Biography of Wang Bi

Author: Wang Xiaoyi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1996-02-01
Features: The preface "A Biography of He Yan" and the main text "A Biography of Wang Bi" jointly reveal the formative dynamics, theoretical connotations, and historical significance of the Zhengshi Xuanxue (Orthodox Xuanxue). Under the conditions of the crisis of Confucian exegesis, the revival of Taoism, and the eastward spread of Buddhism, He Yan preliminarily established the Xuanxue ontology that values "non-being." Wang Bi, building on this foundation, successfully resolved a series of academic dilemmas such as being and non-being, action and inaction, and the Confucian moral teachings versus naturalness, using the method of the relationship between the root and the branch, the substance and the function. With the logic of form and name, he forgot the words to grasp the meaning, comprehensively revitalized the Laozi, the Zhouyi, and the Analects, laid the theoretical foundation for the Xuanxue of the Wei and Jin periods, and led Chinese culture into a new era of Confucianism and Taoism integration. Due to the ultimate concern of Wang Bi's philosophy not being social ideals but the natural essence of life, there exists a historical limitation of weakening social cohesion.