)
Shen Yu (17th-18th century) Wang Tingxiang (1474-1544)
Shen Zuozhe (fl. ca. 1180) Wang Weide (b. 1669)
Shennong (trad. r. 2737-2698 BCE) Wang Xichan (1628-82)
Shi Chou (ca. 90-40 BCE) Wang Yangming (1472-1529)
Shi Iie (1005-45) Wang Yi (ca. 274-322)
260 Appendix C
Wang Yinglin (1223-96) Yang Chun (1676-1753)

Wang Yinzhi (1766-1834) Yang Fangda (fl. ca. 1724)
Wang Yuanzhi (ca. 528-635) Yang Iian (1141-1226)
Wang Zongchuan (1181 jinshi) Yang Renshan (1837-1911)
Wei Boyang (fl. ca. 140?; perhaps Yang Shi (1053-1135)
legendary) Yang Shiqiao (1531-1609)
Wei Jun (1604 jinshi) Yang Wanli (1124-1206)
Wei Liaoweng (1178-1237) Yang Wenhui (19th century)
Wei Xiang (d. 57 BCE) Yang Xiong (53 BcE-18 CE)
Wei Xiangshu (1617-87) Yao Xin (3rd century)
Wei Yuansong (6th century) Ye Liangpei (1513 jinshi)
Weng Tonghe (1830-1904) Ye Mengde (1077-1148)
Wenwang (d. ca. 1070 BCE) Ye Shi (1150-1223)
Wu Cheng (1249-1333) Yellow Emperor. See Huangdi
Wu Deng (1249-1333) Yin Zhen (2nd century)
Wu Mi (1056 jinshi) Ying He (fl. ca. 1820)
Wu Rulun (1840-1903) Yixing (673-727)
Wu Wei (fl. 1550) You Zuo (1053-1123)
Wu Yubi (1397-1469) Yu Fan (164-233)
Wu Zhiying (1867-1934) Yu Yan (1258-1314)
Wuwang (fl. ca. 1070 BCE) Yu Yue (1821-1907)
Xiang Anshi (d. 1208) Yuan Mei (1716-98)
Xiang Kai (2nd century) Yuan Shu (1131-1205)
Xiang Xiu (d. 272) Yuan Tiangang (d. 627)
Xiao Hanzhong (14th century) Yuan Yuezhi (4th century)
Xiao Ii (d. ca. 610) Yun Tonggyo (1695-1773)
Xiao Yan (464-549) Zeng Guan (fl. ca. 1330)
Xie Xuan (1389-1464) Zeng Guofan (1811-72)
Xiong Guo (1529 jinshi) Zeng Iize (1839-90)
Xu Heng (1209-81) Zhai Xuan (3rd—4th century?)
Xu Iian (fl. 10th century) Zhang Binglin (1869-1936)
Xu Iiyu (1795-1873) Zhang Boduan (ca. 983-1082)
Xu Jun (1st century) Zhang Erqi (1612-78)
Xu Shen (1st-2nd century) Zhang Fan (1st-2nd century)
Xu Zhi (97-168) Zhang Gui (ca. 255-314)
Xue Iixuan (1134-73) Zhang Hong (153-212)
Xue Xuan (1389-1464) Zhang Huang (1527-1608)
Xun Shuang (128-90) Zhang Huiyan (1761-1802)
Xun Yue (148-209) Zhang Ii (d. ca. 590)
Xunzi (d. 238 BCE) Zhang Iiebin (1563-1640)
Yan Ruoju (1636-1704) Zhang Iun (1096-1164)
Yan Yuan (1635-1704) Zhang Iuzheng (1525-82)
Appendix C 2
Zhgng Li (fl. ca. 1314) Zhong Fang (956-1016)
Zhang Shi (1133-80) Zhong Hong (469-518)
Zhang Taiyan. See Zhang Binglin Zhou Dunyi (1017-73)
Zhang Xianyi (fi. ca. 1576) Zhou Hongzheng (496-574)
Zhang Xingcheng (fl. 1150) Zhougong (fl. ca. 1040 BCE)
Zhang Xuecheng (1738-1801) Zhu Sheng (1299-1370)
Zhang Zai (1020-77) Zhu Xi (1130-1200)
Zhao Iixu (1741 juren) Zhu Yizun (1629-1709)
Zhao Qi (108-201) Zhu Yuansheng (d. 1273)
Zhao Rumei (13th century) Zhu Zhen (1072-1138)
Zhao Shanxiang (12th-13th century) Zhuang Cunyu (1719-88)
Zhen Dexiu (1178-1235) Zhuangzi (fl. ca. 350-300 BCE)
Zheng Gangzhong (1088-1154) Zhuhong (1535-1615)
Zheng Shida (fl. 1750) Zhuo Erkang (1570-1644)
Zheng Xiao (1499-1566) Zi Xia (trad. b. 507 BCE)
Zheng Xuan (127-200) Zongmi (780-841)
Zheng Zhong (d. 83) Zou Yan (ca. 305-240 BCE)
Zhixu (1599-1655) Zuo Yuanbiao (1551-1624)
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Notes
A Preliminary Remark on Endnote Citations

In the interest of clarity, especially since there are separate bibliographies for Western
language and Asian-language works, I have employed the following conventions in the
I1OteS:
In citing the author of a work written in Chinese or Japanese I have observed the East
Asian practice of placing the family name first, followed by the personal name.
In citing the author of a Western-language work, even if he or she is of East Asian
descent, I give only the family name, unless two or more authors have the same surname,
e.g., Kidder Smith, Richard Smith, and William C. Smith or Dongliang Wang, Erh-min
Wang, and Q. Edward Wang. In these instances I add the first initial of the personal name;
hence K. Smith, D. Wang, and so on.
In the case of individuals who write in both Asian and Western languages, I have
followed the rules indicated above. Thus, for example, when I cite the Chinese-language
writings of Xing Wen, I include his full name in the Chinese order. But when I cite his
Western-language Writings, I refer to him simply by his family name, Xing.
Abbreviations
BRZ Zhongguo lidai buren zhuan (Biographies of Diviners in China by Dynastic

Periods), by Yuan Shushan
CC The Chinese Classics, by James Legge
]_]ZS Zhouyi jijie zuanshu (A Compilation of Collected Subcommentaries on the
Collected Explanations of the Zhou Changes), by Li Daoping
SCC Science and Civilisation in China, by Joseph Needham
SCT Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1 by William T. de Bary and Irene Bloom; vol. 2 by
William T. de Bary and Richard Lufrano
SKQS Qinding Siku quanshu (Imperial Edition of the Complete Collection of the Four
Treasuries), edited by Ji Yun et al.
TSJC Qinding gujin tushu jicheng (Imperial Edition of the Complete Collection of
Illustrations and Writings, Past and Present), edited by Chen Menglei et al.
264 Notes to Pages xi—xiii
YJJC Wu qiubei zl1aiYijingjicheng (Comprehensive Collection of Works on the Classic
of Changes from the Studio of Not Seeking Perfection), edited by Yan Lingfeng
YJYY Yijing yingyong cla baike (A Practical Encyclopedia of the Classic of Changes), by
Zhang Qicheng
ZMTY Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao (Annotated General Catalogue of the Complete
Collection of the Four Treasuries), edited by Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao
bianwei hui
ZYTS Zhouyi tushi da clian (A Dictionary of Illustrations Explicating the Zhou Changes),
by Shi Wei and Qiu Xiaobo
ZYZS Zhougi zhishi tonglan (An Intellectual Reference Book on the Zhou Changes), edited
by Zhu Bokun
ZYZZ Zhouyi zhezhong (A Balanced [Compendium on the] Zhou Changes), edited by Li
Guangdi
Preface
1. Wei Iiaxiong, Yingxiang, 6, judges the Yijing to be the most influential of all the one
hundred premodern Chinese works he examines. For its global position, see Yang Hong
sheng, Bentu yu yuwai.
2. See the scholars listed in appendix A under “Western Scholarship on the Yijing.”
3. I am presently writing a “companion volume” that shows how the Yijing traveled
to, and became “domesticated” in, various Asian environments (Korea, Japan, Vietnam,
and Tibet) as well a number of Western ones in Europe and the Americas. I have also
begun writing a detailed study of Yijing exegesis in the Qing period.
4. For one easily accessible index of the range of Changes studies in Chinese, see the
articles and other materials posted on the bilingual Web site of the Center for Research on
the Zhou Changes and Ancient Chinese Philosophy (Yixue yu gudai zhexue yanjiu zhongxin)
at Shandong University: http://zhouyi.sdu.edu.cn/. See also appendix B.
5. For the basic outlines of the “decline of cosmology” debate, see R. Smith, Fortune
tellers and Philosophers, chap. 2, esp. 70-74. See also idem, “Divination in Late Imperial
China.”
6. See R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, esp. 93-129. As a Qing historian, in my
workl tend toward the generalizing side of the interpretive spectrum. For more explicit
statements about my interests and orientation, see the introductory remarks to R. Smith,
Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, China’s Cultural Heritage, and “Mapping China’s World.”
7. For this reason, among others, I have relied heavily on the reviews of Yi-related
books contained in the great Qing dynasty compendium known as the Siku quanshu (Com
plete Collection of the Four Treasuries), hereafter referred to as “Four Treasuries” or Siku
and abbreviated as SKQS. The reviews have also been published separately in the Siku
quanshu zongmu tiyao (Annotated General Catalogue of the Complete Collection of the
Four Treasuries), abbreviated as ZMTY. For a general discussion of the outlook of the
SKQS editors and reviewers, see appendix A. For valuable reviews of a number of Yi-related
Notes to Pages xiii-2 265
books that are not included this collection, see Huang Shouqi and Zhang Shanwen, Yixue
qunshu pingyi.
8. See esp. chapter 7.
9. For one small indication of the enormous output, see appendix B. See also Lin
Qingzhang,]ingxue, 1912-1987; and idem,jingxue, 1988-1992.
A Note on Transliterations and Translations
1. See Li’s article on Fang Dongmei in Cheng and Bunnin, Contemporary Chinese Phi
losophy, 269.
2. See Shaughnessy, “Commentary, Philosophy, and Translation.”
3. One problem with Wilhelm’s translation is that his commentaries, although
based fundamentally on Cheng-Zhu orthodoxy, include his own, sometimes idiosyn
cratic understandings of the text. I have briefly discussed the relative merits of Western
language renderings of the Changes in a short article on pedagogy titled “The Yijing (Classic
of Changes) in Global Perspective,” particularly section 1 of the online appendices, “Some
Western-Language Works on the Yijing.”
4. Michael Nylan, Five “Confucian” Classics, 3. See also Chow, N g, and Henderson, Imag
ining Boundaries; and Jensen, Manufacturing Confucianism.
5. A notable exception would be the periodic use of different transliterations for the
Changes, especially Yi, Zhouyi, and Yijing, in the interest of variety.
6. The Chinese characters for names, terms, and titles in this book can be found at
the Web site “Yijing'(Classic of Changes) Resources,” http://asia.rice.edu/yijing.cfm.
Introduction
1. See, e.g.,Y]YY,1:13ff.
2. Hucker, China's Imperial Past, 72; Mote, Intellectual Foundations of China, 11.
3. See the excellent discussion of this point in Shaughnessy, “Commentary, Philoso
phy, and Translation,” esp. 223.
4. ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 35 (6:1oa). The volume (juan) and page numbers in parentheses
refer to the original pagination of the ZMTY, while the page numbers that immediately
precede them refer to the edition of the ZMTY that I used.
5. Ibid., 3o (4:25a). See also ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 559-60 (1o8:24a—28a).
6. Quoted in Kiang, On Chinese Studies, 64, slightly modified. Cf. T ’ang, “Wang Pi’s
New Interpretation,” 144, slightly modified: “Simple folk see in the Yijing their personal
prospects; the knowledgeable see in it the changes of the Heavenly order.” Note also a
similar statement in the “Great Commentary” of the Changes: see Lynn, Classic of Changes,
53; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 298.
7. He Yufu, Yijing, 1:1.
8. Quoted in Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, 134.
9. B. Ng, lChing, 4, 213n6.
266 Notes to Pages 3-7
1o. Note, for instance, the family influences that acted upon the late Ming savant
Pang Yizhi (1611-71), whose very name was derived from a famous passage in the “Great
Commentary” to the Yijing. See the long and illuminating discussion in Zhu Bokun, Yixue
zhexue shi, 3: 3 3 6ff. For an example of Changes scholarship as a regional phenomenon, see
Tang Mingbang and Wang Xuejun, Yixue gu Changjiang wenhua.
11. See ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 28 (4:12a-b); see also ibid., 2o (3:15a-b). One of my pri
mary arguments in this book, articulated in R. Smith, “Jesuits and Evidential Research,”
7-8, is that “we need to worry less about pigeon-holing Chinese scholars [according to
interpretive schools] and more about appreciating the full range [and diversity] of their
thought, including their inconsistencies.”
12. These remarks appear in the “Great Commentary.” See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 51,
55, 92, slightly modified; cf. Wilhelm, I Ching, 293, 301, 351-52. See also Ban Gu, Hanshu,
30, for similar comments to the effect that the Yijing was the source of all the other Con
fucian classics and as timeless as Heaven and Earth. A common story in the Shiji (Histori
cal Records) repeated in innumerable books on the Changes is that Confucius broke the
bindings of his own copy three times in assiduous study.
13. Quoted in Henderson, “Divination and Confucian Exegesis,” 83.
14. Quoted in R. Smith, China's Cultural Heritage, 120. Cf. the similarly appreciative re
marks of Huang Zongxi and others quoted in Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary,
102-3, 141-42, 204-5; and the remarks of the Japanese scholar Ito Zensho (fl. 1770)
translated in Shchutskii, Researches, 114-18.
15. Quoted in R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 126.
16. A recent and fairly comprehensive study in Chinese of the “globalization” of the
Yijing is Yang Hongsheng, Bentu gu guwai. Among the Western-language works that deal in
one way or another with this phenomenon are Shchutskii, Researches, 13-55, 113-25; and
Rutt, Zhouyi, 49-82. See also the relevant writings of Claudia von Collani and Benjamin
Wai-ming N g.
17. Another work of similar scope and utility is Pan Yuting’s Du Yi tiyao.
18. On this concept, see Damrosh, What Is World Literature?
19. Countless pages have been devoted to discussions of this sort by Chinese scholars
in the twentieth century. See chapters 8 and 9.
1. The Birth of the Changes
1. See Gao Heng, Zhougi gujing tongshuo, 5-8; see also 46-86. Cf. the discussion in
Shaughnessy, “Composition of the Zhougi,” 15 9ff.
2. See Li Iingchi, Zhouyi tanyuan, -3-5; see also 70, 130-50, 191-228.
3. Brooks and Brooks, Original Analects, 41, argues that “it is doubtful . . . that Con
fucius studied, or knew, the Yi.” For a contrary opinion, see Li Xueqin, Zhougi jing zhuan
suguan, 49-62. Of the Sage’s two great early exponents, Mencius (ca. 372-289 BCE) says
not a word about the Changes, and although Xunzi (d. 238 BCE) does, he also claims that
those who divine with the document fail to understand its true significance. See Li Jing
chi, Zhougi tanyuan, 11-12.
Notes to Pages 8-13 267
4. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 77; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 328-29.
5. For a discussion of various attributions, see Nylan, Five “Confucian” Classics, 204 and
endnotes for 204, paragraph 1.
6. See R. Cook, Classical Chinese Combinatorics, 417-39, 5o1ff. Cook, basing his con
clusions on recent Chinese archaeological evidence (e.g., Li Xueqin’s Zhouyi jing zhuan
guguan), argues that the arranger of the sequence named the hexagrams and also added
the line statements.
7. See, e.g., the useful analysis of the myths, historical traditions, and archaeological
evidence relating to the Changes in D. Wang, Les signes et les mutations, chaps. 1-3; and Li
Xueqin, Zhouyi jing zhuan suyuan. Cf. the summaries in Gao Heng, Zhouyi gujing tongshuo,
5-8; and Li Iingchi, Zhouyi tanyuan, 57-67.
8. See Qu’s “Yi gua yuan,” 47-56, cited in Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,” 68-69. Cf. Shaugh
nessy, “Composition of the Zhouyi,” 109-1o; YJYY, 1:157-65; and Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue
shi, 1: 3-8.
9. See Field, “Who Told the Fortunes?” 4-14. Cf. Han Ziqiang, Fugang Hanjian Zhouyi
ganjiu, 87-91; and Xing, “Hexagram Pictures.”
1o. C. Chang, “Interpretation of the Divinatory Inscriptions.” Cf. Shaughnessy,
“Composition of the Zhouyi,” 28fF.; and Li Xueqin, Zhouyijing zhuan suyuan, 127-37.
11. Gao Heng, Zhouyi gujing tongshuo, 2-8. Cf. Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming,
26-33; and Han Ziqiang, Fuyang Hanjian Zhouyi yanjiu, 87-91.
12. See the discussion in Shaughnessy, “Composition of the Zhouyi,” 108-9. Cf. the
range of possibilities offered in YJYY, 1:157—65.
13. Field, “Lost Meanings of the Yijing Bagua,” 20-27.
14. Field, “Who Told the Fortunes?” esp. 3-7.
15. Shaughnessy, “Composition of the Zhouyi,” chap. 1, surveys the evidence and ar
gues that the Changes came to be Written down in the late ninth or early eighth century
BCE, at a time when there was a “crisis of confidence” in the oral traditions from which
it arose. Cf. R. Cook, Classical Chinese Combinatorics, 417-39, 5o1ff.
16. For a convenient list of the sixty-four hexagrams in what became their conven
tional order, together with various English translations of their names, see http://vvvvvv
.aasianst.org/eaa/smith.htm.
17. See, e.g., Gao Heng, Zhouyi gujing tongshuo, 112-30; and Shaughnessy, “Compo
sition of the Zhouyi,” 112-23. Recent works that examine the many variations in Zhouyi
texts are Xu Qinting, Zhouyi yiwen kao; and Wu Xinchu, Zhouyi yiwen jiaozheng. See also the
discussion of newly discovered versions of the Changes in chapter 2.
18. Shaughnessy, “Composition of the Zhouyi,” 123-35.
19. Such scholarship is summarized in Shchutskii, Researches; Kunst, “Original
‘Yijing’ ”; and Shaughnessy, “Composition of the Zhouyi.”
2o. Shchutskii, Researches, 226-28, emphasizes the importance of reading the Yijing
metaphorically.
21. Shaughnessy, “Composition of the Zhouyi,” 135-49. See also Liu Dajun, Zhouyi guyi
kao.
22. Quoted in Waley, “Book of Changes,” 121.

23. Kunst, “Original ‘Yijing,’” 326-27, slightly modified. Cf. Rutt, Zhouyi, 267; and
Whincup, Rediscovering the I Ching, 149-50. For some later understandings of the text, see
Lynn, Classic of Changes, 411-14 and nn; Shaughnessy, I Ching, 8 and nn; and R. Wilhelm,
I Ching, 170-73, 608-11. For an interesting interpretation of this hexagram, emphasizing
the themes of fertility and infertility, see Nylan, Five “Confucian” Classics, 213.
24. See Chang Bingyi, Zhouyi yu Hanzi. See also R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers,
201-59.
25. Shaughnessy, I Ching, 8-9.
26. For details, see ibid., 9.
27. For a detailed analysis of the Ding hexagram, see Kunst, “Original ‘Yijing,’"
421-38.
28. Shaughnessy, I Ching, 13.
29. Ibid., 9-12.
30. Ibid., 10-11. The analysis below follows Shaughnessy.
31. Ibid., 11-12; cf. 9.
32. For instance, line 6 of hexagram 35, Iin, reads in part, “Threatening. Auspicious,
There will be no misfortune. The determination is one of distress.” See Kunst, “Original
‘Yijing,’ ” 309; cf. Kunst’s discussion on 407.
33. Ibid., 159-211. See also Shaughnessy, “Composition of the Zhouyi,” 149-58. In the
traditional ranking of “disaster” words, xiong is the strongest, followed by jiu (misfortune,
trouble) and then hui.
34. Chinese and Western scholars, past and present, have discussed the several pos
sible meanings of the word Zhou; it is safe to say that one of these meanings, and probably
the predominant one, was the name of the Zhou dynasty. For a convenient summary of
opinions, see YJYY, 1: 3-6.
35. For a brief description of the “Three Changes,” see Nielsen, Companion, 196-97;
see also 95-96, 153. Pi Xirui asserts in his jingxue tonglun, 8-1o, that prior to the time of
Confucius none of these three had a written text connected to the hexagrams.
36. Li Xueqin’s Zhouyi jing zhuan suyuan, 179-237, and the essays by Liao Mingchun in
Xinchu Chujian shilun provide an excellent introduction to the sources excavated at Baoshan,
Guodian, and ]i’nan cheng. See also Han Ziqiang, Fuyang Hanjian Zhouyi yanjiu, 89; Xing,
“Origins of Zhouyi Studies”; idem, “Hexagram Pictures,” esp. 584-92; and the Asian- and
Western-language sources cited in Goldin, “Bibliography.”
37. For some of these individuals, see appendix A, under “Western Scholarship on the
Changes.” Zhang Iiliang’s Zhouyi zhexue offers a particularly comprehensive study heavily
influenced by Marxist categories of analysis. See also Liu Dajun, Zhouyi gugi kao.
38. SCC, 2:336.
39. The mythical beast identified here as a dragon should not be confused with the
dragon of Western lore. By Han times at the latest, the imagery of dragons was over
whelmingly positive. See Guan Zhidao, Zhouyi liulong jie. For discussions of dragons in
twentieth-century Chinese and Western commentaries to the Yijing, see Kunst, “Original
‘Yijing,’ ” esp. 382-89. Cf. Shaughnessy, I Ching, 169-85.
40. See the extended, illuminating discussion in Shaughnessy, “Composition of the
Zhouyi,” 268-87.
41. Ibid., 162-63, modified. Later commentators often ignored these verbs, simply
identifying the hexagram name with the body part referred to in each line (e. g. “Reci
Procity is in the [big] toe,” etc.).
42. Ibid., 121, gives us “glare at”; Kunst, “Original ‘Yijing,’ ” 342-43, and Rutt, Zhouyi,
prefer “cleave to”; Waley, “Book of Changes,” 134, ventures “gnawing at”; Shaughnessy,
[Ching, 55, suggests “stilling,” i.e., “making still.”
43. See, e.g., Marshall, Mandate of Heaven; cf. Song Zuoyin, Zhougijing zhuan yitong. See
also Li Iingchi, Zhouyi tanyuan, 34-38; and Li Xueqin, Zhouyi jing zhuan suyuan, 1-14.
44. See Shaughnessy, “Composition of the Zhouyi,” 16ff., esp. 21-22; see also 257-65.
Cf. R. Cook, Classical Chinese Combinatorics, 417ff.
45. See Zhang Iiliang, Zhouyi zhexue. Cf. Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1:12-21; Chen
Liangyun, Zhougi yu Zhongguo wenxue, esp. 36ff.; Shchutskii, Researches, 132£f. and esp. 173
80; and Kunst, “Original ‘Yijing,’” 25-51. For a discussion of “normal” and “strange”
animals in the Yi, see Li Iingchi, Zhouyi tanyuan, 382-97.
46. Kunst, “Original ‘Yijing,”’ 38-43, discusses the distribution of “low” words like
toe in the Changes.
47. The appendix to Li Iingchi, Zhouyi tanyuan, 378-97, provides a good general dis
cussion of the problems involved in interpreting the Yijing’s divinatory symbolism. See
also Lin Hanshi’s Yijing zhuan zhuan, which provides commentaries on certain passages in
the Changes from a wide variety of scholars, past and present, including Lin himself. Xu
Qinting’s Zhouyi yiwen kao insightfully and comprehensively discusses variant readings of
terms in the Changes.
48. Although somewhat dated, Shchutskii, Researches, 129-95, provides an illuminat
ing summary of Chinese, Japanese, and Western scholarship regarding the age, content,
language, and even dialect(s) of the Yi’s basic text. Cook, “Myth and Authenticity,” in
sightfully discusses “southern cults” and the power of bells, thunder, the “voice of the
supernatural,” and trigram symbolism during the late Warring States period.
49. Fu, often rendered “reliable,” “trustworthy,” or “sincere,” probably meant “cap
ture” in all or most of its forty-two occurrences in the basic text of the Changes. See the
discussion in Kunst, “Original ‘Yijing,’” 150-59. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 411; and
R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 172, 610-11. The notes to the translated texts for each hexagram and
commentary in Lynn, Classic of Changes, provide many excellent examples of the different
ways Chinese scholars understood individual words and phrases in the basic text and the
Ten Wings.
50. The discussion above is drawn from Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 96-97.
For examples of the extremes to which the analysis of loanwords (jiajie) might be taken,
see Lai Guisan, jiao Xun Diaogu lou, 367ff., esp. 375-77. In the instances cited by Lai, he
justly accuses Iiao Xun of “overreading.”
51. See Riegel, “Textual Note.”
52. See Hay, “Persistent Dragon,” 119-49, esp. 122ff.
53. R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 21.
54. The following discussion of Malinowsl<i’s ideas is drawn primarily from ibid,,
283-85.
55. Malinowski, quoted in ibid., 284.
56. Kunst, “Original ‘Yijing,’ ” discusses these devices at length.
57. The rhyming characters in the top line of Kun involve the last two, xuan huang (dark
and yellow), rather than the first two, long zhan (dragons fighting).
58. On rishu, see Loewe, Divination, Mythology, and Monarchy, 214-35.
59. Shaughnessy’s rendering in “Fuyang Zhou Yi,” 17, slightly modified; cf. Lynn, Classic
of Changes, 313; and R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 111-14 and 524-30.
60. As Shaughnessy points out, a comparison of this line with the parallel nine in
the fifth line of the same hexagram (not found among the Fuyang fragments) “Supplies
further evidence of this literary quality.” See his “Fuyang Zhou Yi,” 17-18.
61. See K. Smith, “Zhouyi Divination”; see also the discussion in Lewis, Writing and
Authority, 241ff. Rutt, Zhouyi, 175-201, provides translations of the Zuozhuan accounts men
tioning the Changes. For an excellent overview of the many Chinese and Japanese sources
on early hexagram interpretation, see Lewis, Writing and Authority, 455n3. Cf. D. Wang, Les
signes et les mutations, chap. 4.
62. CC, 5:614-19 (Zhao, seventh year), slightly modified. Cf. Rutt, Zhouyi, 193-94.
63. It is lil<ely that the divination also revolved around the shared phrase “primary re
ceipt” in the judgments of both the Bi hexagram (8 in the received order), which marked
the line that was selected (i.e., the first one), and the Zhun hexagram (3 in the received
order).
64. See the excellent discussion in Lewis, Writing and Authority, 245ff. Cf. K. Smith,
“Zhouyi Divination.”
65. See Rutt, Zhouyi, 17o-72. Cf. Shaughnessy, “Composition of the Zhouyi,” 88-97.
For a clear Chinese-language discussion of the controversies surrounding milfoil divina
tion, see YjYY,1:135—56.
66. See the discussion in D. Wang, Les signes et les mutations, 67-81.
67. See also Sima Qian’s description of milfoil divination in Loewe, Divination, My
thology, and Monarchy, 184.
68. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 60-62. Ibid., 73 n42, explains: “If each cycle of four opera
tions is defined as a change, then to determine one line requires three such changes. As
there are six lines, it takes eighteen changes to complete one hexagram.”
69. See Gao Heng, Zhouyi gujing tongshuo, 113ff., quoted in Shaughnessy, “Composition
of the Zhouyi,” 88ff., slightly modified. Nielsen, “Qian zuo du, ” provides much useful detail
on ways to view the process of milfoil selection.
7o. See Shaughnessy, “Composition of the Zhouyi,” 83fF.
71. Rutt, Zhouyi, 173-201; K. Smith, “Zhouyi Divination.”
72. CC, 5:163-69 (Xi, fifteenth year). Cf. Rutt, Zhouyi, 179-8o.
73. CC, 5:509-17 (Xiang, twenty-fifth year). Cf. Rutt, Zhouyi, 188-89.
74. CC, 5:568-81 (Zhao, first year). Cf. Rutt, Zhouyi, 190-91; and Lewis, Writing and
Authority, 249.
75. For a more detailed analysis of some of these materials based on recent Chinese
research, see Edward Shaughnessy’s “Wangjiatai Gui Cang,” “Fuyang Zhou Yi,” and esp.
“First Reading.” Cf. Liao Mingchun, Xinchu Chujian shilun; Liao Mingchun and Zhu Yian
qing, Shang[hai] bo[wu]guan; Ma Chengyuan, Shanghai bowuguan; Zhang Iiliang, Zhouyi zhe
xue; Xing, “Origins of Zhouyi Studies”; and idem, “Hexagram Pictures,” which summarize
Xing’S Chinese-language studies of the Changes. Significantly, some quotations attributed
to the Zhouyi in the Zuozhuan do not appear in either the received version of the Changes or
the Mawangdui edition. See, e.g., K. Smith, “Zhouyi Divination,” 428ff.
76. We know that the received version of the Zhouyi was certainly in circulation by
about 3oo BCE. Du Yu (222—84 CE) describes a manuscript version of the Changes found
in the tomb of King Xiang’ai of Wei (r. 318-296 BCE) in 279 that was “exactly the same”
(zhengtong) as the received text. See Shaughnessy, “Fuyang Zhou Yi,” 18n19.
2. From Divinatory Text to “Confucian” Classic

