Wang Bi was born in 226 AD (the seventh year of Wei Wendi) and died in 249 AD (the first year of Qiwei Jiaping). During the Three Kingdoms period, he was a native of Shanyang County (now Jinxiang County, Shandong Province), a scholar and philosopher, and one of the main representatives and founders of metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties. Wang Bi is "young and wise, in his teens, a nice guy and eloquent." Wang Bi is Shang Shulang. Teenagers have a literary name, and their works mainly include Laozi's Annotation, Laozi's Annotation, Zhouyi Annotation and Zhouyi Example. Among them, A Brief Introduction to Laozi and A Brief Introduction to Zhouyi are Wang Bi's overall analysis of Laozi and Zhouyi. Because the original text of the Tao Te Ching has been lost, there is only Wang Bi's Notes on the Tao Te Ching in this book until 1973 when China discovered the original text of the Tao Te Ching in Mawangdui. He advocates metaphysics, talks with Kan Kan, is on par with Yanhe and Xia Houxuan, and is arrogant. "He laughed at people with his strengths, so he was ill by the gentleman." . Wang Bi is a friend of Zhong Hui, Yan He and others. In the autumn of the first ten years (249), he died of boils at the age of 24, leaving a wife and a daughter.

Wang Bi was born in a bureaucratic family. His great-grandfather was Liu Biao, one of the "eight handsome men" in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and he was a shepherd in Jingzhou. According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Biography of Shu Wei Zhong Hui, Natural History, Textual Research of Names and Biography of Wang Bi, in the chaos in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Bi's grandfather and his younger brother Wang Shen avoided Jingzhou and took refuge in Liu Biao, who valued him. I want to marry my wife, but I don't think her appearance is ugly. I am not a son-in-law, so I will marry her to Wang Kai. Kay is very stylish. Where there is a career, there is a career. Bi is the great-grandson of Liu Biao.

In the 22nd year of Jian 'an (2 17), RoyceWong collected Sun Quan from Cao Cao, died of illness, and his second son was executed. Wang Ye became the heir after his death. RoyceWong became Wang Bi's stepfather again.

RoyceWong is a famous litterateur, one of the "seven sons of Jian 'an", with outstanding talent and fame as a teenager. When he arrived in Chang 'an at the age of fourteen, he was treated by Cai Yong, a famous writer and scholar, and gave RoyceWong thousands of letters from home. The books filled with several cars will later be owned by Wang Ye.

This provided extremely favorable conditions for Wang Bi's growth.

Wang Bi's family style also has a great influence on his growth. The sixth ancestor, the maharaja, is famous all over the world, and the official is Qiu, ranking "three public"; Wang Chang, the fifth ancestor, was one of the "eight handsome men" at the end of the Han Dynasty, with an ordinary official position and was also listed as "three fairs"; His father's official career, official career, and his stepfather RoyceWong's literary status will all have a great favorable influence on Wang Bi's growth.

Wang Bi is "young and wise, in his teens, a nice guy and eloquent."

Yanhe once lamented: "Zhong Ni said that the afterlife is awesome, and being a man can talk to the sky!" (Biography of the Three Kingdoms Wei Zhi Zhong Hui, Pei quoted from He Shao's Biography of Wang Bi) According to He Shao's Biography of Wang Bi, when Wang Bi was in his teens, he was a "good old man, eloquent." He once debated with many celebrities at that time on various issues, and won the appreciation of celebrities at that time with the concept of "when he got something, he couldn't take it away".

Wang Bi is arrogant and "laughs at people's strengths, so they are sick by gentlemen". At first, it was General Cao Shuang and Wang Bi.

Ten years ago (249), Cao Shuang was killed and Wang Bi was involved in dereliction of duty. In the autumn of the same year, he died of boils at the age of 24.

