Xué Yì chū jīn 學易初津
The Initial Ferry-Bridge to Studying the Yì by 晏斯盛
About the work
A mid-Qiánlóng Yìjīng methodological treatise in two juàn by 晏斯盛 Yàn Sīshèng (jìnshì 1721, Húběi Governor) of Xīnyú 新喻 — the first member of his three-part Yì-corpus, the others being the Yì yì zōng 易翼宗 in six juàn (the canonical commentary) and the Yì yì shuō 易翼說 in eight juàn (the commentary on the Ten Wings). The Sìkù editors treat the three together. The Chū jīn lays out the programmatic framework: the so-called transmitted “HétúLuòshū” diagrams are in fact derived from the Dàzhuàn’s dà yǎn 大衍 numerology by later writers (rather than being the original chart-and-writing the Dàzhuàn mentions); the work therefore declines the HétúLuòshū odd-and-even doctrine. It also declines guà biàn (hexagram-variation) and hùtǐ (component-trigrams), holding that the Yì-canon’s cí 辭 (verbal commentary) and zhàn 占 (divination) are sufficient when properly engaged with the Tuàn statement.
The Yì yì zōng in six juàn embeds the Wing material under each canonical verse on a “scripture-explains-scripture” model — methodologically distinctive but, the Sìkù editors note, somewhat fragmenting; each line is also accompanied by a complete-hexagram diagram and one moving-line marked (with odd as ○ and even as a vertical mark), an editorial-typographic innovation Yàn invented. The Yì yì shuō in eight juàn glosses the Ten Wings in an unusual sequence: Xìcí — Shuōguà — Xùguà — Záguà — Tuàn — Wényán — Xiàng — neither classical-canonical nor jīnYì arrangement.
The Sìkù editors’ overall judgment: methodologically over-creative (“not knowing what edition is the basis”), but substantively the works “do not abolish symbol-and-number while not engaging in fāngjì-technical-numerology twisted-doctrine; do not abolish meaning-and-principle while not engaging in principle-and-breath, mind-and-nature empty-talk” — “still substantive-and-near-reason among recent Yì-houses.”
Tiyao
Sìkù tíyào (translated): The Xué Yì chū jīn in two juàn, Yì yì zōng in six juàn, Yì yì shuō in eight juàn — composed by Yàn Sīshèng of our [Qīng] dynasty. Sīshèng, zì Yīzhāi, was a man of Xīnyú; Kāngxī xīnchǒu jìnshì; office to Húběi Governor.
This book takes the Xué Yì chū jīn as the entire compilation’s principal import: holding that today’s transmitted charts-and-writings are in fact the dàyǎn numbers — by reason of the dàzhuàn’s words and charted; he does not adopt the Hé-and-Luò odd-and-even doctrine. He further holds that the Tuàn statement is not omitted from word-and-divination; and he does not adopt guà biàn or hùtǐ doctrines. All these are able to cut off the various houses’ brambles.
The Yì yì zōng takes the canonical text as principal and divides the Ten Wings, scattering them under each phrase, intending to use scripture to explain scripture. It is somewhat lost to fragmentariness. Each line’s head also draws a complete hexagram, and intercalates one moving-line — odd written as ○, even as a vertical-mark — also self-making-of-antiquity.
The Yì yì shuō fully explains the Ten Wings, with first the Xìcí; next Shuōguà; next Xùguà; next Záguà; next the Tuàn zhuàn; next the Wényán; next the Xiàng zhuàn — neither ancient nor modern; one does not know what edition is the basis. Yet he does not abolish symbol-and-number while not engaging in fāngjì shùshù twisted-doctrine; does not abolish meaning-and-principle while not engaging in principle-and-breath mind-and-nature empty-talk. Among recent Yì-exposition houses he can still be called substantive-and-near-reason.
Respectfully collated, the fourth month of the forty-sixth year of Qiánlóng (1781). Editor-in-chief: Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. Chief proofreader: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
Composition is bracketed by Yàn’s 1721 jìnshì and the publication of the Sìkù (1781); the bracket here adopts a conservative range. The work is undated internally.
The work is a moderate Qiánlóng-period Yì-program: methodologically opposed to both the chart-tradition and the technical-numerology tradition, but also opposed to pure metaphysical xīnxìng talk. The combination is recognizably Qiánlóng-court-Confucian and represents the moderate-mainstream position established by 李光地 Lǐ Guāngdì’s Zhé zhōng but with greater methodological self-consciousness.
The three-part structure (Chū jīn methodological framework + Yì yì zōng canonical commentary + Yì yì shuō Wing commentary) is one of the more carefully designed Qīng-period Yì-corpora and reflects Yàn’s commitment to systematic exposition over piecemeal commentary. The novel typographic conventions (the head-of-line hexagram diagrams with marked moving-line; the unusual Wing-glossing sequence in the Yì yì shuō) are characteristic Qiánlóng-period editorial inventiveness — the Sìkù editors note them dryly but without strong objection.
The pairing with KR1a0148 (Yàn’s later writings) and the broader Yōngzhèng-Qiánlóng provincial-Confucian Yìxué corpus would repay further study.
Translations and research
No substantial monograph in Western languages located. Yàn figures occasionally in Qīng Yìxué surveys (Zhū Bóhūi, Yìxué zhéxué shǐ vol. 4); for his Húběi gubernatorial administration see standard mid-Qiánlóng provincial-officials gazetteers.
Other points of interest
The work is one of the more substantial Qiánlóng-period methodological Yìxué statements by a serving provincial governor. The combination of canonical-textual fidelity, methodological modesty (refusing both technical-numerology and metaphysical talk), and editorial inventiveness (the typographic conventions; the unusual Wing-sequence) makes it a small case in mid-Qīng court-Confucian Yìxué aesthetic.