Between Efficacy and Image: A Radical Inquiry into the Roots of the Yi Dao's Manifest and Subtle
This article offers an in-depth analysis of the core proposition of 'yao effecting and xiang imaging' in the Xici zhuan (Great Commentary) of the Zhouyi, examining the dynamic and static distinction between 'effecting' and 'imaging,' tracing the referent of 'this,' and elucidating how yao and xiang constitute the epistemological framework through which the Way of the Yi reveals the subtle and the manifest.
Chapter Eight: A Synthesis and Critical Analysis of Interpretations by Past Worthies
I. The Han-Dynasty Image-and-Number School
Han-dynasty Yi studies were dominated by the image-and-number (xiangshu) tradition. Han-dynasty Yi scholars represented by Yu Fan, Xun Shuang, and Jing Fang interpreted "the yao is that which effects this" with an emphasis on the specific image-and-number correspondences of each line.
In annotating this passage, Yu Fan focused on hexagram transformation (guabian), interlocking bodies (huti), and najia (the pairing of stems and branches with trigrams), arguing that "effecting this" referred to the correspondence between the yin-yang attribute of a line at a specific position and specific things between heaven and earth. For instance, the first line effects the beginning of earth, the second effects the completion of earth, the third effects the beginning of humanity, the fourth effects the completion of humanity, the fifth effects the beginning of heaven, and the top line effects the completion of heaven. The yin-yang quality and positional placement of each line model the specific operational state of one dimension of the Three Powers.
The contribution of Han-dynasty image-and-number studies lies in their grounding the meaning of "effecting" in operable, concrete correspondences. Their limitation lies in their occasional excessive fixation on the technical details of image and number, which can obscure the deeper philosophical import of the word xiao.
II. Wang Bi and the Meaning-and-Principle School
Wang Bi (226-249) was the great innovator of Wei-Jin Yi studies, reinterpreting this passage from the vantage of meaning and principle (yili).
In Wang Bi's view, "effecting" and "imaging" should not be understood as one-to-one correspondences with specific physical images but rather as abstract presentations of structural principles. His theory of "grasping the meaning and forgetting the image," proposed in the Zhouyi lüeli ("Clarifying Images"), though it provoked enormous controversy in later ages, contains a core insight of real depth: the image is established to convey meaning; if one becomes excessively attached to the specific details of the image and forgets the meaning it conveys, one has mistaken the branch for the root.
Wang Bi's reading is especially illuminating for "the sentiments of the sage are seen through the judgments." He held that the sage's qing is not an exhaustive description of all the phenomena of heaven and earth, but a principled judgment appropriate to the specific temporal position (shiwei) of each hexagram and line. What the sage attends to is "time" (shi) — what should be done when — rather than "image" (xiang) — what this hexagram literally resembles.
III. The Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucian Reading
In his Yichuan Yizhuan, Cheng Yi subsumed "effecting" and "imaging" under the framework of heavenly principle (tianli). He held that the yao can model the movements of heaven and earth because heavenly principle (the "principle" of "principle is one, its particularizations are many") simultaneously pervades both the natural world and the symbolic system. The reason hexagram-line symbols and the myriad things of heaven and earth can correspond to each other is not because some mysterious causal link exists between them, but because they jointly partake of one and the same "heavenly principle."
Zhu Xi's annotation of this passage in the Zhouyi benyi is relatively concise:
"Xiao means 'to imitate.' Xiang means 'to resemble.' These both refer to the natural principle (ziran zhi li) of heaven, earth, and the myriad things."
Zhu Xi emphasizes "the natural principle of heaven, earth, and the myriad things" — expanding the referent of "this" from concrete celestial and terrestrial phenomena to the universal "principle" (li). In Zhu Xi's view, the yao does not model any single concrete thing but rather the universal principle pervading all things.
IV. Wang Fuzhi's Concrete-Learning Reading
Wang Fuzhi (1619-1692), in his Zhouyi neizhuan (Inner Commentary) and Zhouyi waizhuan (Outer Commentary), offered a distinctively flavored reading of this passage. Wang Fuzhi opposed Wang Bi's "forgetting the image" theory, holding that the image is not a tool to be transcended but rather the very locus where principle resides. Divorced from images, principle has nowhere to dwell.
Wang Fuzhi particularly emphasized the practical dimension of "effecting":
"'Effecting' does not mean idle conjecture; it means there is genuinely such a matter, and one elucidates it accordingly."
The meaning is: the yao's "effecting" is not an empty ruminative exercise but a genuine presentation of actually existing things and relationships. This reading carries a strongly materialist coloring — the efficacy of the symbolic system derives from its faithful reflection of the material world.
Wang Fuzhi also offered a reading of "achievement and enterprise are seen through change" that carries the depth of a philosophy of history. He held that "achievement and enterprise" is not a fixed, unchanging standard but one that continually renews itself with the changes of the age. The standards of enterprise in the Shang era differed from those of the Zhou; those of the Zhou differed from those of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods — each era has its specific "change," and the content of enterprise shifts accordingly. This historical understanding elevates "achievement and enterprise are seen through change" beyond the realm of divinatory technique into an important proposition in the philosophy of history.