The Study Of Cheng Yi’s Ideology On Yi-Jing

The Book of Change (also known as Yi) was considered as a book for divination in the pre-Qin period. It was not taken as a book about heavenly principles and humanity until Ten Wings created to clarify its philosophical connotation. After that, Yi was classified and regarded as the most significant book among Confucian classics. With the development of Yi in the history of China, researchers were divided into "two groups and six categories", those who took Yi as a book for divination was called hexagram connotation group, and the other group who took Yi as a book for humanity was called philosophical connotation group. The latter group was also divided into Taoism category, Confucianism category and history-concentrated category. In this group, Wang Bi was regarded as the first one to break the traditional hexagram Yi-ology from Han dynasty, and he tried to explain Yi with Taoism, and he is the representative figure of Taoism category. Confucianism was not fully applied in Yi till Northern Song dynasty by researchers such as Hu Yuan, Cheng Yi, etc. Among the researchers who explained Yi with Confucianism, Cheng Yi was the most outstanding one.Cheng Yi took a significant position in the history of Yi. Firstly, Cheng’s ideology on Yi represented the viewpoints of the philosophical connotation group. In Cheng Shi Yi Zhuan we could find that Cheng Yi inherited the ideas from Yi Zhuan, explanatory method from Wang Bi and Hu Yuan, and he insisted applying human affairs in Cheng Shi Yi Zhuan. Secondly, Cheng Yi combined his Yi-ology with Confucianism, his Yi-ology is a typical representation for Confucians who explained Yi with Confucianism. On basis of the former researchers since Song dynasty, Cheng Yi adopted "Li" as the ontology for Yi explanation, and amalgamated the value of Confucianism with Yi by using Confucian classics. Lastly, the process of constructing Cheng Yi’s Yi-ology is also the process of rebuilding the metaphysical view of Confucianism; Cheng Yi was mean to achieve the revitalization of Confucianism under the influence of Buddhism and Taoism. The establishment of Cheng Yi’s Yi-ology is positive to the development of Confucianism for later generations.Analysis of Cheng Yi’s Yi-ology in this paper will be carried out from following aspects. Firstly, from the aspect of its origin, taking Wang Bi as an example, tried to figure out the sublation of Wang Bi’s Yi-ology by Cheng Yi. Secondly, from the aspect of Cheng’s Yi-ology itself, analyzing the core content of his Yi-ology. Cheng’s view of Yi-ology is summed up as combination of "Li" and Yi, conservation of change and inclusion of Confucianism values; also his explanatory method of emphasizing human affairs in Yi is summed up as adopt history, Confucian classics and Ten Wings in his book. Thirdly, from the aspect of Cheng’s influence on his contemporaries and later ages, analyzing the contribution of Cheng’s Yi-ology, and pointed out its defects from the view of Zhu Xi. At last, from the aspect of Cheng’s practical value for our modern times, elaborating Cheng’s ideas from his Yi-ology about people-orientation and social reform.Cheng’s significant reputation in the philosophical connotation group is attributed to his spiritual inheritance from the saints and his hardworking on previous researcher’s Yi-ology. On this basis Cheng put his own ontological idea "Li" into his Yi-ology, created a brand new ontological and explanatory method for Yi. Meanwhile, we should combine Cheng’s Yi-ology with the development of our society to fully explore the spiritual treasure in Cheng’s Yi-ology which is worth learning.