Zhuang Zi and Yi Zhuan are writings of Confucianism and Taoism representing works from the Age of Civil Wars to Early Han Dynasty. Recently, there theories that Yi Zhuan (易傳 Changes) has been written by Lao-Zhuang has been on the rise. This articl...
Zhuang Zi and Yi Zhuan are writings of Confucianism and Taoism representing works from the Age of Civil Wars to Early Han Dynasty. Recently, there theories that Yi Zhuan (易傳 Changes) has been written by Lao-Zhuang has been on the rise. This article critically contemplates this theory from the perspective of Yin-Yang Philosophy, and compares the Yin-Yang Theory with Yi Zhuan, as well as analyzing their features. In Yi-Zhuan, it views Yin-Yang itself as the enlightenment, and constructs the metaphysics based on the Yin-Yang Philosophy. Zhuang Zi alludes to the Yin-Yang as the principle, which explains the movement changes of phenomenal world; however, the notion of enlightenment transcending the Yin-Yang Philosophy is postulated as the ultimate noumenon, and regards it as the ideology of Zhuang Zi Philosophy. Although they influence one another in comparisons of Yin-Yang theories in Zhuang Zi and Yi Zhuan, they can be identified; Zhuang Zi and Yi Zhuan has different critical minds of philosophy, therefore the statement that the Yin-Yang Philosophy in Yi Zhuan derived from Zhuang Zi cannot be established. The Yin-Yang theory illuminating the origin and movement of an object derives from the structure of 64 gua (卦), 384 yao (爻) from Yi Ching (卦爻 Classics of Change), and further revivification is impossible in Yi Ching itself. On the other hand, the question of enlightenment is sought out as a transcendental universal exceeding beyond the differentiation of Yin and Yang. This signifies the legacy of theory of metaphysical noumenon in Taoism that exceeds reality to inquire the question of ultimate origin.