1. For a discussion of the controversy between advocates of the so-called New Text
and Ancient Text schools, see B. Wang, “Study of Ancient and Modern Text Classics”; see
also chapters 3, 7, and 8, below.
2. See, e.g., Deng Qiubo, Boshu Zhouyi jiaoshi; Gao Huaimin, Liang Han Yixue shi; Han
Ziqiang, Fuyang Hanjian Zhouyi yanjiu; Hubei sheng Iingsha tielu kaogu dui, Baoshan Chu
jian; Liu Yujian, Liang Han xiangshu Yixue yanjiu; Qu Wanli, Xian Qin Han Wei; Xing Wen, Boshu
Zhouyi yanjiu; Xu Fuguan, Liang Han sixiang shi; Xu Qinting, Zhouyi koujue yi shuzheng; idem,
Liang Han shiliu jia; and Zhang Tao, Qin Han Yixue. Western-language scholarship on the
period includes Dull, “Historical Introduction”; Fendos, “Fei Chih’s Place”; Goodman,
“Exegetes and Exegesis”; Loewe, Divination, Mythology, and Monarchy; Nielsen, Companion;
idem, “Qian zuo du”; the many writings of Shaughnessy (too numerous to list); D. Wang,
Les signes et les mutations; Xing, “Origins of Zhouyi Studies”; and idem, “Hexagram Pic
tures,” among others. See also my annotated online bibliography at http://wvvvv.aasianst
.org/eaa/smith.htm.
3. See Nylan, Five “Confucian” Classics, esp. 47.
4. Michael Puett’s books, esp. To Become a God, illumine this theme with particular
force and insight. See also the discussion in chapter 3, below.
5. See esp. Xing, “Origins of Zhouyi Studies”; and idem, “Hexagram Pictures.” For a
discussion of the earliest attested received version of the Changes, found along with three
other Yi-related texts in a tomb in 279 CE, see Shaughnessy, “First Reading,” 21-22.
6. For a convenient and insightful summary of Huang—Lao thought, see the intro
duction to Yates, Five Lost Classics. On its Legalist dimensions, see Peerenboom, Law and
Morality. For its connection with the Changes, see Chen Guying, Yizhuan yu Daojia sixiang,
esp. 245-82.
7. For an illuminating discussion of Chinese correlative thinking, see Hall and Ames,
Anticipating China, 111-42. Cf. SCC, 2:279—98. In discussing “Han cosmology” I am Slmpli
fying matters somewhat, since, as Michael Puett’s To Become a God makes abundantly clear,
we cannot speak of a single Han cosmology. But the concepts of yinyang and wuxing were
indispensable to most Chinese cosmological discussions throughout the imperial era.
8. SCC, 2:280-81. Often, as we shall see below in this chapter and in chapter 9, these
correspondences were viewed as effective, not simply as descriptive. That is, the common
assumption was that similar things interacted with each other in patterns of mutual re
sponse (gauging).
9. Li Han’s Xian Qin Liang Han provides a detailed discussion of the evolution and
significance of these concepts in pre-Han and Han times. For roughly equivalent West
ern studies, see Forke, World Conception; and Graham, Yin-Yang. Other useful studies on
Chinese correlative thinking include Henderson, Development and Decline; Hall and Ames,
Thinking from the Han; and the several recent essays in “Reconsidering the Correlative Cos
mology of Ancient China.” Cf. A. Wang, Cosmology and Political Culture.
10. See R. Smith, China’s Cultural Heritage, 4-5. Figures 2.1 and 2.2 are both derived
from ibid., 132-33.
11. Ibid., 133.
12. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 47; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 280.
13. For an interesting discussion of the “interdependent, interpenetrating, and com
plementary” relationship between yin and yang and the two “fundamental modes of exis
tence” discussed in the Yijing (e.g., “changing and becoming,” “unchanging and being”),
see Mou, “Becoming-Being Complementarity.” Cf. Sivin, “Change and Continuity.”
14. From these two systems a pair of derivative ideas developed during the Han: (1)
mutual control (xiangzhi) and (2) mutual transformation (xianghua). In the former system, water
conquers fire, but the process can be controlled by earth, which overcomes water. Simi
larly, fire conquers metal, but the process can be controlled by metal, which overcomes
wood, and so on. In the latter system, water conquers fire, but the situation can be trans
formed by wood, which produces more fire. By the same token, fire conquers metal, but
the situation can be transformed by earth, which generates more metal. For the com
plexity of such systems, see SCC, 2:25 3-61.
15. R. Huang, “Su Shi’s Greatest Works.” Cf. the extended discussion in R. Smith,
Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, chap. 2.
16. W. Chan, Source Book, 280-81, modified.
17. Ibid., 281-82.
18. SCT, 1:338.
19. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 53; cf-R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 298.
2o. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 92; cf. R. Wilhelm, IChing, 351-52.
21. Puett, To Become a God, 298. I do not see as much tension as Puett does between the
notion expressed in the “Great Commentary” that humans need to “replicate the patterns
of the natural world” and Dong Zhongshu’s argument that they need to “cause the natural
to function properly.” It seems to me that the process of harmonizing the political and
social order was more interactive than this rather stark dichotomy suggests.
22. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 51; cf. R. Wilhelm, IChing, 294.
23. On ming, see the many stimulating essays in Lupke, Magnitude of Ming.
24. R. Cook, Classical Chinese Combinatorics, 7-8.
25. See Li Iingchi, Zhouyi tanyuan, 332-37; see also Qu Wanli, Xian Qin Han Wei, 67.
(If. Li Xueqin, Zhouyi jing zhuan suguan, 49-62. Despite the inconclusive evidence, many
contemporary Chinese scholars, as well as a number of Westerners, continue to claim a
strong link between Confucius and the Yijing.
26. For one interesting but controversial analysis of the relationship between the basic
text and later commentaries, see Song Zuoyin, Zhouyi jing zhuan gitong.
27. These translations are based on Lynn, Classic of Changes. Cf. the rather different
renderings by R. Wilhelm, I Ching, discussed on pages lxi-lxii and 255-61. Dai Lianzhang,
Yizhuan zhi xingcheng ji qi sixiang, offers a useful and revealing content analysis of these
texts and their terminology; see also Feng Iiajin, Zhouyi Xici zhuan zhushu. Goodman, “Exe
getes and Exegesis,” 198ff., summarizes the different organizational strategies of the Ten
Wings.
28. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 47-101. Cf. the rather different rendering of the “Great
Commentary” by R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 280-355, based on the ZYZZ (see chapter 8).
29. Some easily accessible Western—language studies of the “Great Commentary” in
clude Peterson, “Making Connections”; Shaughnessy, “Writing of the Xici Zhuan”; Sivin,
“Change and Continuity”; Swanson, “Concept of Change”; and idem, “Great Treatise.”
For a summary of Chinese debates over the philosophical orientation of the Dazhuan,
see Shaughnessy, “Writing of the Xici Zhuan,” 197ff.; and Neo, “Study of the ‘Auxiliary
Texts,’ ” 151. As I have tried to indicate in this book and elsewhere, efforts to identify one
or another text or one or another individual exclusively with one or another philosophical
school creates more interpretive problems than it solves.
3o. Graham discusses the concept of spirit at considerable length in Two Chinese Phi
losophers, 111-18, describing it as “a daemonic power or intelligence which is active within
the operations of heaven and earth and which emanates from the person of the sage.” See
also the many valuable articles in Tu and Tucker, Confucian Spirituality.
31. Cf. the summary in Peterson, “Making Connections.”
32. Quoted in Lynn, Classic of Changes, 84; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 342. See also Lynn,
Classic 0fChanges, 58, 63, 69n7, 85, 91, 99n35, 135, 141n6, 157n5, 237, 24on5, 263, 267-68,
362n8, 463, 498.
33. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 6o; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 310, and Lewis, Writing and Au
thority, 242ff.
34. See Granet, Pensée chinoise, 149ff., 276ff. Cf. Li Kaixuan, Yishu qianshuo, which, de
spite its modest title, provides a thorough discussion of the numerology of the Changes.
35. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 62, slightly modified. Cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 310-11; and
ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 556 (1o8:1a), which states: “With the birth of things there are
images, and with the birth of images there are numbers.” See also Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhe
xue shi, 2:41-45. Angus Graham writes that the Yijing conception of images assumes that
“before things condense and take concrete form (hsing [xing]) they are latent in the rarified
ether [qi] ,” rather like “the images we perceive in reverie or dream.” These images, he goes
on to say, are “not so much represented by, as embodied in, the diagrams [i.e., trigrams
and hexagrams] of the Book of Changes. ” Graham, Two Chinese Philosophers, 19. See also S. Hu,
Development of the Logical Method, 28ff., esp. 36-40.
36. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 60-62, slightly modified. Cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 307-13,
37. For a comprehensive discussion, see DingYidong, Yi xiang yi. Lewis, Writing and Au
thority, 266, refers to images as “schematized forms of real entities.” See also the compre
hensive and evocative essay titled “The Interplay of Image and Concept” in H. Wilhelm,
Heaven, Earth, and Man, 190-221. Cf. Zheng Yantong, Zhouyi tanyuan, secs. 4 and 5, on
images and numbers, respectively.
38. See ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 35 (6:10a-11a). In some contexts, xiang can refer to the
actual graphic representations of things, including the lines, doubled lines, trigrams,
and hexagrams of the Changes. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 2, 17, 47, 49, 50, 56, 62, 65-68,
71n2o, 75-77, 80, 94-95; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 257-60, 263, 287, 290, 292, 300, 304,
321, 324, 327, 329, 336, 344-45. For some additional perspectives on images, all derived
from Chinese sources, see Lewis, Writing and Authority, 242-44, 252-86, esp. 265-66;
K. Smith, “ChengYi’s Commentary,” 111ff. ; Nielsen, Companion, esp. s.v. “Yi Xiang” (308),
“Yao Xiang” (299-300), and “Ba Gua Xiang” (11); Shchutskii, Researches, xxiii-xxvii, 54,
77, 84-87, 119-22, 168; Graham, Two Chinese Philosophers, 19-21; Peterson, “Making Con
nections,” 8off.; K. Smith et al., Sung Dynasty Uses, 255-56; and Y. O. Kim, “Philosophy of
Wang Fu-chih,” 289ff.
39. See K. Smith, “ChengYi’s Commentary,” 112. Cf. the discussion in A. Meyer, “Cor
rect Meaning of the Five Classics,” 110-15. Some Chinese thinkers, such as Shao Yong
(see chapter 5), distinguished between word images, visual images, and number images.
Birdwhistell, Transition to Neo-Confucianism, 78-83.
40. See the remarks of Wang Fuzhi (1619-92) on this complex issue, quoted in Y. O.
Kim, “Philosophy of Wang Pu-chih,” 233. Cf. below, chapter 7, n. 28, on “correct” and
“incorrect” images. A. Meyer, “Correct Meaning of the Five Classics,” 68-71, invokes the
Tang dynasty’s Zhouyi zhengyi (see below, chapter 4) in discussing the distinction between
real hexagram images (zhen xiang), such as “water on Earth” (symbolized by Bi, [8], with
the Kun trigram below and the Kan trigram above), and borrowed images (jia xiang), which
do not represent actual situations or phenomena, such as “Heaven inside the mountain”
(symbolized by Daxu [26], with the Qian trigram below and the Gen trigram above). See
also the discussion of Wang Bi’s approach to images in chapter 4.
41. Quoted in R. Smith, China’s Cultural Heritage, 120. See also ibid., chap. 5, esp. 119
24; and Lewis, Writing and Authority, 242ff. Lewis remarks insightfully in his introduction
that the term xiang linked “trigrams, astral phenomena, and graphs as variants of a com
mon system of signification.” Ibid., 8.
42. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 67; cf. R. Wilhelm, IChing, 322.
43. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 49-50; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 287-88.
44. Cited in R. Smith, China's Cultural Heritage, 168. It should be noted, however, that
the symbolism of Qian is not exclusively virile, active, and creative. For example, the
bottom line of the hexagram counsels inactivity, and the top line suggests the dangers of
being too assertive.
45. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 129I'f., 142ff.; cf. R. Wilhelm, IChing, 370-72, 386-88.
46. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 130, 144, slightly modified; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 373,
289
47. For an example, see Lynn, Classic of Changes, 185, 189n 3.
48. Ibid., 123; cf. R. Wilhelm, IChing, 275.
49. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 123; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 275-76.
50. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 123-24; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 276.
51. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 109, 113, slightly modified; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 647,
652. There are a number of examples of similar juxtapositions in this commentary.
52. Individual lines from Lynn, Classic of Changes, 113-16 passim, modified. R. Wilhelm,
IChing, calls these “Miscellaneous Notes.”
53. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 87-89; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 345-48.
55. By Confucian I mean here a body of core beliefs and practices derived from various
ancient works, including what became known in Han times as the Five Classics (Wujing),
that came to be identified with the historical Confucius. These beliefs and practices fo
cused on veneration for ancestors, esteem of past moral exemplars, and specific social
virtues, including devotion to parents and elders (xiao, often translated as “filial piety”),
ritually correct behavior (ii), humaneness (ren), loyalty (zhong), and empathy or reciprocity
(shu). For a clear and convenient overview of Confucianism, see Yao, Introduction to Confu
cianism; for the problematics of the term, see Chow et al., Imagining. For discussions of
the Daoist elements of the Changes, see Chen Guying, Yizhuan gu Daojia sixiang; Zhan Shi
chuang, Yixue yu Daojiaofuhaojiemi; and idem, Yixue yu Daojiao sixiang guanxi yanjiu.
56. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 130, slightly modified. CE R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 375-79.
Note the almost identical moralistic judgment applied to these same four characters by
Mu Iiang in the Zuozhuan, CC, 5:437, 439-40.
57. During the Han period there were a number of different ways of considering these
trigram relationships. See chapter 3.
58. Significantly, this arrangement differs from the logic of the “Discussion of the
Trigrams” itself, in which the pairings are the same but the positions differ. It also differs
from the trigram order in the Mawangdui manuscript. See the analysis in Nielsen, “Qian
zuo du,” 89fE, esp. 96-98,113.
59. See Shao Yong cited by Zhu Xi in Zhouyi benyi, 8, 417ff.
60. For a full discussion of the various configurations of the trigrams in Han times,
see Y_]jC, 1:165-82; cf. Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,” 89ff. For other Yi-related configurations that
bore these names, see ibid., 107-10, 263-68.
61. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 132-33; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 373-74.
63. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 256, slightly modified; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 483.
64. Zhonghua Yixue yuekan she, Lian Gui Zhou San Yi, 301fF., reprints Ma Gu0han’s
work on the Lianshan, as well as Hong Yixuan’s work on the Guicang.
65. See Nielsen, Companion, 153, on the Lianshan, and 95-96, on the Guicang (a.k.a,
Guizang). Huan reported that the Lianshan contained about 80,000 words, and the Guicang
about 4,300.
66. See Lin Zhongjun, “Wangjiatai”; see also Cook, “Myth and Fragments.” It is quite
possible that the text known as the Yiyao yinyang gua (Yinyang Hexagrams in the Lines of
the Changes)—disc0vered in 279 CE along with several other Yi-related documents that
were also subsequently lost—may have been a version of the Guicang. See Shaughnessy,
“First Reading,” 21-22, 22n24.
67. For comparisons of these hexagram names with those of the received text of the
Zhou Yi (as well as other versions of the Changes), see the chart in Lin Zhongjun, “Wangjia
tai”; see also Shaughnessy, I Ching, 28-29fl".
68. For details, see Han Ziqiang, Fuyang Hanjian Zhouyi yanjiu; and Shaughnessy, “Fu
yang Zhou Yi. ”
69. For an extended discussion of variations, see Han Ziqiang, Fuyang Hanjian Zhouyi
yanjiu, 100-148.
70. See Loewe, Divination, Mythology, and Monarchy, 160-90, 214-35.
71. The translations from the Fuyang manuscript are from Shaughnessy, “Fuyang Zhou
Yi,” 4 and 7, respectively, with minor modifications. For the conventional judgment of
hexagram 14 and the third line statement of 13, see Lynn, Classic of Changes, 223 and 218,
respectively; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 457-58, 454.
72. Shaughnessy, “Fuyang Zhou Yi,” 11-12.
73. See Xing, “Hexagram Pictures,” 576-77, 590-91.
74. See Shaughnessy, “First Reading”; Xing, “Hexagram Pictures”; and Liao Ming
chun and Zhu Yuanqing, Shang [hai] bo[wu]guan, esp. the initial remarks by Ma Chengyuan.
An important Web site devoted to various bamboo and silk manuscripts, including the
Shanghai Museum version of the Changes, is http://www.jianb0.org/.
75. See Shaughnessy, “First Reading,” 17ff.; cf. Ma Chengyuan, Shanghai bowuguan,
3:25 9-60.
76. The two best Western-language comparisons of the Mawangdui version and the
received version of the Changes are Shaughnessy, I Ching; and D. Wang, Les signes et les mu
tations. There are naturally differences in these two comparative studies, but they share
much common ground.
77. See Shaughnessy, I Ching, 17. Roger Ames and Wen Xing suggested in an e-mail
message of July 25, 2003, that Iian, “Key,” should be read as the cognate Iian, “Vigor,”,
which corresponds more closely to the yang attributes traditionally associated with the
Qian hexagram (no. 1 in the received version). Taken together, these two readings remind
us that Iian can, and perhaps should, be understood in terms of both the organ of virility
and its application.
78. The translations of the Mawangdui and received—text hexagram names are from
ghaughnessy, I Ching, and Lynn, Classic of Changes, respectively. Cf. D. Wang, Les signes et les
mutations, 187-313; and R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 3-252.
79. For a thorough discussion of variants in the Changes, see Wu Xinchu, Zhouyi yiwen
jiaozheng; cf. Xu Qinting, Zhouyi giwen kao, which does not include the Mawangdui vari
ants.
80. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 505; Shaughnessy, I Ching, 151; D. Wang, Les signes et les
mutations, 299; and R. Wilhelm, IChing, 220-23, 679-84.
81. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 438-43; Shaughnessy, I Ching, 84-85; D. Wang, Les signes
et les mutations, 280-81; and R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 185-88, 629-34.
82. Cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 187. According to Wilhelm, “The phrase, ‘At the wellhole
one shoots fishes,’ here translated in accordance with the old commentaries, was later
also interpreted to mean: ‘The water of the Wellspring bubbles only for fishes’ ” (ibid.,
632).
83. Shaughnessy, I Ching, 67. Cf. R. Wilhelm, IChing, 107-11, 519-24, esp. 110 and 523.
The latter work refers to spying with sharp eyes, like a tiger “with insatiable craving.”
84. Shaughnessy, I Ching, 187-211.
85. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 54; Shaughnessy, I Ching, 193. Cf. R. Wilhelm, IChing, 301.
86. Significantly, nowhere in the Mawangdui version of the Changes do we find a dis
cussion that corresponds to the “Great Expansion” (Dayan) section of the received “Great
Commentary,” which explains at length the numerical symbolism of milfoil divination.
87. Some scholars have identified Daoist overtones in the Ten Wings as well. See, e.g.,
Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1:158ff.; and Neo, “Study of the ‘Auxiliary Texts,’ ” 144ff. For
a much more complete discussion, see Chen Guying, Yizhuan yu Daojia sixiang.
88. Shaughnessy, IChing, 215-21, modified.
89. Ibid., 243, slightly modified.
90. Ibid., 241, slightly modified.
91. Ibid., 241-42, slightly modified.
92. Ibid., 169-85.
93. Ibid., 171. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 149-50; and R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 15 and esp.
392-97
94. Shaughnessy, I Ching, 275-76, slightly modified. For the line references, see ibid.,
111, 75, 105. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 179, 187, 209; and R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 422-23,
419, 445
95. Xing, “Hexagram Pictures,” esp. 599-600. See also idem, “Origins of Zhouyi
Studies.”
3. Han Dynasty Approaches to the Yijing

1. See R. Smith, China's Cultural Heritage, 32.
2. Ibid.
3. See chapter 7. See also Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiko, 138-69, 225-75,
and esp. 693-730; and Aque, “Pi Xirui andjingshi lishi,” 189-21o, 29o-93, 422-44, 560
71, 746-47, 789, 794-99. 894-13. 844, 893-94, 936, 933-35
4. I discuss much of this literature in R. Smith, “Divination in Late Imperial China.”
See also the sources cited in chapter 2, n. 2. For some useful overviews of the Changes that
give substantial attention to the Han, see Chen Guying and Zhao Iianwei, Zhouy zhushi
yu yanjiu; Liao Mingchun, Kang Xuewei, and Liang Wexian, Zhouyi yanjiu shi; Lin Hanshi,
Yijing zhuan zhuan; Shang Guojun, Zhongguo Yixue shihua; Tang Mingbang and Wang Xuequn,
Yixue yu Changjiang wenhua; Tang Mingbang et al., Zhouyi zongheng lu; Toda Toyosaburo,
Ekikyo chushaku shiko; Wu Haizu, Yixue yu shixue; Wu Lin, Yigua; Xu Qinting, Yitu yuanliu;
idem, Yijing yanjiu; Zhang Qicheng, Xiangshu Yixue; ZhangTao, Qin Han Yixue; Zheng Iixiong,
Yi tuxiang yu Yi quanshi; Zhong Qilu, Yijing yanjiu zhuanlun; and Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi.
Pan Yuting’s Du Yi tigao and Zhang Shanwen’s Lidai Yijia yu Yixue yaoji provide convenient
summaries of major works on the Yijing for every period from the Han into the twentieth
century.
5. During the nineteenth century, great debates raged between exponents of one or
another tradition (see chapters 7 and 8), but these arguments were often motivated more
by politics than by philology. For details, see Elman, From Philosophy to Philology, 22fE
6. For additional details, see B. Wang, “Study of Ancient and Modern Text Classics,”
58-81; see also Nylan, Five “Confucian” Classics, 42-45. For sophisticated discussions in
Chinese, see the works by Qian Mu and Xu Fuguan cited in Tsai, “Ching and Chuan,” 19.
7. See also the illuminating materials on Han (and later) Yijing scholars in works
such as Pan Yuting, Du Yi tiyao; Zhang Shanwen, Lidai Yijia gu Yixue yaoji; Huang Shouqi and
Zhang Shanwen, Yixue qunshu pingyi; and Huang Shouqi and Zhang Shanwen, Zhouyi yanjiu
lunwen ji. In English, see esp. Goodman, “Exegetes and Exegesis.”
8. Basically, the exegetical tradition associated with Meng, Shi, and Liangqiu came to
be identified with the New Text school, while the tradition associated with Pei Zhi came
to be identified with the Ancient Text school. See B. Wang, “Study of Ancient and Modern
Text Classics,” 59.
9. In some traditions, an older Iing Fang is supposed to have been the teacher of
Liangqiu He. For discussions of works attributed to Iing Fang the younger and Iiao Yan
shou, see ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 562-63 (1o9:13a—18a).
10. For an excellent introduction to the personalities and problems of Yijing scholar
ship in the Han, see Gao Huaimin, Liang Han Yixue shi; see also the useful summaries in
Pan Yuting, Du Yi tiyao, 1-40. For similar information in English, see Fendos, “Fei Chih’s
Place”; Goodman, “Exegetes and Exegesis”; and the relevant names, books, and concepts
organized alphabetically (according to pinyin transliteration) in Nielsen, Companion.
11. ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 13 (1:2b-3a)..
12. See Zhang Qicheng, Xiangshu Yixue, foreword (qianyan) and 72-86. Zhang’s book
provides the most balanced general discussion of the school of images and numbers.
See also Liu Dajun, Xiangshu Yixue yanjiu; Liu Yujian, Liang Han xiangshu Yixue yanjiu; and Li
Zhongjun, Xiangshu Yixuefazhan shi. Goodman and Grafton, “Ricci,” 124, discuss various
translations for the terms xiangshu and yili.
Notes to Pages 6o-62 279
13. In the introduction to their “Arts of Calculation” section the editors of the Four
Treasuries state that numbers permit us to investigate “the origins of the natural world”
(zaohua zhi yuan). ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 5 5 6n (1o8:1a). For excellent examples of the power
of numbers in Chinese culture, see Granet, Pense'e chinoise, chap. 3; and Li Kaixuan, Yishu
qianshuo.
14. Some scholars made further divisions, of course. For example, DingYidong (fl. ca.
1280) treated images and numbers as two distinct lines of historical transmission. See
his Yi xiang yi, shang, 1a-3b. For a comparative study of the xiangshu and yili traditions, see
Wu Lin, Yigua.
15. It was also a period of painstaking textual scholarship, described by the editors of
the Four Treasuries as “solid” and “rigorous” but too “rigid.” See ZMTY, jingbu, zongxu, 13
(1:1a).
16. As we shall see, the reviews of Yi-related works in the “Classics” and “The Arts of
Calculation” sections of the ZMTY make this point abundantly clear. See also n. 14 above
and the discussions in R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 94-95, and idem, “Jesuits
and Evidential Research.”
17. Regional identifications and personal networks of intellectual affiliation were
often extraordinarily important in Yijing exegesis. For some excellent illustrations from
the Han, see Goodman, “Exegetes and Exegesis,” esp. 2-153. For a few of many examples
from later periods, see Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics; K. Smith et al., Sung Dynasty Uses; and
Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, esp. 3: 3 36-514. See also n. 19 below.
18. Goodman’s work in “Exegetes and Exegesis” is exemplary in this respect, as is
Hon’s in Yijing and Chinese Politics.
19. See Tang Mingbang and Wang Xuequn, Yixue yu Changjiang wenhua, 256-405. El
man, Classicism, Politics, and Kinship, esp. 118-44, provides an excellent example of a local,
academy-oriented network of Changes scholarship in Changzhou.
2o. As one of any number of such examples, see the case of the Ming official Xue Xuan
(1389-1464), who was unjustly imprisoned and condemned to death. While in prison,
Xue “read the Book of Changes without stopping.” Ching, Records of Ming Scholars, 91-93. The
“Great Commentary” suggests that the Yijing itself arose out of a crisis situation: “The rise
of the Changes, was it not just at the end of the Yin [Shang] era when the virtue of the Zhou
had begun to flourish, just at the time when the incident [i.e., contention] between King
Wen and King Zhou was taking place? This is why King Wen’s phrases [i.e., the hexagram
judgments] are concerned with danger.” Lynn, Classic of Changes, 93; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching,
351-53
21. For a concise argument of this sort, see Ho, Chinese Mathematical Astrology, 1-10, esp.
8-9; cf. R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 267-68, 283-85. See also the discussion
in chapters 5 and 9 below.
22. R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, chap. 2. See also Ho, Chinese Mathematical As
trology, esp. 30-33. Cf. the extraordinarily detailed discussion of calendrical calculations
in Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,” 116fE
23. See R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 49-91. See also SCT, 1:242fE
24. It should be noted that controversies surround virtually all such attributions; this
is a realm of extensive scholarship and debate thatI touch upon only occasionally in this
book. Nielsen, Companion, devotes considerable space to a discussion of these controver
sies. See also Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1:113- 58, and the relevant biographies in Loewe,
Biographical Dictionary.
25. The term guabian has been used in many different ways by different exponents of
the Yijing, but basically it refers to how hexagrams reflect the course of change by the way
their lines alternate to produce new hexagrams. See Nielsen, Companion, 74.
26. Fung, History of Chinese Philosophy, 2:11off., slightly modified.
27. Ibid., 2:110, slightly modified.
28. Ibid., 2:111, slightly modified.
29. For the complete system, see ibid., 2:114-18; cf. Nielsen, Companion, 75-8o.
3o. Qu Wanli hypothesizes in Xian Qin Han Wei, 93-94, that this system operated as a
kind of horoscopic almanac by which individuals could calculate auspicious and inauspi
cious activities for a given period.
31. This scale seems to have been the same as that of Pythagoras. Fung, History of
Chinese Philosophy, 2:13-14, esp. n. 14; cf. Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,” 138ff. For details on the
nayin system, see R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 55.
32. Fung, History of Chinese Philosophy, 2:118-19, slightly modified; cf. Zhai Tingpu,
Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 260-86, esp. 275-76. See also Nielsen, Companion, 184. Fung
points out that “bell” is used here to connote “acting upon” (dong).
33. There was an older ling Fang, also associated with the Yijing and said to be the
teacher of Liangqiu He. See the biographies of both men in Loewe, Biographical Dictionary,
199-200; see also Goodman, “Exegetes and Exegesis,” 168ff., 194, 202, 2o9ff.
34. A famous work attributed to ling Fang—]ing Fang Yizhuan (ling Pang’s Commen
tary on the Changes) —is cited more than sixty times in the “Five Agents Treatise” of the
History of the [Early] Han Dynasty. A review of this Work by ling can be found in ZMTY, Zibu,
Shushu, 562-63 (1o9:16b-18a). See also chapter 8.
35. Nielsen, Companion, 18, 274-76. The terms xiao and xi refer respectively to the
waning and waxing of yin and yang.
36. The Yizhuan is the only one of these works that was extant by Qing times. See the
long review in ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu, 562-63 (1o9:16b—18a). The editors of the Four Trea
suries trace the origins of various coin-tossing methods of Yijing divination, including
the techniques known as Huozhulin and Yuanbao, to the Yizhuan. Ibid.; see also ZMTY, Zibu,
Shushu lei, 557 (1o8:4b-5a).
37. Significantly, the Qing scholar Hui Pannong (fl. ca. 1720) observed in his Yishuo
(On the Changes) that Han guabian techniques such as guaqi, shengjiang, yaochen, and najia
discussed later in this chapter-were all different, but their goals were the same, and
thus they should all be preserved and studied. See Toda Toyosaburo, Ekilcyo chflshaku shiko,
706.
38. Nielsen, Companion, 7-8, 180-83.
39. See ibid., 180-84.
4o. See R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 55; cf. Nielsen, Companion, 184.
41. Nielsen, Companion, 1-6, 59-62. For some Well-informed and fascinating specu
lation on the relationship between the bagong system and the hexagram sequence of the
Mawangdui manuscript, see Dajun Liu, “Preliminary Investigation.”
42. Nielsen, Companion, 1-6, 59-62; cf. Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1:127-3 3.
43. For illustrative charts, see Nielsen, Companion, 1-6, 59-62, 85-92, 196; see also
Fendos, “Fei Chih’s Place,” 356-57.
44. For details on feifu relationships, see Nielsen, Companion, 59-62.
45. See ibid., 111-14.
46. For a thorough discussion of the notion of line positions, see ibid., 294-99.
47. For instance, with respect to line 2 of Lin (“Overseeing” [19]) the “Small Image
Commentary” indicates that the second gang line of the hexagram provokes the fifth yin
line to respond. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 256; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 483.
48. See R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 356-65, for a useful summary of these processes. The
notion of correct line positions seems to have originated in the “Commentary on the
Images” (Xiangzhuan), of the Ten Wings.
49. Nielsen, Companion, 111-14. Later Han scholars, including Zheng Xuan, Xun
Shuang, and Yu Fan, employed this system extensively (see below). On Lu Ii, see Good
man, “Exegetes and Exegesis,” 291ff.
5o. For some examples of Iing Fang’s exegetical methods, see A. Meyer, “Correct
Meaning of the Five Classics,” 44-48.
51. ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 562 (1o9:16b-18a), describes in considerable detail previous
scholarship on the Yilin, asserting categorically that ]ia0’s scholarship does not follow
Meng Xi’s. According to the remnants of a work titled jiaoshi Yilin zazhi (Miscellaneous
Notes on The Forest of Changes of Mr. Iiao), generally attributed to Fei Zhi, a complete book
with the title jiaoshi Yilin already existed in early Han times. This book, based on yin
yang calculations, reportedly reflected an understanding of the Yijing that only Iiao could
appreciate. A convenient copy of the jiaoshi Yilin can be found in SKQS, Zibu, Shushu lei,
8o8:269-438; and Y]jC, vols. 151-52. See also the preface to Ding Yan’s (1794-1875) Yilin
shiwen (Explanation of the Text of the Forest of Changes), in Y]]C, 164:1a- 3a.
52. Shang Binghe,]iaoshi Yigu, 48ff. Nielsen, Companion, 13, attributes the banxiang sys
tem to Yu Fan.
53. There is some debate over whether Iiao Yanshou’s system is based on 360 days or
364. See N eo, “Study of the ‘AuxiliaryTexts,’ ” 25 7n 34. Qian Shiming’s Yilin tongshuo offers
a comprehensive analysis of the structure, function, and significance of ]iao’s work.
54. Quoted in Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 15. I have modified Schulz’s translation to con
form more closely with SKQS, 808: 370. For details on the use of the Forest of Changes as a
divinatory instrument, see Iiao Yanshou, jiaoshi Yilin, Yilin shiyi, 1-7.
55. ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 556-57 (1o8:2a—4a).
56. See the excellent overview in Sivin and Nylan, “First Neo-Confucianism”; see
also the introduction to Nylan, Elemental Changes. Cf. H. Wilhelm, Heaven, Earth, and Man,
126-49.
57. Xu Fuguan suggests in Liang Han sixiang shi, 2: 3 38ff., that the Mystery may well have
been inspired by the calendrical systems of Meng Xi and Iing Fang. As Sivin and Nylan
point out in “First N eo-Confucianism,” 2 3-24, however, Yang’s calendrics were far more
systematic and unproblematic than those of Meng and Iing. Cf. Ziporyn, “Space, Time.”
58. Note that Yang Xiong privileges the uneven series 3, 9, 27, 81 over the Yijing’s even
series, 2, 4, 8,16, 32, 64.
59. Significantly, some Shang dynasty oracle bones have inscriptions that look exactly
like tetragrams. See, e.g., the discussion in Walters, T’ai-hsiian ching, 10-12. Walters also
discusses other texts that resonate with the Mystery, including the Lingqi jing (Classic of
Spiritual Chess Pieces) and the “Magic Tablet of Eighty-One Squares.” See the translation
of the Lingqi jing by Sawyer and Lee, Ling Ch’i Ching; and Walters, T’ai-hsiian ching, 12-15.
6o. Ziporyn, “Space, Time,” esp. 5, 12-13.
61. Ibid., 8-9. In this discussion and the discussion that follows, I use Nylan’s excel
lent translations but not her transliterations, which are based on the Wade-Giles system.
I have modified the text slightly after consulting the original.
62. For a fascinating discussion of the complex mathematical structure of the Mystery,
see Sivin and Nylan, “First Neo-Confucianism,” 16ff., 26ff.
6 3. In divination, appraisals allowed for even more flexibility than hexagram line
statements, in part because appraisals differed according to the time of day when they
were consulted. Consultations were also contingent on sincerity (cheng) and single
minded concentration (jing), which Yang believed to be crucial to a successful divination.
For an illuminating discussion of the divinatory process, see Sivin and Nylan, “First N eo
Confucianism,” 19ff.
64. See the comparisons in ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 5 56-57 (1o8:2a—4a).
65. For example, what is the meaning of “Yellow Palace”? N ylan hypothesizes that the
term refers to “the shadowy underground rea1m” and also to the “phase” (agent) earth. As
with the Yijing, different editions of the Mystery organize these commentaries in different
ways, but most of them pair the “fathomings” with the appraisals, as does Nylan.
66. See the comparisons in ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 556-57 (1o8:2a—4a).
67. One of the most prominent of these was the great Song scholar Sima Guang
(1019-86). See Sivin and Nylan, “First Neo-Confucianism,” 6-8, 25-26.
68. Ibid.,” 1o.
69. For overviews of this literature in English, see Dull, “Historical Introduction”;
Neo, “Study of the ‘Auxiliary Texts”’; and Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,” esp. 17ff. A complete
collection of extant weishu can be found in Yasui Kozan and Nakamura Shohachi, Weishu
jicheng.
7o. See Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,” 17ff. .5
71. Dull, “Historical Introduction,” esp. 318ff., discusses the political use of the apoc
rypha in great detail. Neo, “Study of the ‘Auxiliary Texts,”’ esp. 1-75, emphasizes the
diversity and controversial status of the texts known generically as chenwei or weishu.
72. For instance, every major encyclopedia in imperial China included weishu as part
of its documentation. See Dull, “Historical Introduction,” 264.
73. According to Xu Xingwu (cited in N eo, “Study of the ‘Auxiliary Texts,’ ” 95-97), the
Song neo-Confucians were primarily responsible for the preservation of the Yiwei.
74. On Zheng’s role as a commentator on all of the Yiwei texts, see N eo, “Study of the
‘Auxiliary Texts,’ ” 87-88. Neo’s “Study,” Dull’s “Historical Introduction,” and Nielsen’s
“Qian zuo du” offer the most complete discussions of the eight Yi apocrypha (Yiwei bazhong)
in English. Much of the following discussion is based on these studies.
75. See Dull, “Historical Introduction,” 228, 230, 235, 246n46, 261, 313, 315, 483-84.
See also Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,” 98fE; and Neo, “Study of the ‘Auxiliary Texts,’ ” 32-34, 40,
41, 44> 47> 73
76. See Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 445-71; and Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 2:8—45. Cf.
Henderson, Development and Decline, 82-86, 125-26, 156, 218-24.
77. See Neo, “Study of the ‘Auxiliary Texts,”’ 99fI"., esp. 103-19, which summarizes
the content of Zhang Huiyan’s nineteen categories; see also Nielsen, Companion, 75-80,
161-62.
78. The work is also known as the Yi Qian zao du and the Zhouyi Qian zao du. See the ap
pendix to ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 41-42 (6:57a-b). For some other translations of the title of
this work, see Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,” 1; idem, Companion, 304; N eo, “Study of the ‘Auxiliary
Texts,’ ” 80; and Fung, History of Chinese Philosophy, 2:97n1. The other seven Yiwei texts are
the jilan tu (Consultation Charts), the Tonggua yan (Comprehensive Examination of the
Hexagrams), the Bianzhong bei (Explaining the Completeness), the Shilei mou (Classified
Deliberations), the Kunling tu (Spirit Diagram of Kun), the Qian Kun zao du (Opening Up
the Regularities of Qian and Kun), and the Qian yuan xuzhiji (Record of the Original Order
and Regulations of Qian). See the discussions of these works in the appendix to ZMTY,
jingbu, Yilei, 41ff. (6:53bfi'.); and Nielsen, Companion, 307, 305, 23, 210, 143, 191-92, and
192, respectively. See also Neo, “Study of the ‘Auxiliary Texts,’ ” 77fF.
79. The standard English translation of the Bohu tong is Tjan, Po Hu T’un_g.
80. Cf. the appendix to ZMTY,jin_gbu, Yilei, 41 (6:57a-b), and ibid. 6:5 3b-55a. For con
venient discussions of the other Yiwei texts, see Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,” 24ff.; and Neo,
“Study of the ‘Auxiliary Texts.’ ”
81. Neo, “Study of the ‘AuxiliaryTexts,”’ 334fF.
82. Quoted in Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,” 28. Cf. ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 37 (6:26a-28a), 41-42
(6:57a-b).
83. Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,” devotes a whole chapter to a discussion of the concept Yi.
For these three usages, see ibid., 42fE
84. This description of the Qian zao du is drawn primarily from Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,”
27fF. Cf. Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1:163ff.
85. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 66, slightly modified; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 320-21.
86. Henderson, Development and Decline, 84-86; Nielsen, Companion, 103-5, 169-71,
236-37.
87. Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,” 102, modified.
88. Ibid., 102-4. I have modified this translation to fit the terminology of my transla
tion of the Qian zao clu above.
89. See Ho, Chinese Mathematical Astrology, esp. 19fF. See also L. Li, “Archaeological
Study,” esp. 11-12, 2ofF.; Kalinowsl<i, “Xingde Texts”; and V. Xiong, “Ritual Innovations,”
esp. 27 3ff. For a complete study of the Baoshan divination texts, see Hubei sheng Iingsl-13
tielu kaogu dui, Baoshan Chujian.
90. Han Ziqiang, Fugang Hanjian Zhougi yanjiu, 91fF. See also Kalinowski, “Xingde
Texts”; V. Xiong, “Ritual Innovations,” esp. 273fl?.; and Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 445_
50.
91. Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,” 157-58, modified.
92. See ibid. For Wang Bi’s commentaries on the fifth-position line statements for
Guai and Bo, respectively, see Lynn, Classic of Changes, 408 and 283; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching,
606-7 and 503.
93. Goodman, “Exegetes and Exegesis,” provides a thorough discussion of this period
and these individuals. See also Hon, “Hexagrams and Politics,” esp. 3-13; and A. Meyer,
“Correct Meaning of the Five Classics,” 41-48, 71-123.
94. Another important figure during this period was Lu Ii, mentioned in passing
above. Lu was a renowned astronomer and mathematician who wrote commentaries not
only on the Yijing but also on Yang Xiong’s Taixuan jing. Goodman, “Exegetes and Exege
sis,” 291ff. See also Nielsen, Companion, 166-67; and ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 14 (1:8a-9a).
95. Cf. n. 3 above. For an appreciation of Zheng’s commentaries on the part of the
editors of the Four Treasuries, see ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 13-14 (1:5b-7a).
96. For Zheng’s preoccupation with ritual, see Hu Zifeng, Zhouyi Zhengshi xue, esp.
214ff.
97. Hu Zifeng, Zhouyi Zhengshi xue, provides a comprehensive description of Zheng’s
approach to the Changes. See also the evaluations in ZMTY,jin_gbu, Yilei, 13 (1:5b-7a), 13-14
(1:7b-8a), and 24 (3:45a-46b).
98. See Wagner, Craft of a Chinese Commentator, 42ff. For some examples of Zheng’s gen
eral interpretive approach, see A. Meyer, “Correct Meaning of the Five Classics,” 83-86,
104-14 passim.
99. My translation generally follows Lynn, Classic of Changes, 44n 39.
100. Hu Zifeng, Zhouyi Zhengshi xue, 99-108. Cf. Nielsen, Companion, 290-93; and Good
man, “Exegetes and Exegesis,” 183fF.
101. Hu Zifeng, Zhouyi Zhengshi xue, 109-21; cf. Fendos, “Fei Chih’s Place,” 431ff.
102. For a thorough discussion of the concept of change in the Yijing, see Sivin, “Change
and Continuity”; cf. Swanson, “Concept of Change.”
103. Hu Zifeng, Zhouyi Zhengshi xue, 1-6, 198ff. See also Goodman, “Exegetes and Exe
gesis,” 183ff.; and A. Meyer, “Correct Meaning of the Five Classics,” 114-18.
104. Hon, “Hexagrams and Politics,” 5-6, slightly modified. CE Lynn, Classic of Changes,
444-51; and R. Wilhelm, IChing, 189-92, 635-40.
105. For another, far more complicated illustration of Zheng’s exegetical approach,
involving his effort to show how hexagram 50 (Ding, “The Cauldron”) teaches “the moral
duty of a sagely ruler,” see Hon, “Hexagrams and Politics,” 12-13.
106. See ]]ZS; and Lin Hanshi, Yijing zhuan zhuan. For a succinct contemporary evalua
tion of Xun, see Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1:204-10; cf. Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 236ff.
107. Cf. Nielsen, Companion, 299-300.
108. jjZS, 344-45. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 358; and R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 566-67. I
have been guided in my translation of this passage by Chen, “Confucian Magnate’s Idea,”
85-86.
109. jjZS, 263. Cf. K. Smith, “Cheng Yi’s Commentary,” 28. For the full “Commentary
on the Judgments,” see Lynn, Classic of Changes, 285-86; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 505-6.
110. ]]ZS, 267. Cf. K. Smith, “ChengYi’s Commentary,” 28. For the line statements, see
Lynn, Classic of Changes, 289-90; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 506-9.
111. The complexity of Xun’s system is such that movement takes place in a variety of
circumstances and general rules are difficult to identify. For a sense of this complexity,
see Nielsen, Companion, 204-7; cf Fang, Chinese Philosophy, 86-88.
112. Chen, “Confucian Magnate’s Idea,” 86ff., offers a systematic comparison of the
two exegetes. See also the valuable comparisons and examples offered by Goodman in
“Exegetes and Exegesis,” 2o2ff., esp. 219-36.
113. ]]ZS, 3 55. Cf. Chen, “Confucian Magnate’s Idea,” 89. For the judgment, see Lynn,
Classic of Changes, 368; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 574-75. Zheng’s reading of the Kui hexa
gram is also informed by an analysis of the tendencies of its constituent trigrams.
114. ]]ZS, 355. Cf. Chen, “Confucian Magnate’s Idea,” 90.
115. See the illuminating discussion in Chen, “Confucian Magnate’s Idea,” 90f-f. See
als0]]ZS, 194, 198.
116. Wang Xinchun’s Zhouyi Yushi xue offers a full discussion of Yu’s life, ideas, and the
texts of his commentaries on the Changes. See also Tang Mingbang and Wang Xuequn,
Yixue yu Changjiang wenhua, 50-63; Nielsen, Companion, 185-88, 207, 308, 315-17; and
Chen, “Confucian Magnate’s Idea.”
117. See Wang Xinchun, Zhougi Yushi xue, 149-58; cf. Nielsen, Companion, 308.
118. For Yu’s commentaries, see _I]ZS, 75 and 494, respectively. For the phrase taken
from the “Commentary on the Judgment” regarding Kun (2), see Lynn, Classic of Changes,
143; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 386-88. Liu Yujian, Liang Han xiangshu Yixue yanjiu, 819ff., gives
a number of examples of other words related to thunder (and response) associated with the
Zhen trigram, including sound, echo, and to drum up.
119. See Nielsen, Companion, 308; and Liu Yujian, Liang Han xiangshu Yixue yanjiu, 739.
For examples of how Yu Fan’s lost images found their way into commentaries on the
“Discussion of the Trigrams,” see Zhu Xi, Zhouyi benyi, 424ff.
120. Other terms for this sort of transformed hexagram include fangua, fanfu gua, and
eventually zonggua. See Nielsen, Companion, 57-58.
121. For an overview, see ibid., 185-88. See also Hon, “Hexagrams and Politics,” esp.
4-13; and Xu Qinting, Yijing ganjiu, 427ff.
122. Hon, “Hexagrams and Politics,” 4-13.
123. ]]ZS, 494. For the most part I have followed Shaughnessy, “Commentary, Philoso
phy, and Translation,” 225-26, in this translation. For the text of the Yijing itself, I have
modified Lynn, Classic of Changes, 498 (Lii) and 342 (Dun); cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 678_79
and 552-53.
124. Shaughnessy, “Commentary, Philosophy, and Translation,” 225-26, provides
footnotes explaining most of the exegetical techniques involved in this passage.
125. See ibid., 227. I have altered Shaughnessy’s translation slightly after consulting
Qu Wanli, Xian Qin Han Wei, 129.
4. The Six Dynasties through the Tang

