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Asian Philosophy > Chinese Philosophy > Chinese Neo-Confucianism > Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism > Shao Yong
Shao Yong
About this topic
| Summary | Shao Yong (Shao Yung 邵雍, 1011-1077) stood out among Neo-Confucians for his in-depth knowledge of mathematics and his sophisticated study on iconography and numerology. Using symbols and numbers derived from the Yijing, Shao tried to categorize the whole cosmos, including humans’ worldly affairs, into a structured system. His studies on the Yijing may have sparked the intense interests in the Yijing among early Neo-Confucians. However, Shao Yong’s thought is so abstract and sophisticated that even his contemporary philosopher remarked that it would take twenty years to understand it. As a result, Shao Yong was marginalized in later developments of Neo-Confucianism, and he remains an enigma in Chinese philosophy to this day. His most important work, the Huangji Jingshi (皇極經世, Book of Supreme World Ordering Principles), is a massive volume investigating the origination of the cosmos on the basis of an A Priori Diagram (xiantian tu 先天圖) that he designed. It is an essential work on Chinese cosmogony, but due to its complexity and the esoteric numerology, few contemporary scholars have done studies on this book. |
| Key works | Birdwhistell 1989 takes on an ambitious task in explicating Shao’s metaphysical ideas. Wyatt 1996 is a philosophical biography of Shao Yong, aiming to reconstruct Shao’s life with the limited information we have of him from his contemporary and his writings. Since there is so little written in English on Shao Yong, both these works are recommended here as they present different aspects of Shao’s philosophy. |
| Introductions | Birdwhistell 1989 aims to unlock the mystery of Shao Yong’s system of symbolic representation of reality. It begins with Shao Yong’s historical and philosophical contexts, and moves on to reconstruct Shao Yong’s thought as an explanatory structure of the operation of the universe. It is an accessible introduction to an otherwise obtuse philosophy.
Wyatt, Don J. The Recluse of Loyang - Shao Yung and the Moral Evolution of Early Sung Thought. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 1996. This book may unlock some of the mysteries surrounding Shao Yong the philosopher. It sets Shao in his historical context, and recounts his family background, his relationships with friendly associates and political enemies. It gives a partial introduction to Shao’s moral philosophy, and challenges Birdwhistell 1989’s negligent treatment of Shao’s moral philosophy. |
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Related
Siblings
- Zhou Dunyi (9)
- Zhang Zai (23)
- Cheng Hao (16)
- Cheng Yi (21)
- Lu Xiangshan (11)
- Zhu Xi (108)
- Wang Yangming (94)
- Wang Fuzhi (9)
- Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism, Misc (100)
Contents
7 found
Order:
- Don J. Wyatt, The Recluse of Loyang - Shao Yung and the Moral Evolution of Early Sung Thought. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii. 248 + 92. Notes, Glossary, Bibliography, Index. [REVIEW]Bernard Paul Sypniewski - 1998 - Journal of Chinese Philosophy 25 (2):263-267.
- Leibniz' binary system and Shao Yong's "yijing".James A. Ryan - 1996 - Philosophy East and West 46 (1):59-90.The Yijing/Binary System Episode involved Leibniz' discovery of a de facto representation of the binary number system in the sixty-four-hexagram Fu Xi "Yijing." Scholars have left the match unexplained, since they have found no evidence of a forgotten binary number system in ancient China. The interesting similarities and differences are discussed between the thought of Leibniz and that of Shao Yong, both of whom, it is argued, understood and recognized the importance of the double geometric progression in the diagram.
- The compatibilist philosophy of freedom of Shao Yong.James A. Ryan - 1993 - Journal of Chinese Philosophy 20 (3):279-291.
- Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching.Kidder Smith Jr, Peter K. Bol, Joseph A. Adler & Don J. Wyatt - 1990 - Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press.The I Ching, or Book of Changes, has been one of the two or three most influential books in the Chinese canon. It has been used by people on all levels of society, both as a method of divination and as a source of essential ideas about the nature of heaven, earth, and humankind. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Sung dynasty literati turned to it for guidance in their fundamental reworking of the classical traditions. This book explores how four (...)
- The philosophical concept of foreknowledge in the thought of Shao Yung.Anne D. Birdwhistell - 1989 - Philosophy East and West 39 (1):47-65.
- Transition to neo-Confucianism: Shao Yung on knowledge and symbols of reality.Anne D. Birdwhistell - 1989 - Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Shao Yung1 Shao Yung (-77) was an extraordinary thinker who lived during an extraordinary age. Among the great thinkers of the Northern Sung (960-), ...
- Shao Yung and his concept of Fan Kuan.Anne D. Birdwhistell - 1982 - Journal of Chinese Philosophy 9 (4):367-394.
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