شش خطی 24
بازگشتن و آغازی تازه (Fu)

NOTES
1. This and all subsequent text set off in this manner is commentary by Wang Bi. For a very different translation of Wang Bi's commentary to Fu (Return), see Smith et al., Sung Dynasty Uses, pp. 240–245.
2. Why this process should take seven days is unclear. Kong Yingda's subcommentary cites several different, extremely complicated, and mutually contradictory explanations from the commentary tradition, none of which seems convincing enough to cite here. Also, the fact that both Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi avoid discussing this issue later in their own commentaries indicates that they had no satisfactory answer either. Lou Yulie suggests a simple explanation with which we shall have to remain content: " 'Seven days' is a general expression to indicate a period of time that does not last too long." See Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 1: 340 n. 3.
3. Wang here seems to make a distinction between ontology and phenomenology: The heart/mind or original substance of Heaven and Earth is itself utterly quiescent and completely apart from phenomenal existence, nevertheless, it is the controlling mechanism through which Heaven and Earth generate and animate all phenomenal existence. Just as tranquillity and silence are not opposed to speech and activity, so the perfect quiescence and nonbeing of Heaven and Earth are not opposed to phenomenal existence with all its concomitant activity. If the mind of Heaven and Earth were instead to consist of being and activity, then all being and activity would belong to Heaven and Earth, and there would be, in effect, no means by which—or place in which—the things of phenomenal existence could even exist. For various other interpretations of Wang's passage, see Lou Yulie, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 1: 340 nn. 5–9; Chan, A Source Book, pp. 320–321; and Fung, A History of Chinese Philosophy, 2: 180–181. We should also note that both Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi reject this quietist interpretation of Wang's—and other earlier commentators—and insist instead on regarding the heart/mind of Heaven and Earth as perfectly active—as Cheng says, "To cover it in a word, for Heaven and Earth we regard the generation of all things to be the heart/mind [i.e., intent]." See Zhouyi zhezhong, 9: 40a.
4. Zhen (Thunder) is the lower trigram, and Kun (Pure Yin), the upper trigram, signifies the Earth.
5. In the Daoist view, the sage-king ideally should govern always by a "disengagement from matters." See the Laozi, section 57, p. 149. Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi, as Confucians, stress instead that Fu (Return) signifies a temporary halt to activist government, a time to rest in order to nourish the yang principle so that it can grow into the basis for purposeful activity at appropriate times later. See Zhouyi zhezhong, 11: 56a.
6. See section seven of the Commentary on the Appended Phrases, Part Two.
7. Hexagram 23, Bo, consists of one positive line in the top, sixth position and five negative lines; Hexagram 24, Fu, consists of one positive line in the bottom, first position and five negative lines. As a pair, these two hexagrams form a continuum in which the one positive line from the top of Hexagram 23 "returns" to the bottom of Hexagram 24.
8. "The onset of regret" translates ji hui, which seems to be Wang's gloss for the "regret here" (zhi hui) in First Yang. Lou Yulie points out that as modal particles ji and zhi are interchangeable, and that, he says, is what accounts for their presence here. See Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 1: 341 n. 11. If this is correct, one might translate both as "here" or "now." Kong Yingda cites Han Kangbo's commentary on First Yang, which appears in section five of the Commentary on the Appended Phrases, Part Two: "Zhi ["here"; literally, "god of the earth," i.e., "great"] means "great" (see note 40 there). This seems unlikely. Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi gloss zhi as di or zhi (arrive at, go so far as). Wu zhi hui (there will be no regret here) would instead mean "it will not happen that one will reach the point where one should regret it." See Zhouyi zhezhong, 4: 6a–6b. The ji in ji hui, on the other hand, also could mean "here," and "the onset of regret" might be rendered simply "with regret here." However, ji commonly occurs in the sense of "almost," "nearly," "on the point of," etc., and Wang might even have had the sense of "incipience" in mind here, since ji occurs with that meaning in the Commentary on the Appended Phrases in a passage just prior to the above-mentioned discussion of Fu (Return), First Yang. Two recent commentators on Wang's statement, in fact, read it this way. See Kidder Smith's translation of Cheng Yi's commentary to Fu in Smith et al., Sung Dynasty Uses, p. 248, and Bergeron, Wang Pi, p. 89. My "onset of regret" attempts a compromise among these interpretations.
9. Pincu itself is a difficult term to translate, for the cu can be written several different ways, and its meaning varies accordingly. That Wang Bi means pincu in the sense of "hurried," "urgent," or "with haste" is obvious from the rest of his comments on Third Yin. Since Kong Yingda paraphrases these in his gloss on pin and pincu, it is clear that he, too, understood it this way. See Zhouyi zhengyi, 3: 21a. However, Cheng Yi glosses pin as lü or pinshuo, both of which mean "frequent(ly)" and interprets Third Yin in terms of a frequent gain and loss of the Dao because of indecisiveness and lack of determination. See Zhouyi zhezhong, 4: 7a.
10. Kong Yingda comments: "This means that one here manages to stay free of blame because he takes care of himself as far as the Dao is concerned, but if in addition to taking care of himself he also had to deal with additional matters that might come along, then it would be impossible for him to maintain the good fortune of staying free of blame." See Zhouyi zhengyi, 3: 21a.
11. Kong Yingda comments: " 'The meaning is such that "there will be no blame" ' is equivalent to 'the meaning here is that it is by maintaining the constant Dao that one manages to be without blame.' " See Zhouyi zhengyi, 3: 21a.