This article explores the connection between the Heng Xian and the Changes of Zhou tradition, especially the “Tuan” and “Attached Verbalizations” commentaries. Two important Heng Xian terms—heng 恆 and fu 復—are also Changes of Zhou hexagrams and possible connections are explored. Second, the Heng Xian account of the creation of names is compared with the “Attached Verbalizations” account of the creation of the Changes of Zhou system. Third, the roles played by knowing and desire (...) in both Heng Xian and the Changes of Zhou tradition are explored, with particular focus on potential points of similarity. Finally, insights gained through these comparisons are used to interpret the Heng Xian advice on initiating action. (shrink)

The Xici 繋辭 (Attached Verbalizations) is commonly considered as a pivotal text that transformed the 周易 ( Zhou Changes or the Book of Changes) from a manual of divination into a philosophical treatise. Yet in current scholarship, there is no consensus as to how to make sense of its authors’ argument that the Zhouyi provides a mantic method—particularly selecting hexagrams based on a counting of the yarrow stalks—to understand the working of the natural system and comprehend (...) the intricacies of a developing event. In this essay, I will offer a reading of the Xici that shows how divination can be philosophically profound, and conversely, how philosophy can be made concrete through a practice of divination. In view of the uncertainty in our times—globally, regionally, socially, and individually—it is in our best interest to learn to see the world from the perspective of the Xici. (shrink)

This chapter argues that ZHU Xi was influenced by Daoism. His philosophy begins with the Diagram of the Great Polarity or Taijitu 太極圖 which has Daoist origins. Later in life he studied two Daoist texts, namely, The Seal of the Unity of the Three in the Zhou Book of Changes or the Zhouyi Cantongqi 周易參同契, and The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of the Secret Talisman or the Huangdi Yinfujing 黃帝陰符經. The chapter begins with a discussion about the nature (...) of Daoism and inner meditative alchemy. Then I discuss the Diagram of the Great Polarity. Finally, ZHU Xi’s study of the above two texts is analyzed. (shrink)