HUANG Qing-xuan

(Department of Chinese Languages and Literature, Taiwan Normal University, Taibei, Taiwan, China)

Translated from Chinese by ZHANG Wen-zhi

(Center for Zhouyi & Ancient Chinese Philosophy, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China)

Abstract: The proposition of “The reaction between one Yin and one Yang is called Dao” arouses three issues: the relationship between one Yin and one Yang, the relationship between the Dao and one Yin & one Yang, and whether Dao is monism monistic or dualistic after all. With the help of the history of Chinese and western philosophy, this paper analyzes these issues and concludes that the proposition of “The reaction between one Yin and one Yang is called Dao” has completely covered the three implications of simplicity, changing, and unchanging of Yi.

Key words:Yin-yang; Dao; monism; dualism; three implications of Yi

 

I. Preface

 

  About the Dao, the most frequently quoted remarks from Xi Ci Zhuan are the following two sentences: one is “(The reaction between) one Yin and one Yang is called Dao”, and the other is “What is (transcending) above the form is called the Dao”, which are just the most important discourses on the Dao in Yi Zhuan. That (the reaction between) one Yin and one Yang is called Dao relates to three issues: the correlation between one Yin and one Yang, the correlation between the Dao and one Yin & one Yang, and whether the Dao is monistic or dualistic after all. This paper analyzes and comments on these issues here.

 

II. Analysis

 

  1. Correlation between one Yin and one Yang.

  (1) (The correlation between) one Yin and one Yang could be regarded as a relation of oppositeness and coexistence concurrently, being extended as the relationship between heaven & earth, honorable & humble, man & women, wisdom & ability, continuous & great, virtue and business, etc. What was extended as “the interior being Yang while being exterior Yin” for the hexagram Tai (the 11th hexagram in current version of Zhouyi) and “the interior being Yin while the exterior being Yang” for the hexagram Pi (the 12th) in Tuang Zhuan, and what the Xi Ci Zhuan (ii) indicated as “Qian (the 1st) represents things of the Yang nature while Kun (the 2nd) of the Yin nature”, and what was discussed as “A distinction was of to the Yin and Yang” in Shuo Gua Zhuan, etc. could be regarded as the manifestation of this correlation.

  (2) Regarding one Yin and one Yang as a relation of the switch between periods of time, such as day & night, living & death, winter & summer, etc. What the Shuo Gua Zhuan revealed the relationship between Yin and Yang by “(the sages) established the hexagrams by observing the changes between Yin and Yang” and “with hardness and softness used repeatedly” could be attributed to this relation.

  (3) Possessing the nature of oppositeness and transferring simultaneously and changes. For example, the word You Ming, darkness and light, if it refers to back to Yang and facing Yang, the two factors are opposite; if it refers to night and day, it contains the nature of switching. For another instance, the relationship of monarch-minister between Yao, Shun, and Yu is that of oppositeness, while after the system of abdication was found the relationship turned out to be transferring. It says in Tuan Zhuan for the hexagram Tai (the 11th): “the inner (represents) the superior man, and the outer the small man. (Thus) the Dao of the superior man appears increasing, and that of the small man decreasing”, while for the hexagram Pi: “the inner (represents) the small man, and the outer the superior man. Thus the Dao of the small man appears increasing, and that of the superior man decreasing”, being a vivid description of the character of oppositeness and transferring.

  2. The relationship between one Yin & one Yang and the Dao

  CHENG Yi and ZHU Xi, neo-Confucian scholars of the Song dynasty, insisted that what Yin-Yang represents is Qi but not the Dao, while one Yin and one Yang which give rise to Yin-Yang represents the Dao. Mr. Yi-chuan (CHENG Yi’s courtesy name) uttered in the Er Cheng Yi shu, Posthumous Remarks of Brothers CHENG the 15th: “Without Yin-Yang, there will not be the Dao. What which gives rise to Yin-Yang is the Dao, while Yin-Yang represents Qi. Qi is within the form while the Dao is above the form.” By volume 74 of Zhu Zi Yu Lei, A Classification of ZHUXi’s Remarks, ZHU Xi once said: “The Dao should be regarded as a combination of the Idea and Qi. The idea is an empty being, but without the Qi and substance, the Idea would have no place to reside. It is said in Yi: ‘One Yin and one Yang represents the Dao’, the saying was based upon the view that the Dao embraces the nature of Idea and Qi simultaneously. Just as ‘closing and opening represents changes, but (the state of) closing or opening does not reveal the change, while (the switch between) closing and opening causes changes. Yin-Yang might not represent the Dao, while what which give rise to Yin-Yang is the Dao.” By CHENG and ZHU’s opinion, the oppositeness and switches between Yin and Yang could not be called the Dao, only the fundamental principle giving rise to the oppositeness and switches between Yin and Yang is the Dao. So, ZHU Xi uttered straightforwardly in Zhou yi Ben yi, Original Meanings of Zhouyi: “The rotation between Yin and Yang manifests (the motion of) Qi, while the Idea (principle) (behind it) is the Dao.”

