The Research On Zhu Yuansheng's Yi-ology

The ancient Chinese academy thrived in the Song Dynasty,so did the Yi-ology.When described the development of Yi studies in the Song Dynasty,Zhu Zhen,a scholar of the Southern-Song Dynasty,pointed out that many scholars,such as Shao Yong,Liu Mu,Zhou Dunyi,and Zhang Zai had studied different aspects of Yi-ology,for instance,the images,the numbers,the philosophical connotations,or all of them.And they communicated with each other,waiting for the later scholars to explain the meaning they had not expressed.Zhu Yuansheng,a scholar at the end of the Southern-Song Dynasty,deserves to be called one of the "later scholars".Based on Shao Yong's Yi-ology,he widely absorbed the thoughts of previous Yi scholars,combined image-number with philosophical connotations and constructed a complete system of three kinds of Yi.He agreed with Liu Mu's argument that Hetu had nine numbers,Luoshu had ten numbers,and the three kinds of Yi were all derived from Hetu and Luoshu.Integrating the images,numbers,and philosophical connotations as a whole,the early Lianshan Yi was the first of the three kinds of Yi.It was created by Fuxi and used in the Xia Dynasty.In Lianshan Yi,Tai Chi produced 8 Hexagrams and 64 Hexagrams by the way of doubling.According to Hetu,Fu Xi arranged the Eight Diagrams,from which Qian was in the south and Kun was in the north(the Fuxi Eight Diagrams).According to Luoshu,he rearranged the Eight Diagrams,from which Li was in the south and Kan was in the north(the King Wen Eight Diagrams).Both of them are important parts of Lianshan Yi,since they show the two opposite forces in Tai Chi and Tai Chi is in everywhere.Each hexagram in the 64 Hexagrams can produce another 63 hexagrams by the forces of growing,separating,reducing and merging,which reflects everything contains a Tai Chi.Zhu Yuansheng held the reason why it was named Lianshan Yi was that the image of King Wen Eight Diagrams was correspond with the calendar of Xia Dynasty and considered Gen as the beginning of spring,thus contributing to the Gua-qi theory of Lianshan Yi.The middle period Guicang Yi and the later Zhou Yi were evolved from Lianshan Yi.Guicang Yi was created by Huangdi and used in the Shang Dynasty.Zhu Yuansheng thought that(?)Huangdi bought a cycle of 60 years consisting of heavenly stems and earthly branches into the 64 Hexagrams,giving 64 Hexagrams 5 tones and 12 Lvlv,further forming the Guicang Yi integrating images,sounds and philosophical connotations.In the Guicang Yi,there are hidden sounds and functional sounds,hidden hexagrams and functional ones.Specifically,Kun is the first of the hidden hexagrams and Qian is the first of the functional hexagrams.As the hidden and the functional are body and function,thses two can be integrated as one and divided into two.The emphasis of Guicang Yi is the function of Tai Chi,which can be well expressed in the image consisting of Qian,Kun,images and numbers.The function of Guicang Yi,different from the Gua-qi theory in the Han dynasty,is not in a dimension of time but in the level of abstraction.Created by King Wen,the later Zhou Yi,including images,numbers,and philosophical connotations,used in the Zhou Dynasty and derived from the Lianshan Yi,can explicate Fuxi's profound implications.Zhu Yuansheng thought the essence of the Zhou Yi were the contrariety and the Huti.King Wen deduced the early opposition to the contrariety,8 hexagrams to 6 hexagrams,and 64 hexagrams to 36 hexagrams.The arrangement of 64 hexagrams in Zhou Yi was also based on the contrariety of hexagrams.After contrariety,the Ce-number and number of hexagrams in Zhou Yi were correspond to Lianshan Yi.Zhu Yuansheng divided 64 hexagrams into 6 parts and constrcuted the interaction of the 6 parts in later period and the circulation of the 36 hexagrams' Ce-number to reflect the ups and downs of things by combining numbers with images and shows how Tai Chi works on all things.Zhu Yuansheng's three kinds of Yi are a complete system.Lianshan Yi,Guicang Yi and Zhou Yi all elucidate Tai Chi from different points of view.Although focuses are different,the three kinds of Yi are essentially the same,which means they are essentially one.Images,numbers,sounds and philosophical connotations were perfectly integrated.Philosophical connotations were obviously and potentially expressed by images,numbers and sounds on the dimension of time and space.Moreover,the images and numbers are equivalent to philosophical connotations in that images and numbers are both abstract and concrete.From the two levels of image-number and philosophical connotations,the three kinds of Yi are an organic whole.In this view,Zhu Yuansheng's Yi-ology has reference value for later research,and it should not be ignored.