earticle

영어

Neo-Confucianism during the Northern Sung period regarded the Great Ultimate(太極), Principle(理), Material Force(氣) as the ultimate foundation transcending the physical world. They were almost all interested in making use of the I Ching[易經] for the purpose of forming the Neo-Confucian ontological theory of the universe.

In his I Chuan[易傳], Ch'eng I devotes himself to interpreting the natural order that the I Ching encompasses according to the moral-practical motive of Confucianism. The concept of equilibrium and righteousness[中正] plays an important role when he interprets the hexagram-lines in relation to the moral act. The concept of equilibrium and righteousness through which Ch'eng I makes effort to interpret the sentences of the hexagram-lines has two different implications. First, it has the meaning of man's moral essence which enables him to perform the moral act or attain 'timeliness of act[時中]‘ according to the circumstance. Second, it has another meaning which is derived from positions of the hexagram, or the formal concurrence of its property and position.

Ch'eng I often mentions the concept of equilibrium and righteousness in the explanations of the hexagram-lines in the second and the fifth positions. Here he emphasizes the universal and formal meaning of the positions which represent the characteristics of equilibrium and/or righteousness. But Ch'eng I evaluates the good or evil of the judgment of the first-line(初爻) and the sixth-line(上爻) according to not only the concept of equilibrium and righteousness with its formal meaning. but also the synthetic consideration of the entire meaning of a certain hexagram, the property in yin-yang terms of the hexagram-lines, and the pairing/correlative relations between hexagram-lines, etc.. It can be said, however, that the timeliness of act is actualized by the insight into the circumstances originating in the state of equilibrium and righteousness as moral essence.

Thus the purpose of this paper is to elucidate how Ch'eng I executes the evaluating judgement of the good and evil in favour of the timeliness of act which can be realized from the standard of equilibrium and righteousness. That is, the author has attempted to demonstrate that at the first and sixth positions not only equilibrium and righteousness which is formal, or means moral essence, but an entire meaning of hexagram-lines, the property in yin-yang terms of the hexagram-lines, and the pairing/correlative relations between hexagram-lines all exercise important influences in the course of attaining timeliness of act.

To sum up, in Ch'eng I's evaluating judgement of the good and evil in the explanations of the first and sixth hexagram-lines, the fact that their positions are just the first or sixth is more important than the formal meaning of their equilibrium and righteousness. For Ch'eng I, the property in yin-yang terms of the hexagram-lines, the circumstances which the hexagram-lines symbolize, and the pairing/correlative relations between them play an important role in the evaluation of the good and evil of the first and sixth lines, and in the carrying out of a timely act. Thus each evaluation of their hexagram-lines also varies in accordance with whether the circumstantial meaning of the hexagram-line is good or evil. whether the hexagram-line is in the first or sixth positions, and whether the property of hexagram-lines is yin or yang.

In conclusion, though Ch'eng I didn't use the concept of equilibrium and righteousness universally at the first and sixth positions, he considered consciousness of the timeliness of act to be the ultimate standard for moral order. Ch'eng I's idea in the long run reflects his view that the moral order pursued by Confucian philosophy relies on the consciousness of the timeliness of act