Wang Bi
Beneath all the things that exist lies non-being, the empty root from which they come – and words should be dropped once their meaning is grasped.
Placement
Prodigy of “Dark Learning” (xuanxue) who died at 23: his commentaries on the Laozi and the Book of Changes make non-being (wu) the root of all that is.
Key ideas
- Non-being as root (benwu)
- Forgetting words once the meaning is grasped
- Confucius as embodiment of non-being
Influence
Influenced by 2
Laozi
influenced by
Wang Bi’s commentary on the Laozi and his Outline of its Subtle Points read the Way as non-being (wu), the root from which all beings arise. Wang Bi, Laozi zhu; Laozi weizhi lilüe; R. G. Wagner, A Chinese Reading of the Daodejing (2003); SEP “Wang Bi”
Evidence: AI draft
Laozi › legendary figure
Confucius
influenced by
Wang Bi commented on the Analects (Lunyu shiyi) and held that Confucius embodied non-being and therefore did not speak of it, whereas Laozi still had to. Wang Bi, Lunyu shiyi (fragments); Liu Yiqing, Shishuo xinyu; R. G. Wagner, The Craft of a Chinese Commentator (2000); SEP “Wang Bi”
Evidence: AI draft
Confucius › traditionally 551–479 BCE
Criticism
Criticized by 1
Guo Xiang
criticised by
Guo Xiang denied, against the view of nonbeing as the root associated with Wang Bi, that nonbeing can produce being: things arise of themselves (Commentary on the Zhuangzi). Guo Xiang, Zhuangzi zhu, on ch. 2; B. Ziporyn, The Penumbra Unbound, 2003; SEP “Neo-Daoism”
Evidence: AI draft
Guo Xiang › c. 252–312
Works
- c. 245Commentary on the Laozi
For centuries the standard commentary on the Daodejing: all beings arise from non-being, which itself cannot be named.
Position
Wang Bi was the leading mind of “Dark Learning” (xuanxue), which read the classics in the light of the Laozi and the Book of Changes. Behind all things, he argued, lies non-being (wu): not empty nothingness but the nameless, formless root that lets things be what they are without being one of them. Words convey images and images meaning, but once the meaning is grasped the words may be forgotten. Confucius, he said, embodied non-being and so did not speak of it, while Laozi still had to talk about it. Guo Xiang rejected non-being as root, but Wang’s commentary on the Changes became the standard one under the Tang.
Life & context
Wang Bi was born in 226 into a distinguished family of scholars in the state of Wei. As a teenager he impressed the leading intellectuals of the capital Luoyang, among them the statesman He Yan, who helped him to a minor court post. When He Yan’s patron Cao Shuang was overthrown in 249, Wang lost his office; he died of illness the same year, aged only 23.
Further main works
- Commentary on the Book of Changes (Zhouyi zhu, 240s)
- General Remarks on the Changes (Zhouyi lüeli, 240s)
- Outline Introduction to the Laozi (Laozi zhilüe, 240s)
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