Who is Yan Zun 严遵?

Yan Zun 严遵 (approximately 82 BCE – 10 CE), a philosopher of the Western Han Dynasty, styled Junping, was a native of Chengdu, Shu County (present-day Sichuan Province).  

Originally surnamed Zhuang, he called himself "Zhuangzi" but later changed his surname to Yan (to avoid the name taboo of Emperor Ming of Han, Liu Zhuang) and was also known as Yan Zhou. He lived in seclusion and did not serve as an official, making a living as a diviner. He was deeply fond of the teachings of Laozi and Zhuangzi and specialized in the *Book of Changes* (*Da Yi*). Yang Xiong, a renowned scholar, studied under him and praised him as "the treasure of Shu's talent" (*Fayan·Wenming Pian*).  

Philosophically, Yan Zun expounded on Laozi's idea that "being originates from non-being," arguing that emptiness (虚无 *xuwu*) is the fundamental source of the world. He stated: "The birth of all things originates from emptiness and begins with non-being" (*Explications of the Laozi*, Chapter 8, hereafter cited by chapter only), and "Non-being gives birth to being; emptiness gives birth to reality" (Chapter 9). He divided "non-being" into different hierarchical levels:  
1. The highest level is the "Dao" (the Way), which is absolute emptiness and non-being, described as "the emptiness of emptiness" and "the non-being of non-being."  
2. The second level is "Virtue" (德 *De*), termed "empty-emptiness" and "non-non-being."  
3. The third level is "Qi" (vital energy) or "Divine Light" (神明 *shenming*), defined as the "formless and fluid" non-being.  

While Dao, De, and Qi (Shenming) are all categorized as "non-being," they differ in status and function. "Dao" is the supreme ontological emptiness, from which "De" emerges as the root of all tangible things. "De" is also called "the One" (*Yi*), described as "the mother of divine light (qi), the ancestor of grand harmony, and the origin of heaven and earth" (Chapter 7). Qi serves as the driving force behind the formation of all things, with their creation occurring through the processes of "qi separation" and "qi integration," termed "qi transformation and differentiation" and "qi transformation and connection."  

While upholding the idea that being originates from non-being, Yan Zun emphasized the Dao's nature of "natural non-action" (*ziran wuwei*), stressing that "all things arise spontaneously" (Chapter 11), "grand harmony emerges of itself," and "all things govern themselves" (Chapter 8), thus opposing teleological theology. He also affirmed the universality of contradictory opposites and the inevitability of things transforming into their opposites, stating: "The natural way always operates contrary to things: those without physical form live, those with physical form die; those who pursue profit encounter misfortune; those who seek fortune incur灾祸" (Chapter 13). He analyzed phenomena using opposing categories such as emptiness/reality, existence/extinction, appearance/hiddenness, multitude/fewness, hardness/softness, strength/weakness, high/low, and adversity/prosperity. However, he believed that the ultimate result of contradictions is their elimination, leading to a state of "universal unity" where all differences vanish: "Life and death are one, so existence and extinction are indistinct" (Chapter 9), "likes and dislikes are not differentiated, right and wrong are not divided" (Chapter 10), and "changes and transformations are not distinct, life and death are not different" (Chapter 13).  

In epistemology, Yan Zun advocated first examining nearby objects and then deriving knowledge of distant things from them. For example, observing the process of one's own growth from infancy to adulthood reveals the principle that "softness gives birth to hardness, weakness gives birth to strength, smallness gives birth to greatness, shortness gives birth to length, ignorance gives birth to wisdom, and darkness gives birth to light" (Chapter 8). From this, he proposed the epistemological proposition: "Examine the internal to know the external; trace the small to know the great" (ibid.)

In life philosophy, he advocated loyalty, filial piety, frugality, silence, absence of desire, and humility, arguing that "constantly embodying humility and weakness prevents the germination of misfortune." He advocated silence, asserting that "speech errors lead to loss of life" and that "the mouth and tongue are the gate to fortune and misfortune, the axe to destroy the body." He opposed greed, viewing desires as the greatest danger: "Desires are the spear that pierces the belly; wealth is the enemy that causes death." He also regarded jealousy and flattery as Scourge: "Jealousy is the harm that destroys the body; slander is the weapon that cuts the throat; cruelty is the disaster that extinguishes the family line." He saw loyalty, filial piety, and frugality as the best means to secure one's life and status, declaring: "Loyalty and filial piety are the gates to wealth and honor; frugality is the inexhaustible source" (all from *Mottos for Life*, compiled in *Complete Prose of the Han Dynasty*, Volume 42).  

His biography can be found in *Book of Han*, Volume 72, and *Records of Huayang Kingdom*, Volume 10. His major work is *Explications of the Laozi* (only the lower chapters survive, while the upper chapters are lost). Two of his works are compiled in *Complete Prose of the Han Dynasty*, Volume 42.