Academic Contribution Wang Bi's life is short, but his academic achievements are outstanding. He is the author of Laozi's Annotation, Laozi's Annotation, Zhouyi's Annotation, Zhouyi's Simple Examples, Interpretation of the Analects of Confucius, Zhouyi's Debate, Zhouyi's Poor Debate and Yi Debate. But its achievement lies not in the number of works, but in the quality and originality. His Annotation to the Book of Changes changed the traditional * * *, interpreted the Book of Changes with Laozi's thoughts, and expounded his own philosophical views, thus creating a new academic trend-"the beginning of metaphysics". Wang Bi's view of Yi-ology has a huge system and rich contents.

Based on Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi, Wang Bi established a metaphysical philosophy with complete system and abstract thinking. His critical research on metaphysics of Yi-ology swept away the pedantic style of study in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, and his new viewpoints and insights on ontology and epistemology had a far-reaching impact on the development of China's ideological history in the future. Mr. Wang Xiaoyi's evaluation is the strongest voice of Wang Bi in philosophy. "Although he passed like a meteor and only lived for 23 spring and autumn periods, he lit up the whole era with his incredible genius and wisdom, and pointed out the theoretical course of metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties." In the aspect of Yi-ology, Wang Bi's Yi Zhu has an important position and influence, and it is the representative of Taoist Yi Zhu. Wang Bi made an in-depth study on the number of objects in his annotation of the Book of Changes, and interpreted the Book of Changes from a speculative philosophical point of view. He made notes on the upper and lower chapters of the Classic, including six volumes; And add notes to classical Chinese, seal seal and elephant seal. As for cohesion, divination, virtual divination and miscellaneous divination, no bets will be made, and the Eastern Jin and Han Dynasties will continue to complete the annotation.

The contribution of Wang Bi's annotation of Yi lies in abandoning Fei's Confucian classics and making the study of image number a speculative philosophy. This is a leap in the research history of Yijing. * * * Explain the number of images in Yi, such as eight diagrams as the images of heaven, earth, thunder, wind, water, fire and mountains, horses as the meaning of health in Gan Gua, and cows as the meaning of shun in Kun Gua, etc.

Wang Bi pointed out in the Book of Changes: "Why bother if righteousness is healthy?" If the class goes well, why bother? Kun is married. Why do you want cows? Righteousness should be healthy. Why be a horse? "Criticize the mechanical explanation of object number science. He emphasized: "The husband is like a man, and he means it; "The speaker, like also. Do what you want, just like you said. " In other words, express your thoughts through images, express your thoughts through words and expressions, and explore Hyunri. In this way, it is a big step forward than the mechanical comparison method to explain Yi from the perspective of distinguishing words from meanings.

Secondly, Wang Bi studied the Book of Changes metaphysically from the standpoint of Taoism. The fundamental idea of metaphysics is "governing by doing nothing". Wang Bi said: "Tao has nothing to call, nothing to block, nothing to avoid, and the situation is called Tao. There is no body and no image in silence. " (Interpretation of The Analects of Confucius)

Wang Bi interprets Yi with the ontology of Taoism. For example, in Haiku, it is said that "Great efforts were made in the Yuan Dynasty, and everything began, which was the unification of heaven." Wang Bi notes the cloud: "Heaven is also famous; Those who are healthy also use shapes. If the husband is also in shape, things will be tired. It has the shape of heaven, but it can guarantee that it will never lose money. It is the best in the world, and the unification is not the healthiest! " He believes that "doing" means "living", and the tangible "heaven" is nothing more than the appearance of "living". Everything begins in heaven, and "unity" lies in "living" in the final analysis. "Health" is intangible and metaphysical.

