Table Of ContentA COMPANION TO
YI JING NUMEROLOGY
AND COSMOLOGY
*
Chinese Studies of Images and Numbers from
il
Han (202 220 to Song (960-1279
BCE - CE) CE)
Bent Nielsen
First published in 2003
by RoutledgeCurzon
II New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by RoutledgeCurzon
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 1000I
RoutledgeCurzon is an imprintofthe Taylor & Francis Group
«;) 2003 BentNielsen
Printedandbound in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire
All rights reserved. No partofthis book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized inany form or by any electronic,
mechanical, orother means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopyingand recording, or inany
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record ofthis book is available from the British Library
LibraryofCongress Cataloging in Publication Data
Acatalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-7007-1608--4
CONTENTS
ListofPlates ix
Common Abbreviations xi
Conventions Xlll
Introduction xv
ACompanionto YijingNumerology andCosmology
Plates (betweenpages348 and349)
SelectedBibliography 349
IndexofCommonEnglishTranslationsofthe Hexagramnames 367
IndexofChinese Works 373
VB
LIST OF PLATES
Platesappearbetweenpages348 and349.
(1)The [Yellow] RiverDiagram [YJJC28:9].
(2)The Luo [River] Document[YJJC28:10].
(3)The Sequence ofFuXi's EightTrigrams [YJJC28:13].
(4)TheDiagramPrecedingHeaven [YJJC28:15].
(5) The Sequence ofFuXi's 64 Hexagrams [YJJC28:17-20].
(6)The DirectionalPositions ofFuXi's64 Hexagrams [YJJC28:24f.].
(7)TheDiagram SucceedingHeaven [YJJC28:31].
(8)The CircularDiagram ofthe Hexagramsandthe Vital MaterialForceand
67/80 days [YJJC 147:169f.].
(9) TheDiagram ofthe GreatExtreme [ZZMJ33:59].
(10)TheDiagram ofthe CorrectBranches ofthe 64 Hexagrams [YJJC 161:44].
(11)The Diagram ofInterlocking[Trigrams] PrecedingHeaven [YJJC 115:133].
(12)The Diagram ofKing Wen's Vital Material Force ofthe Hexagrams ofthe
12Months [Shi Wei 1995,603].
IX
Common Abbreviations
abbr. abbreviation(s), abbreviate
ace. according
aka also knownas
alt. alternative
annot. annotate(d)
app. appendix, append(ed)
approx. approximate(ly)
attrib. attribute(d)
b. born
bib!. bibliography
biog. biography
c. circa
chp(s). chapter(s)
col(s). column(s)
comm. commentary,commentator,comment
comp. compilation, compilor, compile(d)
d. died
div. division(s)
ed(s). edition(s), editor(s), edit(ed)
h. hao5m (sobriquet)
inc!. include(d)
lit. literally
ms. manuscript
n. note(s)
orig. original
p. posthumousnameortitle
posth. posthumous(ly)
pref. preface(d)
pres. present
r. reigned
sect. section(s)
xi
xii
trad. traditional(ly)
transl. translation(s), translator(s),translate(d)
voles). volume(s)
z. zi':f: (courtesyname)
CONVENTIONS
Using the pinyin romanization, the Companion is organized alphabetically as a
Chinese-English encyclopedia, i.e. based on syllables which means Xisheng
comes beforeXiangshan. Cross-referencesare markedinboldcapitals.
A reference to The Changes mayor may not include The Ten Wings.
