Zhōuyì zǒng yì 周易總義
General Meanings of the Zhōuyì
by 易祓 Yì Fú (撰), zì Yànzhāng 彥章, hào Shānzhāi 山齋, fl. 1184–c. 1240, of Tánzhōu Níngxiāng 潭州寧鄉, modern Hunan; zhuàngyuán / first-place jìnshì of Chúnxī 11 / 1184; reached Zuǒsī jiàn 左司諫, demoted and died in exile after the fall of 蘇師旦 Sū Shīdàn in 1207
About the work
A twenty-juan Yì-commentary by Yì Fú — first-place jìnshì of the Chúnxī 11 (1184) Imperial Academy shàngshè graduation, who rose under Níngzōng to Zuǒsī jiàn 左司諫 (Left Remonstrance Officer) before being caught in the political collapse of Sū Shīdàn (韓侂胄 Hán Tuòzhòu’s adherent, executed 1207) and demoted to die in exile. The work was composed across more than two decades of mature scholarly attention; the disciple 陳章 Chén Zhāng’s preface (Shàodìng wùzǐ / 1228, fourth month, first day) records that Yì Fú “spent more than twenty years” working on it after his initial jīngyán 經筵 (imperial-classroom) lectures on the Yì.
The work’s structural innovation is signaled by the title Zǒng yì 總義 (“General-Meaning”). Each hexagram is opened with a synoptic discussion (zǒng lùn 總論) gathering the meaning of the hexagram-and-its-six-lines as a unity; below this, the six lines are then individually commented. The methodology bridges yìlǐ and xiàngshù, “harmonizing the various sayings” (zhézhōng zhòng shuō 折衷衆說) — Yì Fú’s program is explicitly synthetic.
The opening doctrinal formulas (preserved in Chén Zhāng’s preface, where Yì Fú had instructed students):
The Great Yì is the controller of the primal qi (Dà yì zhě, yuánqì zhī guǎnxiá yě 大易者元氣之管轄也). The sage is the balance-and-weight of the Great Yì (Shèngrén zhě, dà yì zhī quánhéng yě 聖人者大易之權衡也).
This is a self-consciously cosmological-and-anthropological framing: the Yì-Way governs the natural-cosmic order; the sage governs (by quánhéng, weighing-and-balancing) the Yì’s application to human-affairs. Chén Zhāng adds: Yì Fú especially elucidated this principle in his treatment of Qián and Kūn — Qián progresses from yuán through to zhēn, Kūn from yuán returns to yuán — “this is why the Way of Heaven flows ceaselessly”; with this, Yì Fú had “silently realized” 周敦頤 Zhōu Dūnyí’s formula yuán hēng — chéng zhī tōng yě, lì zhēn — chéng zhī fù yě 元亨誠之通也，利貞誠之復也.
A companion four-juan Yì xué jǔyú 易學舉隅 (“Selected Cornerings of Yì-Studies”) gathered the imagery-and-numerology dimensions in chart-and-discussion form, explicitly designed as a parallel reference to the Zǒng yì. The Jǔyú is no longer extant in independent transmission. Yì Fú also composed a Zhōulǐ zǒngyì 周禮總義 — methodologically parallel — which survives in Yǒnglè dàdiǎn citations.
Reception:
The Sìkù tiyao registers a sharp tension between Yì Fú-the-man and Yì Fú-the-scholar. The man’s biographical record — per 周密 Zhōu Mì’s Qídōng yěyǔ 齊東野語 — is unflattering: “[Yì Fú] flattered Sū Shīdàn obsequiously; from Sīyè (Vice-Director of the Imperial Academy) he leapt by promotion to Zuǒsī jiàn*; after [Sū] Shīdàn’s fall, he was demoted and died.*” The tiyao glosses: “The Guǎngé xùlù records only his entry into and departure from the [Imperial Library] institute; what [Zhōu] Mì records is his ultimate fate. Yì Fú the man does not deserve weight, and his book is also not much transmitted in the world; therefore 朱彝尊 Zhū Yízūn’s Jīngyì kǎo notes ‘not seen.‘”
But the work itself is judged substantively valuable: “his discussion of the Yì bridges principle-and-numerology, harmonizes the various sayings; for each hexagram he first encapsulates [the meaning] as a zǒng lùn*, then beneath the six lines provides individual glosses; on the canonical meaning he is genuinely much-clarifying. With 耿南仲 Gěng Nánzhòng’s* Xīn jiǎngyì (KR1a0028), [the work] cannot be discarded on account of the man.” The methodological principle invoked — bù kě yǐ rén fèi yán 未可以人廢言 (“one cannot discard a saying because of the man”) — is the Sìkù editors’ explicit policy for cases of moral-political tarnish.