In a word, Wang Bi replaced the tedious notes of predecessors with concise arguments, abandoned the study of image number and prophecy superstition with abstract thinking and semantic analysis, and created a new generation of Confucian classics. Scholars in Siku Library in Qing Dynasty commented: "The Book of Changes is a book of divination, so the last school was immersed in divination. Wang Bi used his extreme embarrassment to attack him, so he was able to learn Confucianism in verbal attacks and learn new things from himself. " (Summary of the General Catalogue of Zhouyi Justice in Sikuquanshu)

The concept of "nothing" in philosophy exists in the form of attribute concept in Wang Bi's analysis system, that is, "nothing" is a rhetoric about the attributes of "Tao" and "One"; Secondly, Wang Bi established his methodological principle of grasping Tao and righteousness in the distinction between "name" and "name" and "predicate". So far, through our analysis, we can further reflect on such a controversial issue in academic circles from Wang Bi's ontology thought: theoretically speaking, the first-level concept of Wang Bi's ontology analysis is "reason" of "unreasonable things" and "Sect" and "Yuan" of "unification with its Sect and unification with its Yuan". In other words, Wang Bi believes that Tao and One are the order of all things, and Tao is reason. As the foundation and foundation of everything, it is "Zong" and "Yuan". Therefore, Wang Bi's ontological thought is an ontological thought including theory and qi theory. The indescribable Tao mentioned by Wang Bi is precisely the connotation of establishing the theory of mind and nature of ontology in the process of cognition. Therefore, Wang Bi's ontological thought is a contemporary logical expansion of China's traditional analytical ontological thought, which embodies the "two in one" nature of China's ancient analytical ontological concept, that is, the unity of mind, reason and qi. Therefore, what "Tao" and "One" refer to is not the greatest abstraction, nor the cosmic phase of everything, but the authenticity of "Tao" and "One" should be understood in the structure of "Two in One". Ignoring the study of this thought leads to only seeing the shortcomings of Wang Bi's thought and not seeing the advantages of his thought; I only see the negativity of Wang Bi's thought, but I don't see the enthusiasm of Wang Bi's thought. From Wang Bi's way of argument, we can draw two important characteristics: First, the spirit of seeking truth from facts. From Wang Bi's discussion on the distinction between "name" and "name", we can see that Wang Bi's way of discussing problems is a method of conceptual analysis. The method he used is different from the inductive method of perceptual experience, but a rational logical method, a research method of seeking the reasons of things themselves in conceptual contradictions, that is, "arguing names and reasoning"; First, there is no "guardian" atmosphere of innovative spirit. On the premise of "debating names and reasoning" and pursuing "reasoning", Wang Bi did not flaunt his academic attributes in the process of choosing cultural resources left by the sages, but consciously expounded his creative academic views in combination with practical problems faced in real life. Therefore, the definition of "new Taoism" in Wang Bi's thought and even in the period of "metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties" is unreasonable. In practical sense, the purpose of Wang Bi's ontological thought is to serve the "inaction" politics of "respecting the interests at the end of the book" and "saving the mother and guarding it". Wang Bi said in "An Old Man's Guide": "What is the evil of a husband? What is the function of prostitution and what is the creation of prostitutes? Therefore, laziness and evil care about honesty, not good observation; It's about going to China, not a chapter ... so don't attack it and make it unintentional; Don't hurt their desires and make them unintentional. " (3P 198) It can be seen that Wang Bi believes that the avoidance of lewdness lies in the fundamental elimination, and vice versa means the rational use of benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom under the restriction of "Tao". Therefore, the fundamental position of Wang Bi's "inaction" politics is not negative, but positive. On the contrary, those so-called positive and promising political positions at that time were really negative because they were not established under the restriction of "Tao" and were a formal application of benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom.

To sum up, the fundamental direction of Wang Bi's ontological thought is the real existence of Tao, whether in theoretical sense, research method or practical significance. Then, we think that the generalization of Wang Bi's ontological thought of "whatever you are" is not a reasonable expression. Second, Wang Bi's methodology and political philosophy

In methodology, Wang Bi inherited Laozi's dialectical thought, and was good at using opposing concepts and methods of distinguishing names and reasoning to explain problems. Please look at his application and explanation of the concepts of unity of opposites, such as being and being, motion and static, one and many.

