Interpreting and Investigating the Chapter: 'The Sage Perceived the Profundities of the World' — The Primordial Code of *Xiang* and *Yao*
This paper deeply investigates the core proposition, 'The Sage perceived the profundity (Ze) of the world,' within the *Xi Ci Zhuan* (Commentary on the Appended Judgments) of the *Zhou Yi*, analyzing the original Pre-Qin semantics of 'Ze,' 'Xiang' (Image), and 'Yao' (Line). It focuses on explaining the cognitive leap of the Sage through 'looking up and observing down,' transforming deep textures (Ze) into external simulations (Xiang), and reveals the intrinsic connection between the 'Yao' and ancient ritual systems, thereby reconstructing the foundation of Yi learning theory.
III. Comparative Reflection with Ancient Greek Philosophy
If we broaden our perspective to comparative philosophy, we find astonishing parallels between the "Xiang-Yao" dual framework established in the Xici Zhuan and certain core propositions in Ancient Greek philosophy.
Heraclitus said, "All things flow" (panta rhei). This corresponds to the "movements of the world" (dòng). Parmenides said, "Being is one, unchanging." This corresponds to the "profundities of the world" (zé).
In Greek philosophy, the opposition between Heraclitus and Parmenides was seen as the fundamental tension in Western metaphysics—flux versus eternity, the many versus the one, becoming versus being. Plato attempted to reconcile this tension through "Ideas" (eidos): the Ideas are eternal and unchanging (zé), while the phenomenal world is in constant flux (dòng), and the Ideas manifest in the phenomena through "participation."
But Pre-Qin Chinese thought adopted a completely different method of reconciliation—it did not use abstract "Ideas" to govern change. Instead, it used "Xiang" to capture zé and "Yao" to model dòng, allowing both to coexist within the structure of the same hexagram. This method of reconciliation does not require presupposing an "Idea world" independent of phenomena, but rather grasps the unity of structure and change directly within the phenomena.
In this sense, the "Zé-Xiang / Dòng-Yao" framework established in this chapter constitutes an epistemological construction that is more pragmatic, closer to experience, yet equally profound as Plato’s theory of Forms.