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. 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."