In order to demonstrate the political proposition of "governing the people with a monarch", Wang Bi demonstrated the inevitability of "governing the people with less" and "governing the people with unity" with a one-to-many relationship. He said: "All things are shaped and belong to one. What is the reason? Because there is nothing. None is one, and one is none. " (Note to Chapter 42 of Laozi) We call "one" and "nothing" as "one", and "one" is "nothing", which is the origin and destination of all things and naturally becomes the commander-in-chief of all things. He also said: "first, the number is at the beginning, and the extremes will be reversed. Each is the life of one thing, so it is the main thing. " (Note to Chapter 39 of Laozi) That is to say, "One" is the beginning of numbers and the extreme of things, so it is the master of all things. One is more of a master-slave relationship.

Wang Bi's demonstration of the one-to-many relationship in the universe aims at eliciting the truth of "governing the public with fewer people" and "governing the people with monarch" in social affairs. He said: "Zong, the Lord of all things; Jun, the Lord of all things. " ("Lao Zi" Chapter 70 Note) "So, everything is born, and I know its owner. Although there are various shapes, they are full of enthusiasm. The people have their hearts, the state has its differences, and the princes have their masters. Give priority to one, what can I give up? " (Note to Chapter 42 of Laozi) Wang Bi believes that "giving priority to one" is the only principle and universal law in the universe, and the people must be unified with the monarch.

He said: "husbands can't rule the people, and even a few people rule the people." ..... So many people are salty because the Lord will give them one. ..... Nothing is fake, it must be managed by it. There are sects in the system and molecules in the meeting, so it is complicated but not chaotic, and the masses are not chaotic ... So, it is found from the system. Although there are many things, you know that you can hold a royal family; From this point of view, although righteousness is rich, it can be cited. " Based on this, Wang Bi demonstrated the rationality and inevitability of "governing the people with a monarch" and "unifying the masses" and the supremacy of absolute monarchy.

In order to demonstrate the thought of "governing by doing nothing", Wang Bi grasped the two opposing concepts of "static" and "dynamic" and gave them full play. It is believed that "governing by doing nothing" is based on "quietness" and aims at action in the dynamic-static relationship. He said: "Everything starts in the air and moves in the static. Therefore, although everything is in step, it is extremely embarrassing to die silently. " ("Lao Zi" Chapter 16 Note) "If you move your breath, it will be quiet, but it will be incorrect; Words are silent, and silence is not for the speaker. However, although the world is big and everything is full, thunder is popular, moving and silent. " (Note to the Book of Changes) "Quietness is the truth of all things, and impatience is the nature of all things." (Note to Chapter 45 of Laozi) Wang Bi described Jing as absolute; It is relative to say that action is the purpose, but it leads to his political thoughts of "braking with quietness", "governing the country with quietness" and "governing by inaction". Wang Bi believes that everything in the world is governed by inaction, which is natural and inaction, and governing society should also conform to nature and govern by inaction.

He said: "Everything is based on nature, so it can't be done, it can be passed on but not implemented." (Note to Chapter 29 of Laozi) The same is true of society. Uneven length and grade are "natural qualities" and do not need artificial transformation. "If you succeed, you lose." (ditto) He said: "Nature has its own qualities, and the short ones are insufficient, and the elderly are insufficient. What are the gains and losses? " (Note on the Lost Book of Changes)

In Wang Bi's view, compared with Taoism, the theory of "rule by man" of Confucianism, Mohism, Ming and Legalism is that "ruling the country by deeds" is "abandoning the mother and using the son", "abandoning the root and driving out the end", "naming things by name" (note in Chapter 32 of Laozi) and "controlling things by power" (Article 17 of Laozi) Therefore, sage wisdom is absolutely superior to sage merit, and benevolence abandons it. "("slightly of Lao zi ")

Third, Wang Bi's epistemology.