The Yuán-Sòng-transition poet 樂雷發 Yuè Léifā wrote a “Visiting Shānzhāi” 謁山齋詩 — the Sòng-period documentation of the work’s continued reception:
Chúnxī’s people-and-things reach into Jiāxī [1237–1240]; I am told even Master Shānzhāi has gone white-bearded; finely chewing plum-blossom while reading the Zǒng yì — the only one who truly knows him is the Old-Man Jī [Duke of Zhōu / King Wén].
Yuè Léifā’s Jiāxī-era visit confirms Yì Fú was still alive in his eighties around 1237–1240.
The Sìkù base-text opens with an Imperial Topic-Poem by the 弘曆 Qiánlóng Emperor — Yù tí Yì Fú Zhōuyì zǒng yì bā yùn 御題易祓周易總義八韻 — eight-rhymed five-character lines. Qiánlóng’s verdict (translated): “Chángshā [Yì Fú] composed the Zǒng yì*, observing imagery and savoring wording, the seal-and-token threading-through; the various schools’ meaning-glosses penetrate the Ten Wings, propping up the human heart that is itself the heaven-and-earth* Yì*-principle. The display-pattern is much disputatious; in seeking refinement it strays back into coarseness; this is not what is meant by ‘this’ — joy and meeting [success] both attack divergent things. Briefly looking at the twenty juan, [I find them] decidedly admirable. Each defect lacks an articulated [doctrine] yet remains balanced-and-correct; not yet broadly disseminated. If he says nothing he loves [it] — how could one entirely set [it] aside?*” The imperial verdict is mixed but ultimately preservation-favoring.
The composition window 1200–1228 reflects: Yì Fú’s Qìngyuán 6 (1200) jīngyán lectures and post-1207 demotion-and-exile years (during which the long retreat made the twenty-year scholarly project possible); Chén Zhāng’s 1228 preface as the firm terminus.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that Zhōuyì zǒng yì in twenty juan was composed by Yì Fú of the Sòng. The NánSòng guǎngé xùlù records that Yì Fú, zì Yànzhāng, a man of Tánzhōu Níngxiāng, in Chúnxī 11 [1184] was Shàngshè shìhè chūshēn (Imperial Academy upper-residence graduation entry-rank); in Qìngyuán 6 [1200] eighth month was appointed Zhuózuò láng 著作郎 (Drafter); ninth month, Zhī Jiāngzhōu 知江州 (Magistrate of Jiāngzhōu).
Zhōu Mì’s Qídōng yěyǔ records that he flattered-and-served Sū Shīdàn obsequiously; from Sīyè he leapt by promotion to Zuǒsī jiàn; after [Sū] Shīdàn’s fall he was demoted and died. Evidently the Guǎngé xùlù records only his entry-into and departure-from the [Imperial Library] institute, while [Zhōu] Mì’s record is his ultimate fate.
The man does not deserve weight; the book is also not much transmitted in the world; therefore Zhū Yízūn’s Jīngyì kǎo notes: “not seen.” Yet his discussion of the Yì bridges principle and numerology, harmonizes the various sayings; for each hexagram he first encapsulates [it] as a zǒng lùn, then beneath the six lines gives separate glosses. On the canonical meaning he is genuinely much-clarifying. With Gěng Nánzhòng’s Xīn jiǎngyì, [the work] cannot be discarded on account of the man.
In front there is a preface by Yì Fú’s disciple Chén Zhāng. [Chén Zhāng] says: “When [Yì] Fú was Lecturer-in-Attendance at the imperial jīngyán, he used this canon to lecture and present at court.” [Chén Zhāng] further says: “[Yì] Fú separately has an Yì xué jǔyú in four juan, gathering imagery-and-numerology and making chart-discussions of them; with this book one may cross-reference.” Today no transmission-copy is seen. Only the Zhōulǐ zǒngyì he composed still scatters in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn.
Yuè Léifā has a “Visiting Shānzhāi” poem, saying: “Chúnxī’s people-and-things reach into Jiāxī; I am told even Master Shānzhāi has gone white-bearded; finely chewing plum-blossom while reading the Zǒng yì*; the only one who truly knows him is Old Man Jī.*” Evidently this refers to [Yì Fú’s] two books. Shānzhāi is [Yì] Fú’s other hào. So at the time also [the work] was rather valued.
Respectfully revised and submitted, fourth month of the forty-sixth year of Qiánlóng [1781].
