Who is Wang Bi 王弼

Wang Bi
(226–249) A representative figure of Taoism in the Wei State during the Three Kingdoms period and one of the founders of Xuanxue (Neo-Taoism). His courtesy name was Fusi.

He was born in Luoyang, Henan, with his ancestral home in Gaoping, Shanyang (the old city is in the northwest of present-day Jinxiang County, Shandong).

He was intelligent and studious from an early age. At the age of over ten, he delved into the works of Laozi and Zhuangzi, showing remarkable debating skills and eloquence, with outstanding talent and wit. He held the position of Butian Lang (a minor official). He annotated Laozi's works and wrote many theses on Laozi studies, developing the basic viewpoints of Taoism. Based on the Taoist idea that "being is born from non-being", he established an ideological system of "taking non-being as the foundation", believing that "non-being" is the origin of the world: "All things under heaven are born from being. The origin of being is based on non-being." "That which is formless and nameless is the ancestor of all things." (Annotations on Laozi's Dao De Jing, Chapter 40 and 14; subsequent references only note the chapter number). However, the idea of "taking non-being as the foundation" is not only a worldview but also a values, i.e., the unity of worldview and values. "Valuing non-being and belittling being" is the concentrated expression of this unity. Wang Bi raised the banner of "valuing non-being" and became the representative of the school of valuing non-being in Wei-Jin Xuanxue. He believed that "non-being" is the common foundation of all things and phenomena in nature and human society, and "non-being" is the unity of "substance" and "function", being both the origin of living things and the condition for the survival and development of things. Therefore, "non-being" is the most important and noble thing in the world. Wang Bi said: "Non-being is that which initiates things and accomplishes undertakings, existing everywhere. Yin and yang rely on it for transformation and generation, all things rely on it for taking shape, virtuous people rely on it for achieving virtue, and unworthy people rely on it for avoiding harm. Thus, the function of non-being is noble even without a title." (Book of Jin·Biography of Wang Yan)

The theory of valuing non-being emphasizes two points:
(1) "Non-being" is the highest category. Wang Bi regarded "non-being" and "Dao" as equivalent concepts, believing that "non-being" is the Dao: "The Dao, with its formlessness and namelessness, initiates and completes all things", "Reaching the extreme of emptiness and nothingness, one attains the constancy of the Dao" (Chapter 1, Chapter 16). Therefore, he put forward the statement that "the Dao is the name for non-being" (Interpretations of the Analects·Shu Er). "Non-being", being equivalent to "Dao" and serving as the highest category, is endowed with the nature of being all-powerful and all-pervasive: "It has no form or image, no sound or noise, thus it can penetrate everything and go everywhere." "Emptiness, nothingness, weakness, and softness can penetrate everything." (Chapter 14, Chapter 43). Moreover, "non-being" possesses unparalleled power: "As a thing, non-being cannot be harmed by water or fire, nor can it be damaged by metal or stone. When applied to the heart, tigers and rhinoceroses have no place to strike with their claws and horns, and weapons have no room to wield their blades." (Chapter 16). Water, fire, metal, stone, etc., belong to tangible concrete substances. They are not only unable to compete with "non-being" but also cannot have any effect on "non-being".

(2) "Non-being" is the destination of all things. Wang Bi said: "All things with their myriad forms ultimately return to one." How to achieve unity? Through non-being." (Chapter 42)
All things take "non-being" as their destination, that is, take emptiness as their destination.

In Wang Bi's thought, "non-being" and "emptiness" are equivalent concepts that can be juxtaposed, such as "emptiness, nothingness, weakness, and softness", "reaching the extreme of emptiness and nothingness", etc. All living things ultimately be reduced to non-being，that is, sum up to the state of emptiness, stillness, depth, and darkness: "All being arises from emptiness, and movement arises from stillness. Thus, although all things are in motion, they eventually return to emptiness and stillness, which is the ultimate reality of things." (Chapter 16)

Regarding the generation and change of all things, Wang Bi put forward a basic schema: non-being—being—non-being, that is, all things originate from emptiness and nothingness and finally return to emptiness and nothingness, forming an infinite cycle with emptiness and nothingness as the starting point and endpoint. While valuing "non-being", Wang Bi advocated practicing "being", that is, belittling tangible concrete substances, believing that "having form means having boundaries". Tangible concrete substances all have their own nature and boundaries (characteristics, scopes), thus forming their own limitations. For example, a certain thing is either cool if not warm, or cold if not hot, and cannot concentrate all characteristics such as warmth, coolness, heat, and coldness in itself. The limitations and narrowness of "being" make it unable to accommodate and govern all things. Wang Bi made a sharp contrast between "being" and "non-being": "Thus, for things, with non-being, there is nothing that cannot be pervaded; with being, it is insufficient to avoid their generation. Therefore, although heaven and earth are vast, they take non-being as their heart; although sage-kings are great, they take emptiness as their mainstay." (Chapter 38)

