A Concise History of Chinese Philosophy (Volumes 1-4)

Author: Zhu Bokun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: As an I Ching scholar, Mr. Zhu Bokun inevitably discusses "images and numbers"; as a philosopher of history, Mr. Zhu also necessarily emphasizes "principles." Mr. Zhu's representative work, A History of I Ching Philosophy, systematically and deeply elaborates on the images, numbers, and principles of I Ching scholars throughout history, particularly focusing on the philosophical research of the principle school and the image school. Images and numbers are the two major elements constituting the Book of Changes, and also the two major schools of studying it. I Ching scholars throughout history have each had unique attitudes and annotation methods toward the Book of Changes, which can generally be divided into the image-number school and the principle school. The General Catalogue of the Four Treasuries classifies I Ching into two schools and six sects. The two schools refer to the image-number school and the principle school, while the six sects refer to the divination sect, auspiciousness sect, creation sect, Lao-Zhuang sect, Confucian principle sect, and historical events sect. The six sects can actually be attributed to the two schools: the divination, auspiciousness, and creation sects belong to the image-number school, while the Lao-Zhuang, Confucian principle, and historical events sects belong to the principle school. Academia generally classifies I Ching schools that interpret the Book of Changes through abstract and general meanings as the principle school, while those that interpret it through concrete imagery as the image-number school. Throughout the development of I Ching history, the mutual criticism between the two schools has never ceased. In contemporary academia, research on the principle school is relatively in-depth and fair; however, research on the image-number school is insufficient and lacks fairness. Because the image-number school, while interpreting the Book of Changes, involves astronomy, calendar, music theory, ethics, philosophy, medicine, and divination, its system becomes extremely complex, which also greatly increases the difficulty of understanding it. Over time, the image-number school has been shrouded in a veil of mystery and has suffered unfair treatment. In modern academia, one can say that the attitude toward the image-number school is still not entirely fair. Some believe that image-number is synonymous with divination techniques, should be classified as "feudal superstition," and should be excluded from serious study; others argue that the image-number school is not a legitimate part of I Ching and has no connection with philosophy. Around the connotations, attributes, evolutionary process, status, and role of "images and numbers," academia has debated extensively, with many mistaken views. What exactly are "images and numbers"? What is the relationship between "images and numbers" and "principles"? Are the image-number school and the principle school completely opposed to each other? To resolve these issues that still perplex academia today, one should objectively review the entire history of I Ching. Mr. Zhu's A History of I Ching Philosophy sets a good example for us. Reading the discussions on "images and numbers" by principle scholars in A History of I Ching Philosophy is meaningful for correcting biases against "image-number scholars" and misconceptions about "image-number." In A History of I Ching Philosophy, when discussing the characteristics of the Commentaries on the Changes, it states: "The Commentaries on the Changes have two sets of languages: one is about divination, and the other is about philosophy." "From the perspective of I Ching history, there are two tendencies in interpreting the Commentaries on the Changes. One tendency leans toward interpreting the philosophical issues from the perspective of divination methods, later known as the image-number school. The other tendency emphasizes interpreting the divination methods from the perspective of philosophical reasoning." (Vol. 55, p. 55, Huaxia Publishing House, 1995) During the Western Han period, the image-number school of interpreting the Book of Changes emerged, represented by official I Ching scholars such as Meng Xi and Jing Fang. This school of I Ching, known to Song Dynasty scholars as the image-number school, has three characteristics: First, it explains the Book of Changes classics and commentaries using odd and even numbers and the symbolic imagery of the Eight Trigrams; second, it explains the principles of the Book of Changes through the Bagua Qi theory; third, it uses the Book of Changes to explain yin-yang disasters and changes. (Vol. 114) During the Wei-Jin period, the principle school of interpreting the Book of Changes emerged, turning toward the path of interpreting the Book of Changes through Lao-Zhuang metaphysics, becoming a major school in the history of I Ching. Wang Bi was the founder of this school. (Vol. 246) Starting from Wang Bi, the principle school inherited the tradition of interpreting the Book of Changes from the classical text school, focusing primarily on principles and interpreting the Book of Changes through the perspective of the Commentaries on the Changes, while excluding the learning style of the vernacular text school, which did not discuss mutual bodies, bagua qi, bagua transformation, or the integration of the Jia method. In my understanding, the image-number school and the principle school are not completely opposed to each other, but rather differ in their tendencies of interpreting the Book of Changes. The image-number school takes images and numbers as the axis, interpreting the Book of Changes and discussing principles through images and numbers; the principle school takes principles as the axis, interpreting the Book of Changes and discussing images and numbers through principles. A History of I Ching Philosophy, in its four volumes, systematically discusses the I Ching philosophy of the principle school and the image-number school from the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, with particularly detailed elaboration on the "images and numbers" views of the principle school.