Dasan Jeong Yag-yong's criticism on the Taoistic interpretation of the Yijing
In this paper, I dealt with Dasan(茶山) Jeong Yag-yong(丁若鏞)'s criticism on the Taoistic interpretation of the Yijing(易經). Although there were several other scholars who mad ...
Dasan Jeong Yag-yong's criticism on the Taoistic interpretation of the Yijing
In this paper, I dealt with Dasan(茶山) Jeong Yag-yong(丁若鏞)'s criticism on the Taoistic interpretation of the Yijing(易經). Although there were several other scholars who made a Taoistic interpretation of the Yijing, Wang Bi(王弼) is particularly important because he is the person who, for the first time, made the Taoistic interpretation on the Book of Change. In almost every aspect regarding Yijing, Dasan's standpoint is diametrically opposed to Wang Bi's viewpoint. Dasan who was outspokenly critical of Wang Bi's philosophy, thought that Wang Bi deviated too far from the right path of the orthodox Confucianism. He maintained that Wang Bi had ignored the significance of xiang(象: the image) although it was an indispensible element for deciphering the meanings of the hexagram statement. It is particularly regrettable that Wang Bi's disregard of xiang lead to the abandonment of the various interpretive skills which belonged to the Xiangshu School of the Han period, such as huti(互体), guaqi(卦氣), guabian(卦變), najia(納甲) theory. Instead, he replaced them with the theory of Xuanxue(玄學, Dark Learning School). However, from Dasan's point of view, such removal of Xiangshu interpretive methods did nothing but the harm to the history of the Yijing. He considered Han's Xiangshu methods to be the precious legacies handed down from the earliest period related to the Yijing. In addition, Dasan reproached Xuanxue(玄學)'s ontological view that the nonexistence should be regarded as the source of every existence. Evidently, it is none other than Wang Bi who initiated such Taoistic interpretation. Afterwards, Han Kang-bo(韓康伯), who had much admired Wang Bi, finally completed the annotation of the Ten Wings(十翼, Shi Yi) unfinished by Wang Bi. Although Kong Ying-da(孔穎達) attached much importance to Wang Bi and Han Kang-bo compiling the Zhouyi Zhengyi(周易正義, The Rectifications of Meanings of Zhouyi), Dasan severely reproached Kong Ying-da for giving consent to their authority. But if one goes back to the origin of this syncretic ideology, it is sure that Wang Bi should be more blamed for initiating such a tendency. As a natural consequence, Dasan, who was firmly determined to remain faithful to the orthodox Confucianism, attempted to revert to the pristine message of the Yijing by criticizing Wang Bi and his successors.
* Key Words : Dasan, Jeong Yag-yong, Yijing, Wang Bi, xiang, Xuanxue, Han Kang-bo, Kong Ying-da, Xiangshu