1. ZMTY, jingbu, zongxu, 13 (1:1a). For some general histories of the Changes that give
substantial attention to the Six Dynasties period, see chapter 3, n. 4. Pan Yuting’s Du Yi
tiyao and Zhang Shanwen’s Lidai Yijia yu Yixue yaoji are especially helpful, providing con
venient summaries of major works on the Yijing for every period from the Han into the
twentieth century.
2. A. Meyer, “Correct Meaning of the Five Classics,” 10-28. For some excellentworks
on literati culture in the Six Dynasties period, see Qian, Spirit and Self in Medieval China;
Mather, Shih-shuo Hsin-yii; Holcombe, In the Shadow of the Han; Knechtges, Court Culture; and
Cai, Chinese Literary Mind. In Chinese, see Yu Dunkang, Weijin xuanxue shi; and idem, He Yan
Wang Bi.
3. A. Meyer, “Correct Meaning of the Five Classics,” 37.
4. In the view of the Four Treasuries editors, the elimination of Han learning from
Yijing studies by Wang had extremely negative consequences. See, e.g., ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei,
13-14 (1:5b-8a), 25 (3:48b—5ob).
5. See the excellent analysis of Wang’s Yi-related exegesis and its influence in Hon,
“Hexagrams and Politics.” See also idem, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 33-48. Wagner’s two
major works on Wang Bi, Craft of a Chinese Commentator and Language, Ontology, and Political
Philosophy in China, place Wang’s ideas in a larger interpretive framework.
6. See ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 14 (1:9a-11a). See also Nielsen, “Qian zuo du,” 11.
7. For a convenient discussion of the ways different Han scholars manipulated the
basic text and the Ten Wings, see T’ang, “Wang Pi’s New Interpretation,” esp. 13 5ff.
8. See Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1:245-97 and esp. 316ff.
9. See, e.g., Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo Fojiao yu Zhouyi; and Zhan Shichuang, Yixue
yu Daojiao sixiang; see also chapters 5-7 and 9 below. Nickerson, “Shamans, Demons,
Diviners, and Taoists,” discusses how Daoism appropriated various forms of Chinese
divination.
1o. Chen Liangyun, Zhouyi yu Zhongguo wenxue, esp. 290-311.
11. For some general studies of the Changes that give substantial attention to the Sui
and Tang periods, see chapter 3, n. 4. See esp. the convenient reviews in Pan Yuting’s Du
Yi tiyao and Zhang Shanwen’s Lidai Yijia yu Yixue yaoji.
12. The literature on the political, social, and intellectual implications of the exami
nation system is vast. See Elman, Cultural History.
13. A. Meyer, “Correct Meaning of the Five Classics,” 36, notes, for example: “A survey
of the prose writings of Tang literati will show that many of the allusions and classical
citations they employ most consistently derive from one source: The Yi jing.” He goes on
to say that in the eyes of these intellectuals, “the Yi jing dealt with matters of the highest
relevance and supreme urgency.”
14. For the fruits of these and related labors, see the various works written or edited
by Kalinowski in the Western-language bibliography.
15. On Yijing-related state sacrifice by the Tang rulers, see V. Xiong, “Ritual Innova
ti0ns,” 273ff.; see also idem, “Astrological Divination.”
16. Wei Zheng, Suishu, 4:912-13; cf. the diagram in Y]YY, 1:366.
17. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 10-11, modified. For an evaluation of traditional accounts
of Wang’s life, see Goodman, “Exegetes and Exegesis,” 116-41.
18. For connections between Wang Bi and Buddhism, see Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo
Fojiao yu Zhouyi, 48-82.
19. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 31.
20. See ibid. The modern scholar Qian Zhongshu (1910-98) put the matter this way:
“Since the emblematic images [of the Yijing] remain separate and apart from the mean
ings associated with them, their content is not fixed. Sheep may be substituted for ox, or
duck for another water fowl. That is why in the Shuogua [Discussion of the Trigrams] . . .
we find that horse is used as an image of Qian but so, too, is fruit tree. Likewise, the ox
is used as the image of Kun, but also are cloth and a kettle. This is possible because when
describing the nature of Qian it makes no difference whether the image is tree fruit or
horse, and when describing the nature of Kun it makes no difference whether the image
selected is cloth and kettle or ox.” See Egan, Limited Views, 134-40, esp. 136; cf. ibid.,
202-7.
21. See the discussion in Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 18-21.
23. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 14.
24. Ibid., 297-99, 310, 318, 342. See also Hon, “Being and Non-Being,” 202fE
25. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 84; cfi R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 342.
26. See the illuminating discussion of Yang in Knechtges, Court Culture, 179-80; see
also T’ang, “Wang Pi’s New Interpretation,” 13 3ff.
27. From Zheng Wan’geng, Taixuan jiaoshi, 261, following Ziporyn’s rendering in
“Space, Time,” 1-2.
28. Although Wang Su is usually described as an Old Text scholar whose interpreta
tions of the classics followed Ma Rong and opposed Zheng Xuan, some authorities, such
as Tang Yan (1857-1920), consider him to be an adherent of Iing Fang’s approach to the
Changes. T’ang, “Wang Pi’s New Interpretation,” 130-31. Cf. Goodman, “Exegetes and
Exegesis,” 60-65; and Nielsen, Companion, 244.
29. See esp. Hon, “Hexagrams and Politics.”
30. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 236; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 468-69.
31. See the argument in Hon, “Hexagrams and Politics.” See also Wagner, Language,
Ontology, 148-212; and Yu Dunkang, He Yan Wang Bi, 144-213. Cf. Goodman, “Exegetes and
Exegesis,” 3o9ff., which downplays Wang’s political orientation.
32. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 25-46, translates and annotates this work.
33. Situations might include war, peace, harmony, discord, conflict, reconciliation,
etc.; opportunities and options require discernment and appropriate (moral) action. See
Hon, “Hexagrams and Politics,” 15.
34. Ibid., esp. 15-17.
35. As Lynn, Classic of Changes, 15-16, points out, “Wang often describes the action
and interaction of the lines as if they were people all involved in some particular set of
circumstances.”
36. Wang considers the “middle position” of each primary trigram within a given hexa
gram (lines 2 and 5, respectively) as “the territory of balanced behavior and action.”
37. Hon, “Hexagrams and Politics,” 17-23, provides several illuminating examples of
Wang Bi’s interpretive strategy, contrasting his approach explicitly with that of previous
commentators, notably Zheng Xuan and Yu Fan. See also T’ang, “Wang Pi’s New Inter
pretation.”
39. Ibid., 29-30.
40. Ibid., 494, modified. See Hon, “Hexagrams and Politics,” 17-23, for additional
examples.
41. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 495, slightly modified; cf. the analysis in R. Wilhelm,
I Ching, 674-79, shaped by the commentaries of Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi (see chapters 5
and 7).
43. Ibid., 32, 43n39, slightly modified. For the relationship between Wang’s philoso
phy and Buddhism during the Six Dynasties period, see Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo Fojiao
yu Zhouyi, 87-131.
44. Han wrote commentaries on several of the Ten Wings that Wang had not ad
dressed in his study of the Changes. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 5-6.
45. For details of the debates and struggles between the school of abstruse learning
and the school of images and numbers during this period, see Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue
shi, 1: 316-48. Zhu also devotes considerable attention to the role of Yijing practitioners
(diviners) of the time.
46. For information on some other figures of the period who were closely connected
with the Yi, see the discussions on Chu Zhongdu (fifth—sixth century), Cui Iin (fifth—sixth
century), Fan Changsheng (d. 318), Fu Manrong (ca. 420-502), Gan Bao (fi. early fourth
century), Gu Huan (fifth century), Guan Lang (fifth—sixth century), Guo Pu (276-324), He
Tuo (late sixth century), He Yin (446-531), Huan Wen ( 312-73), Huangfu Mi (215-82), Ii
Kang (223-62), Liu Huan (434-89), Liu Zhou (sixth century), Lu Deming (556-627), Lu
Iingyu (sixth century), Shen Linshi (ca. 418-503), Sun Sheng (ca. 302-73), Wang Yi (ca.
274-322), Wei Yuansong (sixth century), Yuan Yuezhi (fourth century), Zhang Gui (ca.
255-314), Zhang Ii (d. ca. 590), and Zhou Hongzheng (496-574) in Goodman, “Exegetes
and Exegesis”; Nielsen, Companion; and Mather, Shih-shuo Hsin-gii. See also the many rele
vant entries under “Book of Changes” in the index of DeWoskin, Doctors, Diviners, and Magi
cians; and both the chapter titled “Biographies des Magiciens” and the appendix of N go,
Divination, esp. 161-94.
47. A. Meyer, “Biography of Guan Lu,” provides a convenient summary of Guan’s life
and times.
48. For a discussion of the abovementioned techniques, see DeWosl<in, Doctors, Di
viners, and Magicians, 1-42. Other famous diviners of the period were Guo Pu and his friend
Gan Bao. See Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1:318ff.; Nielsen, Companion, 67, 96-97; and
Mather, Shih-shuo Hsin-yii, esp. 386-87, 442. For a Qing dynasty critique of the limited
understanding of the Yi on the part of Guan Lu, Guo Pu, and others, see the long entry in
ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 559-6o (1o8:24a-28a).
49. This anecdote is recounted at length in Mather, Shih-shuo Hsin-yu, 297-300. I have
modified the translation slightly. See also the story and analysis in A. Meyer, “Biography
of Guan Lu,” 72-73. For a similar Change-related episode involving Guo Pu, see ibid.,
287
50. Mather, Shih-shuo Hsin-yii, 299-300, slightly modified. The constituent trigrams of
Qian are Kun, “Earth,” above and Gen, “Mountain,” below. The constituent trigrams of
Dazhuang are Zhen, “Thunder,” above and Qian, “Heaven,” below.
51. Ibid., 3oo. Note that regarding Qian (15) the “Big Image Commentary” indicates
that “the superior person lessens what is too much and increases what is too little . . .
[and] he weighs the amounts of things and makes their distribution even.” Regarding
Dazhuang (34) the commentary states that “the superior person with his great strength
will not tread any course that is not commensurate with decorum.” Lynn, Classic of Changes,
230, 346 (modified); cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 557.
52. Mather, Shih-shuo Hsin-gii, 3oo.
54. For a few of a great many examples, see Goodman, “Exegetes and Exegesis,” 3o
15 3; see also Mather, Shih-shuo Hsin-yii, 79, 128-29, 14o, 145, 23 o, 246-47, 249, 257, 298
30@,341—43.376.387.439.469
55. For useful overviews, see ZYZS, 805-33. See also YJYY, 1:452-83, 2:318-76; Zhang
Liwen, Hejing, 162-80; and Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 185ff.
56. Field, “Hexagram Landscapes.” Cf. the discussion in YJYY, 2: 318-38.
57. See n. 54 above.
58. Mather, Shih—shuo Hsin-gii, 128-29. See also Goodman, “Exegetes and Exegesis,”
1o7ff., esp. 111-12.
59. See Mather, Shih-shuo Hsin-yii, 131. Here and belowl have changed Mather’s trans
literations to the pinyin system, and I have occasionally made other minor modifications
to his translations.
6o. Ibid. See the second line statement of the Zhongfu hexagram (“Inner Trust” [61])
in Lynn, Classic of Changes, 524; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 7o1-2.
61. I am grateful to Professor Qian Nanxiu for helping me to understand this aspect
of the story and for much valuable assistance with other texts as well.
62. On these individuals, see Nielsen, Companion, 165-66, 276, 326, 339. See also
Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1: 346ff.; and Huang Shouqi and Zhang Shanwen, Yixue qunshu
pingyi, 23-33 (on the writings of Lu Deming).
63. See R. Smith, China’s Cultural Heritage, 165ff.
64. On Buddhism and the Changes, see Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo Fojiao gu Zhouyi. On
Daoism and the Yijing, see Chen Guying, Yizhuan yu Daojia sixiang; and Zhan Shichuang,
Yixue yu Daijiaofuhaojiemi.
65. Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo Fojiao yu Zhouyi, 131-242; Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi gu Huaxia
wenming, 120-84; YJYY, 2: 379-90. See also the illustrations and descriptic-ns in Kalinow
ski, Divination et socie’te'; and YJYY, 2: 379-418 passim. Cf. Despeux, “Talismans and Dia
grams”; and Sal<ade, “Divination as Daoist Practice.”
66. R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 208-9.
67. See, e.g., BRZ, 38:10-12. References are to juan and pages.
68. The Guanding jing is discussed in R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 36.
69. For useful details on these three divination systems, see Ho, Chinese Mathematical
Astrology, chaps. 3-5. Only Dunjia and Taiyi involved the eight trigrams directly.
7o. For a comprehensive study of Xiao’s work, see Kalinowski, Cosmologie et divi
nation.
71. Wang’s commentary was popular in the south, while other commentaries, such as
Zheng Xuan’s, had greater intellectual purchase in the north. See Hon, Yijing and Chinese
Politics, 29; and Qian Iibo, Zhouyijietiji qi dufa, 34ff. Tang Mingbang and Wang Xuequn have
recently produced a detailed analysis in Chinese of Changes scholarship in various areas
of the Yangzi River valley over time. For a discussion of Yixue in the north, see Goodman,
“Exegetes and Exegesis,” 30-65, 87ff.; for a discussion of Yixue in the south, see A. Meyer,
“Correct Meaning of the Five Classics,” 48ff.
72. A. Meyer, “Correct Meaning of the Five Classics,” 58-62.
73. See Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 28-48; much of the following discussion of
Kong’s work is drawn from Hon’s excellent study. See also A. Meyer, “Correct Meaning
of the Five Classics,” 36-146; and Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1: 3 52-89.
74. SKQS, jingbu, Yilei, 7:301. Cf. the “Great Commentary” quoted in Lynn, Classic of
Changes, 51; and R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 294.
75. See the discussion in A. Meyer, “Correct Meaning of the Five Classics,” 135-46.
SKQS,]ingbu, Yilei, 8: 5 31f£, provides another excellent illustration of the interwoven fabric
of the human and natural order.
76. See esp. A. Meyer, “Correct Meaning of the Five Classics,” 123-34.
77. Hon, “Being and Non—Being,” 213, modified. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 357;
R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 564-66; and Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 34. The original quotation
can be found in SKQS, jingbu, Yilei, 7:432.
78. SKQS,]ingbu, Yilei, 7:480. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 460; and R. Wilhelm, I Ching,
647-48
79. Hon, “Being and N on-Being,” 213, modified. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 357;
R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 564-66; Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 34; and SKQS, jingbu, Yilei,
71431
80. SKQS,]ingbu, Yilei, 7:586ff. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 25f-f.
81. On Lu’s writings, see Huang Shouqi and Zhang Shanwen, Yixue qunshu pingyi,
27"33
82. See Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, esp. 1: 346. In brief, although Zhou accepted cer
tain conventional explanations of these four basic terms, he also considered them in the
light of correlations involving Heaven, Earth, and Man. Thus, in the realm of Heaven
they corresponded to the four seasons; on Earth they corresponded to the four qualities,
or “agents”: metal, Wood, water, and fire; and in human affairs they corresponded to the
values of humaneness (ren), ritual (Ii), duty (yi), and faithfulness (xin).
83. On Lu, Cui, Lii Cai (600-665), and other Sui-Tang scholars of the Changes, see
Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1: 349-402; see also Nielsen, Companion, 165-66, 35, 172. Lii,
a specialist in the Yijing, was also a famous critic of popular and professional divination.
See R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 40, 72-73, 88.
84. Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1: 350-52; Nielsen, Companion, 107.
85. See Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1: 389ff., esp. 400-402.
86. See ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 14-15 (1:13a-15a). This evaluation clearly reflects the inter
est of the compilers of the Four Treasuries project in Han learning. See chapter 7. Nielsen,
Companion, 146-47, provides the names of the scholars cited in the Zhouyi jijie.
87. JJZS, Li Dingzuo’s preface (xu), 8. For a useful contemporary evaluation of Li’s
book and its relationship to Cui ]ing’s Yi tan xuan (Inquiry into the Mysteries of the
Changes), see Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1: 3 89-400.
88. ]]ZS, 8-9. Cf. Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo Fojiao yu Zhouyi, 245.
89. See Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 1: 352ff.; see also ]]ZS, 8-9. Cf. Wang Zhongyao,
Zhongguo Fojiao gu Zhougi, 244-45.
90. See, e.g., the highly praised Yi zong (Changes Overview), by Wang Yuanzhi (ca.
528-635); and Liu Yiming, Liushisi gua yu yangsheng, first preface, 2. Note also Li Chun
feng’s (602-70) Zhouyi yuanyi (Primal Meaning of the Zhou Changes), fragments of which
were published by Ma Guohan in 1883. Nielsen, Companion, 145-46, 174.
91. See, e.g., Fung, Historg o_fChinese Philosophy, 2:426-33, and SCC, 2:330-32; cf. ZYZS,
700-704. For some examples of the role of trigrams in Daoist verbal and visual discourse,
see Kohn, Daoism Handbook, 182-84, 484, 485, 517, 671, 731, 738, 826.
92. SCC, 2: 3 31-32 ; Crowe, “Chapters,” 14-16. See also ZYZS, 700-704; and Zhai Tingpu,
Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 130-40.
93. See Pregadio, Zhougi cantong qi; and Robinet, Taoism, esp. 217ff. Cf. Qiu Zhao’ao,
Guben Zhougi cantong qi jizhu; and Zhou Shiqi and Pan Qiming, Zhougi cantong qi. See also
Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo Fojiao yu Zhouyi, 3o6ff.
94. On the link between the apocrypha and Daoism, see Seidel, “Imperial Trea
sures.”
95. For Buddhist commentaries on this work, see Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo Fojiao yu
Zhougi, 3o6ff.; see also Zhai T ingpu, Zhouyi gu Huaxia wenming, 155-58.
96. Pregadio provides solid evidence linking Yu directly to the Cantong qi. See “Early
History of the Zhouyi cantong qi.” See also Tang Mingbang and Wang Xuequn, Yixue yu
Changjiang wenhua, 50-63, which devotes considerable attention to Yu and his network.
97. For useful scholarly overviews, see Pregadio, Zhouyi cantong qi; and Meng Naichang,
Zhouyi cantong qi kaobian. See also Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 130-37; Zhan Shi
chuang, Yixue yu Daojiaofuhao jiemi, 146-60; Fung, History of Chinese Philosophy, 2:426—33;
and Seidel, “Imperial Treasures.” Bertschinger, Secret of Everlasting Life, offers a popularized
translation of this book. For a discussion of the Cantong qi as a “handbook of meditation,”
see White, “Interpretations,” 29-44; cf. ibid., 137-46.
98. Yang, Book of Changes, 33.
99. Not surprisingly, both historical and contemporary qigong practices have been
traced directly to the Zhouyi cantong qi. See Yang, Book of Changes, 196-214.
100. YJYY, 2:299—317. See also ZYZS, 800-804; Yang, Book of Changes, 21-35, 197-114;
Xiao Hanming, Yixue yu Zhongguo chuantong yixue; Liu Iie and Yuan Jun, Zhongguo bagua yixue;
and Huang Hanli, Yixue yu qigong.
101. See V. Xiong, “Ritual Innovations,” 273fF.
102. See Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo Fojiao yu Zhougi, esp. 132-38. As Wang points out,
Yijing analysis was also applied to Tantric Buddhism (Mijiao, a.k.a. Zhenyan). Ibid.,
290fF.
103. Ibid., 281-90. Wang devotes considerable attention to Li Tongxuan’s use of a wide
variety of Han-era images-and-numbers techniques to explicate the Huayan Sutra (Hua
ganjing). Ibid., esp. 258-80.
104. For discussions of Chengguan’s two books on the Avatamsaka Sutra and Z0ngmi’s
essay on meditation, see White, “Interpretations,” 5 3ff. The Gen hexagram (“Restraint”
or “Stillness” [52]) often served as a symbol of Buddhist meditation. See Wang Zhongyao,
Zhongguo Fojiao yu Zhouyi, 272ff.; see also chapter 6.
105. See White, “Interpretations,” 64. B. Kim, “Study of Chou Tun-I’s Thought,” 157
60, discusses scholarship suggesting that the diagram was a later addition to Z0ngmi’s
work.
106. White, “Interpretations,” 59-60, slightly modified.
107. Quoted in ibid., 54-55. Cfi Lynn, Classic of Changes, 129; and R. Wilhelm, I Ching,
371. For a detailed discussion of Z0ngmi’s connection with the Changes, see Wang Zhong
yao, Zhongguo Fojiao yu Zhouyi, 337-68.
108. Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo Fojiao yu Zhouyi, 369-428.
109. See Lai, “Sinitic Mandalas.”
110. Ibid., 229fF., esp. 233-34. I have modified the translation somewhat. Cf. White,
“Interpretations,” 64ff.
111. This process is probably related to the hugua (overlapping trigrams) system dis
cussed in chapter 3. See also Nielsen, Companion, 111-13. Lai, “Sinitic Mandalas,” 234ff.,
offers several interpretive possibilities.
112. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 121; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 278, 537.
113. Lai, “Sinitic Mandalas,” 237. For details on the five-positions philosophy, see ibid.,
23 8ff.
114. List of stages based on White, “Interpretations,” 65-66, and Lai, “Sinitic Man
dalas,” 246fi".
115. White, “Interpretations,” 65. Cf. Lai, “Sinitic Mandalas,” 238fE
117. See the discussion in Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 32f-f.
118. See SKQS,jingbu, Yilei, 7: 304-5.
5. The Song Dynasty

