廣弘明集 8.28

8.28

答曰。余聞恬志大和者不務變常。安時處順者不求反古。故詩曰不。愆不忘。率由舊章。惟藝文之盛。易最優矣。吾子謂老與易何若。昔宓羲氏。仰觀象於天。俯察法於地。近取諸身遠取諸物。於是始作八卦。以通神明之德。以類萬物之情。文王重六爻。孔子弘十翼。故曰。易道深矣。人更三聖世歷三古。故繫詞曰。易有太極。是生兩儀。易說曰。夫有形生於無形。故曰。有太易有太初有太始有太素。

I reply: I have heard that those whose minds are tranquil and at great peace do not seek to alter what is constant; those who rest content in their time and dwell in accord [with circumstance] do not seek to revert to antiquity. Thus the Book of Odes says: 'Neither erring nor forgetting, they follow the old statutes.' Among the fullness of literary classics, the Book of Changes is the most supreme. What would you say Laozi is compared to the Book of Changes? Long ago, the Fuxi clan looked up to contemplate the images in heaven and looked down to observe the models upon earth; nearby, he took them from his own body, and afar, he took them from things. Thereupon he first created the eight trigrams, so as to penetrate the virtue of the spiritual and luminous, and to classify the dispositions of the ten thousand things. King Wen doubled the six lines, and Confucius amplified them with the Ten Wings. Therefore it is said: 'The Way of the Changes is profound indeed!' Its transmission passed through three sages, and its ages spanned three antiquities. Thus the Commentary on the Appended Phrases says: 'In the Changes there is the Supreme Ultimate; this generates the Two Modes.' The Explication of the Changes says: 'What has form is born from the formless. Therefore it is said: there is the Great Change, there is the Great Beginning, there is the Great Genesis, and there is the Great Simplicity.'