Studies on the Yin-Yang Conception in Zhu Xi’s Image-Number Yi Learning
XU Yuning
(Department of Philosophy, Soochow University, Suzhou 215031, Jiangsu, China)
Abstract: Zhu Xi stated, “The Changes is merely Yin and Yang,” and also noted, “The Changes can be fully encompassed by the two characters Yin and Yang.” In Zhu Xi’s system of Yi learning, “Yin and Yang” serves as a crucial thread connecting the transcendent and immanent, image-number and meaning-principle, as well as the innate and acquired. In The Changes, the Yin-Yang lines, the nature of hardness and softness, and the odd-even positions all take Yin and Yang as their foundation. Following the principle of the dichotomy of Li (principle) and Qi (vital energy)in his image-number Yi learning, Zhu Xi subdivided Yin and Yang into the “Li of Yin-Yang” and the “Qi of Yin- Yang.” The Li of Yin-Yang is identical to the Taiji as the noumenon, acting as the ontological guarantee and the underlying reason for the movement and transformation of the Qi of Yin-Yang. Zhu Xi emphasized “comprehending Li through numbers,” arguing that the sages’ drawing of trigrams and divination with milfoil are essentially the natural manifestation of the Li of Yin-Yang in Qi, free from any human contrivance. Regarding the movement of the Qi of Yin-Yang, Zhu Xi summarized it as “Jiaoyi (interchange)” and “Bianyi (change),” with which he explained how the Eight Trigrams and Sixty-Four Trigrams evolve from Yin and Yang in the divination method and the innate/acquired diagrams, as well as the specific implementation of the divination steps: “dividing into two, drawing one, and counting by fours.”
Key words: Zhu Xi; Yi Learning; Yin-Yang Conception; Hetu and Luoshu; Milfoil Divination
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