When required, a more specific reference is used. A bold numeral in brackets
referto ahexagram intheorderinwhich itappears inthe received editionofThe
Changes, e.g. [15] refers tohexagram no. 15 Qian. This maybe areferenceto the
hexagram figure or to the texts accompanying the figure or to both. When
required, a more specific reference to the texts is used: [15.0] refers to the text
accompanyingthe hexagram figure, the so-called Deciding Remarks (see TUAN
CI). [15.1], [15.2], [15.3], etc. referto the texts accompanying the individual lines
of the hexagram, The Line Remarks (see YAO CI; note that the lines of a
hexagram are traditionally counted from bottom up). TUAN 15 refers to The
Commentary on the Decision (see TUAN ZHUAN), which is a commentary on
[15.0], The Deciding Remarks. XIANG 15 refers to The Commentary on the
Great Images (see XIANG ZHUAN, def. 1), which is also a commentary on
[15.0], The Deciding Remarks. XIANG 15.1, XIANG 15.2, XIANG 15.3, etc. refer
to The Commentary on the Small Images (see XIANG ZHUAN, def. 1), which
arecommentarieson [15.1], [15.2], [15.3], etc., i.e.TheLineRemarks.
Entries listed under the names ofthe 64 hexagrams are followed bythe
relevant hexagram figure and two numerals separatedby aslash, e.g. BI ..,::::,
Hexagram no. 22/14. The former number refers to the order in which the
hexagram appears in the received edition while the latter indicates the
hexagram's number in the sequence ofthe silk manuscript edition (see BOSHU
YI).
The bibliography includes a list ofthe abbreviations used in the bio
bibliographical entries. References to some traditional Chinese sources may be a
littlecumbersome. This isespeciallythe casewiththeJingdian shiwenandJing
yi kao where the reference is made to number of volume, number ofjuan
(chapter),numberofpage,andthe lettersAandB indicateversoandrecto, e.g. a
referencetoJingyikao, vol. 1,chapter 14, page 3recto is written [JYK 1:14/3B].
Xlll
XIV
All references to the silkmanuscriptofTheChangesareto Shaughnessy(l996a)
which has both the Chinese text and, of course, the English translation
(translations ofthe silkmanuscriptare myown).
INTRODUCTION
Evolving from atradition dating back more than 3000 years, the Yijing, known
to us in the West as The Book of Changes (or just The Changes), found its
presentform some 1800years ago. Ithas longbeenrecognized thatThe Changes
divides into two parts which are separated in time by at least 3-400 years. The
older part consists of64 short sections or paragraphs each headed by a so-called
hexagram-a figure consisting ofsixhorizontal lines, solid or broken, placed on
top of each other-whereas the younger part is composed of commentaries,
glosses, and essays collectively known as the Ten Wings. The commentary
tradition dates back to the centuries preceding the Christian era, and literally
hundreds of commentaries and studies have been written over the centuries.
Todaymostofthese are lost.
The early translations of The Changes into Western languages-Latin,
French, and English-were based on commentaries and interpretations of a
handful of influential scholars of the Song dynasty (960-1279), most notably
Cheng Yi (1033-1107) and Zhu Xi (1130-1200). When translators encountered
difficultpassages in thetext, theysometimes-as in the case ofJames Legge, the
great 19th century translator ofthe Chinese classics-translated the paraphrases
ofthe commentaries instead. The original meaning ofThe Changes lay buried
beneath layers ofmainly Confucian interpretation, and the sinologist ofthe 19th
centurysimplywas notequippedto penetratethese layers.
However, at the very end ofthe century, in 1899, the discovery ofthe
so-called oracle-bones of the late Shang dynasty (12th to lIth century BCE)
changed the field ofSinology. These animal bones had been used for divination
and were inscribed with the most ancient known forms ofChinese characters. It
was Wang Yirong who in 1899 realized that the characters ofthese inscriptions
were the predecessors of those found on bronze vessels of the Western Zhou
dynasty (1040s - 771 BCE). Wang died the year after, and some of the most
important collections oforacle-bone inscriptions were published by Luo Zhenyu
(1868-1940) between 1912and 1916. Luo also publishedan important collection
of bronze inscriptions in 1937. Studies ofthese inscriptions first ofall led to a
deeperunderstandingofthe language oftheearly Zhou dynasty, the pre-classical
Chinese, which is the language ofthe older part of The Changes. In the West
these studies were pioneered by the Swedish linguist Bernhard Karlgren whose
xv
