The Comparative Research On Wang Su's And Wang Bi's Studies On The Book Of Changes

Book of Changes occupies an important position in Chinese cultural traditions.It is in harmony with the heaven and the earth and includes the Tao of heaven and the earth."Changes prescribe the cultivation of the heaven and the earth without too much,complete everything without missing,and integrate the Tao of day and night to know.It plays an important guiding role in the political life of each dynasty and the moral cultivation of individuals.The establishment of Text of the Book of Changes in the Han Dynasty was one of the official doctors of the Five Classics,which made this book a stepping stone for the scholars to be officials.It also made Classic of Changes related closely to the Han Dynasty's politics.At the time of the alternation of the dynasties,the scholars utilized the interpretation of Classic of Changes to express their own political ideas,among which Wang Su and Wang Bi are the most typical.By comparing the form and content of the two people's annotation of Classsic of Changes,we can better understand the ideological transformation under the background of political change in the Han and Wei Dynasties.Focusing on the comparative study of Wang Su and Wang Bi's annotation of Classic of Changes,this thesis is divided into three chapters.This thesis is focused on the origins of Wang Su and Wang Bi's study on The Book of Changes and the similarities and differences of the two personsway to explain Classic of Changes and their thoughts.The gradual improvement of the status of Classic of Changes in the Six Classics of the Han Dynasty leads directly to the rise of Jing Zhou official school,which was mainly developed during the Three Kingdoms period and specialized in Fei's ancient text Classic of Changes study.Jing Zhou school's representative Liu Biao and Song Zhong,who seldom talked about prognostication texts and apocrypha,did not emphasize on the Emblems and Numbers of the Book of Changes,while attached great importance to concise and realistic study method on Classic of Changes,and paid more attention to the principles,enlightened Wang Su's and Wang Bi's study method on Classic of Changes directly.At the same time,Lao Zi's idea's spread in Han Dynasty folks and the traditions of using Taoism to interpret Classic of Changes inspired the two scholars greatly,whether it was Wang Su's or Wang Bi's absorbing Lao Zi's thought of nature or inaction to interpret Classic of Changes,or Wang Bi's establishment of a metaphysical system by using the conceptions of being and nonbeing,nature and Confucian ethical code.The common points of Wang Su's and Wang Bi's study on The Book of Changes include the principles of interpretation,the similarities of Classic of Changes thoughts and the similar annotation items of the two.The principle of interpretation includes the typical characteristic of Fei's Classic of Changes,which is using Appendices to the Book of Changes to interpret Text of the Book of Changes,the principle of rationality rather than emblems and numbers,and the principles related to the position of hexagram line.In terms of thoughts,the two of them are good at both Confucianism and Taoism.They are influenced by Lao Zi's nature or inaction thought,and follow the natural heaven viewpoint of Wang Chong in his book On Balance.As a result,they form a natural and inaction vision of heaven and politics.With respect to the annotation items,Wang Bi's study on The Book of Changes inherit from Wang Su greatly.Wang Su's and Wang Bi's study on The Book of Changes differs from each other in two aspects,which are interpretation method and the construction of metaphysical thought respectively.In terms of the first aspect,Wang Su doesn't abandon emblems and numbers to a large extent,emphasizes on exegesis,and uses rite to interpret Classic of Changes,while Wang Bi holds emblems and numbers in contempt,emphasizes on exerting easy words to illustrate profound meanings,and utilizes natural emotions to annotate Classic of Changes.With respect to the second aspect,which is unique to Wang Bi,it narrates Wang Bi's idea from his pursuit of general principle behind hexagram line in his Main Hexagram Line theory,position s and constant's total superiority to time and change in his Time Change theory and Position Constant theory,absolute standstill and relative motion theory in his translation of Fu divinatory symbol,to his construction of Supreme Ultimate theory by innovatively explaining the number of the great evolution.Wang Bi's ontology thinking transcends Han Learning on the Book of Changes including Wang Su,which views the Book of Changes from a cosmic generation perspective.Through the comparative study of Wang Su's and Wang Bi's study on The Book of Changes,it can be seen that Wang Bi's study on The Book of Changes inherit from Wang Su greatly,especially in principle.However,the difference between Wang Su and Wang Bi is the fundamental division of the two scholars,representing the division between the Han and Wei Dynasties' Study of Confucian Classics and Wei and Jin Dynasties' Neo-Taoism.Wang Su's study on The Book of Changes emphasizes on inheritance and belongs to the category of Classics,while Wang Bi's em phasizes on innovation and is influenced more b y the ideological trend of Neo-Taoism.The two are juxtaposed branches of the Jing Zhou school.