Study Of Xiong Shili’s Scholarship On TheChanges

Great changes have taken place in China in recent decades, especially in technology and productivity. Chinese people have been greatly enriched in material life, but the process of rapid development also results in many inevitable problems. The main manifestations include no follow-up in moral spirit, moral decline of the situation, profit chasing and tendency of impetuosity, as well as some of the social injustice which lead to harshness, especially many young people s lack of a vigorous sense of responsibility to family and society. Basing himself on these situations, the author wrote this thesis. We hope that through the study of Xiong Shili’s Yi learning, we can offer certain help to purify the social phenomenon. Through a study of Xiong Shili’s scholarship on the Changes, on the one hand, we can grasp his whole philosophical system, and approach the context of Xiong Shili’s thought; on the other hand, we can get its revolutionary, innovative, energetic and promising reasonable kernel, to confirm the positive value of the universe, society and life development, so as to establish healthy masculine nature of it, guide the contemporary world outlook and axiology, to prevent the loss of life in today’s society and value and provide contemporary people with a kind of positive energy.This paper takes use of the variety of research methods comprehensively, mainly including literature research and the combination of qualitative and quantitative research approaches. Before writing this article, the author had acquired and read a vast amount of material related to Xiong Shili’s thought on the Changes, and in the meantime drew references from the research achievements accomplished by other famous scholars at home and abroad published in recent years. By using the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, this paper exposes the theme of Xiong Shili’s Yi learning and unfolds it in detail.This thesis is divided into four parts which include eight chapters. The first part includes the first and second chapter, mainly introducing Xiong Shili’s life and points out the importance of his Yi studies in his whole philosophical system. The second part, i.e., the third chapter, discusses Xiong Shili’s understanding of the origin of the Zhou Changes by which he established Confucius’role in the authorship of the Changes. The third part including the fourth, the fifth and the sixth chapter, is also the focus of this article. It systematically explores Xiong Shili’s thought on the Changes, mainly including his onto-cosmology integrating substance and function into one, changeability through closing and opening, and his idea of cultivating sageliness within and then manifesting it in service to society. In regard to his onto-cosmology in which substance and function are inseparable, he found evidence from the Classic of Changes and argues against seeking substance from the outside of phenomena and objects to the separation of substance and function into two. In terms of changeability resulted from closing and opening, this paper focus on his view on the changes. His outlook on life based on the idea of the inseparability between self-cultivation and service to society is also the main part of the thesis. The fourth part including chapters seven and eight mainly explores Xiong Shili’s peculiar hermeneutic approach through self-enlightenment to the Changes, which conceives the methods of simplicity and metaphors. In addition, this part offers a brief comment on Xiong’s thought on the Changes and extends an evaluation of its theoretic and actual value in contemporary society. All in all the thesis systematically analyzes Xiong’s thought on the Changes from four main parts, the innovation of which lies in its esteeming his Yi learning and importance of his virile and energetic attitude to life.