A Probe Into The Idea Of Ren-Yi In Appendices To The Book Of Changes

Ren-Yi is an important concept in Chinese philosophy,and it is the core category in Confucianism.In the pre-Qin period,the way people understood the meaning of "benevolence and righteousness" varied from person to person.Different from the Book of Mencius,in which “Benevolence and Righteousness” was emphasized from the inner world and the subjective mind,"Appendices to the Book of Changes" views it in a very natural way and embodies the concept with body and mind integration,as well as the interaction with foreign objects.Specifically,"Appendices to the Book of Changes" recognizes the original consistency of the three ways of the heaven,earth and people,and uses the Dao of Heaven as the ultimate basis,and then “understanding human rules according to the order of nature”.Thus,the concept with a tactile sensation of "Yin and Yang" and "hardness and softness" will be intertwined with each other,and “Ren” and “Yi” will be generated by two kinds of sensible tactile images of “elevation of warmth”,“applying” and “coldness of receiving” and “shunting”.This way of demonstrating "benevolence and righteousness" shows the theoretical character that attaches importance to the perception of the body(tactile)and the theoretical presupposition that everything in the heavens and the earth can be understood as a mutual touch and mutual induction process.Compared with the later Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties,especially the modern Neo-Confucianism,which emphasizes the inner level of Confucianism,and even towards the theoretical deviation of transcendentalism,the "benevolence and righteousness" thought in “Appendices to the Book of Changes” is based on "integration of mind and body" and the tactile concept of sympathy is obviously more intimate and comprehensive.