Interpreting and Investigating the Chapter: 'The Sage Perceived the Profundities of the World' — The Primordial Code of *Xiang* and *Yao*

Chapter 11: Synthesis and Reflection on Previous Commentators

I. Zheng Xuan's Interpretation

Zheng Xuan was a great scholar of the Eastern Han, treating the Yi by integrating both image-number and rationale-principle. His commentary on this chapter is unfortunately mostly lost, but we can glean some insight from Kong Yingda’s Zhengyi:

Zheng Xuan glossed zé as "mixed/confused," emphasizing the aspect of the world’s myriad things being complex and multifarious—but relatively neglecting its deeper meaning of "subtle and hard to perceive."

II. Han Kangbo's Interpretation

Han Kangbo inherited Wang Bi’s path of rationale, commenting on this chapter:

"Zé refers to the subtle and deep principles that are hidden and difficult to see. Simulating and comparing serves to accomplish transformation."

Han's gloss directly equates zé with "subtle and deep principle," elevating zé to the level of "Principle" (lǐ, 理)—it is not just "complex and hard to see," but the "ultimate principle that is subtle and deep." This interpretation influenced the direction of later Rationale schools.

III. Kong Yingda's Interpretation

Kong Yingda's Zhou Yi Zhengyi provides a detailed explanation of this chapter:

"The Sage having the means (yǒu yǐ) means the Sage possesses a subtle principle by which he perceives the utmost principle (zhì lǐ, 至理) of the world's profundities (zé). And simulating them according to their outward forms (nǐ zhū qí xíng róng) means measuring and comparing this subtle and profound principle with the outward forms of things. Depicting what is appropriate for the things (xiàng qí wù yí) means that when the Sage draws the trigrams, he depicts what is appropriate for the myriad things. Therefore he is called Xiang because he images the outward forms of the myriad things."

The characteristic of Kong's commentary is its detailed, step-by-step analysis, clearly mapping out the logical progression of the scripture. However, its weakness lies in over-rationalization—he interprets "perceive" (jiàn) as "perceiving with subtle principle," and zé as "ultimate principle." This departs somewhat from the original Pre-Qin meaning of "direct intuition."

IV. Cheng Yi's Interpretation

Cheng Yi in his Yichuan Yizhuan does not directly comment on the Xici Zhuan, but his method of interpreting hexagrams and lines everywhere reflects his understanding of this chapter. A core principle of Cheng Yi's study of the Yi is "Substance and Function share one source; the manifest and the subtle are without gap" (tǐ yòng yī yuán, xiǎn wēi wú jiàn). This is another way of expressing the relationship between zé and Xiang—the deep principle (subtle/ zé) and the outward image (xiǎn / xiàng) are two sides of the same reality, "one source" and "without gap."

Cheng Yi’s interpretation of every hexagram starts with the trigram image (tǐ, Xiang), then analyzes the auspiciousness/inauspiciousness of the line statements (yòng, Yao), and finally proposes lessons on the level of Rationale. This method of interpretation perfectly aligns with the logical sequence of "perceiving zé → simulating Xiang → observing huì tōng → determining jí and xiōng."

V. Zhu Xi's Interpretation

Zhu Xi comments on this chapter in the Zhou Yi Benyi:

"Xiang refers to the upper and lower trigrams of the hexagram, and the statements attached by the Duke of Zhou. This speaks of the Sage, having established the Yi, attaching statements based on the already existing images."

A notable feature of Zhu Xi’s interpretation is his emphasis on "based on the already existing images" (yīn yǒu yǐ zhī xiàng). The Sage does not create the Xiang out of thin air; rather, because there already exist "images" (Xiang) in Heaven and Earth (the external manifestations of zé), the Sage merely discovers and expresses them. This view aligns with our analysis above: the Xiang is not subjective construction but objective discovery.

Zhu Xi also particularly emphasized the divinatory function of the Zhou Yi. In his Yi Xue Qimeng, he stated: "The Yi is fundamentally a book of divination." In his view, "attaching statements to determine auspiciousness and inauspiciousness" is the original face of the Yi; rationale is derived from divination, not the other way around. While this position has been criticized by some later scholars, it is arguably correct based on the actual practice of high antiquity Yi studies.

VI. Wang Fuzhi's Interpretation

Wang Fuzhi (late Ming/early Qing) offered profound philosophical distillations of Yi studies in his Zhou Yi Neizhuan and Zhou Yi Waizhuan. Regarding this chapter, Wang especially stressed the ontological primacy of "movement" (dòng):

"The movements of the world cannot be exhausted by one formulation." (Zhou Yi Waizhuan, Vol. 5)

In Wang Fuzhi's view, the "movements of the world" are the fundamental reality of the cosmos—it is not that stillness exists first and then motion arises, but that motion itself is the most fundamental thing. The zé is not a static structure divorced from dòng, but the order inherently contained within dòng.

This interpretation reverses the relationship between zé and dòng: it is not that zé (structure) comes before dòng (change), but that dòng (change) itself inherently contains zé (order). This "primacy of motion" stance stands in clear contrast to the "primacy of Principle" stance of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and provides an important intellectual resource for later studies of Chinese philosophy.