1. R. Smith, China’s Cultural Heritage, 33-35.
2. The Yi-oriented scholarship of virtually all of these scholars, as well as most of the
other individuals discussed in this chapter, is treated briefly but insightfully in Nielsen,
Companion; see also n. 3 below. It is difficult to imagine the vibrant intellectual life of
the Song without the Changes as a core text, for in many ways it provided the perfect
“domestic” document with which to counter (and co-opt) the “moral metaphysics” of
Buddhism.
3. A great many books and articles have been written on Song Yixue in a variety of
Asian and Western languages. See, e.g., Wang Tie, Song clai Yixue; Yu Dunkang, Neisheng
waiwang cle guantong; Xu Zhirui, Song Ming Yixue gailun; and Imai Usaburo, Sodai Elcigaku no
kenlcyfl. For some general histories of the Changes that give substantial attention to the
Song period, see the overviews cited in chapter 3, n. 4. In English, note in particular the
excellent studies listed in the Western-language bibliography under Joseph Adler, Anne
Birdwhistell, Wing-tsit Chan, Julia Ching, Liwen Chang, Tze-l<i Hon, Kidder Smith, Kid
der Smith et al., Hoyt Tillman, and Don Wyatt.
4. See the illuminating arguments and useful appendices in Yu Li, “Social Change.”
5. See the summary discussion in Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 1-27; for details, see
I. Liu, Ou-yang Hsiu.
6. R. Smith, China’s Cultural Heritage, 36. On the evolution and politics of the exami
nation system during the Song, see Elman, Cultural History, 12-29.
7. See, e.g., the effort by the Song scholar and Yuan eremite DingYidong (fi. ca. 1280)
to identify a dozen separate categories of Yijing exegesis in his Yi xiang yi. These categories,
drawn mostly from Han sources of inspiration, are identified and discussed in ZM'I'Y,
]ingbu,Yilei, 26 (3:54a-55b).
8. For one fourteenth-century view on the fragmentary nature of Song exegesis, see
Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, 141-42.
9. See Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, “Northern Song ‘Yijing’ Exegesis,” and “Eremit
ism, Sagehood, and Public Service.” See also Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 2: 3-323; and Yu
Dunkang, Neisheng waiwang de guantong.
1o. Quoted in Hon, “Being and Non-Being,” 222.
11. For a detailed treatment of Hu Yuan’s life and times and his Yi-related writings,
see Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 49-106 passim.
12. See Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 2:74-87; see also Shchutskii, Researches, 65-71. This
critique was part of Ouyang Xiu’s broader assault on the idea that the locus of ultimate
moral authority was in the realm of Heaven rather than in the world of Man. See K. Smith
et al., Sung Dynasty Uses, 34-41.
13. Shchutskii, Researches, 65, modified. Ouyang did, however, maintain that some
parts of the Ten Wings had been authored by Confucius.
14. See Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 2:8ff. For Ouyang’s critique of charts and dia
grams, including the Hetu and the Luoshu, and the responses it engendered, see Sun Guo
zhong, “He Luo,” esp. 456-57.
15. See, e.g., T. Liao, “Exploring Weal and Woe.”
16. Many such works were relegated to the “Arts of Calculation” section of the SKQS,
See ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 556-77 (1o8:1a-111:42b).
17. See the numerous illustrations and commentaries in works by Song scholars such
as Liu Mu, Zhu Zhen, Lin Li (twelfth century), Cheng Dachang (1123-95), Zhu Xi, Zhang
Xingcheng (fi. 1150), Wang Shi and Lin Zhi (both twelfth-thirteenth century), Zhao Ru
mei, Shui Yuquan, and Hu Fangping (all thirteenth century), Ding Yidong, Zhu Yuansheng
(d. 1273), Yu Yan (1258-1314), and Lei Siqi (1230-1301) in ZYTS, 1-585. See also Hu Wei,
Yitu mingbian; Li Shen, Yitu kao; Xu Qinting, Yitu yuanliu; Zhang Qicheng, Yitu tanmi; Huang
Benying, Yixue tushuo; Zheng Iixiong, Yi tuxiang yu Yi quanshi; and the Yuan scholar Qian
Yifang’s Yijing tushuo (Discussion of the Illustrations of the Zhou Changes) in SKQS,jingbu,
Yilei, 26:617-5 3, reviewed in ZMTY,jingbu, Yilei, 29-30 (4:23a-25a).
18. Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 445. Cf. Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 2: 3-5 3.
19. Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 450-51. On Zhu Zhen, see Nielsen, Companion, 344-45.
Nielsen also has biographical material on most of the people mentioned in this para
graph. For Zhu’s Yijing-related illustrations and commentaries, see ZYTS, 131-84.
20. Despite Chen’s central position, he has received comparatively little attention
from scholars of the Changes. Livia Kohn is a noteworthy exception in the West. See n. 21;
cf. Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 2:8-24.
21. See the various works on Chen by Livia Kohn, esp. Chen Tuan and “Chen Tuan in
History and Legend”; see also Yuanguo Li, “Chen Tuan’s Concepts.” For Chen’s alleged
feats of prognostication, see Kohn, Chen Tuan, 68f'f.
22. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 65-66, slightly modified; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 308-13.
23. See SCT,1:672n9.
24. Yuanguo Li, “Chen Tuan’s Concepts,” 3 3ff., esp. 35. On the evolution of the idea
of the Great One, see L. Li, “Archaeological Study.”
25. Yuanguo Li, “Chen Tuan’s Concepts,” 40ff.
26. The locus classicus is the “Great Commentary.” See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 60; cf.
R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 308-13. For illustrations of various conceptions of Hetu and Luoshu
configurations, see TSJC, jingji dian, 55: 547-83.
27. Yuanguo Li, “Chen Tuan’s Concepts,” 51, slightly modified.
28. For a comparative study of magic squares in China and elsewhere, see Swetz,
Legacy of the Luoshu.
29. See Graham, Two Chinese Philosophers, 154-55, 169n11; see also Nielsen, Companion,
176.
30. See ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu, 567 (11o:1a-2a). Zhu Xi argues convincingly that this work
was forged by Dai Shiyu, who wrote one of the postscripts to it (dated 1165). See also
Graham, Two Chinese Philosophers, 17on11.
31. Yuanguo Li, “Chen Tuan’s Concepts,” 42.
32. See Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 72-74.
33. Quoted in Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 463-65.
34. See, e.g., ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 34 (6:3b-4b). Zhang Boduan was another such indi
vidual. See Crowe, “Chapters”; see also Cleary, Taoist Classics, 2:9-325.
35. Nielsen, Companion, 16o-61; see also ibid., 118, 253. Liu also inspired scholars such
as Cheng Dachang and Wang Shi. See ibid., 30-31, 244. The editors of the SKQS identify
Liu as the founder of a new school of Hetu and Luoshu studies. See ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei,
15-16 (2:1a-2b).
36. Nielsen, Companion, 148, 161, 222, 324; Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 72-74, 145
46. On Li Gou’s thought, see Hsieh, Lije and Thought of Li Kou.
37. For some convenient overviews of Shao’s life and work, see K. Smith et al., Sung
Dynasty Uses, 100-135; Arrault, Shao Yong; Birdwhistell, Transition to Neo-Confucianism; and
Wyatt, Recluse of Loyang. In Chinese, see Tang Mingbang, Shao Yong pingzhuan; and Gao
Huaimin, Shaozi Xiantian Yi zhexue.
38. The most well known of these practices is called Meihua Yishu (Plum Blossom
Numerology of the Changes). See Liu Guangben, Meihua Yishu baihua jie; cf. Da Liu, I Ching
Numerology.
39. For contemporary and later evaluations of Shao, as well as an appreciation of his
remarkable powers of prediction, see ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu, 557 (1o8:9a-1ob). See also Bird
whistell, Transition to N eo-Confucianism, 21off., esp. 212-14; Henderson, Development and De
cline, 121-26; and Ding, “Numerical Mysticism.” Some of the stories of Shao’s predictive
skills can be found in Da Liu, I Ching Numerology, esp. 23ff.; and A. Huang, Numerology of
the I Ching, esp. 27f‘f., 169ff.
4o. For a systematic discussion of this work, see YJYY, 2:712—5o; cf. Zhu Bokun, Yixue
zhexue shi, 2:112-72, and Birdwhistell, Transition to N eo-Confucianism, 11-15, 46-47, 258ff.
The Huangji jingshi shu was reportedly compiled by Shao’s son Bowen (1057-1134).
41. See ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 557 (1o8:9a-1ob); see also the reviews of the numerous
derivative or related works in ibid., 557-59, 567 (1o8:1ob-11b, 16a-18b, 11o:3a—36b).
42. In Shao’s words, “Material force changes [bian] and forms are transformed
[hua]. Forms can be divided, but spirit cannot.” Quoted in Birdwhistell, Transition to Neo
Confucianism, 111, modified. For details on Shao’s cosmology, see ibid., 108-61.
43. Quoted in K. Smith, “Cheng Yi’s Commentary,” 71, slightly modified.
44. For the text of the “Great Commentary” that served as the foundation for this idea,
see Lynn, Classic of Changes, 65-66; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 318-19.
45. Birdwhistell, Transition to Neo-Confucianism, 5off.; see also A. Huang, Numerology of
the I Ching, 38ff. Shao ordered a great many other phenomena in groups of four, including
seasons, directions, limbs, virtues (benevolence, propriety, righteousness, and wisdom),
stages of life (birth, growth, maturity, and death), sense organs, and so on. He also as
cribed broad cosmic powers to two sets of paired trigrams—Qian and Kun, Li and Kan.
46. Adapted from Birdwhistell, Transition to Neo-Confucianism, 241-42. In Shao’s cor
relative cosmology the sun was the source of heat; the moon, of cold; the stars, of day;
and the zodiacal spaces, of night. Water constituted rain, fire constituted wind, soil con
stituted dew, and stones constituted thunder. Each of these associated qualities, in turn,
influenced the nature, feelings, forms, and substance of things in ways too complex to
enumerate here. See n. 42 above; see also SCT, 1:678-81.
47. Shao distinguished between the Former Heaven configurations of both trigrams
and hexagrams, which represented the principles underlying phenomena before their
actual manifestation (xing er shang, “prior to physical form”), and the Later Heaven con
figurations of trigrams and hexagrams, which represented phenomena after their mani
festation (xing er xia, “subsequent to physical form”). For the locus classicus in the “Great
Commentary,” see Lynn, Classic of Changes, 67; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 323-24.
48. See Birdwhistell, Transition to N eo-Confucianism, 89ff., 1o8ff. For a clear explanation
of Shao’s distinction between word images, visual images, and number images, see ibid.,
78-83. See also Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiko, 451-60.
49. YJYY, 2:716—17; cf. Birdwhistell, Transition to Neo-Confucianism, 1o8fE
50. Y]YY, 2:717ff.; cf. Fung, History of Chinese Philosophy, 2:469ff.
51. K. Smith et al., Sung Dynasty Uses, 11off.
52. The example here is from Fung, History of Chinese Philosophy, 2:463.
53. TSJC, 55:994. The first and third lines are drawn directly from the Yijing. Cf. Lynn,
Classic ofChanges, 139, 150; and R. Wilhelm, 10, 15, 383-85, 391.
54. See Ryan, “Leibniz’s Binary System and Shao Yong’s Yijing.”
55. See Graham, Two Chinese Philosophers, 159-61.
56. Excerpts from both of these works can be found in SCT, 1:672—81. The full Chinese
texts and more complete translations are available at http://www2.l<enyon.edu/Depts/
Religion/Fac/Adler/writings.htm. On Zhou’s “rhetorical” use of the Changes, see K. Smith,
“Cheng Yi’s Commentary,” 75-76.
57. See Kassoff, Thought of Chang Tsai, 26ff.; see also Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 82
86. For some interpretive differences between Zhang and Cheng, see ibid., 115-22.
58. See Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo Fojiao yu Zhouyi, 38o-88.
59. SCT,1:669-75, modified. Cf. http://www2.l<eny0n.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/
Reln471/CHOU.htm#text15.
60. ZMTY,jingbu, Yilei, 20 (3:16b-17a).
61. In English, see the various works by Kidder Smith, Tze—l<i Hon, A. C. Graham,
Yung Sik Kim, and Wing-tsit Chan. Recent works in Chinese include Lu Lianzhang, Cheng
Hao Cheng Yi pingzhuan; He Keyong, Zhu Xi; Yang Tianshi, Zhu Xi; and Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue
shi, 2:172-254, 411-501.
62. See SCT, 1:669-75; and http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/
Reln471/CHOU.htm#text15.
63. SCT, 1:690, slightly modified. Foran explanation of the idea of principle, K. Smith
et al., Sung Dynasty Uses, 15 o, employs a biological analogy: just as each specialized cell in
the human body has the complete human genetic code present within it, so each part of
the universe has the principle of the whole within it. See also ibid., 214-15.
64. For a summary of the tortured history of Cheng’s Yichuan Yizhuan, see ZMTY, jingbu,
Yilei, 16 (2:8b-9b); see also Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 2:172-81.
65. See Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 11-12, 112-16, 124-27, 13o-34, 114-22. See also
idem, “Northern Song ‘Yijing’ Exegesis,” 154ff.; K. Smith, “Cheng Yi’s Commentary,”
78ff.; and K. Smith et al., Sung Dynasty Uses, 136ff.
66. Cheng’s introduction to the Yichuan Yizhuan is translated and discussed in
Shchutskii, Researches, 71-74.
67. See W. Chan, Reflections on Things at Hand. About one—sixth of the entirejinsi lu con
sists of excerpts from Cheng’s commentary on the Changes.
68. Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 118-19, slightly modified; see also 185n46. Cf. Lynn,
Classic of Changes, 345-5o; and R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 555-59. The word “ease” (yi) here has
been interpreted in many different ways. Wang Bi saw it as referring to the possibility of
losing strength through laxness when one was “not faced with danger and difficulties.”
Kong Yingda thought it referred to a time of accommodation before dangers and difficul
ties arose. Zhu Xi took it to mean a loss that came so suddenly (“easily”) that one failed
to be aware of it, although he also thought the original term might have been chang (field)
rather than yi.
69. Note that in both Tai and Pi the first line refers metaphorically to the benefits of
like-minded people banding together. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 206, 212; cf. R. Wilhelm,
I Ching, 440-5o.
70. See the long discussion in SKQS, jingbu, Yilei, 9, 169-73, esp. 172-73. Cf. Lynn,
Classic of Changes, 152-58; and R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 398-405.
71. Quoted in Graham, Two Chinese Philosophers, 159, slightly modified; cf. W. Chan,
Reflections on Things at Hand, 11o. Cheng also tells us that although he lived on the same
street as Shao Yong for some thirty years and talked with him about nearly everything,
they “never spoke a word about numbers.” Graham, 159.
72. Graham, Two Chinese Philosophers, 159. ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 16 (2:8b—9b), states cate
gorically that Cheng Yi “did not believe in the numerology of Shao Yong.”
73. Quoted in K. Smith et al., Sung Dynasty Uses, 213-14, slightly modified; see also
ibid., 118, 233-35. Significantly, Cheng Yi never spoke of Taiji and seldom referred to the
five agents. For his views on the images of the Changes as literary symbols, see K. Smith,
“Cheng Yi’s Commentary,” 113-17.
74. Both Wang Anshi and Su Shi did, however, hold the numerically oriented Hetu and
Luoshu in high esteem. For their opinions, see Sun Guozhong, “He Lao,” 641-42.
75. See Wang Anshi, Wang Linquan ji, 66:47, quoted partially in K. Smith, “Cheng Yi’s
Commentary,” 82.
76. See Iin Shengyang, Sushi Yizhuan yanjiu; see also R. Huang, “Su Shi’s Greatest
Works.”
77. See Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 9-10, 134-40, 145-50; K. Smith et al., Sung Dy
nasty Uses, chap. 3, esp. 64ff. According to the review of the Yizhuan in ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei,
16 (2:7a-8b), Su Shi should be considered its principal architect.
78. ZMT'Y, jingbu, Yilei, 16 (2:7a-8b). See also Nielsen, Companion, 223-24. The 2002
edition of Su Dongpo’s Dongpo Yizhuan has a number of valuable appendices, including
evaluations of Su’s work by Southern Song and later scholars.
298 Notes to Pages 13o-33
79. Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 115-22, offers a systematic comparison of Cheng>S
and Zhang’s approaches to the Yi.
8o. See ibid., 82-86; see also ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 16 (2:6a-7a).
81. Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 82-84. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 132-34; and
R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 379-85.
82. Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 91-100. Cf. Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 2;275_
323, which discusses at great length both the “materialism” and the “spiritualism” of
Zhang.
83. Significantly, Zhang commented on every line of the “Great Commentary,” which
he deemed essential to an understanding of the basic text.
84. Quoted in Hon, “Northern Song ‘Yijing’ Exegesis,” 124, slightly modified he1-¢_
Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 85 (note the variant characters cited in Hong Ye et al., Zhouyi
yincle, 47); and R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 342. This notion of mutual implication and interaction
eventually yielded Zhang’s famous formulation in the “Western Inscription” (Ximing);
“Heaven is my father and Earth is my mother, and even such a small creature as I find an
intimate place in their midst. Therefore, that which fills the universe I regard as my body
and that which directs the universe I consider as my nature. All people are my brothers
and sisters, and all things are my companions.” SCT, 1:683.
85. Both Zhang and Sima were Wang Anshi’s enemies.
86. See Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 46-47, 102-6; see also the review of Sima’s book
in ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 16 (2:4a-6a).
87. Sima Guang, Qianxu. For overviews, see Henderson, Development and Decline, 108-9,
121; see also Nielsen, Companion, 220-21.
88. See the long discussion of Zhen’s thought in Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 2: 328-61.
See also ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 29 (4:2ob-21b); and Nielsen, Companion, 344-45.
89. ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 18 (3:1a-3a).
9o. Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 2: 546-58. In keeping with his pragmatic orientation,
Xue considered the Hetu and the Luoshu to be administrative maps used by the Zhou kings.
Ibid., 2:552. Cf. Zhu’s long discussion of Ye Shi (1150-1223), another Yongjia stalwart
with a strong “materialist” bent, who believed, like Ouyang Xiu, that Confucius had au
thored only the “Commentary on the Judgments” and the “Commentary on the Images.”
See ibid., 2:559-99.
91. ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 557-58 (1o8:1ob—11b, 12b-14a). See also Nielsen, Compan
ion, 328.
92. ZMTY,]ingbu,Yilei, 25 (3:5ob-51b). See also Nielsen, Companion, 343-44.
93. ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 21 (3:22b-23 b). For a detailed analysis of Yang’s Yi-related
thought, see Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi,» 2:3 61-81.
94. Su Shi was, of course, another Song exponent of this shishi (historical affairs)
approach to the Changes.
95. See ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 24-25 (3:45a-46b).
96. In Chinese, see, e.g., Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 2:411— 502. Cf. Adler, “Divination
and Philosophy”; and L. Chang, “Analysis.”
97. Zhu’s Zhouyi benyi is, of course, reviewed favorably but not entirely uncritically in
ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 20 (3:11a—14a). See Nielsen, Companion, 340-43, for a brief summary
of Zhu’s Yi-related writings. As one statistical indication of Zhu Xi’s deep interest in the
Changes, more than one-tenth of the entire Zhuzi yulei (Master Zhu’s Classified Conversa
tions) is devoted to this document. For a convenient breakdown of Master Zhu’s state
ments about each of the so-called seven classics—including, of course, the Yijin_g—see
Zhu Xi, Zhuzi qijing yulei.
98. On the nature of Zhu Xi’s selective synthesis, see Tillman, Confucian Discourse. For
a convenient summary, see K. Smith, “Cheng Yi’s Commentary,” 74-78.
99. Quoted in Y. S. Kim, Natural Philosophy o_fChu Hsi, 70. Kim’s book discusses Zhu Xi’s
cosmology and his approach to the Yijing in great detail.
100. Zhu’s correlative outlook comes across very clearly in ibid., esp. 70-81, 246-80,
195‘3°9
101. Quoted in R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 94-95. In a review of Shao’s
Huangjijingshi shu, the editors of the Four Treasuries acknowledge Zhu Xi’s great admira
tion for Shao’s Work. See ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 557 (108:9a—1ob).
102. R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 94-95. Adler, “Divination and Sacrifice,”
provides an excellent summary of Zhu Xi’s attitudes toward divination.
103. See the convenient summary in Adler, Introduction, i—xi. Cf. W. Chan, Reflections
on Things at Hand, 110-11. Lii’s Gu Zhouyi (Ancient Zhouyi) is effectively contextualized in
ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei 22 (3:25a—26a).
104. Adler, Introduction, chap. 1, pp. 3ff. This work provides the Chinese text opposite
the English translation. Cf. Phelan, “N eo-Confucian Cosmology.” See also Zhu’s eloquent
justification of the legitimacy of the Hetu and the Luoshu in Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 45 8
60.
105. Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 458-60; cf. ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 20 (3:11a—14a).
106. For an explanation in English, see Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 34-35 and esp. 214-19;
see also Nielsen, Companion, 74.
107. See ZMTY,jingbu, Yilei, 20 (3:11a—14a), 23 (3:36b). See also Y. S. Kim, Natural Phi
losophy ofChu Hsi, 267fE
108. See Nielsen, Companion, 340-43, esp. 342.
109. See Adler, Introduction, 1.
110. For a general assessment of Yu’s work, see Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3:33-42.
111. Ibid., 2: 3 81-411. See also Nielsen, Companion, 25. Although Cai Yuan naturally fol
lowed his mentor, he was also attracted by the numerological interests of his father, and
he departed from his master in embracing the idea of overlapping trigrams. The editors
of the Four Treasuries specifically point to the Cai-family tradition as one of both balance
and transformation in Yijing exegesis. See ZMTY,_]ingbu, Yilei, 23 ( 3: 36b-37b).
112. ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 23 (3:33b—35a). On Wei, see also Nielsen, Companion, 247. Cf.
Ding Yidong, reviewed in ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 26 (3 : 54a— 5 5b).
113. ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 21 (3:19b—20b). On Xiang, see also Nielsen, Companion, 269.
114. ZMTY,]in_gbu, Yilei, 23 (3 :33b—35a). On Li, see also Nielsen, Companion, 150; on Guo,
see ibid., 97. Zeng Tong (fl. twelfth century) promoted a similar project somewhat earlier,
collecting the “pure words” of a wide range of scholars. Ibid., 322.
115. On Lu’s Yi-related thought, see Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 2:503-27. Nielsen,
Companion, 168, provides a brief summary.
116. See Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 2: 527-46.
117. Ibid., 2:542. For long quotations from Yang’s ji yi, which is not reviewed in the
ZMTY section on the classics, see White, “Interpretations,” 1o6ff.
118. ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 21 (3:18a-19b). This review also documents the negative re
action of other scholars in the Yuan and Ming periods to what they saw as Yang’s abstruse
concerns and heretical claims (e. g., his assertion of forgery in the “Great Commentary”),
For critiques of other Buddhist-oriented scholarship on the Changes by individuals such
as Wang Zongchuan (1181 jinshi) and Shen Zuozhe (fl. ca. 1180), who followed a “deviant
path,” see ibid., 22 (3:3ob-31b).
119. Wang Zongzhuan’s commentary on the Yijing was preserved for this reason, even
though Wang was not nearly as prominent a figure as Yang. Ibid., 21 (3 :19b).
12o. Ibid.
121. Y. S. Kim, Natural Philosophy of Chu Hsi, esp. 295-309, 321.
122. Sivin, “On the Limits of Empirical Knowledge in Chinese and Western Science,”
modified. For a biography of Shen Gua, see “Shen Kua,” in Sivin, Science in Ancient China,
sec. 3, pp. 1-53, essay also available online.
123. Sivin, “Why the Scientific Revolution Did Not Take Place in China,” 5o. The quota
tion at the beginning of the passage is from the “Great Commentary.” The word Nathan
translates here as “substitute,” yu, literally means “to make something serve as a tempo
rary abode.”
124. Nathan Sivin, quoted in R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 267.
6. The Yuan and Ming Dynasties

1. R. Smith, China's Cultural Heritage, 36-37. For a brief but illuminating account of
intellectual life in the Yuan, see Elman, Cultural History, 29-37. Pan Yuting, Du Yi tiyao,
257-302, provides convenient summaries of many major works on the Yijing produced
during the Yuan period.
2. Guy, Emper0r’s Four Treasuries, esp. chaps. 4 and 5; see also Elman, On Their Own
Terms, 262-65.
3. See the discussion of the Yuan examinations in ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 28 (4:15b—16).
Cf. Elman, Cultural History, 37ff.
4. Wang Gen, Wang Ii, and Li Zhi represent the so-called left wing of the Wang Yang
ming school. See Hao Chang, “Confucian Cosmological Myth,” 23-29. Of the three, only
Wang Ii wrote extensively on the Yijing. See Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3 :216—47, 34off. For
a useful overview of Ming scholarship from the perspective of Huang Zongxi, see Ching,
Records of Ming Scholars. Ibid., 272-77, contains an illuminating chart of Ming schools of
thought.
5. Ch’ien, Chiao Hung, esp. 1-30; see also Berling, “When They Go Their Separate
Ways.”
6. Goodman and Grafton, “Ricci,” explores the relationship between the Jesuits,
“Chinese textualists,” and the Classic of Changes in the late Ming period; see esp. 122-48.
For the larger political and philosophical context, see Busch, “Tung-lin Academy.”
7. Zhu Bokun’s Yixue zhexue shi, vol. 3, for instance, devotes almost seven times as
much space to the Ming as it does to the Yuan. The other general histories of the Changes
cited in chapter 3, n. 4, reflect similar prejudices. For a striking exception, see Pan Yu
ting’s Du Yi tiyao, which devotes pages 257-302 to summaries of Yuan works and pages
303-22 to summaries of Ming works.
8. Guy, Emperor's Four Treasuries, 109-11. As is well known, the Qianlong emperor was
extremely sensitive to any sort of comparisons between the native Ming and the foreign
Qing, which was one of the reasons for the “literary inquisition” that unfolded during the
compilation of the Four Treasuries.
9. One might add that the twenty-three Yuan dynasty reviews occupy more textual
space than the twenty-four of the Ming. It should also be noted, however, that the Qing
compendium known as the Zhouyi zhezhong (see chapter 7) cites three times as many Ming
commentators as Yuan commentators. For a complete breakdown of authors cited, see
ZYZZ, Yinyong xingshi, 1-1o.
1o. A caveat is in order here. If we compare the relative number of entries from the
three abovementioned periods in the second-level category of cunmu—i.e., books not
included in the actual Siku compendium but nonetheless worthy of review—we find an
overwhelming Ming representation, nearly 150 works on the Changes, as compared with
only 6 in the Song and only 3 (possibly 4) in the Yuan. See also the selection of reviews in
Huang Shouqi and Zhang Shanwen, Yixue qunshu pingyi.
11. I have not discussed a number of Yi-related works of the Yuan period that seem
to be of lesser importance, comparatively speaking, although some are interesting for
one reason or another. Baoba’s Yiyuan aoyi (The Mysterious Meaning of the Origin of the
Changes), for instance, follows conventional Song neo-Confucian scholarship, but it is dis
tinguished by the fact that the author is a person with “colored eyes” (i.e., non-Chinese).
ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 27 (4:7a—8a). See also ZYTS, 611-15. Baoba’s book is also known as the
Zhougi yuanzhi (Original Purport of the Zhou Changes).
12. See Yu Yan, Zhouyi jishuo, which includes both works. On Yu’s Yi-related scholar
ship, see Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3:33-42. Cf. White, “Interpretations,” 122ff.; and
Zhan Shichuang, Nan Song jin Yuan, 83-96. Yu’s Zhouyi jishuo is reviewed in ZMTY, jingbu,
Yilei, 25 (3:51b-52b), and his Du Yi juyao is reviewed in ibid., 25-26 (3: 52b-54a). His illus
trations for the Du Yi juyao can be found in ZYTS, 552-57.
13. See ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 26 (4:1a—b).
14. See ibid., 21 (3 :22b-23 b). For a convenient collection of the most important Yijing
related illustrations (with commentaries) in Hu’s work, see ZYTS, 586-603.
15. ZMTY,]ingbu,Yilei, 26 (4:2a-3b).
16. Ibid., 26-27 (4:2b-3b). Moore and Hacker, “Brief Note,” uses one of Hu’s dia
grams to support its interpretation of reasons for the tvvo-part grouping of the hexa
grams in the received text.
17. See Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 462. Cf. Wang Shenzi’s (fl. ca. 1300) wide-ranging
critique of scholars such as Chen Tuan, Shao Yong, Cheng Yi, and Zhu Xi in his Da Yi qishuo
(Engaged Discussions on the Great Changes). In Wang’s view, out of the more than seven
hundred works devoted to the Changes, the only ones Worth paying attention to were the
Hetu and the Luoshu, the basic text and Ten Wings of the Yijing, and the writings of Zhou
Dunyi. See ZMTY,jingbu, Yilei, 28 (4:12a-13b).
18. The editors of the Four Treasuries indicate that although Hu Yigui’s book COmple
ments his father’s work, it pays far more attention to variant types of scholarship. ZMTY,
jingbu, Yilei, 27 (4: 3b).
19. For an English-language summary of some of these debates, see Gedalecia, Solitary
Crane, 85ff.; cf. Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 12-14. For a convenient collection of Yijin_q
related illustrations and commentaries in Wu’s work, see ZYTS, 586-603.
20. Quoted in Gedalecia, Philosophy of Wu Ch’eng, 11o, slightly modified.
21. Ibid., 139ff.
22. ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 27 (4:3b-5a). For an informed Western perspective on Wu’s Yi
related Writings, see Gedalecia, Philosophy of Wu Ch’eng, esp. 21, 29, 52-66.
23. ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 27 (4:5a-7a).
24. For more extensive explications of some of these technical terms, see Nielsen,
Companion.
25. The reviewers of the volume state unequivocally that in Wu’s study “everything
is determined by images.” Cf Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 12-14. For a summary of Wu’s
views on the Hetu and the Luoshu, see Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 462-63.
26. Cf. the investigations of the Yuan scholar Xiao Hanzhong (fourteenth century).
Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 67-77. For an illuminating discussion of the literature in Chi
“Brief Note.” _
nese on this issue, see R. Cook, Classical Chinese Combinatorics, 8-22; and Moore and Hacker
27. ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 27 (4:5a-7a). For Wu’s emphasis on images, see also Zhu Bo
kun, Yixue zhexue shi, 12-14.
28. Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 37.
29. ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 28 (4:1oa-11a).
3o. ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 558 (1o8:12b-14a). See also the discussion of the Yixiang
tushuo and other works attributed to Zhang in Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3:42-67. Zhu
indicates that Zhang Li’s studies of the Changes were heavily influenced by the polymath
Du Qingbi, but he identifies many other sources of inspiration as well, including Zhou
Dunyi (see chapter 5).
31. This study too is contained in the “Arts of Calculation” section of the Four Trea
suries rather than in the “Classics” section. See the review in ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 559
(1o8:22b-23a). For a brief evaluation of the other wide-ranging works of Zhang Xing
cheng, see Nielsen, Companion, 328.
Notes to Pages a46- 53 303
32. ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 559 (1o8:22b—23a).
33. Ibid.
34. See esp. Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3:42ff., esp. 49-67.
35. SKQS,]ingbu,Yilei, 25:39-72.
36. See the review in ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 28 (4:11a—12b). For a convenient collection of
the Yijing—related illustrations and commentaries in Zhang’s work, see ZYTS, 639-751.
37. See, e.g., SKQS,_Iin_gbu,Yilei, 25:86-87, 93-94, 95-96.
38. See Zheng’s Zhengshi Da Yi in Wu Lin, Yixiang tushuo.
39. See ZMTY,]in_gbu, Yilei, 2o (3:15a-16a).
4o. Ibid., 28-29 (4:16a-17a). For a convenient collection of Li’s Yijing-related illustra
tions and commentaries, see ZYTS, 753-61.
41. ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 29 (4:17a).
42. Ibid., 29 (4:2ob-21b).
43. For the Siku review of Hu’s book, see ibid., 28 (4:13b—15b). Hu began his studies
as an advocate of the images-and-numbers approach before turning wholeheartedly to
Zhu Xi’s interpretations.
44. Some conventional translations of the hexagram names for these four are: Kun,
“Pure Yin” (Lynn) or “The Receptive” (R. Wilhelm); Zhun, “Birth T hroes” (Lynn) or “Dif
ficulty at the Beginning” (R. Wilhelm); Bi “Closeness” (Lynn) or “Holding Together”
(R. Wilhelm); Zhen, “Quake” (Lynn) or “The Arousing” (R. Wilhelm).
45. ZMTY,jingbu, Yilei, 29 (4:17a—18a).
46. Ibid., 29 (4:21b-23a).
47. Ibid., 29 (4:2 3a). The self-conscious aim here seems clearly to be the valorization
of a scholar who had been loyal to a conquest dynasty (like the Qing itself).
48. Ibid., 29 (4:23a-25a). For Qian’s Yijin_g—related illustrations, see ZYTS, 773-802.
49. For a review of this book, as well as its precursors, see ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 22
(3 :25 a-26a). Lii’s edition separated the tvvo-part basic text from the Ten Wings, rejecting
Wang Bi’s approach to the Changes, which integrated the Ten Wings into the relevant parts
of the basic text following the precedents established by Pei Zhi and Zheng Xuan (see
chapter 3).
50. Ibid., 30 (4:26a—27a).
51. Ibid., 3o (4:25a—26a). For Chen’s Yijing-related illustrations, see ZYTS, 767-72.
52. Zhang Li’s Da Yi xiangshu goushen tu may be considered a partial exception.
53. Li Daochun is also widely believed to have been the author of another work on
the Yijing, titled Zhouyi shangzhan (Reliable Prognostications [Using the] Zhou Changes). See
ZMTY, Zibu, shushu lei, 574 (111:19a-b).
54. The Zhonghe ji has been loosely translated by Thomas Cleary as The Book of Balance
and Harmony. See Cleary Taoist Classics, 2: 329-487, esp. 385-96 (on the unity of Daoism,
Confucianism, and Buddhism). In this work, Li acknowledges a clear philosophical debt
to the Song Daoist Zhang Boduan (see chapter 5).
55. On the Zhonghe ji and the San Tian Yisui, see http://www.taoism.org.hk/religious
activites&rituals/alchemical-literature/pg5—6-15.htm and http://www.ta0ism.org.h1</
taoist-scriptures/major-scriptures/pg4-2-6.htm, respectively, (both accessed October
13, 2006).
56. For some comments on Yu’s work, see ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 558 (108:12a-143),
559 (1o8:23a-24a). For some translated excerpts from Zhu Xi’s commentary, see SCC,
2: 330-31. For a review of Zhu’s work on the Cantong qi, see ZMTY, Zibu, Daojia lei, 753
(146:35b—37a).
57. Yu’s work was also influenced by the commentaries of both Zhu Xi and Chen
Xianwei (fl. 1234). See Pregadio, Zhouyi cantong qi, 28-33. For a review of Chen’s study on
the Cantong qi, see ZMTY, Zibu, Daojia lei, 754 (146: 3 7a- 37b). A review of Yu’s work can be
found at ibid., 754 (146: 37b—38b).
58. For a review of Yu’s Yiwai biezhuan, see ZMTY, Zibu, Daojia lei, 756 (146:54b-56a),
White, “Interpretations,” 122ff., translates a number of passages from the work. See also
Zhan Shichuang, Nan Song jin Yuan, 83-96; and Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3:33-42.
59. Zhang’s Wuzhen pian (Awakening to the Real) has long been an important text in
the Daoist canon. See Crowe, “Chapters.” Thomas Cleary has translated this work under
the title Understanding Reality. See Cleary, Taoist Classics, 2: 3-205; see also ibid., 211-325.
60. SKQS, Zibu, Daojia lei, 1061:593-94; cf. White, “Interpretations,” 142-43.
61. SKQS, Zibu, Daojia lei, 1o61:580; cf. White, “Interpretations,” 125.
62. See ZMTY, Zibu, Daojia lei‘, 756 (146:54b).
63. Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3 :37 provides clear examples and explanations of these
two diagrams.
64. SKQS, Zibu, Daojia lei, 1061:586; cf. White, “Interpretations,” 135—36.
65. SKQS, Zibu, Daojia lei, 1061:587; cf. White, “Interpretations,” 136-37.
66. SKQS, Zibu, Daojia lei, 1061:592; cf. White, “Interpretations,” 140-41. For a dis
cussion of the importance of “incipient moments,” see chapter 2; see also Lynn, Classic
ofChanges, 58, 63, 69n7, 84-85, 91, 99n35, 135 141n6, 157n5, 237, 24on5, 263, 267-68,
362n8, 463, 498.
67. For the allusions to Kan and Kun, see Lynn, Classic of Changes, 149, 318; cf.
R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 395, 531.
68. SKQS, Zibu, Daojia lei, 1061:592; cf. White, “Interpretations,” 140-41.
69. Elman, Cultural History, 66-220, discusses the complex evolution of the Ming ex
amination system. The comparative charts in this work show the growing percentage
of scholars specializing on the Changes at both the provincial and the metropolitan level
during the Ming period. During the Qing period, this specialization level remained at the
high end, with ca. 30 percent of those specializing on one of the Five Classics specializing
on the Changes, well into the eighteenth century. Ibid. 654, 701-3.
70. ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 30 (5:1a-2b). For a review of Hu Bingwen’s work, see ibid.,
28:13 b-15 b. Hu’s book also went by the title Yijing daquan (Great Comprehensive [Compi
lation of] the Classic of Changes). The Harvard-Yenching rare-book collection has a Wanli
(1573-1620) edition of this work.
71. Hon, “Setting a New Paradigm,” emphasizes this point, noting also that Qing dy
nasty biases against Ming scholarship colored the ZMTY evaluation of the Zhouyi daquan.
For substantiation of Hon’s point, and for evidence of the persistent prejudice against
the Zhouyi claquan, see Zhu Yizun, jingyi kao, juan 49, p. 272; Liao Mingchun, Kang Xuewei,
and Liang Weixian, Zhouyi yanjiu shi, 327; and Wang Xuequn, Qing chu Yixue, 298-99.
72. ZMTY,]ingbu,Yilei, 3o (5:2b).
73. Gu Yanwu’s views, quoted in Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 38, slightly modified; for the
Chinese text, see ibid., 314a.
74. There were, of course, occasional mid-Ming critics, such as Luo Qinshun (1465
1547) and Wang Tingxiang (1474-1544), who argued for the unity of principle and ma
terial force. See Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3:137-94.
75. Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 39, says that about eighty authors of works on the Changes
received their jinshi degrees between 1368 and 1498, while during the period 1501-85
about 320 did so.
76. See, e. g., Ching, Philosophical Letters of Wang Yang-ming, 67-69, 73, 76; and Hender
son, Development and Decline, 131-33. On Wang and his successors, see Ching, Records of Ming
Scholars, esp. 58ff., 1o2ff.; see also SCT, 1:855fF. Wang even gave one of his pupils, Wang
Yin, a new given name, Gen (“Restraint,” “Keeping Sti1l”) — the name of hexagram 52 — as
an acknowledgment of this student’s particular virtues (see below).
77. ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, cunmu, 45 (7:16b—17b). As is evident from their relegation to the
cunmu category of the Four Treasuries, works by these scholars were viewed as relatively
minor by the editors of the collection. For a brief discussion of the cunmu category, see
appendix A.
78. See the discussion in Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3:268ff., esp. 269. Cf. Huang
Zongxi, Yixue xiangshu lun, preface, esp. 2a.
79. See Zhu Bol<un’s long discussion of Cai’s thought in Yixue zhexue shi, 3 :1o6—3 7. Cf.
the review of Cai’s Yijing mengyin (Introduction to the Classic of Changes) in ZMTY, jingbu,
Yilei, 30 (5:2b-3b).
8o. ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 31 (5:7b—9a). Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 80; and R. Wilhelm,
IChing, 336. Italics mine.
81. ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 31 (5 :9a). Xiong also rectified a number of errors in the work of
later scholars.
82. Ibid., 31 (5:9a-1ob).
83. Ibid., 31 (5:1oa-b).
84. For convenient contemporary collections of Yi-related illustrations of the Ming
period, see ZYTS; see also Huang Shouqi and Zhang Shanwen, Yixue qunshu pingyi, 203
21.
85. Wang is famous for producing the Sancai tuhui (Illustrated Compendium of the
Three Powers [Heaven, Earth, and Man]), in 1609, and Zhang, for compiling the Tushu
bian (Compilation of Illustrations and Writings), in 1613.
86. See the discussion of these works in Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 42.
87. Ibid., 42-43.
88. Ibid., 43-44.
89. Lai’s many charts can be found in ZYTS, 803-937. Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” pro
vides the best analysis of Lai’s thought in English; see also the summary of Lai’s ideas
in Nielsen, Companion, 36-38. For a valuable Chinese perspective on Lai, see Zhu Bokun,
Yixue zhexue shi, 3:272-310. See also the introductory remarks to Feng Iiajin’s Zhouyi Xi¢i
zhuan zhushu, which reprints Lai’s Zhouyi jizhu.
90. ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 32 (5:10b-12a).
91. For some critiques of Lai’s Zhouyijizhu, see Huang Zongxi, Yixue xiangshu lun, 2:10a;
Hu Wei, Yitu mingbian, 9:13a; and IiangYong, He Luo (Beijing ed.), 198. See also Schulz, “Lai
Chih-te,” 218-19.
92. See Xu Qinting, Yijing yanjiu, 427-48; cf. Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 117-20.
93. For Lai’s views on Buddhism, see Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 94-96.
94. ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 32 (5:1ob-12a). Lai thus took issue with Zhu Xi’s assumption
that “principle exists before physical form.” Huang Zongxi, Mingru xuean,juan 53, esp. pp,
16aff., discusses how Lai’s philosophical outlook differed from both Zhu Xi’s and Wang
Yangming’s. See also Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 57ff., esp. 68-71.
95. Quoted in Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 97-98, substantially modified after consulting
the Chinese text, ibid., 322.
96. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 129; cf. R. Wilhelm, IChing, 3-6, 369-73.
97. SKQS,jingbu, Yilei, 63. Cf. Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 106, 242fE Here Lai contrasts the
gin of selfishness with the yang (and associated qualities) of the Qian hexagram.
98. As Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 141ff., points out, Lai’s cosmological system had sub
stantial calendrical and geographical components. Lai was not, however, particularly
interested in the Changes as a mantic text. Ibid., 249.
99. See ibid., 120, citing Guo Zichang (1542-1618). Lai Zhide, Yijing Laizhu tujie, 111
16, provides a convenient discussion of several major variables involved in his system of
Changes exegesis: xiang (images), cuo, zong, bian (change), and zhongyao (central lines).
100. Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 45ff. Schulz refers to these two types of hexagrams as
“antipode” and “inverse,” respectively. For other translations, see Nielsen, Companion,
36, 346; and Y. O. Kim, “Philosophy of Wang Fu-chih,” 226f£ Kim provides a valuable
discussion of the many affinities between the interpretive approaches of Wang and Lai.
See ibid., 237-38. See also Gao Huaimin, Song Yuan Ming Yixue shi, dealing mainly with Lai
and Wang.
101. See ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 32: 5 :1ob-12a. For discussions of fandui gua (also fangua) and
pangtong gua, see chapter 3; see also Nielsen, Companion, 57-58, 185-87.
102. Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 112 and esp. 141fE Both of these concepts involve sexual
images. On sexual imagery in the Changes, see chapter 9.
103. Ibid., 112fi'. Lai’s commentary on each hexagram involved several parts: first, an
interpretation of the meaning of the image, then the meaning of the words, then the
meaning of cuo and zong, then the meaning of the hexagram proper and its lines (see fig.
6.8). For a brief summary of Lai’s approach, see C. Wu, Essentials of the Yi jing, xlvi-l. For
details, see Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 127ff.
104. Indeed, Lai’s approach was, in effect, a critique of Zhu Xi’s idea of hexagram
changes (guabian), by which Zhu attempted to portray schematically how nineteen specific
hexagrams were related. For details, see Nielsen, Companion, 74; and esp. Schulz, “Lai
Chih-te,” 214-19.
105. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 179, modified to illumine Lai’s analysis; cf. R. Wilhelm,
IChing, 33-34, 422-23.
106. Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 137, 289n36; cf. Nielsen, Companion, 186-87. For other ex
amples, see Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 225-27.
107. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 391, 398-99; cf. R. Wilhelm, IChing, 161 and 594, 163 and
599
108. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 395n18.
109. “Big Images” here should not be confused with earlier uses of daxiang in which,
for example, the expression refers to qualities associated with the eight trigrams. See
Nielsen, Companion, 39.
11o. See ibid., 36-38. Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 285n24o, calls them “overall images.”
111. Quoted in Nielsen, Companion, 37, slightly modified; see also Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,”
228-42.
112. As Nielsen, Companion, 38, points out, less clear-cut cases could be resolved by
recourse to the idea of overlapping trigrams (hugua or huti), discussed in chapter 3.
113. For instance, Lai placed great numerical value on the number five, and he viewed
the waxing operations expressed in the Hetu as a function of ascending values of odd and
even digits. According to his system, odd numbers began in the north (the origin of all
yang tendencies) with one and passed clockwise through three, seven, and nine, thereby
describing one circuit of accumulation (xi) and dispersal (xiao). Even numbers began in
the south and followed a similar clockwise path from two through four, six, and eight.
With variations, the same process could be used with the Luoshu. A full discussion of Lai’s
approach to numerology can be found in Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 168ff., esp. 195ff.
114. A doubling (yibei) of generative numbers led to the sixty-four hexagrams: one
(Taiji), which begat two (yin and gang), which begat four (the primary images), which
begat eight (the trigrams), which then doubled three times into the sixty-four hexagrams.
Cf. Iiang Yong, He Luo (Beijing ed.), 292-94.
115. Cf. R. Cook, Classical Chinese Combinatorics, 7-15.
116. See Schulz, “Lai Chih-te,” 173-77, 2oo—2o4.
117. Ibid., 222.
118. Quoted in Berling, “When They Go Their Separate Ways ,” 211, slightly modified.
See also Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3:247—51; and Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo Fojiao yu
Zhouyi, 429ff., esp. 435-46.
119. See Berling, “When They Go Their Separate Ways,” 211fE Another important
figure, Iiao Hong (1541-1620), wrote a commentary on the Yijing titled Yi quan (An Aid
to the Changes) and drew substantially from the Yi in his other writings as well. See, e,g_,
Ch’ien, Chiao Hung, esp. 68ff., 181ff.
120. White, “Interpretations,” 149-53. On-the importance of the Gen hexagram in
Buddhist approaches to the Changes, see Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo Fojiao yu Zhouyi, 200_
204, 292-94; for neo-Confucian applications, see W. Chan, Reflections on Things at Hand,
147“53
121. Quoted in T. Liu, “Lin Chao-en,” 267, slightly modified. The phrase “cleaned their
minds” translates xixin, a famous expression in the “Great Commentary.” For very dif
ferent renderings of this passage, see Lynn, Classic of Changes, 64; and R. Wilhelm, I Ching,
316-17. Opinions differ on whose minds have been purified— “cleansed” —by the Changes,
those of the sages or of others. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 73n47.
122. T. Liu, “Lin Chao-en,” 270; cf. White, “Interpretations,” 152. See also Zhu Bokun,
Yixie zhexue shi, 3:33fE, esp. 37-38.
123. ZMTY,]ingbu,Yilei, 33 (5:18b-19a).
124. For a general statement on the importance of this theme, see ZMTY, jingbu, Fanli,
11-12 (3:1a-13a).
125. ZMTY,jingbu,Yilei, 33 (5:18b-19b).
126. Ibid. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 50; and R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 289-90.
127. ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 33 (5:19b). Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 81-82; and the consider
ably different rendering in R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 338-39.
128. ZMTY,]ingbu,Yilei, 32-33 (5:17a-b).
129. Ibid., 32-33 (5:17b).
130. See Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3:194ff., esp. 222. In Wang Yangming’s words,
“The knowledge of the good [liangzhi] is the knowledge of [the] self in solitude.” Ching,
Records of Ming Scholars, 59. Although Zhu Xi tended to emphasize book learning as the
best means of “investigating things,” we should remember that.he also advocated medi
tation.
131. ZMTY,]ingbu, zongxu, 11 (1:1a-2b).
132. See the summary discussion in Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3:222—23; and Ching,
Records of Ming Scholars, 58-60. For details, see Ch’ien, Chiao Hung; and Ching, Records of
Ming Scholars.
133. ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 32 (5:16a—b). On the “ease” and “simplicity” of the Changes as
articulated in the “Great Commentary,” see Lynn, Classic of Changes, 48, 76; cf. R. Wilhelm,
IChing, 302, 327.
134. Howard Goodman and Anthony Grafton, in “Ricci,” 127-40, discuss Gao’s book
in the context of what they describe as the “Tung-lin [Donglin] Changes” network. This
network included Qian Yiben (1583 jinshi), whose writings on the Yijing they also dis
cuss.
135. ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 32 (5:16a—b). Shchutskii, Researches, 79, treats Yi as a “play on
words” in this passage, butI doubt that it is.
136. Cf. the editors’ remarks in ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 32 (5 :16a—b). On Yang, see chapter 5;
Wang’s scholarship is reviewed in ZM'I'Y, jingbu, Yilei, 22 ( 3: 30b-31b).
137. ZMTY,jingbu,Yilei, 32 (5:16b).
138. Liu Zongzhou, Liuzi quanshu, 161-71 (1:2a-7a), 191-204 (2:1a-7b). For details in
English on Liu’s writings, see White, “Interpretations,” 154-7o; see also Ching, Records of
Ming Scholars, esp. 4-6, 253-63, and Yao, Introduction to Confucianism, 391-92.
139. Henderson, Development and Decline, 133. For other examples of Liu’s illustrations,
see White, “Interpretations,” 157ff.
140. Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3 :216-47, esp. 222-23, 229-40. For Wang Ii’s distinc
tive interpretation of Zhang Zai’s famous statement that “the Yi is for the planning of the
superior man” (Yi weijunzi mou), see ibid., 223-29.
141. Ibid., 3 :2 38. The full quotation from the “Great Commentary” reads: “The Changes
is without consciousness and is without deliberate action. Being utterly still it does not
initiate movement, but when stimulated it is commensurate with all the causes for every
thing that happens in the world.” Lynn, Classic of Changes, 63; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 315.
The word stillness, of course, had strong Buddhist connotations as well and was often con
nected with the Gen hexagram (52) in late imperial times. See Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo
Fojiao gu Zhouyi, 292-94.
142. P. Lee, “Li Zhi,” chap. 4, esp. 67ff. Cf. Li Zhi, Lishi Fenshu Xu Fenshu, 107-8. Li quotes
from the first eight characters of the judgment of Qian and the first eight characters of
the judgment of Kun. Lee has translated and thoroughly analyzed Li’s Fufu lun in “Li Zhi,”
chap. 4, esp. 67ff., and appendix, 179-82. For a quite different interpretation of Li’s essay,
see Liu Iilun, Li Zhuowu, esp. 70ff. Note also Li’s somewhat “sexist” letter to his friend Liu
Xiaochuan on the study of the Changes, translated in Ebrey, Chinese Civilization, 261-62.
143. See Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3 :247ff., esp. 26o-68; and Wang Zhongyao, Zhong
guo Fojiao yu Zhouyi, 446ff., esp. 461-76. See also Tang Mingbang and Wang Xuequn, Yixue
yu Changjiang wenhua, 248-55; Zhixu, Zhouyi Sishu Chanjie, 4-8; and White, “Interpreta
tions,” 171f.’f.
144. See Cleary, Buddhist I Ching, “Translator’s Introduction”; see also Huang Shouqi
and Zhang Shanwen, Yixue qunshu pinggi, 45-46.
145. Zhixu, Zhouyi Sishu Chanjie, zixu, 2. White, “Interpretations,” 183-86, translates this
entire introduction. Zhixu also wrote an apologetic book on the Yijing titled Zhouyi Qian
Kun ergua yuanjie (A Perfect Interpretation of the Two Hexagrams Qian and Kun in the
Zhou Changes).
146. Zhixu, Zhouyi Sishu Chanjie, zixu, 1.
147. See the insightful discussion in White, “Interpretations,” 171-211, esp. the con
venient chart on 192; cf. Wang Zhongyao, Zhongguo Fojiao yu Zhouyi, 446ff., esp. 461-76.
Cleary, Buddhist I Ching, provides a somewhat selective but still useful translation of
Zhixu’s Zhouyi Sishu Chanjie.
148. Zhixu, Zhouyi Sishu Chanjie, main text, 2. Cf. Cleary, Buddhist I Ching, 1.
149. See the illuminating diagram in White, “Interpretations,” 212.
150. Ibid., 180-83.
151. Berling, “When They G0 Their Separate Ways,” 212-13. See also Henderson, Devel
opment and Decline, 138ff.
152. As the “Great Commentary” states, “The rise of the Changes, was it not in middle
antiquity? Did not the makers of the Changes become concerned about calamities?” Lynn,
Classic of Changes, 87; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 345.
15 3. ZMTY, Jingbu, Yilei, 33 (5 :21b-22b). For a convenient collection of N i’s Yijing-related
illustrations, see ZYTS, 938-1018.
154. ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 33 (5 :226). Huang, like Ni, was a highly respected calligrapher,
For evaluations of Huang’s scholarship on the Yijing, which influenced several important
figures of the Ming-Qing transition, including Fang Yizhi and Huang Zongxi, see ibid.,
33 (5:19b—21b); and ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 559-60 (1o8:z4a-28a). See also chapter 7.
7. The Qing Dynasty

