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. The Pre-Qin Intellectual Background of Huì Tōng
The concept of "huì tōng" has widespread resonance in Pre-Qin thought.
In the Analects (Wei Zheng), Confucius says:
"If a man can review the old and know the new, he may become a teacher."
"Reviewing the old" (wēn gù, 温故) is grasping past experience; "knowing the new" (zhī xīn, 知新) is penetrating future changes. Uniting the past and the future (huì tōng) is the way of a teacher.
The Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean, Chapter 1):
"When joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure have not yet been expressed, this is called the center (zhōng); when they are expressed and all accord with the proper measure, this is called harmony (hé). The Center is the great root of the world; Harmony is the universal Way of the world."
"Center" (zhōng) is the state before expression; "Harmony" (hé) is the state of expressed action in accordance with measure. In the transition from zhōng to hé, "accordance with measure" (zhōng jié, 中节) is "huì tōng"—the transformation of emotion from internal to external, and how it is expressed at the appropriate node in the appropriate manner—this is the unfolding of "observing their convergence and connection" in the cultivation of human emotion.
Mencius, discussing Confucius as "the Sage of his time" (wàn zhāng xià, 万章下):
"Confucius is called the one who brought the Great Synthesis (jí dà chéng, 集大成). Bringing the Great Synthesis means striking the metal sounds and then shaking the jade pendants. Striking the metal sounds means establishing the initial order; shaking the jade pendants means completing the final order. Establishing the initial order is the work of wisdom; completing the final order is the work of the Sage."
The connection (huì tōng) between "establishing the initial order" and "completing the final order" is "Great Synthesis." Confucius is revered as the ultimate Sage precisely because he could synthesize the changes of ancient and modern times, and the strengths of various schools, into an organic whole within himself.
Thus, "huì tōng" is not just a specialized concept of Yi studies, but a fundamental feature of Pre-Qin thinking. Pre-Qin thinkers focused not on static "Being," but on dynamic "Process"; not on isolated "nodes," but on the "connections" between nodes. "Observing their convergence and connection" means grasping the critical connections and turning points within the torrent of change, thereby understanding the laws of transformation.