The Original Meaning of the Yijing: Commentary on the Scripture of Change

400 Pages·2019·11.756 MB·English

by  XI Zhu, Joseph Alan Adler

The Original Meaning
of the Yijing
COMMENTARY ON
THE SCRIPTURE OF CHANGE
Zhu Xi
TRANSLATED AND EDITED
BY JOSEPH A. ADLER
THE ORIGINAL MEANING
OF THE YIJING
TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ASIAN CLASSICS
TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ASIAN CLASSICS
Editorial Board:
Paul Anderer
Allison Busch
David Lurie
Rachel McDermott
Wei Shang
Haruo Shirane
THE ORIGINAL MEANING
OF THE YIJING
Commentary on
the Scripture of Change
d
Zhu Xi
TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY
JOSEPH A. ADLER
Columbia University Press
New York
Columbia University Press wishes to express its appreciation for assistance given
by the Wm. Theodore de Bary Fund in the publication of this book.
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup . columbia . edu
Copyright © 2020 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Zhu, Xi, 1130–1200, author. | Adler, Joseph Alan, translator, editor.
Title: The original meaning of the Yijing : commentary on the scripture of change /
Zhu Xi ; translated and edited by Joseph A. Adler.
Other titles: Zhou yi ben yi.
English Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2019] | Series: Translations
from the Asian Classics | Translation of : Zhou yi ben yi. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019008054 (print) | LCCN 2019011858 (ebook) | ISBN 9780231549301
(electronic) | ISBN 9780231191241 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780231549301
(electronic : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Yi jing.
Classification: LCC PL2464.Z6 (ebook) | LCC PL2464.Z6 Z5814613 2019 (print) |
DDC 299.5/1282— dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2019008054
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid- free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
cover image
Fuxi, the reputed creator of the Yijing (hanging scroll by Ma Lin 馬麟,
13th century). According to one version of the myth, the Eight Trigrams (lower left)
were inspired by the markings on the shell of a tortoise. Fuxi’s invention of the Yi
was central to Zhu Xi’s theory of its “original meaning.”
cover design
Lisa Hamm
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: The “Original Meaning” of the Zhou Changes
(Zhouyi benyi 周易本義) 1
Zhouyi Benyi 周易本義
1 Part A: Hexagrams 1– 30 41
2 Part B: Hexagrams 31– 64 161
3 Treatise on the Appended Remarks (Xici zhuan 繫辭傳) 261
4 Treatise Discussing the Trigrams (Shuogua zhuan 說卦傳) 303
5 Commentary on Assorted Hexagrams (Zagua zhuan 雜卦傳) 313
Appendix: Divination Ritual (Shiyi 筮儀) 317
Notes 323
Bibliography 375
Index 381

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T
his project had one beginning in the winter of 1971, when I was
“retooling” from biology to religious studies and taking a night school
course in “Theories of Personality” at Boston University. One day I
was reading my homework in the employee lunchroom of the Harvard Coop and
came across a discussion of the psychologist Carl Jung’s theory of synchronicity,
which he had described in his foreword to Richard Wilhelm’s translation of the
I Ching (now written Yijing). Shortly after that a friend asked what I’d like for my
upcoming birthday; I mentioned that book, and she gave it to me.
Fast- forward eight years, and I’m in Berkeley studying Neo- Confucianism with
Tu Weiming, who encouraged me to drop Shao Yong as a research topic and focus
on Zhu Xi. My resulting dissertation, completed in 1984 at the University of Cal-
ifornia, Santa Barbara, was titled “Divination and Philosophy: Chu Hsi’s Under-
standing of the I Ching.” Most of my subsequent writing focused on Zhu Xi,
although not specifically on the Yijing except for my translation of his shorter book
on the Yi, the Yixue qimeng (Introduction to the study of the Classic of Change) in
2002. Writing a chapter on the Yijing for Religion and Ecological Sustainability in China
(2014), edited by James Miller, also helped to rekindle my interest in the Yi.
After retiring from teaching at Kenyon College in 2014 I decided that return-
ing to Zhu Xi’s full commentary, the Zhouyi benyi (The original meaning of the
Yijing), might be a good long- term project that could, possibly, occupy me for the
rest of my active (scholarly) life. Completing the circle, as it were. Although it
didn’t take quite that long, I am pleased now that a new circle can begin.
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful to Tze- ki Hon (SUNY Geneseo), Kirill Ole Thompson (National
Taiwan University), and my Kenyon colleagues Yang Xiao and Chengjuan Sun
for their help on some problems in the translation. I also thank Provost Joe
Kles ner of Kenyon College for publication financial assistance; my editors
at Columbia University Press, Christine Dunbar and Leslie Kriesel; and the
sharp-eyed copyeditor Mike Ashby. My greatest debt is to my wife, Ruth
Woehr, for enthusiastically supporting my interest in Chinese thought and reli-
gion for lo these many years.
INTRODUCTION
The “Original Meaning” of the Zhou Changes
(Zhouyi benyi 周易本義)
T
he Yijing 易經, or Scripture of Change, is one of the best- known of the
Chinese or “Confucian Classics.”1 Its graphic core, the sixty- four
hexagrams, dates back probably to the eleventh century BCE, dur-
ing the early Zhou dynasty (ca. 1045– 256 BCE), while its earliest written mate-
rial to the ninth century BCE.2 The premise of the Yijing is that the hexagrams
represent all possible configurations of change in nature and in human life, and
that by understanding those patterns obtaining at the present moment one can
enhance one’s ability to successfully adapt to changing circumstances. It is con-
sidered, therefore, both a handbook for living a flourishing life and a guide to
the “laws of nature.”3
The Yijing’s association with the Zhou dynasty gives the text its original name,
the Zhouyi 周易 (Zhou changes). However, most contemporary scholars differ-
entiate between the Zhouyi and the Yijing: the former is the “basic text” dating to
the Zhou dynasty; the latter includes the appendixes (the “Ten Wings”) that were
added during the Warring States period (480– 222 BCE) and the early Han dynasty
(206 BCE– 8 CE). Although the title of the book translated here is Zhouyi benyi 周
易本義 (The “original meaning” of the Zhou Changes), it is actually Zhu Xi’s com-
mentary on the more inclusive Yijing, including all but one of its appendixes. Zhu
Xi 朱熹 (1130– 1200) was the most influential Chinese philosopher since Confu-
cius and Mencius, and his commentary on the Yi has been one of the most influen-
tial in the past thousand years. To my knowledge this is its first Western- language
translation.