1. See R. Smith, China's Cultural Heritage.
2. For excellent overviews of the multiethnic Qing empire, see Rawski, Last Emperors;
and Crossley, Translucent Mirror. For work on the Qing in global perspective, see the out
standing essays in Struve, Qing Formation.
3. See Elman, Cultural History, 163—72, 481-625.
4. See Guy, Emperor's Four Treasuries, esp. 201-7. Guy argues that in terms of “intel
lectual stance” the reviews in the Siku quanshu primarily reflect Qing kaozheng scholarship
but that some of these writings were “undoubtedly constrained by Manchu ethnic sen
sitivities and imperial pride.” These areas of Manchu sensitivity were “fairly narrow and
predictable.” Hon, “Setting a New Paradigm,” does an excellent job in discussing the
implications of the traumatic Ming-Qing transition for Yijing scholarship.
5. See R. Smith, Introduction. The essays in Smith and Kwok, Cosmology, Ontology, and
Human E_flicacy, reflect the wide range of intellectual options available in Ming-Qing times.
See also Tang Mingbang and Wang Xuequn, Yixue yu Changjiang wenhua, 3 3-15o, 25 6ff.
6. See R. Smith, “Jesuits and Evidential Research”; and idem, “Jesuit Interpreta
tions.” For a useful overview of the Jesuit missionary enterprise in China, see Mungello,
Great Encounter.
7. For two valuable English-language discussions of Qing period hermeneutical
strategies, see S. Liu, “Paradigm Shifts”; and D. Cheng, “Inter-Explanation of the Clas
sics.” See also the following note.
8. See, e.g., Yi-related monographs on individual Qing thinkers, such as Wang Xue
qun, Wang Fuzhi; Hu Fagui, Wang Fuzhi; and Lai Guisan,]iao Xun Diaogu lou, as well as works
such as Wang Xuequn’s Qing chu Yixue. See also the appropriate sections of more general
works on the Changes such as Huang Shouqi and Zhang Shanwen, Yixue qunshu pingyi; Pan
Yuting, Du Yi tiyao; Shang Guojun, Zhongguo Yixue shihua; Toda Toyosaburo, Elcikyo chflshaku
shiko; Zhang Shanwen, Lidai Yijia yu Yixue yaoji; and Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi (Zhu devotes
an entire volume, number 4, titled The End of the Learning of the Way [often equated with
Cheng-Zhu neo—Confucianism] and the Revival of Han Learning, to the Qing). Somewhat
surprisingly, Y. O. Kim, “Philosophy of Wang Fu-chih,” is one of the few English-language
works on the Changes that focuses on the Qing period. In French, see Jullien, Figures de
Vimmanence, which, like Kim’s dissertation, focuses on Wang Fuzhi. For a general overview
of Qing scholarship on the Yijing, see Swanson, Introduction.
9. For a discussion of early Qing debates over the relationship between the fall of the
Ming and Yijing scholarship, see Wang Xuequn, Qing chu Yixue, esp. 5-30.
10. Hon, “Setting a New Paradigm,” 5ff., discusses this process. See also Wang Xue
qun, Qing chu Yixue, esp. 5-30.
11. As in past eras, many debates revolved around historical questions, discrepancies
in the basic text and commentaries, and so on. For an overview, see R. Smith, Fortune-tellers
and Philosophers, esp. 95-98.
12. For one indication of Qing dynasty interest in these diagrams, see TS]C, jingji,
55:543-625. Note also the large number of Qing works on the Hetu and the Luoshu in
Zhongguo kexue yuan, tushuguan, Xuxiu Siku quanshu, 1:194-201.
13. For an excellent overview, see Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiké, 693-730.
14. See R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, chap. 2; see also Aylward’s Complete
Guide, which offers a partial translation of the Xieji bianfang shu. For a glowing Qing dynasty
review of this work, see ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 566-67 (1o9:48a-49a).
15. Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiko, 693-730.
16. See Tang Mingbang and Wang Xueqin, Yixue gu Changjiang wenhua, 256-405. Elman,
Classicism, Politics, and Kinship, esp. 126-44, provides an excellent example of an academy
oriented network of Changes scholarship in the area of Changzhou.
17. The general interpretation of “solid scholarship” is that it left comparatively little
room for spiritual, philosophical, or religious concerns of the sort that characterized Zhu
Xi orthodoxy, but Rodney Taylor, “Confucian Spirituality and Qing Thought,” convinc
ingly argues otherwise.
18. Debates between exponents of these latter two schools had to do with whether
Han or Song commentators “offered the surest Way to a comprehension of the classics
and the governing of the world.” Henderson, Development and Decline, 138-40.
19. Gu Yanwu, Rizhi lu, chap. 1.
20. Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shikfi, 693-94. Gu was also highly critical of the
numerological schemes of Han scholars such as Xun Shuang and Yu Fan, not to mention
those of the Song savant Chen Tuan.
21. Ibid., 709. See also R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 70-71, 94-99. Cf. ZMTY,
jingbu, Yilei, 13 (1:2b-3a), in which we read: “The ‘Big Images’ of the sixty-four hexagrams
all have the words, ‘the superior person considers that. . . ,’ and the line images contain
many warnings to the diviner. This reveals the sage’s intention [that morally directed
divination is the primary purpose of the Changes]. All other approaches are bits and pieces,
not fundamental to it.”
22. Hon, “Setting a New Paradigm,” 16ff., describes Wang as a “moderate” who, like
Diao Bao (1603-69), believed that there was merit in both yili and xiangshu approaches to
the Changes. See n. 54 below. By contrast, Hon considers Huang Zongxi, like Gu Yanwu
and Huang’s brother Zongyan, to be more radical in their rejection of xiangshu-based
interpretations of the Yijing.
23. For a detailed discussion of these two men from the standpoint of their shared
“Yangzi River culture,” see Tang Mingbang and Wang Xuequn, Yixue yu Changjiang wen
hua, 279-324. Cf. Wang Xuequn, Wang Fuzhi Yixue, 1-18; and Wang Xuequn, Qing chu Yixue,
303-52. See also Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 5:256; and Hon, “Setting a New Paradigm,"
7'9
24. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 357-62; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 139-42, 564-69.
25. See the excellent discussion in Ch’ien, Chiao Hung, 243-48.
26. See ZMTY,jingbu, Yilei, 33 (5:19b—21b). Huang Daozhou’s emphasis on correlative
systems of mathematical calculation reminiscent of Shao Yong can be seen in the many
charts and diagrams of his Yixiang zheng. See SKQS, jingbu, Yilei, 3:101-455, esp. 401-9,
Huang Daozhou was also the author of a less “orthodox” and more numerologically ori
ented work titled San Yi dongji (Understanding the Workings [of Heaven] by Means of the
Three Changes [i.e., the Changes of Fuxi, King Wen, and Confucius]). The long, grudgingly
positive review of this book in ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 559-60 (1o8:24a-28a), credits the
author with great creativity and acknowledges that he had the capacity to know both the
past and the future.
27. For a review of Huang’s Yixue xiangshu Iun, see ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 35 (6:1oa-12a).
ZYTS, 1088-1132, provides a convenient collection of the Yi-related illustrations and com
mentaries contained in this work. Cf. the studies by scholars such as Qiao Lai (1667 jinshi),
Chen Menglei (b. 1651), and Qian Chengzhi (1612-93) in ibid., 1019-36, 1037-76, and
1133-72, respectively. On Qiao, see ZM'I'Y, jingbu, Yilei, 36 (6:18b-19b); on Chen, see ibid.,
37 (6:22b-23b).
28. The seven “correct” types of images were (1) those of the eight trigrams, (2) those
of the six lines, (3) those resembling things (xiangxing zhi xiang), (4) those showing the
positions of the lines (yaowei zhi xiang), (5) those indicating opposition (fandui zhi xiang),
(6) those indicating directions (fangwei zhi xiang), and (7) those indicating overlapping
trigrams (huti zhi xiang). These seven “exhaust all of the images.” Later scholars, however,
created what Huang called false images, including the najia system, “moving lines” (dong
yao), hexagram changes (guabian), and the Former Heaven configurations (xiantian); these
four, he claimed, “obscured the original seven.” ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 35 (6:10a—11a).
29. For Huang’s views on the Hetu and the Luoshu, see Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 464
65. Among other things, Huang felt that Qing scholars were fearful of criticizing the Hetu
and the Luoshu because they had been officially recognized by the Qing government.
30. Quoted in ZMTY,]in_gbu,Yilei, 35 (6:1oa).
31. Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyfi chfishaku shikfi, 694-95. Huang was, however, extremely
critical of Buddhism.
32. See the reviews of Zongyan’s work in ZMTY,jingbu, Yilei, 35-36 (6:12a-13). Accord
ing to the ZMTY, Zongyan’s views on the Daoist orientation of Chen Tuan’s work accord
with those of the Yuan scholar Chen Yingrun (see chapter 6).
33. Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiko, 695. See also Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi,
245-56. For Yi-related illustrations and commentary from Zongyan’s work, see ZYTS,
1173-92.
34. See the discussion of Wang’s anti-foreign views in Y. O. Kim, “Philosophy of Wang
Fu-chih,” 52ff. and 353-70, his appendix on the publication history of Wang’s works.
Some of Wang’s animus toward Buddhism seems to have been motivated by its “alien”
origins. Ibid., 79.
35. The sequel to the Four Treasuries collection includes Wang’s four best-known
works. For reviews, see Zhongguo kexue yuan, tushuguan, Xuxiu Siku quanshu, 1:44-45.
36. ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 35 (6:7b—8b). See also Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiko,
694. For a detailed discussion of Wang’s other works, esp. his Zhouyi waizhuan (An Exo
teric Commentary on the Zhou Changes)—a “free thematic display” of Wang’s thoughts
on the Yijing—and his Zhouyi neizhuan (An Esoteric Commentary on the Zhou Changes) —a
“close commentary or textual analysis” -see Y. O. Kim, “Philosophy of Wang Fu-chih,”
8off.; and Wang Xuequn, Wang Fuzhi Yixue. For a shorter summary, see Shchutskii, Re
searches, xxxviii-xxxix.
37. Y. O. Kim, “Philosophy of Wang Fu-chih,” 227fF., esp. 234-41. Viewed as hexa
gram relationships, “alternation” was expressed in terms of Yu Fan’s idea of pangtong (lat
eral linkages), and “reversion” in terms of his idea of fandui (inversion). See chapter 3.
38. See Wang’s Zhouyi neizhuanfali in YjjC, 141:1a—4a, esp. 4a. On the affinities between
Wang and Zhang Zai, see Y. O. Kim, “Philosophy of Wang Fu-chih,” 110-18.
39. These themes are developed systematically in Wang Xuequn, Wang Fuzhi Yixue, esp.
352-468.
4o. Y. O. Kim, “Philosophy of Wang Fu-chih,” 70H". and esp. 139; Black, Man and Nature,
81-82, 115fi'. For Wang’s dark reading of the hexagrams Iiji (“Ferrying Complete” [63])
and Weiji (“Ferrying Incomplete” [64]) during a time of dynastic transition, see Wang
Fuzhi, Chuanshan quanshi, 1:499, discussed in Hon, “Setting a New Paradigm,” 8-9.
41. Y_I]C, 141:2b-3a. For a thorough study of Wang’s thought in Chinese, see Wang
Xuequn, Wang Fuzhi Yixue. For a less comprehensive but extremely provocative study of
Wang’s interpretive approach in French, see Iullien, Figures de l’immanence.
42. Black, Man and Nature, 121ff., 159-64.
43. Y. O. Kim, “Philosophy of Wang Fu-chih,” 193-97. I have modified Kim’s trans
lation somewhat. One is reminded here of Li Zhi’s Yi-based argument about the essen
tial equality of husbands and wives, discussed briefly in the previous chapter. For other
examples of Wang’s commentaries, see D. Wang, Les signes et les mutations, 130-37; and
Iullien, Figures de Pimmanence.
44. According to this interpretation, the term that I have translated “efficacy” above
refers to the way that the six yang lines of Qian and the six yin lines of Kun combine in
various ways to produce, enable, and connect all of the other sixty-two hexagrams. See
Y. O. Kim, “Philosophy of Wang Fu-chih,” 154fF., esp. 162- 63.
45. See the reviews of four of Mao’s seven major books in ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 36 (6:14b
18b).
47. In his most representative work, Zhongshi Yi (My Elder Brother’s Changes), Mao Qi
ling says that Xiling’s ideas on the Yijing “captured the spirit of the Six Dynasties and sur
passed the theories of the Song-Yuan scholars.” Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shikfi,
701.
48. Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chfishaku shiko, 703. For a review of He Kai’s work on the
Changes, see ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 34 (5:24b—25b). Mao’s criticism of He is that he tried too
hard to tailor his views to those of Cheng Yi and Su Shi.
49. See, e. g., Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikgo chflshaku shiko, 703-4.
50. ZYTS, 1193-1289, provides a convenient collection of Hu’s Yi-related illustrations
and commentaries. For a discussion of Hu as a product of Yangzi River culture, see Tang
Mingbang and Wang Xuequn, Yixue yu Changjiang wenhua, 325-38.
51. Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 463-64. See also Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiko,
697-98
52. Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 463-64. I
53. Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiko, 698-99.
54. See the review of Diao’s Yizhuo (Deliberations on the Changes) in ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei,
35 (6:8b—1oa); cf Shchutskii, Researches, 75-80.
55. See the Kangxi emperor's short preface to the Zhouyi zhezhong in ZYZZ, also cited in
Liu Dajun’s long and illuminating foreword to that work. Cf. R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and
Philosophers, 112-13.
56. See the discussion of Li’s Yijing scholarship in O. N g, Cheng-Zhu Confucianism; see
also Hon, “Setting a New Paradigm.”
57. Henderson, Development and Decline, 223-24. For details, see esp. Li’s Qimengfiilun
(Appended Discussion of [Zhu Xi’s] Introduction [to the Study of the Changes]) in Sun Guc
zhong, Hetu Luoshujiexi, 319-81.
58. For a translation of Li’s annotated version of Zhu Xi’s Yixue qimeng, see Phelan,
“N eo-Confucian Cosmology,” 143-278. Tze-l<i Hon’s “Setting a New Paradigm” ofl'ers an
excellent introduction to Li’s Yi-related scholarship. See also O. N g, Cheng-Zhu Confucian
ism.
59. ZMTY,jingbu,Yilei, 37 (6:2ob-21a).
60. Ibid., 37 (6:21a—22b). O. N g, Cheng-Zhu Confucianism, discusses Li’s departures
from orthodox neo-Confucianism with great insight.
61. For a sophisticated evaluation of this massive work, including its many textual
peculiarities, see Liu Dajun’s foreword to ZYZZ; see also Hon, “Setting a New Paradigm,”
20-27. ZYTS, 1290-1346, provides a convenient collection of Yi-related illustrations and
commentaries from the Zhouyi zhezhong.
62. See the summary in ZMTY,_]ingbu, Yilei, 34 (6: 3 b-4b); see also Hon, “Setting a New
Paradigm,” 2off.
63. For reviews of these two compendia on the Changes and of a similar work from the
Qianlong reign, see ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 34-35 (6:1a-6b). The prefaces to all three works
emphasize the need for clarity, balanced coverage, and practical utility, so that the em
peror and his officials could draw upon them in the conduct of their administrative af
fairs. But in fact each leaned to one side. For a judicious evaluation of each work in the
light of the Zhouyi zhezhong, see Hon, “Setting a New Paradigm.” See also Wang Xuequn,
Qing chu Yixue, esp. 298-352.
64. See the breakdown in ZYZZ, Yinyong xingshi, 1-10.
65. See ZYZZ, fanli. For a translation of Li’s editorial principles, see Phelan, “Neo
Confucian Cosmology,” 124-38.
66. See the discussion in Hon, “Setting a New Paradigm,” 24ff.
67. R. Smith, “Jesuit Interpretations.” See also Goodman and Grafton, “Ricci,” 97
100, 114-48.
68. On Bouvet’s life and work, see Collani, joachim Bouvet S.].; and idem, “First Meet
ing.”
69. Quoted in R. Smith, “Jesuit Interpretations,” 19. Cf. Cheng Yi: “Only when you
have principle (li) do you have images (xiang), and only when you have images do you have
number (shu).” Quoted in K. Smith et al., Sung Dynasty Uses, 210.
70. For a full discussion, see R. Smith, “Jesuit Interpretations,” zoff. The diagram and
a useful discussion of it can be found in Collani, Joachim Bouvet S.]., 168ff.
71. Bouvet’s influence can be detected in the diagrams included in the Qimeng fulun;
see ZYZZ, 1168-1206. Significantly, Li and Bouvet each claimed to admire the contribu
tions of the other. Han Qi, “Bai Jin,” 194-95.
72. R. Smith, “Jesuit Interpretations,” 23-27.
73. For a brief overview of Hui’s work in English, see Shchutskii, Researches, xxxix-xl.
Tang Mingbang and Wang Xuequn, Yixue yu Changjiang wenhua, 340-54, discusses Hu in
the context of Yangzi River culture. Cf. Elman, Classicism, Politics, and Kinship, 103-4, 130
33
74. For three favorable reviews of Hui’s work by the editors of the Four Treasuries
project, see ZMTY, jingbu, Yilei, 40-41 (6:45a-49b).
75. See the preface to Hui’s Yi Hanxue, 1a, reprinted in Y]]C, vol. 122.
76. See the review in ZMTY,]ingbu, Yilei, 40 (6:46a-47b).
77. For details, see Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiko, 705-12. The major illus
trations and commentaries from Hui’s Yi Hanxue can be found in ZYTS, 1478-93. Cf. the
roughly contemporary materials by Lian Doushan (fi. 1775) in ibid., 1494-1504, and by
Zhao Jixu (1741 juren) in ibid., 1505-83.
78. For details, see Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiko, 705-12. Hui Dong’s father,
Hui Bannong, asserted in his Yishuo (Discussions on the Changes) that when the Yi of Con
fucius was transmitted to the Han scholars, Meng Xi called it guaqi, Jing Fang called it
tongbian, Xun Shuang called it shengjiang, Zheng Xuan called it gaochen, and Yu Fan called
it najia. Ibid., 706.
79. See Miles, “Celebrating the Yu Fan Shrine,” esp. 46-47. Miles uses an examina
tion of the establishment of the Yu Pan shrine to explore the connections between two
important developments in early-nineteenth-century China: localism and “empire-wide
literati activism.” Ibid., 33. For Zhang’s roots in Yangzi River culture, see Tang Mingbang
and Wang Xuejun, Yixue yu Changjiang wenhua, 355-67.
80. Some of Iiang’s ideas bear certain resemblances to the eclectic, Yijing-oriented
thought of Father Bouvet and may, in fact, be related at least tangentially to it. See R. Smith,
“Jesuit Interpretations.”
81. Iiang Yong, He Luo (Beijing ed.), personal preface, 16.
82. Henderson, Development and Decline, 188, 243-44, 248, 250, 252.
83. See the discussion in Chu, “Technical Knowledge,” 265ff., summarized in Chu,
“Ch’eng-Chu Orthodoxy.”
84. On the fenye system and critiques of it, see R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers,
34, 67ff.,136,152,177, 199.
85. See the analysis in Chu, “Ch’eng-Chu Orthodoxy,” 90-91; cf. Iiang Yong, Shuxue,
1off.
86. See Erh-min Wang, “Turn of Fortune.” On Li Fu, see C. Huang, Philosophy, Phi
lology, and Politics, 77ff.
87. Iiang Yong, He Luo (Beijing ed.), personal preface, 16-17. Iiang discusses these
technical terms at length in the He Luo jingyun. On the chengfang system, for example, see
ibid., 292fE
88. See Chu, “Ch’eng-Chu Orthodoxy,” 95ff.; and R. Smith, “Jesuits and Evidential
Research.”
89. See Iiang Yong, He Luo (Beijing ed.), 337-39. ZYTS, 1386-1477, provides a conve
nient collection of the Yi-related illustrations and commentaries in Iiang’s He Luojingyun.
See also the useful annotations in Guo Yu, He Luo jingyun zhuyin.
90. See the discussion in Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiko, 715-17.
91. For an evaluation of the Yi-related work of Li, Yan’s student, which drew heavily
on Mao Qiling and Hu Wei, see ZMTY,jingbu, Yilei, 38 (6:29b-30b).
92. See R. Smith, China’s Cultural Heritage, 148.
93. See Elman, Classicism, Politics, and Kinship, esp. 145-85, 214-56; see also O. Ng,
“Text and Context.” For a review of Zhuang’s Zhouyi tongyi (Penetrating the Meaning of the
Zhou Changes), see Zhongguo kexue yuan, tushuguan, Xuxiu Siku quanshu, 1:141.
94. Xu Shichang, Qingru xuean, 75 :9a-b, quoted in O. N g, “Text and Context,” 13.
95. A modern, punctuated and annotated edition was published in 1990 under the title
Liushisi gua yu yangsheng (The Sixty-four Hexagrams and the Preservation of Health). For a
somewhat selective English translation, see Thomas Cleary’s Taoist I Ching.
96. See the introduction to Cleary, Taoist I Ching. See also Huang Shouqi and Zhang
Shanwen, Yixue qunshu pingyi, 121-25; and Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 138
41.
97. For illustrations and commentaries from Liu’s Zhouyi chanzhen, see ZYTS, 1584
1623.
98. See the imperatives in Liu Yiming’s commentaries on the Qian hexagram (1) in
Liushisi gua yu yangsheng, 57- 60, 207-8.
99. Liu Yiming, Liushisi gua yu yangsheng, 274; see also the editor’s afterword, 275
76.
100. On Zhang, see Shchutskii, Researches, 80-87.
101. I am paraphrasing ibid., 85. Zhang begins this passage with an unacknowledged
quotation from the “Great Commentary”: “The Changes is a paradigm of Heaven and
Earth, and so it shows how one can fill in and pull together the Dao of Heaven and Earth.”
See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 51; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 293.
102. R. Smith, China's Cultural Heritage, 167.
10 3. The sequel to the ZMTY lists thirteen works by Zhang. They are reviewed in Zhong
guo kexue yuan, tushuguan, Xuxiu Siku quanshu, 1:75-78.
104. For Zhang as a product of Yangzi River culture, see Tang Mingbang and Wang Xue
qin, Yixue yu Changjiang wenhua, 355-67. Cf. the discussion of Zhang’s Yijing scholarship
and that of his Changzhou colleagues in Elman, Classicism, Politics, and Kinship, 126ff., esp.
133"35
105. Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikgfi chflshaku shiko, 715-17. The major illustrations and com
mentaries from Zhang’s Zhouyi tiaobian (A Systematic Critique of the Zhou Changes) can be
found in ZYTS, 1624-40.
106. Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyii chflshaku shiko, 712-15, 719. For Iiao Xun’s Yangzi River
roots and connections, see Tang Mingbang and Wang Xueqin, Yixue yu Changjiang wenhua,
368-85.
107. Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiko, 719. Another irony is that Iiao Xun’s father
was himself reported to have been a professional diviner. See BRZ, 5:25.
108. Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiko, 719, indicates that Iiao also criticized such
early conceptions as biangua, banxiang, nayin, and guaqi.
109. See Iiao’s Zhouyi bushu (Supplemental Commentary to the Zhou Changes) in Y]]C,
135:1a.
110. Elman, From Philosophy to Philology, 181-82. Cf. Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikgo chflshaku
shiko, 718-28. For an excellent recent monograph on Iiao’s mathematics and Yijing-related
scholarship, see Lai Guisan, jiao Xun Diaogu lou.
111. See R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 94ff., esp. 103.
112. Ibid., 103. See also Lynn, Classic of Changes, 219, 498; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 58 and
455, 219 and 678.
113. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 191, 534; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 40 and 431, 243 and 708.
For a great many past and present Chinese commentaries on this puzzling expression,
see Lin Hanshi, Yijing zhuan zhuan, 2-12.
114. Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiko, 718.
115. Iiao borrowed the term bili from mathematics. Crossley and Lun, Chinese Mathemat
ics, 218, translates it as “proportional dividers.”
116. Iiao wrote in the preface to his Yitu lue (Overview of the Illustrations of the Changes)
that the three things he had learned from his study of the Yijing were bili, xiangcuo, and
shixing (timely action). See Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikgfi chflshaku shiko, 721. For an analysis of
]iao’s notion of shixing, see Lai Guisan, jiao Xun Diaogu lou, 244ff.
117. See Lai Guisan, jiao Xun Diaogu lou, 218ff., esp. 306-8 and 320ff. Cf. Lynn, Classic
of Changes, 331, 333, 468, 470 and the commentaries cited on 471-72; and R. Wilhelm,
IChing, 123, 203, 543, 656.
118. Quoted in Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiké, 718.
119. See Lai Guisan,]iao Xun Diaogu lou, 419-91, on Iia0’s Yi-oriented ethics, dominated
by the values of humaneness and forgiveness (shu), which he adapted from the Analects but
expressed in terms of the Changes. See ibid., esp. 421-22, 425-26.
120. Ibid., 447. See also the discussion in Toda Toyosaburo, Ekikyo chflshaku shiko, 719_
20.
121. Hummel, Eminent Chinese, 2:145, slightly modified; see also BRZ, 5:25-26.
122. For reviews of more than three hundred late Qing Works on the Changes, see Zhong
guo kexue yuan, tushuguan, Xuxiu Siku quanshu, 1:86-20 3.
123. For some earlier examples of women’s scholarship on the Changes during the Qing,
see Xian Yuqing, Guangdong niizi weyi kao, jingbu, 1 (on Yu Yunxing, who compiled a book of
writings focused on Zhu Xi’s Zhouyi benyi); and BRZ, 38:8-9 (on Zhang Tun, who wrote a
book titled Yidao rumen [Introduction to the Way of the Changes]).
124. Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, esp. 14-17.
125. White, “Interpretations,” 181-82. White has translated Hoseki Seil<an’s preface to
this work. For additional information on Yang, see Wu Yankang, “Revered Master Deep
Willows”; and idem, “Yang Renshan and the Iinling Buddhist Press.” The latter article
includes two photographs of Yang’s handwritten annotations to the Zh0uyiCl1anjie.
126. For a review, see Zhongguo kexue yuan, tushuguan, Xuxiu Siku quanshu, 1:166.
127. Y. Hu, “Writing Qiu Iin’s Life,” 140-44. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 364; and
R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 145, 571. Hu notes earlier precedents in the exegesis of Yuan Mei
(1716-98). Ibid. 146n83.
128. For a review, see Zhongguo kexue yuan, tushuguan, Xuxiu Siku quanshu, 1:174.
129. See Shchutskii, Researches, 87-109. Aque, “Pi Xirui andjingshi lishi,” provides a num
ber of examples of Pi’s opinions on the Yijing; see, e.g., 189-221, 290-93, 422-44, 560
72. 746-47. 789. 794-99. 894-11. 844. 893-94. 916. 933-35
130. See Aque, “Pi Xirui and jingshi lishi,” 290fF. Wang’s ideas were inspired in part by
the work of Iiao Xun. For a review of Wang’s Zhouyi shuo (Discussions on the Changes), see
Zhongguo kexue yuan, tushuguan, Xuxiu Siku quanshu, 1:176-77.
131. For details, see Shchutsl<ii, Researches, 101-8.
132. For reviews, see Zhongguo kexue yuan, tushuguan, Xuxiu Siku quanshu, 1:177-79.
Hang reportedly believed that Daoism had originated with the Yijing and that both Bud
dhism and Christianity had affinities with it. BRZ, 7:27-29.
133. See Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 466.
134. Ibid., 468.
135. Ibid., 465ff., esp. 468-69.
137. Henderson, Development and Decline, 150.
138. R. Smith, Fortune—tellers and Philosophers, 49-50, 70-74.
139. For a more recent articulation of this basic argument, see R. Smith, “Divination
in Late Imperial China.” Cf. O. N g, “Epochal Concept.”
140. See Zito, Of Body and Brush, 103-5.
141. R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 70-71.
142. Henderson, Development and Decline, 224.
143. Zhu Xi’s spirited letter explaining why he “never doubted” the authenticity of the
Hetu and the Luoshu is reproduced in Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 458-6o. Significantly, the
section on the Hetu and the Luoshu in the Tushu jicheng precedes the section on the Yijing
itself. See TSjC,]ingji dian, 55:543-627.
144. See Henderson, Development and Decline, 224.
145. See, e.g., BRZ, 1:19; 2:7; 5:2, 25-26; 6:17; 8:11,16; 9:6, 17-18; 12:10; 14:14; 15:27,
29; 16:25; 17:13; 18:7, 15, 25-27; 19:34; 22:7, 15-17, 21, 24-25; 24:7, 19; 26:4—5; 28:2, 15
16, 20; 29:36-37; 31:18, 25-26; 32:14; 33:25-26; 34:8-1o, 22-23; 35:11-22, 12-13; 36:16,
18, 26; 37:31. See also Sun Guozhong, “He Luo,” 465ff.
146. Elman, Cultural History, 295-370, esp. 311-6o.
147. See the discussion in R. Smith, “Divination in Late Imperial China”; see also idem,
Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 7o-74.
8. The Changes in Modern China