  3. Whether the Dao is monistic or dualistic after all?

  (1) Dualism of Yin and Yang. The Tuan Zhuan in the Ten Wings had revealed the dualism of the Yi: “Vast is the ‘great and originating (power)’ indicated by Qian! All things owe to it their beginning. ……Complete is the ‘great and originating (capacity)’ indicated by Kun! All things owe to it their birth”, pointing out that Qian and Kun represents two origins, and Qian and Kun just like Yin and Yang. JING Fang of the Han Dynasty extended in the hexagram Feng in Zhou yi Zhang ju, An Analysis and Interpretation of Zhouyi: “The body of Yin & Yang could not be stubbornly taken as an established image. For the eight tri-grams are concerned, Yin acts to Yang and Yang acts to Yin, and the Qi of Yin and that of Yang influence and respond to each other to form the substance, being either obscure or conspicuous. Therefore it says in Xi Ci Zhuan: ‘(The reaction between) one Yin and one Yang is called the Dao.’” ZHANG Zai, a celebrated neo-Confucian scholar of the Northern Song Dynasty, said in Heng-qu Yi shuo, Heng-qu’s Commentaries on Yi: “One Yin and one Yang should not be restricted within (concrete) forms and vessels, and hence being called the Dao.” He also said in Zheng Meng?Tai He (the Rectification of Obscurity?Great Harmony): “Actually there were not any being without Yin and Yang, thus the way by which we know the (principle for) changes of heaven and earth is but the two terminals (of one Yin and one Yang).” WANG Fu-zhi, a venerated Confucian scholar at the end of the Ming Dynasty explicated in Zhou yi Nei zhuan (Internal Commentaries on Zhouyi): “The being filling the space between heaven and earth is only Yin and Yang. The ‘one’ used here indicates that the combination (and reaction of Yin and Yang) form a main substance with distinction. Without Yin, there would be no Yang, and without Yang, there would be no Yin. The two (of Yin and Yang) depend upon each other and are inseparable. Along with hiding and appearing, they interact each other. Though the weights of each are not the same, they must depend upon each other to fulfill accomplishment. ……This is the reason for Taiji (Grand Terminus) to produce the myriad creatures and principles and things, being a noumenon owe to which all things get their beginning and birth. And therefore it is called the Dao.” All the remarks mentioned above indicate that Yin and Yang are dualistic.

  2. Dualism of Qi and Li (Idea). The relationship between one Yin & one Yang and the Dao quoted above from commentaries of CHENG and ZHU might be regarded as dualism of Qi and Idea. By their views, the Dao is the Idea, and one Yin & one Yang is Qi. In describing ZHU Xi’s theory of “Qi and Idea”, Song Ming Li Xue, Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming Dynasties by WU Kang commented: “The dualism of Qi and Idea was founded by CHENG Yi-chuan and succeeded and expanded by ZHU Zi, as the Classification of ZHU Zi’s Remarks extended: ‘The Idea had come into being (at first), and then the Qi was produced (form the Idea). This was deduced from that (the reaction between) one Yin and one Yang is called the Dao.” For the dualism of Qi and Idea, ZHU Xi had a clearer explication in vol. 46, Answer to LIU Shu-wen in Collected Works of Mr. ZHU Hui-an (ZHU’s courtesy name), Duke of Wen (ZHU’s posthumous title): “Qi and Idea are surely two beings. From the point of being, the two are united and could not be separated into two, but this does not do harm to that each being is a distinctive being; but from the point of Idea, though it is not a concrete thing, it conceives the principle for the thing, but when manifested, it is a concrete thing.”

  3. Monism of non-existence. This view was best represented in the Annotation of Xi Ci Zhuan by HANG Kang-bo. He said: “What is the Dao? It is called non-existence. Nothing is non-immersed by it, and nothing is un-based upon it, and it is named the Dao, a state of void with neither a (concrete) body nor an image. It is when existence functions ultimately that the function of non-existence appears. And therefore its operation is spirit-like, unconditioned by place and the changes are not restricted to any form. And thus to attain to the spirit-like by pursuing the ultimate changes, to make the Dao illuminate by the function of the spirit-like. Though Yin distinctively differs from Yang, they are one in non-existence, where Yin is non-Yin, yet Yin is produced from it, Yang is non-Yang, yet Yang is accomplished by it. And hence the saying of one Yin and one Yang.”

