• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• v.129
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• pp.1-22
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• 2014

Columns 12-18 record a conversation between an aged Confucius and his disciple Zi Gong concerning the Changes and especially the role of divination in its use. The last section, from the bottom of column 24, concerns the hexagrams Sun損, "Decrease," and Yi益, "Increase," which Confucius is here made to regard as the culmination of wisdom in the Zhouyi. The conversation between Confucius and Zi Gong, and especially Zi Gong's apparent misunderstanding of Confucius's interest in the text, has already attracted considerable scholarly interest. Zi Gong criticizes Confucius for changing his teaching about the importance of the Zhouyi and for performing divinations. Confucius responds that while he does indeed perform divinations. there is a major difference between his use of the text and that of others: he regards the I Ching as a repository of an ancient wisdom. This would seem to signal recognition of a dramatic change in the function and status of the text. Zi Gong said: "Does the Master also believe in milfoil divination?" The Master said: "I am right in only seventy out of one hundred prognostications. Even with the prognostications of Liangshan of Zhou one necessarily follows it most of the time and no more." The Master said: "As for the Changes, I do indeed put its prayers and divinations last, only observing its virtue and property. Intuiting the commendations to reach the number, and understanding the number to reach virtue, is to have humaneness and to put it into motion properly. If the commendation do not lead to the number, then merely acts as a magician; if the number does not lead to virtue, then one merely acts as a scribe. The divinations of scribes and magicians tend toward it but are not yet there; delight in it but are not correct. Perhaps it will be because of the Changes that sires of later generations will doubt me. I seek its virtue and nothing more. I am on the same road as the scribes and magicians but end up differently. The conduct of the gentleman's virtue is to seek blessings; that is why he sacrifices, but little; the righteousness of his humaneness is to seek auspiciousness; that is why he divines, but rarely. Do not the divinations of priest and magicians come last!" Although Confucius says two ways of the symbolic numbers and virtue-property, he emphasizes his way of virtue and property more important. In fact he who wrote in Yao 要, "essentials," Confucius's saying describes his own viewpoints of the Changes throughout the conversations between Confucius and his disciple Zi Gong, and is only to borrow the name of Confucius. Furthermore, quoting the original text in Yao 要, "essentials," in sequence, also comparing the materials of "the Analects of Confucius論語," with "the Shih chi史記," this thesis will be centered to a great extent on the relative similarity and differences between the Mawangdui Boshu Zhouyi Manuscript and the received text, and discussed the authencity of Yao 要, "essentials," of the contents shown in the chapter of 'Confucius became aged, and liked "The Book of Changes."' the relation of Confucius and the Changes will be clarified naturally through this progress.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.30
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• pp.161-190
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• 2010

In Shanghaibochujian-ZhouYi, there are a few special signs in red and black that had never been found in previous ZhouYi texts. Pu Mao Zuo (?茅左), who first sorted out Shanghaibochujian-ZhouYi, classified the signs into six types and explained them in terms of Yin-Yang theory. On the other hand, Li Shang Xin (李尙信) classified the signs into seven types and argued that these signs show that the order of the hexagrams(卦序) in Shanghaibochujian-ZhouYi is completely identical with that of the current version of ZhouYi. Edward L. Shaughnessy also conjectured that the order of the hexagrams(卦序) of Shanghaibochujian-ZhouYi is identical with that of the current version of Zhouyi after his material analysis of the Bamboo slips(竹簡) substance. Kondo Hiroyuki (近藤浩之) is based his interpretation of the order of the hexagrams(卦序) on his own classification of the signs which identified nine types. All these opinions contain some problems and given that the number of the Bamboo slips(竹簡) are very limited, we have to be very careful when we draw a conclusion. Shanghaibochujian-ZhouYi's signs can be possible when we suppose a 64-hexagrams(64卦) system instead of the 8-trigrams(8卦) system, which demands a reexamination of the common view that the 8-trigrams system preceded the 64-hexagrams system.