1. For a useful overview of twentieth-century Chinese philosophy, see the essays in
Cheng and Bunnin, Contemporary Chinese Philosophy, esp. Bunnin’s introduction.
2. For a brief overview of the major developments in twentieth-century China dis
cussed below, see R. Smith, China's Cultural Heritage, chap. 11.
3. The use of the Changes for divination and the scholarly study of it had, of course,
a long history in the British colony of Hong Kong. For a comprehensive study of Changes
scholarship in Taiwan, see Lai Guisan, Taiwan Yixue shi.
4. For a discussion of the growth and power of Chinese nationalism, see R. Smith,
China's Cultural Heritage, chap. 11. The scholarly manifestation of nationalist sentiment
was an orientation toward “National Studies” (Guoxue), first identified with Hu Shi in the
1920s. See Q. Wang, “Historical Writings.”
5. Fung, History of Chinese Philosophy, 2:673ff.; cf. Nylan, Five “Confucian” Classics,
3o7ff.
6. For an example of a contemporary effort to use Buddhism to explain the Changes,
see Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 14-17.
7. See, e.g., B. Ng, IChing, 70-77.
8. See SCC, 2:335-36; and Legge, I Ching, 38. See also Spence, Emperor ofChina,11, 74.
The broader claim was that “Western learning originated in China” (Xixue Zhongyuan).
9. Zhang is, of course, famous for his formula “Chinese learning for the fundamental
principles and Western learning for practical application.” For this polarity as expressed
in the “Great Commentary,” see Lynn, Classic of Changes, 67; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 323.
1o. Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 3-59; Fung, History of Chinese Philoso
phy, 2:67 3fl".
11. See Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 4-21.
12. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 115, slightly modified; see also ibid., 444-59, esp. 451.
32o Notes to Pages 197-202
Cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 189-97, 635-46. For earlier applications of these two hexagrams,
see Hon, Yijing and Chinese Politics, 75, 86-87.
13. For the desired qualities of “straightness” (zhi) and “squareness” (fang) Expressed
in the second line of the Kun hexagram (“Pure Yin” [2]), see Gu Shusheng, Du Zhouyi riji,
Liu er zhi fang, 2a.
14. See Schwartz, In Search of Wealth and Power, 50-53. Yan’s remarks on the Yijing can
be found in his foreword (xu) to the Tianyan lun in Yan Fu, Yan jidao shiwen chao, 4:1-3.
15. See Fung, History of Chinese Philosophy, 2:699-702. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 139
40; and esp. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 3-1o, 369-85. C. Wu, Essentials of the Yi jing, lxiii, argues
that “without heads” in this line should be translated as “without a leader.”
16. See Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 4-14.
17. Liu, Shehuixue shi xu, 22o-21. I am grateful to Joachim Kurtz for bringing this text,
as well as its context, to my attention. See also Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue
shi, 17-20.
18. Quoted in Schwartz, In Search of Wealth and Power, 51.
19. See Y. Hu, “Writing Qiu Iin’s Life,” 138-48.
20. See, e.g., the discussion in the Shanghai newspaper Shenbao, March 3o, 1876, titled
“The Education of Women,” which notes the privileging of the Kun (female) hexagram
over the Qian (male) hexagram in the Guitang.
21. See the discussion in R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 91, 129, 271-74.
22. For useful background on the Doubting of Antiquity movement, see Q. Wang,
“Historical Writings.” Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 113-15, provides an
apt summary of the strengths and limitations of the movement’s exegetical approach to
the Changes. See also Shaughnessy, “Marriage, Divorce, and Revolution,” 587ff.
23. For a sophisticated twenty-first- century articulation of this basic point, see O. N g,
“Epochal Concept.”
24. See Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 60-77 and 113-2o.
25. See Lai Guisan, Taiwan Yixue shi; Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 3
163; and Cheng and Bunnin, Contemporary Chinese Philosophy. See also Zhang Shanwen, Lidai
Yijia yu Yixue yaoji, 424ff. Zhang’s book provides convenient summaries of major works on
the Changes from ancient times to the “contemporary period.”
26. I have developed this theme at some length in R. Smith, China’s Cultural Heritage,
chap. 11.
27. For an excellent overview of the New Culture debates concerning “moderniza
tion,” “total Westernization,” and China’s “national essence,” see SCT, 2: 351-95.
28. For any number of examples, see the appropriate sections in Cai Shangsi, Shijia lun
Yi; Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi; and Zhang Shanwen, Lidai Yijia yu Yixue
yaoji, 424ff. English-language studies of the early Changes by Shaughnessy, Kunst, and Rutt
contain many illustrations of the scholarship of individuals such as Li Iingchi, Gao Heng,
Guo Moruo, Wen Yiduo, and others.
29. For examples, see Zhang Shanwen, Lidai Yijia yu Yixue yaoji, 424ff., esp. Wen Yiduo’s
remarks on 446.
30. A number of entries in Zhang Shanwen’s Lidai Yijia yu Yixue yaoji make these rival
ries and traditional affiliations clear. Compare, for example, the work of Hang Xinzhai
and Shang Binghe as described in ibid., 428-31, 433-35.
31. See Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 99-107; see also Guo Muruo’s
Zhouyi di goucheng shidai.
32. Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 136-41. Wen also did creative work on
the relationship between Daoism and the Yijing. See, e. g., Wen Yiduo, Zhouyi yu Zhuangzi
yanjiu.
33. See the excellent review essay on this topic by I. Wu, “What Is jingjie? ”
34. See Song Zhiming, Xiong Shili pingzhuan, esp. 33- 67. See also Yang Qingzhong, Ershi
shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 151-60; and Cai Shangsi, Shijia lun Yi, 667fi'.
35. Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 151-60. See also the essay on Xiong’s
“metaphysics of virtue ” by Iiyuan Yu in Cheng and Bunnin, Contemporary Chinese Philosophy,
127.
36. Pang once described himself in the following way: “I am a Confucian by family
tradition; a Taoist by temperament; a Buddhist by religious inspiration . . . [and] a West
erner by training.” See Fang, Chinese Philosophy, 526. For various articles in both Chinese
and English on the thought of Fang, see http://thomehfang.com.
37. See Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 517-25. Cf. the essays by Iiyuan
Yu and Chenyang Li in Cheng and Bunnin, Contemporary Chinese Philosophy, 127-46 and
263-80, respectively.
38. Fang Dongmei, Zhexue sanhui, 109-43; cf. Fang, Chinese Philosophy, 83-118, esp. 89
99
39. Shu-hsien Liu, “Contemporary Neo-Confucian Philosophy” 2:372. See also Lai
Guisan, Taiwan Yixue shi, 18 3ff. ; Guo, “Exposition of Zhou Yi Studies”; the relevant essays in
Cheng and Bunnin, Contemporary Chinese Philosophy, and Tu and Tucker, Confucian Spirituality,
2: 323-508; Bresciani, Reinventing Confucianism; and Cua, Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy,
160-72.
40. See Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 40-42, for a discussion of Hang
Xinzhai’s attitudes toward the place of the Yijing in ancient and modern and Chinese and
foreign “science” (kexue).
41. It should be noted that Bouvet and Leibniz took the liberty of calculating the num
bers of each hexagram line from the top down, rather than from the bottom up as in the
Chinese fashion.
42. For a recent Chinese argument that Leibniz did not develop his binary theory until
after he saw Shao Y0ng’s diagram, see Hu Yang and Li Changduo, “Laibunici.” Cf. Cook
and Rosemont, “Leibniz, Bouvet”; and Sypniewski, “China and Universals,” esp. 311.
43. See Ding Chaowu, Yijing kexue tan. Another pioneer, who did similar work from the
early 1920's on in Chinese and English, was Z. D. Sung (Shen Zhongtao). See Sung, Symbols
ofYi King, esp. 5-6.
44. For examples of such efforts, see Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi,
406-22; Y]YY, 1: 3 90-92; and Li Kaixuan, Yishu qianshuo, 115-30. See also M. Tang, “Recent
Developments,” 58-60; Shi Lisheng, Yijing kexue xinjie; and Yang, Book of Changes, 36-44.
45. Significantly, most of these connections were essentially correlative, even though
they were expressed in terms of sophisticated modern mathematics. See, e.g., Liu Iie and
Yuan Jun, Zhongguo bagua gixue, 403ff., esp. 410-70.
46. Lai Guisan, Taiwan Yixue shi, offers an excellent overview and analysis of Change;
scholarship on Taiwan from 1624 to 2003.
47. Virtually all of these scholars are discussed in Yang Qingzhong, Ershi Sl1ijiZ|10I1ggu0
Yixue shi and/or Zhang Shanwen Lidai Yijia gu Yixue yaoji. See also Lai Guisan, Taiwan Yixue
shi, esp. 5 3 gff. on the most recent phases of Yijing scholarship in the Republic of China.
48. See, e.g., former Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui’s views of the Yijing in Zhong
Iintian, “Yi zhihui yu siwei” (The Wisdom and Thought of the Changes) at http://public1
.ntl.gov.tvv/publish/soedu/264/text_08.htm (accessed January 26, 2006). Note also the
political role of Liu Iunzu, discussed at length at http://www.new7.com.tw/weekly]
old/904/9o4—022.html (accessed January 26, 2006).
49. Most of these scholars are discussed in Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue
shi and/or Zhang Shanwen Lidai Yijia yu Yixue yaoji.
50. Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 167-218; cf. W. Chan, Chinese Philoso
phg, 123-28. See also Tian, Chinese Dialectics.
51. For the particulars of this debate, see Guangming ribao, March 16, September 14,
1962, and August 30, 196 3. Cf. Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 189-99.
52. See Tang Mingbang, Dangdai Yixue yu shidai jingshen, esp. 376ff.; see also Yang
Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 219ff. As he does for earlierperiods, Yang dis
cusses at considerable length the major Yi-related issues and debates that emerged in
post-1978 China. Those who do not read Chinese can get a sense of the range by viewing
the translated titles and abstracts of the articles at http://zhouyi.sdu.edu.cn. See also ap
pendix B.
5 3. For recent examples, see Iiang Zutong, Zhouyi gu renge; Yu Dunkang, Yixue gu guanli;
and Cheng Zhongying, C lilun.
54. See the discussion in Tang Mingbang, Dangdai Yixue gu shidai jingshen, esp. 386—
90.
55. See, e.g., Cheng’s keynote address at the 1987 conference on the Changes in Liu
Dajun,, Da Yijicheng, 18- 30; see also Cheng Zhongying, Yixue benti lun. Cf. ZhengWan’geng,
Zhouyi gu xiandai wenhua.
56. For images of the Yijing in contemporary Chinese culture, see R. Smith, “Yijing
(Classic of Changes) Resources.”
57. Yijing-based divinatory activity is particularly evident in Taiwan and Hong Kong,
but it also exists on the Mainland.
58. For a list of Wu’s publications on the Changes, see http://vvvvw.zhou-yi.0rg.tvv/
webpage/publishweb/publish-a.htm. For the goals and organization of Mr. Wu’s so
called institute, see http://www.zhou-yi.org.tw/webpage/0rg0rg.htm.
59. E-mail message from Dr. Bent Nielsen, December 10, 2005. See also Mr. Wu’s brief
biography at http://www.zhou—yi.org.tvv/webpage/org-teatcher.htm.
60. R. Smith, “Contemporary Chinese Literature.”
61. Yang Lian, quoted in ibid.
62. Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 4o6fE See also Shi Lisheng, Yijing
lcexue xinjie, which devotes substantial attention to the “science” of fengshui.
63. Quoted in M. Tang, “Recent Developments,” 60, slightly modified.
64. Ibid.
65. Ibid., 59. See also Xu Daoyi, Zhouyi yu dangdai ziran kexue; idem, Zhouyi kexue guan;
and Shi Lisheng, Yijing kexue xinjie. Yang Qingzhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 418ff.,
draws a useful methodological distinction between science in the service of Changes
studies and Changes studies in the service of science.
66. Yang, Book of Changes, 296-300.
67. See, e. g., the articles by Feng, Tang, and others in Zhu Bokun, Zhouyi zhishi tonglan.
See also Z. Liu, “Dilemma”; M. Tang, “Recent Developments”; and R. Smith, “Place of
the Yijing. ”
68. For a wealth of examples, see YJYY, 2:240-6o.
69. Ibid., 2:270-74.
70. For a summary, see Nielsen, “Hexagrams.”
71. Z. Liu, “Dilemma,” 58. Cf. the views of Dong Guangbi discussed in Yang Qing
zhong, Ershi shiji Zhongguo Yixue shi, 406-22.
72. Z. Liu, “Dilemma,” 59. See also He Shi-qiang, Yixue gu shuxue; Shen Yijia, Kexue wu
xuan di Zhouyi; Tang Mingbang, Dangclai Yixue yu shidai jingshen; and Huang Hanli, Yixue gu
qigong.
73. See Tu Yongfeng, Zhouyi huizuan duben, preface, 1a. Cf. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 92
93; and R. Wilhelm, IChing, 352-55.
74. See Hon, “Constancy in Change.”
75. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, xxxviii.
76. Nathan Sivin characterizes the notion of synchronicity as “hazy and un-Chinese.”
Sivin, “Why the Scientific Revolution Did Not Take Place in China,” 5o.
77. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, xxiv—xxv. An online version of Iung’s foreword is available at
http://wWw.iging.com/intro/foreword.htm.
78. Faber, Synchronicity, 21, quoting the Jungian analyst Edward Edinger.
79. Ibid., 15.
80. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, xxv.
81. Ibid., xxxiv.
82. Ritsema and Karcher, I Ching, 15.
83. Ibid., 16.
84. Ibid., 344. Cf. the long discussion of Chinese and Western scholarship on the early
meaning of fu in Kunst, “()riginal ‘Yijing,’ ” 150-59.
85. For a brief history of Jungian psychology in China, see Blowers, “Prospects,” 299
302.
86. Ibid., esp. 295-302.
87. Gerlach, “Psychoanalysis in China.”
88. See, e.g., “Zhongguo xinli fenxi zaixian” (Chinese Analytical Psychology On
line), at http://jky.scnu.edu.cn/psyheart/old/psyheart-4/psyheart4—3.htm; and “Xinli
fenxi yu Zhongguo wenhua” (Analytical Psychology and Chinese Culture), at http://www
.psyheart.0rg/.
89. See, e. g., the introduction to Tang Mingbang and Wang Xuejun, Yixue yu Changjiang
wenhua, 1.
90. Gao Lan and Shen Heyong, “Rongge”; Shen Heyong and Gao Lan, “Yijing.” Cf, Xu
Yiming’s “Yijing di xinli sixiang.” Professor Shen has edited two recent books on the psy
che (lingxing), one focusing on “analysis and experience” (fenxi yu tiyan) and the other on
“images and syncr0nicity” (yixiang yu ganying). For other Works written or edited by him,
see http://www.timesinfor.com/zzcx.asp?searchl<ey=%C9%EA°/<>BA°/oC9°/oD3°/QC0.
91. According to Shen Heyong and Gao Lan, “Yijing,” Shen studied the Changes with
Ritsema at some point.
92. Shen Heyong and Gao Lan, “Yijing.” This article appeared initially in the Xinli xue
bao (Journal of Psychology) in 2000.
93. Even a cursory glance at the judgments and line statements of these hexagrams
will reveal why they seem to be especially rich in psychological symbolism.
94. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 124; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 114-18, 530-35.
95. ZYZZ, 246.
96. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 329, slightly modified; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 122-25,
540-45
97. See Lynn, Classic of Changes, 64, slightly modified; Cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 316-17.
Although debate exists among commentators as to whether the former statement about
cleansing applies to the sages themselves (e.g., Zhu Xi) or to all human beings (e.g., Kong
Yingda), it underscores what Shen considers to be a fundamental principle of Chinese
psychology.
98. Iiang Zutong, Yixue xinli xue, 1-3, 610ff. For a different approach to management
using the Changes, see Cheng Zhongying, C lilun.
9. The Yijing as a Source of Cultural Pride and Inspiration

