HU Yuan's Thought on Yi Based on His Vision of the Confucian Classics Studies

HU Yuan (993-1059),who was in the transition of the academic trend from the Han (206BCE-200CE) and Tang (618-907) style of the Confucian Classics studies to the establishment of the Song (960-1279) and Ming (1368-1644) Neo-Confucianism,extended his unique understanding of the Zhouyi from his vision of the Confucian Classics studies. In his opinion,the Zhouyi is a classic which helps the sages and kings commerce with heaven and peacefully rule the world under heaven,so it is the head book for the kings' governance. This classic communicates with heaven above and human and things below,manifesting its grandiose dimension,fundamental aims and purpose,as well as profound implication of extremely exposing the profoundity of heaven and earth,and fully develop humanity from the beginning to the end. The Zhouyi communicates with the heaven above for two subjects:sage and king. The former is considered from the aspect of significance of integrity and the latter from the position governing the world under heaven. What the Zhouyi focuses on is the ought-to-be self-consciousness of value and sense of responsibility under the consciousness of the holistic world under heaven from the sages who accord to and communicate with the transcendent heaven. The Zhouyi stresses communicating with heaven and values the Dao of sage-king to guide human life and ruling of the world under heaven. In short,the Dao of king stressed by the sages is but the Dao (Way) of rites-music and punishment-governance deduced from the Dao of heaven. The above-mentioned HU Yuan's understanding not only embodies the in-depth historical and cultural contextual influence of the rites-music culture of the Han and Tang tradition upon him,but also manifests the scholar-bureaucrats' consciousness of the sense of new cultural subjects and the sense of subject guiding the world under heaven to peace.