 

  III. Comments

 

  1. Comments on dualism and monism

  Dualism and monism are originally western philosophical terms. Seldom has been seen of either sheer dualism or sheer monism, no matter in the east or west. In 17th century, Rene Descartes, a famous French philosopher, advocated dualism. He upheld that spirit (consciousness) and material are two absolutely different substances. They were surely two. But he also held that the origin of the both is an “absolute substance: God.” It is similar to the case of deducing the Dao of Taiji from the two modes of Yin and Yang in Zhouyi, returning to monism of objective idealism. Monism is mainly of materialism or idealism. Those who advocate idealism, for instance, Geong Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel, insisted on “absoluteness is the identical of identical and non-identical.” Is it that identical and non-identical like positive Yang and negative Yin, close to dualism? And he also held that the subject is subjective “subject-object”, and the object is objective “subject-object”. Is it also close to dualism? Those who advocate materialism, like Friedrich Engels, adhered that the concept of material in philosophy is a highest summary of the fundamental and special properties of various things existing with form in the world. (See the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: Vol. 20) Is the “concept of material” is similar to the expression of “what is above the form is the Dao”? And are the “things existing with form” similar to the expression of “what is within the form is called the vessel”? The relationship between the Dao and vessel just like the relationship between the Idea and Qi. This had been specified as dualism by some one. Western philosophy is so, and so it is with Chinese philosophy. Yin and Yang could be regarded as two, but the Dao is one. Chuan-shan (WANG Fu-zhi’s courtesy name) had said: “Zhouyi simultaneously establish the hexagrams of Qian and Kun as the governor of the other hexagrams, they two are not separated,” a saying of dualism. And he also said: “Taiji is the unity of Qian and Kun”, similar to monism. The saying of the Idea and Qi could be surely regarded as dualism, but CHENG brothers and ZHU Xi mentioned many times “one Idea with specific divisions”, with specific things back to one Idea, so many scholars regard ZHU Xi as an advocator of monism. Succeeding WANG Bi’s view, HANG Kang-bo held non-existence (as the origin of the world), ontology of non-existence of monism. But he also held that Yin was produced from non-Yin and Yang form non-Yang, a dualism of non-Yin and non-Yang. It is difficult to define (one’s outlook is) dualism or monism, it is so either for the west or east.

  2. Comments on Yin-Yang theory and that of Idea-Qi

  By the theory of Idea-Qi, the Dao is Taiji and Idea, being what which is above form, while Yin & Yang are the two modes and Qi, being what which is with the form. ZHOU Dun-yi, a celebrated neo-Confucian scholar of the Northern Song Dynasty, advocates Taiji in Taiji tu shuo, Illustrating Taiji with Diagrams: “Wuji (Non-Terminus) produces Taiji (Grand Terminus). Taiji moves and produces Yang, and extreme Yang leads to motionlessness, and extreme motionlessness produces Yin.” Wuji is symbolized as “O”, Non-existence while Taiji is “—”, existence, and the “Idea of One”. But Mr. ZHOU holds in his Tong Shu that the “originating power indicated by (the hexagram of) Qian” is the “source of honesty”, from the saying of which ZHU Xi derived the saying of “one source with various differences”. And therefore it seems that Mr. ZHOU upholds the “originating power indicated by Qian” is the “Idea of One”. Thus the problem comes out: whether Yang symbolized by Qian should be attributed to Qi or Idea? In as early as the time of the Three Kingdoms (220-280), YU Fan, a very famous scholar of the Yi learning, had extended that “Taiji refers to Taiyi (Grand One) when he annotated “There is Taiji in Yi” appeared in Xi Ci Zhuan in his Commentaries on Zhouyi, and “One refers to the originating power indicated by Qian” when he annotated “All the movements under the heaven are constantly subject to this One”. Here he had had Taiji, Taiyi, Qian yuan systematically to be related. When XIONG Shi-li mentioned the hexagram of Qian in his Du Jing Shi Yao, The Must for the Study of the Classics, he extended: “Qian yuan (the originating power indicated by Qian) refers to Taiji” and created the word Yuan ji and interpreted: “Yuan ji is derived from Qian yuan and Taiji to form a compound word.” XIONG Shi-li upholds “substance and function are no-two”, which could be seen in his On Substance and Function. And he also raised: “Qian and Kun embrace each other”, which could be seen in his Qian Kun Yan. His outstanding insight is reflected by that his views had transcended from the oppositeness between Materialism and Idealism, not only moderating theories of Yin-Yang and Idea-Qi.

 

  IV. Conclusion

 

  It says in Yi Wei Qian Zao Du (Chiseling Open the Regularity of Heaven in the Apocrypha of the Changes): “Confucius said: ‘Yi is implicated with simplicity, changeableness and unchangeableness’, and therefore (the Yi) embraces these three natures and includes the virtues simultaneously.” ZHENG Xuan (a famous scholar of the Confucian Classics of the Eastern Han Dynasty) extended in his Yi Zan, A Praise of Yi, and Yi Lun, Commentaries on Yi: “Yi owns one name but embraces three connotations: simplicity, changeableness, and unchangeableness.” His views were actually derived from Yi Wei, Apocrypha of the Changes. Its quality of simplicity indicates that the Yi regards One Yin and One Yang as a synchronically existing relationship of oppositeness, and dually distinguish heaven and earth and the myriad of things. Changeableness implies that the Yi regards One Yin and One Yang as a chronological relationship of shifting, to simulate the ever-changing world. Tracing “One Yin and One Yang” back to the Dao is what the Yi embraced the unchangeableness. By this way, the three implications of the Yi had completely summarized in the judgment of “(the reaction between) One Yin and One Yang is called the Dao”.

(Originally published in Chinese in the STUDIES OF ZHOUYI/No. 5, 2003)