Chapter Five: "The Sentiments of the Sage Are Seen Through the Judgments" — The True Meaning of Qing and the Mission of the Judgments

I. The Pre-Qin Semantics of Qing: Not Emotion, but Actual Condition

The final — and most subtly far-reaching — layer of this passage is: "The sentiments of the sage are seen through the judgments."

We must first clarify: the meaning of qing in the pre-Qin context is not entirely identical to the modern sense of "emotion." Pre-Qin qing has at least three core senses:

First: actual condition, true state. This is the oldest sense. The Zuozhuan (Duke Xi, Year 28) states: "The true and false conditions of the people — he knew them all." Here qing is contrasted with wei (falsity), meaning the real state of affairs. The Zhuangzi (Qi wu lun) says: "It has reality (qing) and trustworthiness (xin), but neither action nor form." "Having reality" means the Dao possesses genuine substance; "having trustworthiness" means the Dao can be verified.

Second: disposition, innate nature. Master Xun's Zhengming ("Rectification of Names") states: "Nature (xing) is what heaven brings to completion; disposition (qing) is the substance of nature." In Master Xun's framework, qing is the substantive content of human nature — the innate tendencies of liking, disliking, joy, and anger. The Liji (Yue ji) states: "At birth, humans are still — this is heaven's nature. Stimulated by things and set in motion — this is the desire of nature." Qing and xing are closely linked: qing is the natural response when innate nature encounters external things.

Third: moral intent, aspiration. The "Great Preface" to the Mao shi (Book of Songs) states: "Poetry is where aspiration tends. In the mind it is aspiration; expressed in words it is poetry. Feeling (qing) stirs within and takes form in words." Here qing is inner feeling and aspiration, expressed through language — through poetry and judgments.

Returning to "the sentiments of the sage are seen through the judgments," which sense fits best$28

Han Kangbo's commentary adopts the first sense, taking qing to mean "actual condition": the sage composed the hexagram and line statements, and what they contain is the true substance of the Way of heaven and earth. Kong Yingda's Zhengyi builds further: "The sentiments of the sage are seen in the statements on the hexagrams and lines — meaning the sage's concern to relieve all under heaven is made manifest in the judgments." Kong Yingda effectively combines the first sense (actual condition) with the third (moral intent) — the sage's qing is both a genuine understanding of the Way of heaven and earth and a deep-seated concern for the welfare of the world.

I consider this synthesized reading the most apt. "The sentiments of the sage" is neither a mere outpouring of emotion nor a cold, detached objective record, but rather: the sage, grounded in a profound apprehension of the Way of heaven and earth, and moved by a deep-seated concern for the welfare of the world, has crystallized all of this in the hexagram and line statements.

II. The Dual Nature of the Judgments: Assertion and Admonition

Why, then, must the sage's sentiments be manifested specifically through "judgments" (ci)$29 Why not through "images" or "lines"$30

The answer lies in the unique function of ci. Images can present configurations, and lines can model dynamics, but only ci — verbal and written language — can provide specific determinations and guidance.

The Xici zhuan (Part I) states:

"The tuan speaks of images; the lines speak of changes. Fortune and misfortune speak of gain and loss; regret and distress speak of minor flaws. 'No blame' means being skilled at remedying mistakes."

The judgments are the "speaking" about images, the "speaking" about changes, the explicit determination of fortune, misfortune, regret, distress, and blamelessness. Without the judgments, the hexagram image would be merely an open-ended diagram, susceptible to any number of readings. It is precisely the sage's judgments that give the hexagram image a specific orientation — under what circumstances is there fortune, under what circumstances misfortune, under what circumstances regret and distress, under what circumstances blamelessness.