General Compilers: 紀昀 Jǐ Yún, 陸錫熊 Lù Xīxióng, 孫士毅 Sūn Shìyì. General Reviser: 陸費墀 Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Yì Fú (易祓, fl. 1184–c. 1240; lifedates not securely recorded), zì Yànzhāng 彥章, hào Shānzhāi 山齋, of Tánzhōu Níngxiāng 潭州寧鄉 (modern Níngxiāng county, Hunan). CBDB id 11407 confirms his zhuàngyuán 狀元 status (first-place jìnshì in 1184) and the principal documentary references (Húnán tōngzhì 134.18b; Sòngshǐ relevant sections; Qídōng yěyǔ). Lifedates not in CBDB; Wikipedia cites c. 1156–c. 1240 from Hunan-local-history sources, consistent with the 1184 zhuàngyuán status (typical age ~28) and Yuè Léifā’s Jiāxī-era poem confirming Yì Fú alive in his eighties.
Career arc: top of the jìnshì class 1184; rose through Mìshūshěng (Imperial Library), jīngyán (imperial classroom), to Sīyè (Vice-Director of the Imperial Academy); from Sīyè leapt to Zuǒsī jiàn (Left Remonstrance Officer) by patronage of 韓侂胄 Hán Tuòzhòu’s adherent Sū Shīdàn (the Qídōng yěyǔ’s judgment of chǎn shì 諂事 / “obsequious flattery” follows a hostile partisan reading); fell with Sū Shīdàn’s execution in 1207; demoted, exiled, died in exile.
The political-biographical tarnish is what kept the work circulating little in the standard Dàoxué mainline reception (Zhū Yízūn’s “not seen” registers this). The work itself, however, is methodologically substantial. The zǒng lùn + line-by-line two-tier structure — a synoptic gloss followed by individual glosses — is one of the cleanest pre-modern Yì-commentary formats and was widely imitated in the late-Yuán and Míng. The bridging of yìlǐ and xiàngshù avoids the polarizations of the Chéng-Yí-only and Wáng-Bì-only lines.
The Qián / Kūn opening — Qián progresses yuán → zhēn (forward through the four virtues), Kūn “from yuán returns to yuán*” (round-trip back to origin) — is methodologically distinctive. Yì Fú reads the Yì’s opening pair as a cosmogonic unit: the natural-cosmic order moves forward in yáng but completes its circuit in yīn, and the Yì’s structure mirrors this. This anticipates much of the late-Sòng-Yuán xiāntiān / hòutiān (before-Heaven / after-Heaven) cosmological reading.
The Yuè Léifā poem (Jiāxī 1237–1240) places Yì Fú still active in advanced old age, “finely chewing plum-blossom while reading the Zǒng yì*.*” The image — the white-bearded master reading his own youthful work in winter retreat — is one of the more vivid late-Sòng Yì-circle portraits.
The composition window 1200–1228 reflects: post-1200 jīngyán lecturing as the work’s earliest substantive layer; Chén Zhāng’s 1228 preface as the firm terminus. The “more than twenty years” Chén Zhāng cites is consistent with this bracket.
Translations and research
No European-language translation. The work’s status as a methodological synthesis-piece makes it of interest to Sòng Yì-history specialists.
- Hoyt Cleveland Tillman, Confucian Discourse and Chu Hsi’s Ascendancy (Univ. of Hawaii, 1992) — context for the Qìngyuán-era political milieu.
- Zhū Bóqūn 朱伯崑, Yìxué zhéxué shǐ, vol. 2 — Yì Fú briefly treated.
- Wáng Tiějūn 王鐵均, Sòngdài Yìxué shǐ — chapter on the zǒng lùn + line-gloss format and the yìlǐ-and-xiàngshù synthesizers.
- Modern punctuated editions on the Sìkù base.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù editorial principle invoked in registering the work — bù kě yǐ rén fèi yán 未可以人廢言 (“one cannot discard a saying on account of the man”) — is the same principle the Sìkù applies to the works of 蔡京 Cài Jīng-circle figures, late-Míng Dōnglín opponents, and other politically tarnished Sòng-and-Míng officials. The Zhōuyì zǒng yì is one of the relatively clear cases where the editors’ verdict on the work’s substance and on the man’s political record run in opposite directions.
Yì Fú’s Zhōulǐ zǒng yì 周禮總義 — also recovered in the Sìkù from Yǒnglè dàdiǎn citations — is the methodological companion-piece. Read together, the two zǒng yì works show Yì Fú’s distinctive contribution as a systematic synoptic-and-detailed reader of the canonical literature.