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 Unity of Ancient Ritual and Divination
If we push our view back to high antiquity, the relationship between "diǎn lǐ" and divination becomes even tighter.
In ancient society, almost all major ritual activities—sacrifice, warfare, marriage and funeral rites, construction, hunting—required prior divination. The oracle bones preserve numerous divination records, documenting the divinatory acts performed by the Shang people before undertaking various ritual activities.
For example:
"Divined: Will the King hunt at Qin$22 Will he succeed$23" (zhēn: wáng qí tián yú qín, huò$24) "Divined: Will it rain tomorrow$25" (zhēn: yì rì yǔ$26) "Divined: Will the High Lord grant us a good harvest$27" (zhēn: dì shòu wǒ nián$28)
These oracle texts tell us that, in the ancient consciousness, all human activities (diǎn lǐ) had to be coordinated with the laws of Heaven and Earth's movements, and divination was the means to confirm whether this coordination was achieved.
Therefore, the phrase "enacting their rites and regulations" in the context of high antiquity may have a richer meaning than later commentators assumed: It not only means the Sage established human rites based on the Heavenly Dao, but also that the Sage grasped the laws of the world's movements through the special "rite" of divination, thereby guiding all human activities.
From this perspective, the generation of the Yao (Line) is not merely an epistemological event (how to express change), but also an institutional history event (how to establish order). The generation of the Yao allowed the laws of the world's movements to be incorporated into the framework of rites, thereby grounding human order in the Dao of Heaven and Earth.