廣弘明集 8.28

8.28

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.'