1. See Callahan, “National Insecurities.”
2. For a convenient overview, see YJYY, 1:401-501, 2: 3-919.
3. Law and sexual life have not received as much scholarly attention as they deserve,
however; hence their inclusion.
4. Lewis, Writing and Authority, 241. See also Connery, Empire of the Text, 5ff., esp. 13.
5. Lewis, Writing and Authority, 252-86. See also the discussion of the relationship be
tween the Changes and writing posited by Zhai Tingpu in Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 186ff.
6. Mou, “Analysis,” 305-20.
7. For a summary of Chinese correlational logic, see R. Smith, China's Cultural Heritage,
118ff. See also Lewis, Writing and Authority, 262fl".; and esp. Hall and Ames, Thinking from
the Han. For general discussions of the role of the Changes in Chinese thought, see ZYZS,
853-926; and YJYY, 1:411-29. See also Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 26-53.
8. Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 204-5; Lynn, Classic of Changes, 368. Cf.
R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 574-75.
9. R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 121-22. For details, see YJYY, 1:411-29;
ZYZS, 853-926 passim; and Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 26ff., 185f'F.
10. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 87; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 345. Cheng Yi remarks in his
commentary to the Yijing that the classic “tells only seventy percent; people who read it
must later realize the rest themselves.” W. Chan, Reflections on Things at Hand, 114, slightly
modified.
11. See the discussion in Ames and Rosemont, Analects of Confucius, 20-45. Cf. Mou,
“Becoming-Being Complementarity,” which offers a partial critique of this view.
12. Works such as the ZYZS, the YJYY, Zhai Tingpu’s Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, and
Zhang Liwen’s Hejing testify in great detail to the depth and breadth of this symbolic
storehouse.
13. See D. Zhang, Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy, esp. 178-219. Cf. the discussions in
ZYZS, 626-93; YjYY, 1:430-51; Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 44-53; and Zhang
Liwen, Hejing, 14-44, 88-114.
14. See, e.g., Makeham, Transmitters and Creators, 72-73.
15. Ibid., 72. Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, 146-49, provides a number
of other examples of the intertextual use of the Changes.
16. For useful overviews, see ZYZS, 694-713; and YJYY, 2:377-90. See also Zhang
Liwen, Hejing, 183-99; and Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 54-184. Cf. Zhang
Shichuang, Yixue yu Daijiao sixiang guanxi yanjiu; idem, Yixue yu Daojiaofuhao jiemi; and Wen
Yiduo, Zhouyi yu Zhuangzi yanjiu. The Daoists had a certain advantage over the Buddhists
because of certain “Daoist” elements that can be easily identified in the Ten Wings. See
the argument in Chen Guying, Yizhuan yu Daojia sixiang; see also Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu
Huaxia wenming, 98-110.
17. For several examples, see R. Smith, “Jesuit Interpretations,” 10.
18. For a convenient summary, see Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 185-218,
esp. 196-97.
19. DeWosl<in, Song for One or Two, 50-52; cf. Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming,
260-86, esp. 263-66. See also YJYY, 2: 3-14, 357-62; and Fung, History of Chinese Philosophy,
1:118-23.
20. See S. Lin, “Liu Xie on Imagination,” esp. 140-52. See also ZYZS, 805-33; Zhai
Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 197-208; and esp. Zhang Liwen, Hejing, 17ofl:'.
21. See, e.g., Y_]YY, 2:401-14; Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 287-328; and
Zhang Liwen, Hejing, 115-47. See also Guoli lishi bowuguan, Yijing; Kang Yu, Zhonghua
jianzhu zhi hun; and Wang Zihui, Zhouyi yu yinshi wenhua.
22. R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 122ff. See also ZYZS, 805-3 3; YJYY, 1:452
83, 2: 339-46; Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 196ff.; and Zhang Liwen, Hejing,
162-80.
23. YJYY, 2: 347-56. Liu’s painting is reproduced opposite the title page in K. Smith
et. al., Sung Dynasty Uses.
24. R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 122-23. See also Zhang Liwen, Hejing, 162
69; and Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 209fl". Cf. H. Wilhelm, Lectures on the I Ching,
43ft"
25. For a brief overview, see R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 122-25; and idem,
China's Cultural Heritage, 120-26. For greater detail and more examples, see ZYZS, 805-33_
See also Y_IYY, 1:452-83, 2: 318-76; Zhang Liwen, Hejing, 162-80; and Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi
yu Huaxia wenming, 185ff.
26. Shih, Literary Mind, 369, slightly modified; see also ibid., 9, 13-21, 27, 37, 51,
205, 207, 215, 235, 237, 261, 445. Cf. Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 185ff,; Li
Huanming, Bijiao Yixue lunheng, 216-21; and Han-liang Chang, “Rise of Chinese Literary
Theory.”
27. Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 185. See also Cai, “Making of a Critical
System.”
28. DeWosl<in, Song for One or Two, 169-70. See also Field, “Hexagram Landscapes”;
and the discussion in YJYY, 2: 318-38.
29. TS]C, jingji clian, 55:627-993. A lengthy section on the Hetu and the Luoshu in the
Tushu jicheng precedes the even longer segment on the Yijing itself. See ibid., 5 5: 543-627,
3o. Ibid., 5 5 :99 3-9 5. Shchutskii, Researches, 233-35, translates several of these poems,
including some works not included here, but his renderings are all rather unsatisfac
tory.
31. TS]C,jingji dian, 55:993.
32. Ibid., 55:993-95.
33. Ibid., 55:994.
34. Ibid. See also Zhu’s evocative poem on the Yijing cited in Fendos, “Book of Changes
Studies,” 13-14, which is not included in the TSJC collection.
35. TS]C,]ingji clian, 55:994.
36. Ibid., 55:995.
37. Ibid.
38. Plaks, Archetype and Allegory, 23, 46-47, 53.
39. See, e.g., C. T. Hsia, Review.
4o. Quoted in Rolston, How to Read the Chinese Novel, 339, slightly modified.
41. BRZ, 21:4-5.
42. See R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers. See also idem, “Divination in Late Im
perial China”; and Field, Art of Divination. For an extremely detailed account of Yi-related
divination techniques and their actual employment in different periods of Chinese his
tory, as well as an evaluation of some important Chinese scholarship on the subject by
Wen Yiduo and Li Iingchi, see Yabuta Kaichiro, Shfleki kozeiko. An accessible and clearly
illustrated Chinese-language description of Yi-related divination techniques can be found
in YJYY, 2:419-920.
43. Significantly, however, the preface to a popular fortune-telling book by Wang
Weide (b. 1669), titled Bushi zhengzong (Orthodox Divination), indicates that many mem
bers of the Chinese elite expressed disdain for professional diviners, only to use their
services surreptitiously through the agency of friends or servants. R. Smith, Fortune-tellers
and Philosophers, 74.
44. ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 556 (1o8:1a—2a). They also acknowledge, however, that only
a few of the works on these subjects—“one book in a hundred”—could be considered
scholarly.
45. Ibid., 563 (1o9:18b-20a), 565-66 (1o9:41a—45b), 573-74 (111:15b-24a). For a
highly sympathetic account of these practices and their cultural significance, see Ho,
Chinese Mathematical Astrology.
46. ZMTY, Zibu, Shushu lei, 556 (1o8:1a-2a).
47. YJYY, 2:419-919; R. Smith, Fortunetellers and Philosophers; idem, “Divination in Late
Imperial China”; Field, Art of Divination.
48. For some readily accessible examples, see R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers.
See also Sawyer and Lee, Ling Ch’i Ching; cf. Yan Youming et al., Lingqi jing.
49. See the discussion in R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 133-38, 149-58.
50. CC, Shujing, 3:337.
52. For a number of examples from the Qing period, see R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and
Philosophers, 113-17.
53. Ibid, 116-17.
54. Ibid., 117-19.
55. For several specific examples of divination using the Yijing, see ibid., 108-19.
56. Wang Shi, Yan Fuji, 5:1506-11.
57. Weng Tonghe, Weng Tonghe riji, 1:129.
58. See the discussion in R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 112, 312n88.
59. Zhu Xi, Zhouyi benyi, shiyi, 1a—5a.
60. For some English-language discussions of moving (dongyao) or changing (bianyao)
lines and related interpretive techniques involving trigram and hexagram relationships,
see R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 99-108; Lynn, Classic of Changes, 15-21, 25-34,
92-93; R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 290-91, 338-42, 356-65, 721-23; A. Huang, Complete I Ching,
7-17; and C. Wu, Essentials of the Yi jing, 21-30.
61. For a discussion of the numerology involved, see Lynn, Classic of Changes, 60-62;
cfl R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 308-13.
62. Adler, Introduction, 49-53, modified. Each type of hexagram is illustrated with his
torical examples provided by Cai Yuanding.
63. See, e.g., Jiang Ben, Zhouyi zunshu, 1a-3a. A number of commentators assert that
if a hexagram has no changing lines, the diviner should take into account not only the
judgment but also the “Commentary on the Judgments” and the overall “Commentary on
the Images.” And if all of the lines of Qian (1) or Kun (2) have changed, special attention
must be given to the extra line in each of these two hexagrams, as well as to the appro
priate parts of the “Commentary on the Words of the Text.” Some Yijing specialists argue
that regardless of how many lines of a hexagram have changed, the derivative hexagram
(zhigua) should be taken into account, but others maintain that a hexagram cannot be
considered transformed unless three or more lines of its lines are either “old yang” or “old
yin.” And although Zhu Xi tells us that if there is only one “moving” line (which happens
often with milfoil divination), then that line is the “ruler” and its line statement becomes
the commentary on the consultation, other highly reputable scholars had different Opin
ions. See, e.g., Y. O. Kim, “Philosophy of Wang Pu-chih,” 180-83; cf. T. Wei, Exposition of
the I-Ching, 99-100.
64. Zeng Guofan, Xiangxiang Zengshi wenxian, 10:6021—22.
65. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 180; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 34, 423.
66. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 38off.; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 154fi:"., 584ff. The Xie hexa
gram also counsels movement away from danger.
67. On the Huozhulin system, Shao Yong’s popular “Plum Blossom” calculations (mei
hua yishu), and related techniques, see R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 111-12; see
also Y. O. Kim, “Philosophy of Wang Pu-chih,” 139-40. A great many Western translations
of the Yijing discuss divinatory techniques of this sort. See, e.g., Lynn, Classic of Changes,
21-22; R. Wilhelm, IChing, 723-24; and A. Huang, Complete I Ching, 10-17.
68. Huang Zongxi tells us, in his Yixue xiangsu lun, that in his time, Huozhulin divination
was flourishing and milfoil divination was rare. SKQS, jingbu, Yilei, 40:21-23. For various
other perspectives on the practice, see BRZ, 12:30, 37:21-22; and R. Smith, Fortune-tellers
and Philosophers, 311nn85 and 86.
69. Shchutskii, Researches, 211, provides an interesting though somewhat crude chart
showing the influence of various wings, philosophies, and scholars on major commenta
tors on the Yijing.
70. See, e.g., R. Smith, “Qing Dynasty Yijing Specialists,” citing BRZ, 1:19; 2:7; 5:2,
25-26; 6:17; 8:11, 16; 9:6, 17-18; 12:10; 14:14; 15:27, 29; 16:25; 17:13; 18:7, 15, 25-27;
19:34; 22:7, 15-17, 21, 24-25; 24:7,19; 26:4-5; 28:2, 15-16, 20; 29:36-37; 31:18, 25-26;
32:14; 33:25-26; 34:8-9, 10, 22-23; 35:11-22, 12-13; 36:16, 18, 26; 37:31.
71. See W. Chan, Reflections on Things at Hand, 108, modified.
72. The endnotes to the translated texts for each hexagram and commentary in Lynn,
Classic of Changes, provide many excellent examples of the different ways Chinese scholars
understood individual words and phrases. See, e.g., 355-57 (notes to Iin [35]) or 361-62
(notes to Mingyi [3 6]).
73. Chen Maohou, Zhouyi mingbao, preface, 1a-2b; cf. Huang Shouqi and Zhang Shan
wen, Yixue qunshu pingyi, 164-68.
74. On Cheng, see R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 109.
75. For an especially interesting example of trigram analysis, see Mao Qiling’s histori
cal reading of the Gu hexagram (18), described in ibid., 106-7: Mao interprets four lines
visually as if they were three. Cf. Xun Shuang’s hierarchy in chapter 3. But as the highly
influentialjinsi lu, or Reflections on Things at Hand, makes clear, “The remarks on the six lines
of a hexagram can be applied by everybody.” That is, the sage can apply them in the way
of the sage, the ruler in the way of the ruler, the minister in the way of the minister, and
so on. W. Chan, Reflections on Things at Hand, 112.
76. Of course the Yijing could also serve the interests of those who resisted the pre
vailing political and social order. Thus we find numerous examples of its symbolism in
the service of various secret societies, most notably groups associated with the “Teach
ings of the Eight Trigrams” (Baguajiao). See, e.g., the extensive discussion of Yijing-based
symbolism and cosmology in Ma Xisha and Han Bingfang, Zhongguo minjian zongjiiao shi,
928-1091. Cf. YJYY, 2: 389-90; and Naquin, Millenarian Rebellion in China.
77. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 480-87; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 208-12, 663-68.
78. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 363-67; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 143-47, 569-73.
79. Ho, “System of the Book of Changes,” 26-29, provides these identifications; cf. SCC,
1; 315-21.
8o. W. Chan, Reflections on Things at Hand, 202, slightly modified. Cf. Lynn, Classic of
Changes, 363-74; and R. Wilhelm, IChing, 114-18, 530-35.
81. Langlois, “Law, Statecraft,” 97-98, states that the preface to the Tang Code “sets
the notion of law in terms of the Book of Changes, which in turn sets it in nature.” See also
Zhang Liwen, Hejing, 135-47.
82. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 317-22; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 114-18, 530-35. See also
Langlois, “Law,” 97-98.
83. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 266-67, slightly modified; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 489
94
84. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 524, slightly modified; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 236, 700.
86. McKnight, Quality of Mercy, 21.
87. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 170-72; cf. R. Wilhelm, IChing, 28-29, 416-17.
89. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 488, slightly modified; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 213-14,
670-71.
90. See, e.g., R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 112-15.
91. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 85; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 342-43. For the connection
between the symbolism of the Changes and sexual life, see Van Gulik, Sexual Life in Ancient
China, 37, 327; and Yang, Book of Changes, 316-32.
92. Lynn, Classic of Changes, 538-44; cf. R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 244-48, 709-13. See also
Van Gulik, Sexual Life in Ancient China, 37-38.
93. See the views of Iiao Hong (1541-1620) as expressed in Ch’ien, Chiao Hung, 233. Cf.
Lynn, Classic of Changes, 280-84; and R. Wilhelm, I Ching, 93-96, 500-504.
94. Translated in Ruan, Sex in China, 16-17.
95. Ho, Chinese Mathematical Astrology, 2; ZYZS, 741-46; Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia
wenming, 219-39. Cf. Elman, On Their Own Terms, xxix-xxx, 4-9.
96. Ho, Chinese Mathematical Astrology, 9.
97. Legge, I Ching, 38. For other examples of such beliefs on the part of Chinese com
mentators, see Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, 101-3.
98. See, e.g., SCC, 2:292, 304-40; 3:56-59, 119-20, 140-41, 464, 625; 4.1:14, 16;
4.2:143, 530; 4.3:125; 5.3:51-53, 60-66, 69-74, 128, 201, 217. See also the following
note.
99. See the previous note, as well as the abundant examples in ZYZS, 714-58; YJYY,
1:484-500, 2: 3-107, 261-83; Zhang Liwen, Hejing, 200-288; and Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu
Huaxia wenming, 219-59 and esp. 315-28. For the influence of the Changes in Chinese ar
chitecture, see Kang Yu, Zhonghuajianzhu zhi hun; see also YJYY, 2:407-14; and Zhai Tingpu,
Zhouyi yu Huaxia wenming, 287-328. For one of many illustrations of the use of Yijing sym
bolism in Chinese cartography, see R. Smith, Chinese Maps, 38.
100. Quoted in SCC, 2: 329-3 5, modified. See also Yang, Book of Changes, 322fF.
101. SCC, 2:322-26.
102. Ibid., 2: 3 30-32; cf. ZYZS, 700-704. For some examples of the role of trigrams in
Daoist verbal and visual discourse, see Kohn, Daoism Handbook, 182-84, 484, 485, 517, 671,
731, 738, 826.
103. Crowe, “Chapters,” 14-16. For an excellent illustration of the line movement of
these sovereign hexagrams, see Nielsen, Companion, 18. This line movement is also appar
ent in the fifth ring of figure 6.7 above (see p. 157).
104. SCC, 2:331-32. See also ZYZS, 700-704; and Zhai Tingpu, Zhouyi yu Huaxia wen
ming, 130-40.
105. Quoted in R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 56, slightly modified. For ex
amples of similar correlations in other realms of medicine, martial arts, and meditation,
see YJYY, 2:299-317; ZYZS, 800-804; Yang, Book of Changes, esp. 21-35 and 197-214; Xiao
Hanming, Yixue yu Zhongguo chuantong yixue; Liu Iie and Yuan Iun, Zhongguo bagua yixue; and
Huang Hanli, Yixue yu qigong.
106. SCC, 2:336.
107. See the argument in Ho, “System of the Book of Changes,” esp. 38.
108. Sivin, “Why the Scientific Revolution Did Not Take Place in China,” 57.
109. Ibid.
110. See the various essays in Sivin, Science in Ancient China, esp. “Why the Scientific
Revolution Did Not Take Place in China.” Cf. Elman, From Philosophy to Philology, esp.
228-29 and 79-85; see also idem, Cultural History, chap. 9.
111. Sivin, “Why the Scientific Revolution Did Not Take Place in China,” 62.
112. Ibid., 63-65.
113. R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 50-91, esp. 70-74.
114. Quoted in Zhu Bokun, Yixue zhexue shi, 3:384; see also 3:336—514, esp. 337-39,
343-67, 374-84, 406-11, 423-27, and 484-87. Zhu’s discussion suffers from a tendency
to valorize the early “materialistic” Fang and to criticize the later “idealistic” Fang. But
what his analysis clearly reveals is the extraordinary eclecticism of Fang’s Yi learning,
Which, although oriented fundamentally toward the school of images and numbers, drew
on the school of meanings and principles, as well as both Han and Song learning. More
over, Fang embraced certain ideas associated with those who espoused an iconoclastic
qi-based ontology.
115. R. Smith, Fortune—tellers and Philosophers, 284. See also Blacl<’s discussion of Wang
Fuzhi’s epistemology in Man and Nature, 3-47, 55, 108-9, 164.
116. See the discussions of Zhu Xi’s outlook toward science in chapter 5.
117. See Elman, Cultural History, chap. 9. See also the argument in O. Ng, “Epochal
Concept.”
118. Elman, Cultural History, 477-81, discusses the political implications of astronomy,
musical harmonics, and “calculation methods.”
119. See esp. O. Ng, “Epochal Concept”; and the arguments advanced by Sivin in “Why
the Scientific Revolution Did Not Take Place in China,” esp. 64ff.
Concluding Remarks
1. For some indications of the general concerns of this work in progress, see
R. Smith, “Jesuit Interpretations”; and idem, “Place of the Yijing.” Much of what follows
in this concluding section has been drawn from idem, “Yijing (Classic of Changes) in
Comparative Perspective.”
2. For one Chinese-language cross-cultural comparative study on the Changes, see Li
Huanming, Bijiao Yixue lunheng.
3. Here Iwould like to acknowledge the interpretive inspiration I have gained from
reading John Henderson’s pioneering book Scripture, Canon, and Commentary. I have also
found Daniel K. Gardner’s “Confucian Commentary” and Iohn Makeham’s Transmitters
and Creators extremely useful, as well as the many valuable essays in C. Tu, Classics and Inter
pretations; idem, Interpretation and Intellectual Change; and Pfister, Hermeneutical Thinking.
4. Ivanhoe, “What Makes a Classic?” Cf. Nylan, Five “Confucian” Classics, 12.
5. See the remarks by William Scott Green in Neusner, Sacred Texts and Authority, xiii
xviii; see also W. Smith, What Is Scripture?
6. See Nylan, Five “Confucian” Classics, 1o-16.
7. For brief but illuminating essays on these “classic” works, see N eusner, Sacred Texts
and Authority; and Coward, Experiencing Scripture. Cf. Zhou Lingen’s essay comparing the
Changes and the Bible in Chen Lifu, Yixue ginggong zhi yanjiu, 3: 35 3-99. See also R. Smith,
Fortune-tellers and Philosophers, 119-20; and the unpaginated foreword to Zhou Shan, Zhouyi
erbai ju.
8. Coward, Sacred Word and Sacred Text, 105-6, notes that the Vedas are not only time
less but also authorless, at least in some traditions.
9. Ibid., 13 Sff. To be sure, the New Testament has been attributed to human authors,
but even this later section of the Bible was still considered to be divinely inspired.
1o. Ibid., 151.
11. I have simplified matters somewhat here. In the first place, for a time in Han China
the imperial ideology “continued to be based on a theistic system,” headed by a supreme
deity designated Di, who is mentioned occasionally in the Changes. Moreover, the “Great
Commentary” suggests that the Yijing itself possesses “divine” characteristics and that its
spiritual power is greater than that of the ancient sages themselves. See the argument in
Puett, To Become a God, 188-96, esp. 192, and 236-45, esp. 237; note also idem, Ambivalence
of Creation, 86-90.
12. On the importance of oral traditions in the world’s major religions, see Coward,
Sacred Word and Sacred Text, 161ff. In several of these traditions the spoken word has a cer
tain creative, “magical” power that was often attributed to written characters in premgd
ern China.
13. See Henderson, Scripture Canon, and Commentary; also Farmer and Robinson, “Com
mentary Traditions,” esp. 7-24.
14. Makeham, Transmitters and Creators, 15; see also 1.
15. Lopez, Buddhist Hermeneutics, introduction. Many of the essays in Lopez’s book em
phasize the exegetical importance of determining the intentionality of Buddhist sacred
scriptures, a goal made possible by, for example, relying on wisdom (Sanskrit, prajna)
rather than ordinary consciousness (Sanskrit, citta). Of course mystical approaches in
other great religious traditions (e.g., Gnosticism in Christianity, Kabbalism in Judaism)
likewise seek understanding that lies beyond ordinary consciousness.
16. Frye, Great Code, 206. The heterogeneity of the Buddhist corpus is, of course,
legendary. See Coward, Sacred Word and Sacred Text, 138ff., and Lopez, Buddhist Hermeneu
tics.
17. Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, 22-23, 110; see also Coward, Experi
encing Scripture, 72fF.
18. Lester, “What Is the Koran?” 43-52. Cf. Coward, Sacred Word and Sacred Text, 90
94
19. In Buddhism the case is complicated by radically different constructions of the
ontological status of the Buddha.
20. Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, 62fF.
21. Sanders, Canon as Paradigm, 182. For illustrations from other traditions, see
Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, 89-100.
22. Coward, Sacred Word and Sacred Text, 10-24.
23. Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, 56.
24. Ram Mohun Roy, quoted in Sharpe, Universal Gita, 12.
25. See Lopez, Buddhist Hermeneutics, introduction, esp. 4.
26. Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, 151-52, slightly modified. Cf. Su Xun,
cited in Shchutskii, Researches, 231-33.
27. See Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, 106-21; see also Coward, Sacred
Word and Sacred Text.
28. Coward, Sacred Word and Sacred Text, 96-101.
29. Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, 117-20.
30. Prickett, Words and the Word, 23.
31. See Ames and Rosemont, Analects of Confucius, esp. 3-7.
32. See Mizuno, Buddhist Sutras, 140.
33. See Rambelli, “Buddhism and Semiotics”; cf. Lopez, Buddhist Hermeneutics, intro
duction, esp. 4fi'.
34. See Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, 118-19.
35. Quoted in Lopez, Buddhist Hermeneutics, introduction, 4-6.
36. N eusner, Judaism, the Classical Statement, 44.
37. See Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, 172; cf. Coward, Sacred Word and
Sacred Text, 50-54, 70ff.
38. Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, 175.
39. Quoted in ibid., 174-75.
40. Ibid., 134fF., quotation on 134.
41. Ibid., 65-68. See also Henderson, “Divination and Confucian Exegesis”; and
R. Smith, Fortune-tellers and Philosophers.
42. Farmer and Robinson, “Commentary Traditions,” esp. 2-8, 13-35. See also
Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, esp. 46-49, 89-100, and 140-78 passim.
43. Farmer and Robinson, “Commentary Traditions,” 14.
44. Schimmel, Mystery of Numbers; see also Swetz, Legacy of the Luoshu, esp. 83-88, 9 3
116.
45. See, e.g., Satinover, Cracking the Bible Code; cf. Schimmel, Islam, 48-49.
46. Coward, Sacred Word and Sacred Text, 24-31. See also N eusner, Midrash in Context.
47. See R. Smith, “Jesuit Interpretations,” 18-20, 31-32.
48. See, e.g., Tortchinov, “Numerology and Classification.” For some examples, see
Kaplan, Sefer Yetzirah, 19-36, 197-228.
49. Cohn-Sherbok and Cohn-Sherbok, jewish and Christian Mysticism, esp. 41-47, 52fi'.,
67-69.
50. See Bloom, Kabbalah and Criticism; see also Drob, Symbols of the Kabbalah.
51. See R. Smith, “Knowing the Self and Knowing the ‘Other.’ ” In addition to Hender
son, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary, two other exemplary cross-cultural studies should
be mentioned: L. Zhang’s Mighty Opposites and Tao and the Logos.
Appendix A
1. ZMTY,]ingbu, Fanli, 12 (3:9a).
2. See Guy, Emperor's Four Treasuries, 108, 121I-E, 155, 201, 207. For an illuminating
discussion of the Siku project, the ZMTY, and its sequel, see Bi, “Xuxiu Siku,” esp. the
comparative tables on 39-40, 43, and 57.
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Index
In view of the extraordinary number of personal and place-names, book titles, specialized terms,
and technical expressions in this book, I have tried to organize the index in ways that will be help
ful for both specialists and nonspecialists. The basic conventions I have followed are as follows:
Rather than including all Yijing-related book titles, which number in the hundreds in this volume,
I have generally included only the names of their authors, in the hope that specialists will be able to
track down the titles by reference to these individuals. The only major exception to this policy is the
inclusion of the titles of certain major reference works, such as dynastic histories, encyclopedias,
classics, and literary compilations —notably, the Qing dynasty’s Siku quanshu (Complete Collection
of the Four Treasuries; abbreviated SKQS, Siku or FourTreasuries), its book reviews (the Siku quanshu
zongmu tiyao; abbreviated ZMTY), and its various supplements. I have also included the names of
some works for which the authors are either composite, unknown, or contested.
When the translation of a Chinese name or term is widely accepted, I have listed the translation
in the index rather than the transliterated term, which I have provided in parentheses. When the
Chinese term is more problematic, or has several different meanings depending on the context in
which it appears, I have listed the transliteration first, followed by some common translations. In
some unclear cases, I have either provided the transliteration with a note to “See . . . [the chosen
translation] ” or the reverse.
For ease of reference, I have created a few entries under which related items are grouped together
and listed alphabetically under a single heading rather than scattered throughout the index—for
example, “trigram references” and “hexagram references.”
Because this book is organized chronologically for the most part, I have not included index
entries for the major dynasties of the imperial era or for periods after the fall of the Qing dynasty
in 1912.
Specialist readers should note that glossaries for Chinese and Japanese personal and place-names,
titles, specialized terms, and technical expressions in this book, as well as other Yijing-related ma
terials, including articles and images, are available online at http://asia.rice.edu/yijing.cfm.
abstruse learning. See xuanxue alchemy, 3, 4, 73, 89, 102, 106-7,109, 115,
academies, 31, 91, 105, 279 146, 152-57, 187, 236-37
accommodation strategies, 82, 105, 142, 165, Ancient Prose. See Tongcheng school
166, 173, 198. See also eclecticism; syn— Ancient Text school. See guwen
cretism and other specific strategies Anyang, 10
Adler, Joseph, 134 apocrypha (chenwei, weishu, Yiwei), 58-59,
ture; music 291
aesthetics, 219, 221, 222. See also art; litera— 65, 71-84, 106, 107, 114, 131, 281, 283,
380 Index
art, 6, 31, 57, 90, 171, 208, 212, 222, 233, 238. relationship to Daoism, 90, 101-2, 106,
See also aesthetics 124-25, 15 3, 187, 194; Tiantai teachings,
astrology, 3, 73, 77, 98,108, 185, 235, 239. See 109, 245; Xin Weishi (Consciousness Only)
also astronomy teachings, 202; Zhenyan (Tantric) teach
astronomy, 3, 4, 115, 138, 184, 185, 192, 219, ings, 292
235, 239, 240, 331. See also astrology Bu Shang. See Zi Xia
auspicious terms (ji, li, hang), 18
CaiCfins,159,199,30s
bagong (eight palaces), 67-69, 98, 107, 135, Cai Shangsi, 200
227,281 Cai Yuan, 136, 299
Ban Gu, 222 Cai Yuanding, 136, 327
banxiang (half-images), 72, 281, 317 calendrical science, 3, 9, 60, 62, 63, 66, 67,
Baoba (a.l<.a. Bao Ba), 301 73.78,79,83.84,9s,108,114,179,282,
Baoshan, 18, 29, 81, 268, 284 306
Baoxi. See Fuxi Cantong qi (Token for the Agreement of the
basic text (benwen) of the Changes, 2, 12, 15, 18, Three), 106-7, 146, 153, 157, 291, 292. See
11,14,s7.38,4O,52,56,79.9O,118,134, also Zhouyi cantong qi
145,172,178, 205-6, 214, 220, 227, 232, Caoshan Benji, 107, 109
143,144,247.149,169,173,286,198. cartography, 160, 236, 298, 330
302, 303, 311; ambiguity ofl 2-4, 12-15, chaizi (dissecting characters), 216, 249
172, 247; circulation of, 18; compared Chang Bingyi, 219
to biblical passages, 14-15; compared to change, conceptions of (bian, bianhua, bianyi,
passages in the Shijing, 12-13; compared to 90,39-41.46,7s-75,79,83,96,154»1s6,
passages in the Zohar, 249; content of, 20 169, 174, 221, 227, 306
24, 48-59, 72, 79, 134, 206, 220; evolution Changes (Yi). See Yijing; Zhouyi
of, 15-18; organization of, 37-38, 87, 90, charts and diagrams, 58, 114, 115, 117, 121,
128, 134, 301-3. See also language; lines, line 135,147.151,160,165.172,177,179,187,
statements; symbolism; tuan 193, 205, 281, 283, 294, 304, 306, 312. See
Bergson, Henri, 202, 203 also Hetu; Luoshu; Taiji tu
bian (change), 38, 40, 295, 306 Chen Duxiu, 195
biangua (changing hexagrams), 145, 162, 317 Cheng Chung-ying, 207
bianyao (changing lines), 26, 327 Cheng Dachang, 295
Bible, 5, 14, 222, 243-49, 331. See also Torah chengfang (triangulation method), 185, 316
bigua. See jungua Chengguan, 107-9, 292
binary system, 77, 124, 164, 203-5, 209-10. Cheng Hao, 112, 115, 120, 125, 127
See also Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm Cheng Shirong, 232
Bi Zhi. See Fei Zhi Chen Guying, 205
Bloom, Harold, 249 ChengYi, 3, 59, 112-15, 120-36, 141, 143, 145,
Bouvet, Joachim, 124, 179, 182, 183, 203, 204, 147) 150) 152>156> 158» 164)171>176>177_
212, 315, 316, 321 78.1O7,216,288,297,302.314.315.315
Buddhism, 1, 3, 63, 89, 90, 91, 101-3, 106, Cheng Zhongying. See Cheng Chung—ying
108-11,115, 116,124,125,130,137, 140, Cheng-Zhu school, 125, 127, 142, 146, 152,
152, 153, 161, 165-69, 173, 174, 187, 188, 158, 160, 166,169, 173,174,177,185, 265.
190, 194, 197, 198, 201, 202, 207, 219, See also neo-Confucianism; orthodoxy
242-48, 287, 288, 290, 291, 292, 293, 300, Chen Iiang, 223
308.309,311,313,319.311.331;Ca0lans Chen Liangyun, 219
(Soto) teachings, 109-10; Chan teachings, Chen Lifu, 331
109-10, 137, 166-72,190; Huayan teach Chen Maohou, 232
ings, 108-9, 292; paths to enlightenment, Chen Tuan, 89, 112, 114-20, 125, 132, 146, 147
108-11, 169, 208; relationship to Confu 151)]-52->174_75a193> 232» 311: 312
cianism, 90, 101-2, 106-8, 124-25, 153, Chen Wenzi, 28
165-66,168-69,187,194, 207,293, 303; Chen Xianwei, 304
Chen Xianzhang, 223
Index 331
crisis, 3, 5, 29, 61, 176, 197, 207, 244, 267, 279
Chen Yingrun, 152, 312 Cui Iin, 28
Chen Zunian, 167 Cuiling, 144, 291
Chinese characters. See language; word magic; Cui Wuzi, 28
Wordplay; writing cuogua (interchanging hexagrams, antipode
Christianity, 201, 202, 221, 242-48, 318, 332 hexagrams), 162-64, 175. See also pangtong
chulei (superimpositions), 203
chungua (pure hexagrams), 9, 50, 68, 145 Dai Iunren, 200, 205
Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals), 15, 31, Dai Lianzhang, 205, 273
122, 146, 170, 186 Dai Zhen, 186, 193
Chunqiufanlu (Luxuriant Gems of the Spring and dangwei (matching positions), 69. See also
Autumn Annals), 170 zhengwei
Chu Zhongdu, 288 Dav (the Way), 3. 36, 47. 62» 93. 96,113,134,
Classic of Changes. See Yijing 185.187.194.197.221,231.143.144.317
classics, 5, 18, 32, 242-49. See also jing Daoism, 3» 4, 32, 38» 44» 53, 57» 73, 89-94.
(classic) 101, 102, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 114, 115,
commentaries, 2, 12, 41-55, 61, 74-75, 79 119, 120, 124, 130, 131, 140, 144,146, 152
83, 94, 98,103,108,113,119,128-31,136, 57,165,166,169,173,186—87,194,2o2,
142,146,153,1s8.178»191»1@7»143-49, 119.235,136—37.175,177,186.190.29n
169,275»190,297,300,304.306.307.311, 303, 304, 312, 318, 321, 325, 330; relation
314, 316, 318, 325, 328. See also Dazhuan; ship to Buddhism, 90, 101-2, 106, 124-25,
Shuogua; Ten Wings; Tuanzhuan; Wenyan 15 3, 187, 194; relationship to Confucianism,
zhuan; Xiangzhuan; Xugua; Zagua 73, 90, 101-2, 106,124-25, 153, 187, 194. See
Commentary on the Images. See Xiangzhuan also alchemy
Commentary on the Judgments. See Tuanzhuan Daoxue (Studies of the Way), 124-25. See also
Commentary on the Words of the Text. See neo-Confucianism
Wengan zhuan Dazhuan (Great Commentary), 8, 11, 26, 27,
Confucianism, 73, 76, 90,101,108,124,132, 34-41» 43» 57-» 53» 79» 93» 94» 113» 115» 121»
142,152,153,156,166,169,187,196, 202 131,134.137,142.14s,1s4»159»167,169.
3, 219, 275; relationship to Buddhism, 90, 174.179,217,110.222,215,117»13s,236,
101-2, 106-8,124-25,153, 165-66,168-69, 145.247.265.266,172,273.177,279.190.
187, 194, 207, 293, 303; relationship to 194»195.196,198»30@.308,309»310»317,
Daoism, 73, 90, 101-2, 106, 124-25, 153, 331; philosophical importance of, 38-40,
187, 194. See also Cheng-Zhu school; Confu 115,131,136-37,169, 220-21, 227, 273, 298
cius; Daoxue; Hanxue; Lu-Wang school; neo Deng Yang, 99
Confucianism; New Confucianism; Songxue Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate. See Taiji tu
Confi-1ciusr3>7> 90 40: 53-541 58: 59! 79> 81> Diao Bao, 2, 177, 247, 311, 314
97-» 93» 99» 103» 113» 11°» 115» 13°» 133» 134» Ding Chaowu, 205
146,166,173»17s.191,198.207»214,144. Ding Kuan, 91
245, 246, 266, 268, 273, 275, 294, 298, 312 Ding Yan, 281
correlative thinking, 10, 17, 19, 20, 28, 32-36, disaster words, 18, 268. See also hui; jiu; xiong
41, 45, 48, 60, 62, 63, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, divination, 1, 4, 5, 7, 9,10, 15-18, 24-28, 37,
72, 74, 75, 79,102, 118,120,121,124,155, 48-49.54.61-61.68»73.77»81.90.94.
162, 165, 174, 177, 192, 205, 209, 210, 211, 99,1o2,1o8,115,121, 124, 130,134,138,
217, 228, 237, 248-49, 272, 291, 330. See 143.145»173-76,184—87»190.194,22s-32,
also logic 248, 253, 270, 277, 280, 282, 284, 286, 290,
correspondences. See correlative thinking 291, 299, 311, 319, 326-28. See also milfoil
cosmology, 32, 62, 77, 78, 102,116, 117, 120, divination
11’-5» 127» 133» 134» 171» 174» 177» 135» 191' dizhi (earthly branches), 68, 83, 154, 157, 227
94, 209, 211, 217, 220, 222, 228, 237, 240, Dong Guangbi, 206
246»148.264.272.291.295,199,319-S“ Dongshan Liangjie, 107, 109, 110
also correlative thinking; Earth; Man; Tian dongyao (moving lines), 327
382 Index
Dong Zhenqing, 150 fengjiao (wind angles), 98, 100
Dong Zhongshu, 32, 35, 57, 170, 272 fengshui (siting, geomancy), 185, 206, 227, 323
dr1gOns(wn9%14,19,21,41,47,55,115,114, Feng Youlan, 41, 200, 206, 209
130, 131, 188,198, 225, 268, 270 Feng Zidao, 211
duiclai (displacement by opposition), 162 fenye (field allocation), 185, 316
Duke Hui, 28 Figurism, 179. See also Jesuits
Duke Mu, 28 Five Agents. See wuxing
Duke 0fZh0u, 9, 91, 134, 175, 178,190, 207 forced associations, 67, 121, 136, 185, 192,
Duke Xiang, 24 211
Du Qingbi, 302 Former Heaven sequence. See xiantian
Four Treasuries. See Siku quanshu
Earth, 3, 23, 26, 56, 93, 94, 102, 186, 227, Frye, Northrop, 244
229, 274, 281, 291, 305; images of, 39-41, Fu Manrong, 288
103-4, 121, 245; mind of, 85, 217; numbers Fu Weixun, 203
of, 39, 63, 117-18; patterns of, 36, 41, 62, Fuxi, 8, 18, 46, 91, 120,134, 135, 175,178,190,
103-4,147—48;qu1fifi@sof;41,s1,s3,94, P-°7, 115, P-45
117, 156, 170; relationship to Heaven, 3, 10, Fu Xian, 223
36,39,41,62,73,83,85,94,1@1,117,131, FuY1ng,18,13,24,19,31,49,71,81,17@
13s,1s5,176,117,12o,124,135,198,317 Fu Yijian, 168, 178
See also cosmology; Man; Tian
eclecticism, 56, 57, 59, 60, 82, 94, 101, 106, Gan Ba0,132, 288, 289
113,133—34,136,141,144,146,147,1s0, ganging (stimulus-response), 32, 88, 101, 131,
151,152,1s3,16s,166,168,169,173,179, 138,139,217,137,171,18s
184,187,191, 241, 266, 316, 330. See also Gao Heng, 7, 10, 27, 200, 206, 252, 267, 320
accommodation strategies; intellectual Gao Huaimin, 205
diversity; syncretism; synthesis Gao Kang, 91
equinox, 19, 63, 117 Gao Lan, 216
Evidential Studies. See Kaozheng xue Gao Ming, 200, 205
examination system, 61, 90, 103, 113, 140-41, Gao Panlong, 168, 223, 225
158,171,173,193,195,199,140,300 Gao Xiang, 91
geomancy. See fengshui
Faber, M. D., 212 Gerlach, Alfred, 215
factionalism, 112-13, 128, 131. See also schools <3od,14,104,143,146—49
of interpretation gonggua (palace hexagrams), 68
Fan Changsheng, 132, 288 Gongli xue (Utilitarian Learning), 132
fandui (inverted [hexagrams]), 87, 162, 167, gougu (triangulation techniques), 185
175,306,313 Great Commentary. See Dazhuan
Fan Bchang, 115 guabian (hexagram changes), 63, 97, 105, 132,
fang (square, appropriate), 23, 320 135,145,167,177,28o,307,213
Fang Dongmei (Thomé Fang), 200, 202, 205, guaci (hexagram statement). See tuan
321 guade (trigram qualities or attributes), 41-45,
Fang Dongshu, 193 50,71,84—88,117-18,164-65,13s—36,3O7
fangji (technicians, technical arts), 98 guahua (hexagram picture), 8
Fang Shenquan, 127, 147, 150 guaming (hexagram name), 8. See also hexa
fangshi (technician, occult specialist), 77, 98 gram references; hexagram relationships
Fang Xianfu, 15 9 Guan Lang, 288
Fang Xiaoru, 223, 225 Guan Lu, 98-100, 175, 232
Fang Yizhi, 141, 209, 240, 266, 310 guaqi (hexagram breaths), 62-67, 72, 78, 86,
Fan Zhongyan, 112 131,18o,31s,317
feifu (manifest and latent), 132, 136, 160, 281 guazhu (hexagram ruler), 69, 85, 86, 95, 145,
Pei Zhi, 59, 70, 83, 91, 278, 181, 303 162, 164, 225, 230, 327
Feng Dengfu, 189 Gu Huan, 288
Index 333
Guicang (Return to the Hidden), 18, 48, 91, 133, 99,128,130, 226,289;Ding(50),11,15,16,
173,176,310 17,22,197,199,128,133,184;Ihfi(Yue)
guihun (returning soul), 68-69 (58), 9, 51, 63, 65, 66, 68, 110, 117, 165,
Gu Iiegang, 199, 200, 252 189,190, 224; Dun (33), 33, 69,72, 88,286;
Gujin tushu jicheng (Complete Collection F¢ng(5s),13a,135;Pu(14)11,19,43,44,
of Illustrations and Writings, Past and 67,85,108,123,114,130,233,237;<3e(49L
Present; T S]C), 124, 223, 224, 227, 319, 326 51>13Or197§Gen(52)v 9! 20:42» 68> 99:
Guodian, 18, 29, 268 130,165,166, 204, 216, 224, 292, 305, 308,
Guo Moruo, 202, 206, 252, 320 309; Gou (44), 13, 20, 21, 51, 67,72,124,
Guo Pu, 232, 288, 289 197, 233; Gu (18), 28, 233, 328; Guan (20),
Guo Yong, 136 69,170, 204, 226, 236; Guimei (54), 233;
Guo Zichang, 306 I1¢ng(32),43,44,224,133;I1uan(59L
guwen (Ancient Text, Old Text), 58, 77, 82, 91, 233;Iian(53), 13, 16,19, 51, 233;]ian (39),
160, 197, 271, 278 no entries; Iiaren (37), 71, 191, 216, 23 3; Iie
Guy, Kent, 141, 252 (6o),133;Ifii(63),69,189.114,233,235,
GuYanwu, 173,175, 176, 186, 190, 305, 321 136,313sIh1(3s),17,69,1O4,133,328;
Iing (48), 43, 44, 216; Kan (Xikan) (29), 9,
Han B0. See Han Kangbo 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 87, 156,165,188, 214,
Hang Xinzhai, 190, 191, 193, 200, 321 216, 224, 233, 234, 237; Kuai (Guai; Iue)
Han Kangbo, 98, 103-5,106, 131 (43), 20, 51, 81,82, 222, 226, 233; Kui (38),
Han Learning. See Hanxue 51,51,64,73,86,22o,233,28s;Kun(2L
Han Qi, 183 9, 19, 22, 23, 26, 29, 41, 42, 51, 53, 55, 66,
Hanshan, 169, 257 67,68,69,71,78,87,97,124,115-16,129,
Hanshu (History of the [Former] Han Dy 147, 150, 156, 164, 166, 169, 176, 202, 204,
nasty), 59, 66, 266 222,226,231, 233,237, 270, 285, 287, 295,
Han Wudi, 32, 57 303,304,309,313,31O,317,s48;Kun(47L
Hanxue,132—33,159,173,183,184, 186,188, 28,43,44,133;Li(3o),9,46,s1,6s,6s,
191,192, 202, 240, 286, 291, 315, 330 66, 68, 71, 87, 100, 109, 110,111, 165, 222,
Hao Iing, 120 224, 237; Lin (19), 48, 67, 281; Lu (Li) (10),
Heaven. See Tian 43,44,51;Lfi(s6),87,96,97,189,116,
He Kai, 177, 314 234; Meng (4), 37, 72, 87; Mingyi (Mingzhi)
Henderson, Iohn, 192, 193, 247 (36),1o,8s,104,147,174,216,133,328;Pi
heng (success, prevalence), 11, 18, 45, 161, 216 (12), 30, 51, 128, 204, 221, 224, 226; Qian
He Shiqiang, 219 @J,9,19,21,26,41,44,45,46,51,53,55,
He Tang, 121 64, 66, 67, 68, 72, 78, 87, 97,105,109, 124,
Hetu (Yellow River Chart), 78-80, 114, 115, 117, 115,126,119,130,131,137,144,147,161,
119,131,134—36,143,145-47,151,165,168, 164, 166, 169, 170, 174, 176, 188, 197, 198,
170, 172-74, 177, 179, 182,185, 188, 191, 202, 204, 222, 226, 231, 233, 237,247, 275,
193» 109» 1?-4» 115» 14°» 253, 294, 295, 297, 176,283,187,3O6,3O9,313,316,31@,317;
198,199,302,3O7,311,312,314,319,326; Qi=1n(15), 43, 44, 64, 86, 99,162, 204, 233,
controversies surrounding, 78, 134-35, 143, 289; Sheng (46), 51, 233; Shi (7), 19, 164,
1s1.171—74.177,188,193,194,312;de 188,231, 233; Shihe (21), 233, 234;S0ng
scriptions of, 79-81, 117-19. See also Luoshu (6), 233, 234; Sui (17), no entries; Sun
(Luo River Writing) (Xun)(s7),9,43,44,s1,s1,5s,68,11o,111,
He Tuo, 288 165, 224, 228; Sun (41), 44, 54,164, 189,
hexagram references (alphabetical): Bi (8), 190, 224; Tai (11), 11, 12, 56, 67, 108, 128,
11,25,41,s6,69,150,204,116,133,170, 147, 148, 221, 224, 226; Tongren (13), 19,
274, 303; Bi (22), 51, 52, 147, 222; Bo (23), 49,164,189;\V¢fii(64J,1@,69,224,233,
69, 81, 82, 204, 226, 235, 284; Cui (45), 51, 313; Wuwang (25), 51, 233, 260; Xian (Gan)
104,233+Dasu0(18L10,14,28,29,37, (31),19, 51,189, 216, 217, 224, 235; Xiao
110, 233; Daxu (Dachu) (26), 19, 274; Dayou chu (Xiaoxu) (9), 189, 228, 309; Xiaoguo
(14), 49, 69, 228; Dazhuang (Daqiang) (34), (62), 66, 87, 189; Xie (Iie) (40), 231, 234;
384 Index
hexagram references (continued) Hui Dong, 58, 183-84, 188, 315
Xu (Ru) (5), 51, 69; Yi (27), 29, 37, 87, 165, huilin (remorse and regret), 143, 166, 168
188; Yi (42), 43, 44, 66, 164, 165, 216, 224. Hui Pannong, 280
See also Mawangdui hexagram equivalents Hu Iuren, 22 3
hexagram relationships, 10, 28, 42, 60-61, 72, human affairs (renshi), 104, 127. See also service
79, 85, 95, 97,145, 162,189, 224, 226, 236, to society
313, 327. See also biangua; guabian; pangtong; Hu Shi, 195, 199
zongcuo huti. See hugua
hexagrams (gua): examples of interpretive Hu Wei, 120, 175-77, 191, 193, 210
approaches to, 15-18, 24-29, 37-48, 63-71, Hu Xu, 193
81-88, 95-100, 104-5, 109-11, 128-29, 130- Hu Yigui, 143, 150, 302
32, 142-45, 161,168, 181-88; names and Hu Yuan, 59, 112, 113, 128, 132
attributes of, 11, 41-45, 50-53. See also hexa- Hu Zifeng, 284
gram references; hexagram relationships
He Xiu, 186 illustrations. See charts and diagrams
He Yin, 288 images. See xiang (images)
Hinduism, 1, 242-48 images and numbers, school of. See xiangshu
Ho, Peng-Yoke, 237-38 incipience. See ji (incipient moment)
Hong Yixuan, 48, 276 intellectual diversity, 1-4, 48-56, 60, 106, 141,
Hou Guo, 105 149-50,168-69,170,173,184, 241, 266.
houtian (Later Heaven [sequence]), 46, 47, 145, See also lineages; localism; networks; re
151, 165, 179, 180-81, 236, 296 gionalism
Hou Xingguo, 105 intertextuality, 61, 221, 325. See also commen
hua (transform), 38, 40, 295 taries
Huang Daozhou, 170, 174, 312 Islam, 201, 202, 221, 242-48
Huang’er, 15 Ivanhoe, Philip, 242, 243
Huangfu Mi, 288
Huang Geng, 223 Jesuits, 124, 141, 179, 182-84, 209, 212, 310
Huangji jingshi shu (Supreme Principles That Iesus, 244, 247
Rule the World), 121-24, 144, 146, 154, 174, Ii. See Iizi
295, 299 ji (auspicious, good fortune), 18, 40
Huang Iinhong, 205 ji (incipient moment, seminal first stirrings,
Huang—Lao teaching, 32, 183, 271. See also trigger], 38, 94, 129, 131, 156, 221, 225,
Daoism 304. See also shi (time)
Huang Lixian, 120 Iia Baoyu, 226
Huang Peirong (Wong Pui Iong), 20 5 Iiang Chengqing, 219
Huang Shouqi, 206, 218, 252 ]iangYong, 184-86, 193, 209, 240, 316
Huang Ze, 145 Iiang Zutong, 217
Huang Zongxi, 1, 121, 131, 173-77, 186, 191, Iiao Gan. See Iiao Yanshou
266, 300, 305, 310, 311, 328 Iiao Hong, 141, 307
Huan Tan, 48 318
Huang Zongyan, 175, 193, 311, 312 Iiao Xun, 87, 188-91,198, 203, 240, 269, 317,
Huan Wen, 288 Iiao Yanshou, 59, 71-72, 91, 144, 152, 174,
Hu Bin, 160 232, 281, 318
Hu Bingwen, 150, 158, 223, 304 jia yibei (increase by a factor), 165
Hu Fangping, 143, 294 Jie Gui, 188
hugua (overlapping hexagrams, interlacing Ii Kang, 288
hexagrams, nuclear hexagrams), 69-71, 83, Iin (dynasty during the Song period), 113
86-87, 97, 105, 132-33, 136, 145, 151, 167, Iin (dynasty in the Six Dynasties period), 91,
225-26, 292, 299, 307, 312 188
Hu Guang, 158 Iin (feudal state), 28, 29
hui (regret, remorse), 18, 40, 268 Ii’nan cheng, 18, 29, 32
|fld€X 385
jindan (Golden Elixir), 15 3, 187 Lamotte, Etienne, 247
jiflg (classic). 5,18. 32, 37, 179» 242- See also language, 6,12, 14, 22, 23, 40, 92,186,189,
classics 208, 213, 220-21, 238, 269. See also symbol
jing (spirit, essence), 184, 237. See also spirit ism; wordplay; writing
and spirituality Lao Naixuan, 211
finsP2ns.s9,63,65,67—71,73,79.82,83. Laozi, 32, 59, 92,106,133, 152,153,183, 253
86, 90, 91, 98, 98, 108,120,136,144, 159, Later Heaven sequence. See houtian
160, 164,174, 175, 183,184, 188,193, 232, laun6.23.57,62,129.233-35.246.324.329
237, 278, 280, 281, 282, 287, 315 Lee, Pauline, 169
Iingmen, 49. See also Shanghai Museum ver Legalism (Fajia), 32, 57
sion of the Changes Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, 124, 179, 203-5,
jingshen weiji (spiritual crisis), 5, 207 321
jinwen (New Text, Modern Text), 58, 60, 77, 78 Lei Fa, 223
79,82,91.169.186.191,197.199.271.278 Lei Siqi, 294
jiu (misfortune, trouble), 268 Lewis, Mark, 220, 270
jiujia (nine masters [of the Changes]), 84 li (favorable, beneficial, advantageous, appro
Iizi, 147 priate; also, profit), 18, 44, 45, 105, 137,
Judaism, 201, 202, 221, 242-49, 332 161, 173, 221
judgment. See tuan Ii (principle, patterned regularities of exis
Iung, Carl Gustav, 211-17, 323 tence), 108, 127, 129, 133, 136, 146, 152,
jungua (sovereign hexagrams; also bigua), 67, 161-62, 164,167, 169, 174,186,187, 189,
72.156.237.339 221.296.395.315
junzi (superior person, superior man), 22, 41, Ii (ritual, ritual propriety), 4, 9, 22, 25, 36, 57,
85,105, 128,129, 156, 167, 187, 234, 235, 82-83, 90, 95,102,104,129-30,137,146,
289,399,311 184, 191-92, 196, 208, 231, 284, 291. See also
sacrifices; state sacrifice
Kabbalah, 248-50, 332 li (threat, danger), 18
Kalinowski, Marc, 90 Liang Qichao, 177, 197
Kangshu, 24-25 Liangqiu He, 59, 91, 278, 280
Kang Youwei, 197, 199 Liang Wudi, 101
Kang Yu, 219 liangyi (two modes or poles), 125, 186. See also
kanyu. See fengshui yin and yang
Kaozheng xue (evidential learning, school of Liang Yin, 152
empirical research), 173, 177, 184, 186, 192, liangzhi (innate goodness), 136, 167-69, 187,
199, 211, 250, 310. See also Hanxue 308
Karcher, Stephen, 213-15 Lianshan (Linked Mountains), 18, 48, 91, 13 3,
Kingly Way (wangdao), 104, 111, 233 173,276
King Mu, 49 Liao Mingchun, 205
King Wen, 9, 20, 46, 53, 99,122,134,165,175 Liao Ping, 200
178,199.297,232.24s>279 Li Daochun, 152, 303
King Wu, 53 Li Dingzuo, 86,1o5—6,147,150,183, 247
King Xiang’ai, 271 Liezi, 133
Kong Chengzi, 24-25 Li Pu, 144, 185
Kong Qiu. See Confucius Li Gai, 115
Kong Yingda, 103-6, 113, 127, 131, 145, 164, Li Gong, 186
297, 314 Li Gou, 112, 120, 295
Kunst,"Richard, 269, 270, 320, 323 Li Guang, 13 3
Li Guangdi, 177-79, 183, 193
Lady Iiang, 28 Li Han, 272
Lai Guisan, 200, 205, 269, 317 Li I-Iongzhang, 228
Lai Zhide, 87, 160-66, 175, 177, 210, 223, 225, Liji (Record of Ritual), 31, 66, 151, 153
306 Lilian, 147,150
386 Index
Li Iingchi, 7, 10, 200, 206, 320 Li Xinchuan, 136
Li Iingjun, 206 Li Xueqin, 267
lin (trouble, distress, regret), 18, 40 Li Yanshi, 237
lineages, intellectual, 91,107. See also acade- LiZhi,141,168,169, 199, 300, 309, 313
mies; networks; localism; regionalism; Li Zhicai, 115, 151
schools of interpretation localism, 2, 3, 61, 83, 107, 143, 172-73, 279.
lines (yao): changes in (blangao, dongyao), 25- See also lineages; networks; regionalism
29, 37, 40, 63, 65-73, 81-88, 109, 124,189, Loewe, Michael, 59
204, 226-32, 280, 312, 327; description of, logic, 5, 6, 40, 110, 133, 137, 165, 169, 186,
8-10; line relationships, 25-28, 61, 68, 72, 188, 197, 209, 220, 235, 324. See also correla
79, 81, 87-88, 95-96,109,124,162,189, tive thinking
216, 230-32, 327; line statements (yaoci), Long Renfu, 150-51
11-60, 75, 79, 81-82, 88, 91-92, 100, 104- Lord Xiahou Zao, 49
5,130-31,134,161-62,164, 168,170, 178, lii (pitch pipes), 66-68, 98,185
188-91,198, 230, 232,235, 243, 267, 276, Lu Cai, 291
282, 284-85, 289, 324, 327. See also cuo- Lu Deming, 101, 105, 288
gua;feifu; guabian; hexagram relationships; Lu Ii, 44, 70, 144, 284
pangtong; trigram relationships Lu Iingyu, 288
Lin Hanshi, 269 Lu Jiuyuan. See Lu Xiangshan
Lin Li, 150 Lu Lianzhang, 205, 273
Linqing, 222 Lu Longqi, 177
Lin Yin, 218 Luo Guang, 205
Lin Zhaoen, 141, 165, 166 luopan (geomantic compass, siting compass),
Lin Zhi, 294 185, 210, 227
Li Qi, 133 Luo Qinshun, 305
Li Qingzhao, 258 Luoshu (Luo River Writing), 78-81, 114, 115,
Li Shen, 206 118,119,132,134-36,143, 145-47, 151,165,
Li Shuzheng, 218 168, 172-74, 177, 179, 182, 185, 191, 193,
literature, 5, 6, 57,171, 298, 221-33, 242, 252 299, 224, 249, 253,294,295, 297, 298, 299,
Li Tongxuan, 107, 108, 292 302, 307, 311, 312, 314, 319, 326; contro
Liu, Kwang-Ching, 57 versies surrounding, 78, 134-35, 143, 151,
Liu Dajun, 206, 252, 267, 278, 314 172—74,177,188,193, 294, 312; descrip
Liu Fengliu, 186 tions of, 79-80, 117-19
Liu Hanping, 205 Lii Shaogang, 206, 218
Liu Huan, 288 Lu Shiyi, 177, 193
liulii (six pitch pipes), 185 Lu—Wang school, 125, 168, 170, 252. See also Lu
Liu Mu, 112, 114, 115, 120, 143, 151, 210, 294 Xiangshan; Wang Yangming
liuren (six waters), 81 Lu Xiangshan, 132, 136, 141, 144, 159, 167,
Liu Shipei, 197, 198, 200 168, 178
Liu Songnian, 222 Lu Xisheng, 144
Liu Xiaobo, 218 Lil Zuqian, 134, 144, 152, 299, 303
Liu Xie, 222 Lynn, Richard Iohn, 52, 93
liuxing (flow through phases), 162
Liu Yiming, 186, 187, 316 Ma Guohan, 48, 58, 105
Liu Yonglian, 223 Makeham, Iohn, 221, 243
Liu Yujian, 87, 218 Malinowski, Bronislaw, 23
Liu Zheng, 211 Man (human beings), 3, 23, 33, 35, 36, 54, 56,
Liu Zhou, 288 73, 93, 94, 102, 161, 186, 227, 229, 274, 281,
Liu Zongzhou, 159, 168 291, 293, 305; relationship to Heaven and
Lixue (Learning of Principle, School of Prin- Earth, 23, 26, 35-36, 56, 73, 9 3, 94, 102,
ciple, Studies of Principle), 125, 132, 137, 186, 227, 229, 291, 293, 305
168. See also Cheng-Zhu school; li (principle) Manchus, 171-72, 199, 252, 310
Mao Qiling, 176-77, 183,191, 316, 328
Index 387
nationalism, 200-201, 218, 319
Mao Xiling, 176, 313 Nationalist Party (Guomindang), 196
Mao Zedong, 206 nagin (attached note), 66-68, 98, 100, 185,
Ma Rong, 59, 82, 91, 287 186, 280, 317
Marquis of Iin, 29 Needham, Joseph, 18, 236, 237, 238
Marquis of Wei, 24 neidan (inner alchemy), 106, 115, 187
Marxism, 202, 206, 268 Nemoto Tsfimei, 177
mathematics, 5, 9, 61, 62, 95, 124, 138, 139, neo-Confucianism, 76, 108, 124, 144, 156,
159, 179, 182-85,188,191,192,197,199, 159, 166,168,173, 233, 283, 301, 308, 314.
103-5,219,235—40,284,312,317,311-SH See also Cheng-Zhu school; Daoxue; Lixue; Lu
also numerology Wang school
Mawangdui, 18, 29, 32, 49-56, 81, 82, 244, networks. See scholarly affiliations
175,277,281 Neuser, Joseph, 247
Mawangdui hexagram equivalents, 49-56 New Confucianism, 203
Mawangdui trigram equivalents, 49-56 New Culture Movement, 192-203
Mayi Daozhe, 119 New Text school. See jinwen
meanings and principles, school of. See yili Ng, Benjamin Wai-ming, 251
meditation (than; dhyana), 108-11, 136, 166, Ng, On—cho, 177, 314, 319, 320
168-72,292,330 Nielsen, Bent, 79, 251, 256, 270, 280, 293, 294
Mei Wending, 184 N iu Niu, 178
Mencius, 266 Ni Yuanlu, 170, 192
Meng Iiao, 223 numbers, 10-12,18, 22, 23, 26-28, 30, 33,
Meng Xi, 59, 62-65, 67, 71-73, 78, 86, 91,108, 35-39,48,s1,s4,s6,s9—66,65-69,72,
131, 183, 184, 188,191, 278, 281, 282, 315 73,78-81,8s—88,91,95—97,1@1-7,rus
Meng Xiang, 222 117-15,119-38,141-47,150-s6,159—61,
Mengzhi, 25 164-68,171-79,19O—93,197—98,104,
Mengzi. See Mencius 209-10, 220, 231,236,239, 240, 248, 249,
metaphysics, 7, 36, 38, 60, 61, 76, 125,127, 274,178,179,288,192,296,197,303,307,
130-31,144,153,186, 198, 202-3, 221, 315; philosophical significance of, 38-39,
235, 240, 242, 293, 321. See also cosmology; 59-61,102,120-24,129,132,138,161-62,
numerology 179: 220: 236: 2-40> 248-49» 274» See
milfoil divination, 16-18, 25-28, 54, 98, 102, also numerology; xiangshu
111,14s—4s,117—32,17O,177,317,318 numerology, 3, 4, 9, 10, 25-27, 35, 60, 62,
mind. See xin 73-81, 87, 90, 98, 108, 117, 120-24, 129,
ming (bright, intelligent), 8, 110 119-37,143,146,159,161,176-77,182—84,
ming (fate, destiny, mandate), 35-36, 38, 61, 188, 190-93, 204,220, 227-28, 230, 235,
98, 102, 108-9, 121, 161, 187, 221, 227, 187, 240,248-49,173,277,194-97,199,307,
227,232 311-12, 312, 327, 375. See also mathematics
modernization, 196, 200-201, 238, 320 Nylan, Michael, 281-82
Mongols, 140-42
Mou, B0, 220 orthodoxy, 57, 89, 105, 113,140, 142,150,
Mou Zongsan, 203, 205 1s1,1s3,1s8,171,173,174,177,185,141,
Mu He, 55 265, 311
music, 4, 5, 6, 22, 34, 60, 66, 77, 98,146,171, Ouyang Xiu, 112, 113, 114, 134,143, 193, 223,
185,221—21,23s,2s4,331 193,298
Mu Xiu, 112, 115 Ouyi Zhixu. See Zhixu
najia (attached [initial] stem), 67, 68, 72, 86, pangtong (laterally linked [hexagrams]), 86,
98,105,132,136,160,185,188, 280, 312, 87,189, 203, 226, 306, 313
315 Pan Yuting, 211, 218
Nanjing, 26, 190 Pei Hui, 92
Nanjo Bunryu, 190 Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni, 248
388 Index
Pi Xirui, 190-91, 193, 268, 318 sacrifices, 11, 25, 55. See also li (ritual)
Pregadio, Fabrizio, 107 sancai (“The Three Powers” [Heaven, Earth
Prickett, Stephen, 246 and Man]), 3, 23, 26, 36, 56, 93, 94,102,
principle. See li (principle) 186, 227, 229, 274, 281, 291, 305
psychology, 2, 4, 5, 40, 73, 207, 208, 211-17 Sanguo zhi (Record of the Three Kingdoms),
Pu Maozuo, 50 92,98,99
pyromancy, 9-10 scapulamancy. See pyromancy
scholarly affiliations, 1, 59, 113, 143, 172, 173,
Qi (dynasty during the Six Dynasties period), 184, 202, 279, 321. See also factionalism;
91 lineages; localism
qi (energy, spirit, material force), 33, 63-64, schools of interpretation, 1, 56, 59, 60, 77,
66, 78, 81, 82, 94,116-17, 121, 122, 125, 82,83,88,89,94,95»97,1@s,114,11s,114.
126,129-33,154-56,161, 166,174,185, 115,117,131,133,147,150,151,159,168,
186, 197, 221, 224, 274, 330 169, 172-73, 188, 191, 202, 211, 225, 227,
Qi (feudal state), 28 140,145.147.249,166,271,173,178,188.
Qian Daxin, 188 300, 311, 330. See also individual entries
qiangpei (forced fit), 67, 192, 211. See also forced for particular “schools” (pai) and types of
associations “learning” or “study” (xue), such as Daoxue;
Qian Shiming, 281 Hanxue; Lixue; Songxue; also, xiangshu; yili
Qian Xuantong, 200 science, 1, 3, 5, 6, 18, 60, 62,73, 108, 137-41,
Qian Yiben, 308 172, 179, 184-85, 193-94, 196-99, 200-211,
Qian zao du (Opening Up the Regularities of 213, 218, 221, 235-40, 321, 323, 330
[the Hexagram] Qian), 78-82, 174, 283 Sefer Yezirah (Book of Creation), 249
Qian Zhongshu, 287 service to society, 128, 130, 167, 176. See also
Qiao Lai, 312 human affairs (renshi)
qigong (therapeutic exercise), 107, 219, 292 Sex,19,51,115,217,135-36,306,314,319
Qiu Cheng, 223 Shan Feng, 150
Qiu Jin, 199 Shang Binghe, 72, 200, 281, 321
Qiu Xiaobo, 218 Shanghai Museum version of the Changes,
qiyao (seven luminaries), 185 49-5°
Quan Zuwang, 131, 144 Shao Bowen, 295
quaqi (hexagram breaths), 62-64 Shao Xuexi, 219
Qur’an, 1, 5, 242-48 Shao Yong, 46, 112, 114, 115, 120, 122, 125,
Qu Wanli, 9, 88, 200, 205, 280 129» 131,134, 136» 144» 145, 151, 154>155,
159,162,165, 173,174, 176,182,184, 185,
Rambelli, Fabio, 246 191,193, 203, 204, 205,209, 223,224, 240,
regionalism, 3, 56, 61, 103, 112, 171, 172, 174, 153.2s7,174.197,312,311,318
266, 290, 279, 312, 314, 315, 317. See also Shaughnessy, Edward, 16, 17, 49, 50, 52, 251,
intellectual diversity; lineages; localism; 267,270,286
networks Shen Ciheng, 211
ren (humaneness, benevolence), 36, 45, 68, shengjiang (rising and falling), 85, 105, 132,
1?-7» 173» Z01» 147, 175» 191, Z95 280,315
reviews of Yijing—related works, 1, 59, 73, 79, Shen Gua, 112, 138, 300
89,106, 120,121,132,133, 136,137,142, Shen Heyong, 215, 216, 217, 324
143,145,146,150-52,157-59,166-68,170, Shen Linshi, 288
175, 176, 178, 226, 227, 252, 264, 279, 280, Shennong, 8, 11, 18
284, 286, 294-305, 308, 310-18 shi (time, timing, situation, circumstance), 35,
rhymes, 16, 17, 23-24, 220, 223 s8.61—62,72,74,81—83,94,95,96,138.
rhythmic phrases, 23-24 143, 187, 212, 220, 236
Ricci, Matteo, 141, 172 Shi Chou, 59, 91, 191
Ritsema, Rudolf, 213-15, 324 Shiji (Historical Records), 222, 266, 270
ritual. See li (ritual) Shijing (Classic of Poetry), 11-13, 31, 82, 122
Shishuo xinyu (A New Account of Tales of the
Index 339
Supreme Ultimate. See Taiji
World), 100-101 Su Shi, 112, 128-31, 150, 245, 297, 298, 314
Shi Wei, 218 Su Xun, 245, 354
Shixue (solid scholarship), 173. See also Kao Su Zhe, 130
zheng xue symbolism, 4, 8, 9-10, 12, 15, 20-22, 30, 37,
shiyao (generational lines), 69 39-41.44.4s,46.so-s1,s5,61.66.72.
Shiyi. See Ten Wings 73.79.84.85.90.95,1o0.1O4.108-vm117.
Shizhao, 25 124,128,135,145,15o,156, 161-65,170,
shu (number, calculation), 32-33, 38-40, 73, 187, 188, 191, 197, 198, 202, 204, 207-9,
80-81, 117—33,161,197, 204, 240. See also 212-17, 220-22, 227, 229, 231, 233-40,
numerology; xiangshu 144.148,269.174-75,277.192.297.314.
Shui Yuquan, 294 325, 328, 329. See also numerology; xiang
Shujing (Classic of Documents), 22, 31, 122, 227 (images); xiangshu
Shuogua (Discussion of the Trigrams), 38, 42 syncretism, 141, 153, 166,169. See also eclecti
45.76.86.87,91.109.11a,155,164.165, cism; synthesis
147.275.285.187 synthesis, 73, 101,102, 112,133,136,144,178,
Siddhartha, 243 182, 184, 203, 208, 299. See also eclecticism
Siku quanshu (Complete Collection of the Four
Treasuries; SKQS), 1, 4, 59, 73, 89, 114, 120, Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), 108, 115-16, 121,
132, 141-46, 145, 146, 150-52, 157, 166-68, 123:125_26>133>144>153>154r168:203»
178, 226, 252, 277, 279. See also reviews of 210, 221, 229, 297, 307
Yijing-related works Taiji quan, 107
Siku quanshu zongmu tigao (Annotated General Taiji tu (Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate),
Catalogue of the Complete Collection of 108, 115, 125, 147, 154, 224, 225
the Four Treasuries; ZMTY), 227, 252, 279, Taiwan, 5, 6,196, 200, 203, 205-8, 218, 319
286. See also reviews of Yijing-related works Taixuanjing (Classic of Great Mystery), 71-77,
Sima Guang, 112, 120, 128, 130, 131,132,144 94.108.131.144.145.147.1s6,174.190.
147,282,298 25 3, 284
Sima Qian, 222, 253, 270 Taigi (Great One), 81, 102, 116, 227, 25 3, 290
Sipanmo, 10, 28 Tanchun, 226
siting. See fizngshui Tang (Shang founder), 53
Sivin, Nathan, 238-39, 281-82 Tang Bin, 193
sixiang (four basic images), 115, 121, 210 Tang Iunyi, 203, 205
Song Learning. See Songxue Tang Mingbang, 61, 206, 209, 218, 290, 311
Song Xian, 120 Tang Yan, 287
Songxue, 125, 156, 158, 159, 173, 177-78, 202, Tan Sitong, 197-98
240, 330 Ten Wings (Shiyi) of the Changes, 2, 9, 24,
spirit and spirituality (shen, shenming), 8, 25, 37-48,55.75.79.83.89.91.1oo.nIn113.
31.3s—38,53.111.138—39,154.167,170, 125, 134, 144, 145,147, 162,164, 165, 168,
194, 198, 207, 212, 217, 221-23, 229, 236, 178,191, 200, 205, 206, 216, 220, 243, 245,
242_44>298>311a331 147.155,169.273,177.181.186,294.s02.
state sacrifice, 107, 287 303, 325; Confucian elements in, 37-38,
stems and branches. See dizhi; tiangan 40, 44-45, 294; Daoist elements in, 44,
Studies of Principle. See Lixue 277, 325 ; debates over, 113-14, 205-6, 294;
Studies of the Mind. See Xinxue incorporation into the basic text, 89-91,
Studies of the Way. See Daoxue 286, 303; Mawangdui analogues of, 52-56;
Su Dongpo. See Su Shi philosophical significance of, 37-38, 48,
Suishu (History of the Sui Dynasty), 91 168, 220-21, 243; Qian zao clu as a commen
Sun Guozhong, 114, 136 tary to, 79; Taixuanjing analogues of, 75-76.
Sun Iianqiu, 205 See also Dazhuan; Shuogua; Tuanzhuan; Wen
Sun Sheng, 288 gan zhuan; Xiangzhua11;Xugua; Zagua
Sun Tang, 58 Three Teachings (sanjiao), 165-66, 187
390 Index
Tian (“Heaven”), 3,10, 19, 22, 23, 26, 28,35, 307, 312; early evolution of, 10-11. See also
36,39,41,41,46,51,53,55,56,61,6s,67, trigram references; trigram relationships
73,83,84,85,93,94,99,102-5,111,114, tu (charts, diagrams, illustrations). See charts
115,117,121, 122,127,131,135,155,156, and diagrams
161, 165, 168, 170, 172, 176, 186, 192, 217, tuan (judgment, hexagram statement, deci
220, 221, 223-27, 229, 235, 245, 247, 266, sion, tag), 9, 11-12, 20, 25, 28, 29, 40, 44,
147,291,293,298,3@5,311,317;¢0n 49, 52, 85, 86, 95, 99, 104, 137, 161, 166,
figurations of, 36, 41, 62, 103-4, 147-48; 174,189, 214,216, 230, 231, 234, 276, 285,
decrees of, 36, 41, 84; images of, 39-41, 3°9, 317
103-4, 121, 245; mind of, 36,41, 85,105, Tuanzhuan (Commentary on the Judgments),
127, 217; numbers of, 39, 63, 117-18, 161; 37,41,85,87,109,135,145,216,135,285,
qualities of, 41-42, 51, 53, 94, 117, 156, 198,317
170, 176, 247; relationship to Earth, 3, 10, Tufu, 28
36, 39, 42, 62,73, 83, 85, 94, 102, 117, 131, Tushujicheng. See Gujin tushujicheng
135,155,176,217,22o,224,235,298,317;
relationship to Man, 3, 26, 35-36, 56, 73, Utilitarian Learning. See Gongli xue
93,94,102,186,227,229,191,293,s@5;
Vedas, 1, 5, 242-48, 331
signs from, 36. See also charts and diagrams;
cosmology; Earth; Man waidan (outer alchemy), 106
tiangan (heavenly stems), 68, 154, 227 Wang Anshi, 112, 127-29, 297, 298
Tian He, 59, 91 Wang Bi, 59, 82, 89-106, 111, 115, 116, 121,
Tian Wangsun, 91 128,130—36,145,147,152,158,164,166,
Tianxingguan, 18 174—76,183,188,224,253,274,284,286,
Tian Yiheng, 160 287,288,297,303
Toda Toyosaburo, 177, 188, 315, 317 Wang Erh-min (Wang Ermin), 185
Tongcheng school, 190 Wang Fuzhi, 3, 87, 175-76, 186, 193, 274, 311
Tbrah,5,243-47 Wang Gen, 141, 300
Tortchinov, E. A., 248, 249 Wang Huang, 91
trigram references (alphabetical): Dui, 8, 9, Wang Ii, 141, 168, 223, 300, 309
10, 28, 29, 45, 46, 84, 117, 118, 121, 122, Wangjiatai, 18, 29, 32, 48, 49, 72, 244
165,189, 216, 237; Gen, 8,10, 28, 29,45, Wang ling, 159
46, 50,117, 118,121, 122,165,189, 190, 216, Wang Kaiyun, 191
174,289;K4n,8,1o,28,29,41,45,46,50, Wang Kui, 236
71,117,118,121,122, 155,156,165, 235, Wang Mans, 57, 58, 77
236, 237, 274, 295, 30; Kun, 8,10, 28,42, Wang Maohong, 193
45, 46,47, 85, 88, 104, 117, 118, 121, 122, Wang Ming, 235
154,155,156,164,176,236,174,189;LL Wang Qi, 160
8, 10, 28, 45, 46, 84, 88, 104, 110, 117, 118, Wang Shusen, 218
121,121,155,156,164,165,235,136,237, Wang Su, 91, 94
157,195;Cfian,8,9,1@,28,41,45,46,88, Wang Tingxiang, 131, 305
117, 118, 121, 125, 126, 154, 155, 164, 165, Wang Weide, 326
176, 198, 274, 289; Sun (Xun), 8, 10, 28, 29, Wang Xichan, 184
45, 46, 47, 71, 87, 88, 117, 118, 121, 122, 165, Wang Xinchun, 285
236;Zhen, 8,10, 28,42, 45,46, 63, 87, 88, Wang Xuequn, 61, 290
117, 118, 121, 122, 165, 237. See also Mawang Wang Yangming, 137, 141, 144, 159, 167, 170,
dui trigram equivalents 252, 300, 308
trigram relationships, 10, 43, 60-61, 71, 79, Wang Ye, 92
97, 117-18, 154-55, 162, 275. See also hexa Wang Yi, 288
gram relationships; lines, line relationships Wang Yinglin, 83
trigrams (gua): configurations of, 41-54, 69 Wang Yinzhi, 188, 189
71, 83, 86-87, 97, 105,117-21,132-33, 136, Wang Zhenfu, 219
145,151, 167, 180-86, 225-26, 292, 299, Wang Zhonghui, 147
Wang Zhongyao, 219, 290, 292, 308
Index 391
Wu Yubi, 144
Wang Zongchuan, 168, 300 Wu Zhiying, 199
wanwu (ten thousand [myriad] things, kinds,
beings), 8, 26, 41, 54, 55, 66, 82, 85,92, 94, xiang (images, figures, emblems), 8, 37-40,
126, 127,131,185, 217, 220, 235 60, 63, 86-87, 92-99,114,121,136,152,
Wei (dynasty in the Six Dynasties period), 159,164-65,176,179,213,221,274,306,
91-91,98 312, 315. See also xiangshu
Wei (feudal state), 15, 24, 25 xiang (treat, offering), 11. See also heng
Wei Boyang, 107, 146 Xiang Anshi, 136
wei budang (incorrect [line] positions), 69, 70, xiangcuo (mutual interchange or cross
86,174 linkages), 189, 203
Wei Iun, 167 xianghua (mutual transformation), 272
Wei Liaoweng, 136 xiangke (mutual conquest), 35, 45, 81
Wei Yuansong, 288 xiangsheng (mutual production), 35, 45, 80
Weng Tonghe, 228 xiangshu (school of images and numbers), 59
Wen Tong, 226 60, 86, 88, 97,105,106,114,132,136-37,
Wenwang. See King Wen 141,14s,146,15O—51,1s9—61,168,173—76,
Wenyan zhuan (Commentary on the Words of 178,182,191, 202, 236, 240, 249, 278, 279,
the Text), 38,44, 55, 76,113,145,156 288, 292, 303, 311,330
Wen Yiduo, 200, 202, 320 xiangzhi (mutual control), 272
Whitehead, Alfred North, 40, 203 Xiangzhuan (Commentary on the Images), 37,
Wilhelm, Richard, 211-12, 215, 265 41» 45> 47> 48, 75, 143,197, 234"35> 281» P-98
“Knnen,1s,22,29,169,19O—91,199,233,2ss, xiantian (Former Heaven [sequence]), 46, 47,
236,318,320 114—15,122,131,145,1s1,1s4,16s,176,
Word magic, 23, 332 179,180-82, 186, 191, 203, 224-25, 236,
wordplay (puns), 23, 29, 220, 308 140,196,311,337,338
writing, 10, 11, 12, 21, 23, 24, 29, 31, 40, 49, Xiao Hanzhong, 302
51,53,58,61,71,83,91—93,95,97,100, Xiao Ii, 102, 107, 118
101, 121, 161, 214, 216, 217, 220, 222, 231, xiaoren (petty person), 82, 128, 187
142,243,147,148,149,268,269,27O,17s Xiao Shafu, 208
298, 309, 311, 328, 332. See also language xiaoxi (dispersal and accumulation), 67, 105,
wu (nonbeing, nonactuality), 92-94 156, 280, 307
Wu Cheng, 144-46 Xiao Yan, 101
Wu Ding, 20 Xichun, 226
Wu Hua, 218 Xici zhuan (Commentary on the Appended
wuhui (no regret, no remorse), 18, 40,128 Statements). See Dazhuan (Great Commen
wujiu (no blame, no misfortune), 14, 17, 40, tary)
231,268 Xie Daning, 205
Wu Lin, 279 Xieji bianfang shu (Book of Harmonizing the
Wu Mi, 120 Times and Distinguishing the Directions),
Wu Qiuwen, 207 172,311
Wu Rulun, 190 Xie Qiucheng, 209
Wuwang. See King Wu xin (mind, heart-and-mind, heart/mind), 36,
Wu Wei, 160 85,106,109,110,127,130,136-38, 144,
wuwei (not striving, not overdoing), 104 153-55, 166,168,17o,174,186, 215-17
wuxing (Five Agents, Five Phases, Five Activi Xin’an, 143
ties, Five Qualities), 32-35, 39, 45, 60, 68, Xin dynasty, 59
73-75, 80, 97, 98,102,103,116-18,125-27, Xing Shu, 105
133,154,165,168,185,186, 217,221,227, Xing Wen (a.l<.a. Wen Xing), 56, 263
228, 237, 272, 291, 297, 307. See also xiang Xinxue (Studies of the Mind, Learning of the
hua; xian_gl<e; xiangsheng; xiangzhi Mind), 125, 132,137, 141, 159, 167-68, 177,
wuyin (five musical notes), 185 178,225
392 Index
xiong (misfortune), 18, 40, 268 countercultural uses of, 328-29; cultural
Xiong Guo, 159, 305 significance of, 6, 100-102, 107-11, 137
Xiong Shili, 200, 202, 203 39, 219-40; derivations of, 71-75, 77-82,
xuanxue (abstruse learning), 89, 98, 143, 146, 121-27, 226-27; globalization of, 4, 196,
166, 167,168, 175, 288. See also Wang Bi 212, 242, 248, 266; as a mirror of the mind,
Xu Daoyi, 219 1-2, 109; as a model of the cosmos, 36,
Xue Iixuan, 132 38-41, 56, 67, 68, 83, 102-4,156, 161-62,
Xue Xuan, 279 186, 245; political uses of, 3, 4, 6, 31, 55,
Xu Fuguan, 203, 282 57.61.83-9o.131.172.174.19O.94-95.98.
Xugua (Orderly Sequence of the Hexagrams), 102-4, 111-13, 127-29, 171, 195-99, 201,
38.42.5s.76.128.146 206, 233, 241, 278, 288, 328-29; scientific
Xu Heng, 142 uses of, 137-41, 184-85, 193-99, 200-211,
Xu Iian, 115 235-40, 235-40; social uses of, 61-62, 86
Xu Qinting, 205 87.9@.1O4—13.177.179.196-98.233—35;
Xu Shen, 144 spiritual qualities of, 8, 25, 35-36, 38, 53,
Xun Shuang, 59, 84-89, 91, 105, 132,144, 121, 138-39,154, 167, 194, 198, 212, 221
183,188 23, 229, 331; use in divination, 7-9, 15-18,
Xun Wenzi, 15 11-19.37.48-49.61—61.99-101.173—76.
Xunzi, 242, 266 184-87, 194-96, 225-32; variations of, 18,
29-32, 48-56. See also basic text; charts
Yabuta Kaichiro, 326 and diagrams; commentaries; hexagram
Yan Pu, 197-98, 228, 320 references; hexagram relationships; houtian;
Yang Fangda, 193 language; logic; reviews of Yijing-related
Yang Hongsheng, 252, 266 works; schools of interpretation; science;
Yang Iian, 137, 168, 178, 298, 300 symbolism; Ten Wings; trigram references;
Yang Iue, 223 trigram relationships; xiangshu; xiantian; gili;
Yang Li, 209, 219 yin and yang; Zhouyi
Yang Lian, 208 yili (school of meanings and principles), 59
Yang Qingzhong, 200, 322 60.89.103-6.114.125.133.136.150.173.
Yang Renshan, 190 178.202.330.343
Yang Shiqiao, 160 Yilin (Forest of Changes), 71-73, 83, 144, 152,
Yang Shuda, 200, 206 253,281
Yang Wanli, 133, 143 yin and yang» 31 24> 262 27> 32-39) 51> 53> 602
Yflnslfivng.71-77.94.1o8.131.132.144.145. 63-70, 73-74, 80-88, 94-99, 101-2,103,
147, 162, 174, 190, 232, 282, 284, 287 109—1o,115-17,121-28, 131-35,153-56,
Yangzi River culture, 61, 171, 172, 174, 290, 162, 165,168, 170, 176, 186, 189, 194, 204,
31?-. 314. 315» 317 209-10, 220-21, 224, 226, 228-32, 237,
Yan Hui, 125-30 245, 272, 276, 280, 306, 307, 313, 327
Yan Lingfeng, 205, 218 Yingchun, 226
Yan Yuan, 186 Ying Dingcheng, 218
yao (omen verses), 13, 15, 21, 72 ginshen (extensions), 203
Yao (sage emperor), 234 yixiang (lost images), 86-87, 106, 285
yaochen (lines and divisions of time), 83, 188, Yixing, 63, 107-8
280,315 gouhun (wandering soul [hexagram]), 68-69
Ye Liangpei, 160 yuan (great, grand, fundamental, origin, very),
Ye Mengde, 133 25,44, 45, 105, 137,161,221
Ye Shi, 298 Yuanchun, 226
yi (doubts), 25, 111, 212, 227, 229 Yuan Mei, 222, 228, 318
gi (right behavior, morality, meaning), 54, 131, Yuan Shu, 156
202, 291. See also yili Yuan Shushan, 19 3
Yijing (Classic of Changes): complexity of, 2, 9, Yuan Yuezhi, 288
26, 29, 32, 41, 43, 68, 69, 97, 150, 203, 285; Yu Dunkang, 206, 252
Index 393
Yu Fan, 59, 86-89, 97,105,107,116,132,135 Zheng Wan’geng, 219
144, 183, 184, 188, 203, 281, 285, 288, 311, zhengwei (correct [line] position), 54, 69, 70,
313» 315 231,281
Yu Xinwu, 200, 206 Zheng Xiao, 158
Yu Yan, 136,142,153-57,186, 197, 198, 205 Zheng Xuan, 48
Yu Yongliang, 200 zhengying (correctly resonates), 48, 70, 86, 87
Yu Yue, 21 Zhixu,169-70,190, 309
Zhong Fang, 112, 115
Zagua (Hexagrams in Irregular Order), 38, 43 zhongyao (middle lines), 70, 306
55» 197, 147 Zhou Dunyi, 108, 112, 114-15, 120, 124-28,
Zeng Guan, 151 13°, 133» 15?-» 175» 177,134, 114» 133, 3°?
Zeng Guofan, 231 Zhouge, 24
Zeng Iize, 2 31 Zhougong. See Duke of Zhou
Zhai Tingpu, 218, 324, 252 Zhou Hongzheng, 288
Zhang Binglin, 197, 200 Zhou Xifu, 218
Zhang Boduan, 112, 153 Zhou Xin, 188
Zhang Dainian, 221 Zhouyi (Zhou Changes), early development of,
Zhang Dongsun, 220 7-30. See also Yijing
Zhang Gui, 288 Zhouyi cantong qi (Token for the Agreement of
Zhang Guiguang, 252 the Three According to the Zhou Changes),
Zhang Huang, 160 106-7,146,152,153,1s7
Zhang Huiyan, 58, 78, 87, 120, 184, 188, 191, Zhuang Chang, 223
283 Zhuang Cunyu, 186, 316
Zhang Ii, 101, 288 Zhuangzi, 59, 92, 93,106,133,152
Zhang Iiliang, 268 Zhu Bokun, 168, 206, 218, 288, 291, 296,
Zhang Li, 146-47 198-308,330
Zhang Linwei, 210 Zhu Cansheng, 211
Zhang Liwen, 206, 252 Zhu Gaozheng, 205
Zhang Qicheng, 206, 218 Zhuhong, 169
Zhang Shanwen, 5, 206, 218 Zhuo Erkang, 160
Zhang Taiyan. See Zhang Binglin Zhu Qingyu, 223
Zhang Xianyi, 166 Zhu Tianshun, 9
Zhang Xingcheng, 132, 146 Zhu Xi, 77, 112-14, 121, 127, 131-38, 141-45,
Zhang Xinzhi, 226 150-59,184, 165, 167,171-78, 184,186,
Zhang Xuecheng, 187, 222 193, 216, 223, 224-25, 229, 230-32, 240,
Zhang Zai, 112, 125-36, 175, 187, 309 145,147,175,288,294,197,198»199,s02,
Zhang Zhenglang, 9, 10, 26 303, 306, 307, 308, 318, 324, 326, 327. See
Zhang Zhidong, 197 also Cheng-Zhu school
Zhang Zhongyong, 147 Zhu Yizun, 121
Zhan Shichuang, 219, 252 Zhu Yuansheng, 132, 294
Zhao Dingli, 211 Zhu Zhen, 115, 132, 150, 294
Zhao Iixu, 315 Zi Gong, 54
Zhao Li, 55, 56 Ziporyn, Brook, 73
Zhaomeng, 29 Zito, Angela, 192
Zhao Rumei, 294 Zi Xia, 144
zhen (determination, divinatory result, con Zohar, 249
stancy), 44, 45, 105, 137, 161, 221 zonggua (inverse hexagrams, 162-65, 175, 306.
Zheng (feudal state), 15 See also farldui
Zheng Gangzhong, 132 Zongmi, 107-9, 292
Zheng Iixiong, 20 5 Zuozhuan (Commentary of Zuo), 9, 24-29, 83,
Zheng Shida, 147 146, 185, 270, 271, 275
PAGE-BARBOUR AND RICHARD LECTURES (IN PRINT)
Sir John Summerson

