Zhōuyì xǐ xīn 周易洗心
Washing the Heart through the Zhōuyì by 任啟運
About the work
A high-Qiánlóng Yìjīng commentary in nine juàn by 任啟運 Rèn Qǐyùn (1670–1744) of Jīngxī 荊溪. The title takes the Xìcí’s phrase shèng rén yǐ cǐ xǐ xīn 聖人以此洗心 (“the sage thereby washes his heart”) and reads the Yì as a sage’s heart-cultivation document rather than (as 朱熹 Zhū Xī had it) primarily a divinatory text. The work argues that the Yì, the Xìcí’s “xǐ xīn”, and the Lúnyǔ’s “five-and-ten-and-study-the-Yì-and-be-without-great-fault” passage all anchor together: “Wén and Zhōu drew from 伏羲 Fú Xī’s diagram; Fú Xī’s diagram drew from the Hé and Luò; fifty is the middle of chart-and-writing; to study the Yì without taking fifty is to lose its root.” This is methodologically distinctive within mid-Qing Yìxué.
The work opens with a comprehensive collection of diagrams: 邵雍 Shào Yōng’s, Zhū Xī’s, 李光地 Lǐ Guāngdì’s (KR1a0117), 胡煦 Hú Xù’s (KR1a0145), plus Rèn’s own diagrams. The exegetical method takes guān xiàng wàn cí 觀象玩詞 (observing the symbol and savoring the words) as the operative principle. The textual basis follows 馬融 Mǎ Róng, 鄭玄 Zhèng Xuán, 王弼 Wáng Bì, 王肅 Wáng Sù — pre-Sòng Hàn-Wèi recensions — with explicit alternative reading-recension notes given when the chosen reading differs from the received text (“another text writes some character”). The Sìkù editors describe the position as “novel” (新奇) but the work as “much bringing out what earlier men did not bring out” — and substantively close to the canonical text rather than empty plagiarism.
Tiyao
Sìkù tíyào (translated): The Zhōuyì xǐ xīn in nine juàn was composed by Rèn Qǐyùn of our [Qīng] dynasty. Qǐyùn, zì Yìshèng, was a man of Jīngxī; Yōngzhèng guǐchǒu jìnshì; office to Vice-Director of the Imperial Clan Court.
This compilation’s great import: those who study the Yì should first observe the chart-symbols. Hence at the head of the volume he fully lays out the various charts. Apart from Master Zhū and Master Shào, charts transmitted by our [Qīng] dynasty’s Lǐ Guāngdì and Hú Xù are also collected. There are also charts drawn on the basis of his own opinions.
His self-preface says: “By taking the most-one to refute the most-many, by taking the most-constant to await the most-changing, none other than washing-the-heart can do it. Hence I name the book.” Further says: “Its great essentials do not go outside the Lúnyǔ’s ‘fifty in order to study the Yì’ words. WénZhōu’s drawing comes from Fú Xī’s chart; Fú Xī’s chart comes from HéLuò. Fifty is the middle of chart-and-writing. Studying the Yì without taking fifty loses its root.” His doctrine fails to escape novelty.
As to his elucidation of canonical meaning, much brings out what earlier men did not bring out. The character-meaning and phrase-pause much follow Mǎ, Zhèng, Wáng Bì, Wáng Sù, the various houses’ bases. What he does not follow is also necessarily marked “another text writes some character.” Apparently his doctrine principal-on observing-symbol-to-savor-words; in any case it is not empty-and-plagiarized learning.
Respectfully collated, the tenth 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 Rèn’s late-Yōngzhèng jìnshì (1733) and his death in 1744. The bracket here adopts these dates. The work is undated internally; given Rèn’s late-life pace, it was probably composed in his last decade.
The work is one of the few mid-Qiánlóng Yì commentaries that takes the chart-tradition seriously enough to compile a comprehensive at-the-head diagram corpus drawing on contemporary chart-tradition advocates (Lǐ Guāngdì, Hú Xù) as well as the classical Sòng masters. Rèn’s distinctive methodological move — anchoring the chart-tradition in a programmatic reading of the Lúnyǔ’s “fifty-and-study-the-Yì” passage — represents a substantive defense of the chart-tradition against the kǎozhèng-school attacks. The position is methodologically interesting if rhetorically novel.
The textual conservatism (Mǎ, Zhèng, Wáng Bì, Wáng Sù as base; explicit recension notes for divergences) places Rèn philologically with the high-Qing kǎozhèng school even while doctrinally he stands with the chart-tradition. The combination is unusual and methodologically substantive. The Sìkù editors’ qualified endorsement reflects this: the doctrine is “novel” but the exegesis is sound.
The pairing with KR1a0145 (胡煦 Hú Xù’s Yuē cún, also chart-tradition friendly) and KR1a0135 (包儀 Bāo Yí’s Yì yuán jiù zhèng, also chart-tradition friendly) makes the high-Qiánlóng decade also the moment of a small but coherent chart-tradition revival — alongside the much more famous kǎozhèng attack on the chart-tradition.
Translations and research
No substantial monograph in Western languages located. Rèn figures occasionally in Qīng Yìxué surveys.
Other points of interest
The work’s grounding of the chart-tradition in a fresh reading of the Lúnyǔ’s “fifty-and-study-the-Yì” passage (taking fifty as the Hé tú / Luò shū numerical center) is methodologically distinctive and would repay separate study. The combination of textual conservatism (recension-based exegesis) with chart-tradition advocacy is also rare in mid-Qing Yìxué.