Wang Bi believes that the noumenon of things can be understood, and so can the sage's way of governing the country. The universe itself is invisible and nameless "neither palace nor business nor temperature nor cold"; Sage ruling the world is the result of "body way", so he is neither partial nor natural. Although Tao is indescribable and indescribable, it helps all things with invisible inaction among all things. Politically, respecting the essence (Tao) is a concrete understanding and application of natural laws (Tao).

Wang Bi's epistemology is mainly manifested in his exposition of the relationship among the three concepts of "meaning", "image" and "speech" in Zhouyi. The so-called "speech" refers to the interpretation and rhetoric of hexagrams; "Elephant" refers to divinatory symbols; "Yi" is an idea expressed by divinatory symbols, that is, righteousness.

Wang Bi pointed out that "speech", "image" and "meaning" are the relationship between progressive expression and being expressed. We can know "image" through "words"; We can know "meaning" through "image". But if you understand the meaning, don't cling to the image; If you understand hexagrams, don't be obsessed with words.

Wang Bi believes that if you stick to "words", you can't get "images". That "word" does not come from "image", but can explain "image". If you persist in "image", you will not get "meaning", that is, "image" does not come from "meaning" and can explain "meaning". Therefore, Wang Bi believes that only by not clinging to "words" can we get "images" and only by not clinging to "images" can we get "meaning".

In a word, Wang Bi's cognitive logic is: "speech" is born of "image" and explains "image"; "Image" comes from "meaning" and explains "meaning". To get meaning, we must rely on words and images, but we can't stick to words and images. If you cling to "words" and "images", you will not get "meaning". Only by not clinging to "words" and "images" can we get "meaning". Since the meaning of divination (the meaning of sage) can be understood, so can the ontology "Tao" of the world. Because "sage's ambition" is the embodiment of "Tao" in society, that is, the way of managing the world by natural inaction.

Later generations influenced Wang Bi's annotation of Yi, which was unconventional, and some people criticized it, such as Xun Rong's refutation of Wang Bi's Da Tuo. In this regard, he replied: "Fu Ming is enough to discover the most subtle, not the essence."

Because most metaphysical scholars stand on the opposite side of Sima Group, they are bound to be hit. Wang Bi's annotation "Yi" was not included in scholars at first, but only circulated among the people, and was favored by metaphysics scholars later. According to Southern Qi Lu Cheng's "With Wang Jianshu": "At the beginning of the founding of Yuanjia, (Zheng) announced and (Wang) stood side by side. Arrested as a wine offering, Zheng (Xuan) was made king (Bi), which meant that Xuan (learning) was expensive and Confucianism (Nanqi Lu Chengchuan) succeeded or failed. " This shows that in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Wang Bi's metaphysics has replaced Zheng Xuan's Confucian classics.

Wang Bi's nobleness had a great influence on Neo-Confucianism in the late Song and Ming Dynasties, and his metaphysics also played an important role in the China and localization of Buddhism. His thinking method of "getting carried away" also had a certain influence on China's ancient artistic theories such as poetry, painting and calligraphy.

Bibliologists and philosophers in the Three Kingdoms and Wei Dynasties. Word auxiliary heir. Gao Ping (now Jining, Shandong Province) from Shanyang County. The History of the Three Kingdoms says that he is "young and wise, weak and famous, and his words are easy to distinguish". He used to be a businessman and died at the age of 24. Grandfather RoyceWong got more than 6,000 books from Cai Yong, which accumulated to more than 10000, enabling him to read all the books. Liu Biao married his wife. Wang Shen had many books. After Wang Shen's death, his books were transferred to Wang Ye. So Wang Bi read widely when he was young. Lu Bi, a modern scholar, analyzed in the Collection of the Records of the Three Kingdoms: "When Wang Bi was just weak, he was a master of Confucian classics ... He collected thousands of books, and he went to Wang Bi's place. Wang Bi read a lot of books and learned a lot, so he came by himself." He is the author of Laozi's Notes, Laozi's Notes, Zhouyi's Notes, Zhouyi's Simple Examples and Interpretation of the Analects of Confucius.