Take the Qian (Heaven) hexagram as an example:

Line one, yang: "A hidden dragon. Do not act."Line two, yang: "The dragon appears in the field. It is favorable to see the great person."Line three, yang: "The noble person is ceaselessly active all day long; in the evening, he is vigilant as if in danger. No blame."Line four, yang: "Leaping, perhaps, in the abyss. No blame."Line five, yang: "The flying dragon is in heaven. It is favorable to see the great person."Top line, yang: "The overreaching dragon will have cause for regret."All lines yang: "A flight of dragons with no head visible. Auspicious."

The six line statements trace a complete life-arc from hiddenness to appearance, from leaping to flying, from flying to overreaching. Each statement contains the sage's judgment — "do not act," "favorable to see the great person," "no blame," "will have cause for regret" — and these judgments are not arbitrary but crystallize the sage's profound understanding of how "dragon virtue" should comport itself at each stage.

"A hidden dragon — do not act": the sage's concern for the self-preservation of talent that has not yet found its time. "The overreaching dragon will have cause for regret": the sage's admonition against arrogance after the pinnacle of achievement. These judgments are at once faithful descriptions of the Way of heaven and earth and earnest admonitions to later generations.

The Wenyan zhuan (Commentary on the Words of the Text) offers an especially brilliant elaboration on "the overreaching dragon will have cause for regret":

"'Overreaching' as a word denotes knowing how to advance but not how to retreat, knowing how to preserve but not how to let perish, knowing how to gain but not how to lose. Is it not the sage alone who knows how to advance and retreat, to preserve and perish, without losing what is right$31 Is it not the sage alone!"

This passage fully demonstrates the meaning of "the sentiments of the sage are seen through the judgments": through the line statements, the sage admonishes the world — the essence of "overreaching" is knowing only advance and not retreat. Only one who simultaneously knows advance and retreat, preservation and perishing, is a true sage. What the judgments contain is not merely a verdict on a particular situation but the sage's profound insight into the entire Way of advance and retreat throughout life.

III. Reconsidering the Word "Seen": Why Jian$32

One final detail merits attention: the character jian (to appear/manifest) occurs three times in succession in the original text — "fortune and misfortune appear without," "achievement and enterprise are seen through change," "the sentiments of the sage are seen through the judgments." The first two instances are read xian (to manifest), and the last should likewise be read xian.

Why does the text not say the sage's sentiments "reside" (zai) in the judgments, or "are preserved" (cun) in the judgments, or "are lodged" (ji) in the judgments — but specifically "are seen" (jian) in the judgments$33

Jian (to manifest) implies a process of something originally hidden subsequently being revealed. The sage's sentiments are inherently deep and unfathomable — in the Lunyu (Yang Huo), the Master says: "What does heaven say$34 The four seasons proceed, the hundred things are born — what does heaven say$35" The sage is like heaven: his sentiments are not lightly shown to others. But through the hexagram and line statements, these deeply concealed sentiments at last "become manifest" — revealing themselves to those who study with devoted attention.

This forms a perfect echo with another famous passage in the Xici zhuan (Part I):

"The Master said: 'Writing cannot exhaust speech, speech cannot exhaust meaning.' Then can the sage's meaning never be perceived$36 The Master said: 'The sage establishes images to exhaust meaning, sets up hexagrams to exhaust the true and the false, appends judgments to exhaust his words.'"

"Establishes images to exhaust meaning" — images exhaust the sage's meaning. "Appends judgments to exhaust his words" — judgments exhaust the sage's words. "Sets up hexagrams to exhaust the true and the false" — hexagrams exhaust the actualities and falsities of the world. But after all this "exhausting," the sage's qing — that more fundamental concern and apprehension — ultimately "is seen" through the judgments.

Not "exhausted" (jin), but "seen" (jian). "Exhausted" implies being fully used up; "seen" implies being partially revealed without necessarily being fully used up. This subtle distinction tells us: the hexagram and line statements can reveal a portion of the sage's sentiments, but whether the sage's sentiments can ever be completely exhausted — that is another question entirely. This leaves an eternal space for continued interpretation and ever-deeper inquiry by later generations.