This article offers an in-depth philological investigation of the passage from the Xici Shangzhuan (Great Commentary on the Yijing): 'The junzi, when at rest, contemplates the images and savors the texts; when about to act, observes the transformations and savors the divination.' It restores how the pre-Qin junzi attained existential security through apprehending the 'order' (xu) of the Yi, and internalized cosmic order into personal cultivation through an attitude of aesthetic 'savoring' (wan).

This article offers a deep reading of the core proposition in the Xici Shangzhuan — 'What the junzi dwells in and finds peace in is the order of the Yi' — integrating the pre-Qin context, the Confucian scholarly lineage, and the structure of the Zhouyi to elucidate how the junzi, by embodying the Way of Heaven and Earth, takes the Yi as the foundation of settled existence, contemplates the images and savors the statements, and ultimately attains the state of 'auspiciousness with nothing unfavorable.'

This article offers a thorough analysis of the core proposition in Xunzi's 'Jiebi' (Dispelling Obscurations) chapter concerning the nature of cognition: 'How does a person know$33 Through the mind. How does the mind know$34 Through xu (openness), yi (unity), and jing (stillness).' It systematically elucidates the dialectical relationship among these three concepts, their epistemological significance, and their roots in high antiquity, revealing the systematic rigor and precision of pre-Qin cognitive theory.

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.

Starting from a brief episode in the Analects, in which the noble Wenzi of Wei promotes his own household steward, Zhuan, to stand alongside him among the lords, this essay reads that small event against the great declarations of freedom and equality since the Renaissance: the West places its ideal at the starting line, while the pre-Qin thinkers built the ideal into lived reality.

This essay offers an in-depth reading of the passage on 'the imagery of music' (sheng yue zhi xiang) in Xunzi's 'Discourse on Music,' elucidating how musical sounds embody character-qualities that correspond to heaven, earth, and the myriad things, and situating the discussion within Master Xun's Confucian vision of transforming human nature through ritual and music.