Zhu Xi on the Yijing

Zhu Xi's large-character calligraphy (ink on paper; each sheet about fourteen inches high) of passages from the "Great Treatise" or "Appended Remarks" (Xici) of the Yijing, parts of which he quotes at the beginning of Chapter 1 of his book, Yixue qimeng (Introduction to the Study of the Classic of Change). The calligraphy was on display during the summer of 2000 at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. According to the exhibition catalogue, there are eight more sheets (presumably continuing the quotation) in the set, which was written between 1175 and 1183. From China at the Inception of the Second Millennium: Art and Culture of the Sung Dynasty, 960-1279 (Taipei: National Palace Museum, 2000).

"In Change there is the Supreme Polarity. This gives rise to

the Two Modes; [this] gives rise to the Four Images; [this] gives rise to the Eight Trigrams."
(Xici A.11.5)

"[The Eight Trigrams] determine good fortune and misfortune;
[these] gives rise to the Great Enterprise."
(Xici A.11.6)
"In ancient times,

when Fuxi ruled the world,

he looked up and contemplated the images in heaven; he looked down and

contemplated the patterns on earth. He contemplated the [markings] of the birds and beasts..."
(Xici B.2.1)