The Architecture of Victorian London
Johannes Fabian
Moments of Freedom: Anthropology and Popular Culture
Ian Hacking
Mad Travelers: Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses
Harvie Ferguson
Modernity and Subjectivity: Body, Soul, Spirit
Freeman J. Dyson
A Many-Colored Glass: Reflections on the Place ofLife in the Universe
Maurice Godelier
In and Out of the West: Reconstructing Anthropology
Translated by Nora Scott
Richard I. Smith
Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The “Yijing”
(“I Ching,” or “Classic of Changes”) and Its Evolution in China

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Fathoming the Cosmos

University of Virginia Press

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

Margaret S. Smith (1918-2003) and

1. The Birth of the Changes 7

2. From Divinatory Text to “Confucian” Classic 31

3. Han Dynasty Approaches to the Yijing 57

4. The Six Dynasties through the Tang 89

5. The Song Dynasty 112

6. The Yuan and Ming Dynasties 140

7. The Qing Dynasty 171

8. The Changes in Modern China 195

9. The Yijing as a Source of Cultural Pride and Inspiration 218

Appendix A. A Note on Sources 251

Appendix B. Some Examples of Changes Scholarship

Appendix C. Individuals Associated with the Changes

Bibliography of Asian-Language Works 335

Bibliography of Western-Language Works 354

1.1. The eight trigrams 8

5.2. Eight-trigrams and ﬁve-agents correlations

The merit of the sages in constructing

[The Yijing] is the manifestation of the Heavenly Way, the unexpressed

The Early “History” of the Changes

In other words, the eight trigrams drawn by Fuxi represented, in rudimentary

Dui Kan Kun Li Qian Sun Zhen Gen

Dui Kan Kun Qian Sun Zhen Gen

Judgment: A maiden will be healthy. Do not use this [divinatory informa­

_________ (Top line)

Beginning line: $717? : §3;$i9§ = 5?:-1’ -fiifiiififil -fig :¥ [i$]5‘55§.

Figure 1.4. The Gou hexagram (44)

Line 1: Tied to a metal spindle: the determination is auspicious.

A rendering in the Yijing style might yield something like:

Xun Wenzi divined by turtle-shell about pursuing them. The rhyming

I think we can easily imagine here a scenario in which someone concerned

The third line statement reads as follows:

The wild goose advances to the land (lu):

The Cultural Content of the Early Changes

In line 1 a dragon is submerged.

What is the logic behind this grouping? It seems to be fundamentally astronomi­

Line 1: Cut his toe

Or Gen, “Restraint,” (52):

Early Yijing Divination

This account suggests three discrete steps in the interpretation of hexa­

from 1 to 9, with 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8 predominating. Eventually, however, broken

Dui Kan Kun Li Qian Sun Zhen Gen

From Divinatory Text

Yang Yin Yang Yin

Yin and Yang

Light Dark Activity Quiescence

Dry Moist Advance Retreat

Spring—summer Autumn—winter Round Square

Correlation Wood Fire Earth Metal Water

Color green red

yellow white black

Direction east south center west north

Man receives his mandate [ming, also translated as “fate” or “destiny”]

Dong went on to assert:

Drawing on earlier metaphysical formulations, Dong and most other intel­

The Received Text of the Yijing

Zhun Meng Daguo

The important point to remember about numbers in traditional Chinese

the numbers of Heaven [twenty-ﬁve] and Earth [thirty] . . . indicate how

Zhen is thunder, is the dragon, is black and yellow, is overspreading, is the

Judgment: A maiden will be healthy. Do not use this [divinatory informa

What is the logic behind this grouping? It seems to be fundamentally astronomi

This account suggests three discrete steps in the interpretation of hexa

Drawing on earlier metaphysical formulations, Dong and most other intel

Sometimes, however, the “Small Image Commentary” explains line relation

example, corresponds, mutatis mutandis, to the “Orderly Sequence of the Hexa

Yang moves and advances, changing from 7 to 9, signifying the accumula

by Wh at we would call empirical investigation or mathematical analysis. Sci