A philological study of the excavated texts of Zhouyi included in the third volume of the compilation of Warring States Chu bamboo slips housed at the Shanghai Museum = "Shanghai bo wu guan cang Zhan guo Chu zhu shu (san), zhou yi" cong kao

Abstract

Since the antiquity, the Book of Change (Zhouyi 周易) has been praised as the leading scripture among the five classics (with the Book of Documents [Shangshu 尚書], the Book of Odes [Shijing 詩經], the Spring and Autumn Annals [Chunqiu 春秋], and the Book of Rites [Liji 禮記]), and the supreme dao of the three mysteries (with Laozi 老子 and Zhuangzi 莊子). However, its guayaoci 卦爻辭 (general and line judgments of the hexagrams) are not only recondite but also proliferate with conflicting exegeses that lead nowhere. Fortunately, multiple early manuscripts of the Book of Change, including those from the Mawangdui 馬王堆 silk texts, the Fuyang 阜陽 bamboo slips, and the Chu 楚 bamboo slips housed at the Shanghai Museum, were excavated over the past forty years. These, combined with other related archaeological findings, found the basis for a scrupulous reading of the guayaoci. I attempt to compare the Shanghai Museum manuscript, which is the earliest extant copy of the Book of Change, with the traditional editions and other excavated copies to arrive at a reasoned exposition based on previous interpretation and through manifold research methods such as philology, textual criticism and theosophy. The present thesis examines seven guyaoci from seven hexagrams: 1 “li yong qin fa 利用侵伐” of the fifth line of qian 謙; 2 “bu fu yi qi lin 不富以其鄰” of the fifth line of qian 謙 and the fourth line of tai 泰, and “fu yi qi lin 富以其鄰” of the fifth line of xiaochu 小畜; 3 the naming of wuwang 无妄 and its meaning; 4 “wuwang zhi ji, wu yao you xi 无妄之疾，勿藥有喜” of the fifth line of wuwang 无妄; 5 “he tian zhi qu 何天之衢” of the sixth line of dachu 大畜; 6 “lu suosuo, si qi suo qu zai 旅瑣瑣，斯其所取災” of the first line of lu 旅; and finally 7 “ru you yiru 繻有衣袽” of the fourth line of jiji 既濟.