The statement that concrete substances "are insufficient to avoid their generation" means that they cannot avoid various harms to maintain their own existence. Therefore, Wang Bi said: "If they take being as their heart, different kinds of things cannot all exist." (Annotations on the Book of Changes·Fu) "If one wants to preserve being completely, one must return to non-being." (Chapter 40)

He believed that "being" has no ability to preserve itself, and only by relying on "non-being" or returning to "non-being" can it be preserved. The idea of "taking non-being as the foundation" is not only a philosophical view but also a political view. In accordance with the requirement of "taking non-being as the foundation", Wang Bi advocated governing by non-action, asserting that "those who are good at governing affairs are formless, nameless, have no affairs, and have no policies to implement; they are indistinct, and eventually achieve great order." (Chapter 58)

He further believed that "taking non-action as one's abode, taking non-speech as teaching, taking tranquility and simplicity as taste—this is the ultimate of governance." (Chapter 63)

The idea of "taking non-being as the foundation" highlights the status of "nature", believing that the generation and development of all things from "non-being" is a purely natural process, fundamentally denying the creator and mysterious supernatural forces, and pointing out that "heaven and earth follow nature, act without action and create without creation, and all things govern themselves", "Within heaven and earth, they freely follow nature." (Chapter 5)

The principle of following nature is completely opposed to theism. It excludes the position of gods: "If things abide by nature, then the gods have no place to act. If the gods have no place to act, then people do not know that the gods are gods." (Chapter 60)
What is more worthy of attention is that the principle of following nature affirms the regularity of things, advocating "completing according to things", "giving according to things", "making utensils according to nature" (Chapter 45).

In fact, this means that only by acting in accordance with the laws of things can positive results be achieved. The principle of following nature affirms the possibility of things transforming for the better, and an important condition for transformation is following the inherent laws of things. For example, "If darkness is illuminated by reason, things will become bright; if turbidity is calmed, things will become clear; if what is at rest is set in motion, things will come to life. This is the natural Dao." (Chapter 15)

"Li" (reason) is an ancient star name, called "Zuo Jiao Li" (the reason star at the left horn). Hanshu·Tianwen Zhi (Book of Han·Treatise on Astronomy) says: "The stars in the southern mansion are called the Cavalry Office; the left horn is Li, and the left horn is the general." The "Li" star is Alpha Lupi in the constellation Lupus, and here it generally refers to light. Wang Bi believed that illuminating darkness with light, things will naturally become bright; keeping turbid water in a static state, turbid water will naturally become clear; putting stored things (such as seeds, etc.) into the developmental process, new life will naturally emerge. The transformation of darkness into light, turbidity into clarity, and potential vitality into new life are all the results of following the laws of things. The principle of following nature requires correctly handling things so that each gets its proper place: "All things are born from the Dao, but after being born, they do not know their origin. Thus, when the world is always free from desires, all things get their proper place." (Chapter 34)

The principle of following nature requires that education and influence on people must follow nature, not be wishful thinking, or force others to follow step by step: "My teaching others is not forcing them to follow, but using nature. I put forward the ultimate principles; following them will surely bring good fortune, and violating them will surely bring misfortune. Thus, when people teach each other, violating the principles will surely bring misfortune upon themselves. It is also like my teaching others: do not violate them." (Chapter 42)

The so-called following nature is "putting forward the ultimate principles" and proceeding in a logical manner. Of course, Wang Bi's principle of following nature also contains some negative factors. For example, it opposes following nature with giving play to human subjective initiative, asserting that "following nature, things grow by themselves; without relying on cultivation, achievements are accomplished by themselves." (Annotations on the Book of Changes·Kun)

He believed that activities such as "cultivation" are unnecessary. The idea of "taking non-being as the foundation" includes contents from both the objective and subjective aspects. The former answers the question of what position "non-being" as an object occupies in the formation of all things; the latter answers the question of how the subject can understand and grasp "non-being". Regarding the latter, Wang Bi believed that only "sages" can truly realize the existence and function of "non-being". He put forward the proposition that "sages embody non-being". "Embodying non-being" is an innate wisdom. This wisdom is unique to "sages" and is completely absent in ordinary people. Wang Bi called this wisdom "divine brightness". He said that what makes sages superior to ordinary people is the innate "divine brightness": "Their divine brightness is abundant, thus they can embody the harmony of the mean to penetrate non-being." (Records of the Three Kingdoms Volume 28 Annotation to the Biography of Zhong Hui)

However, embodying or penetrating non-being cannot be based on any specific images, being completely transcendental. From this, Wang Bi drew the conclusion of "forgetting words and forgetting images to seek meaning", believing that in the relationship between words, images, and meaning, words express images, and images embody implications and principles. But Wang Bi denied the internal connection between words, images, and meaning, simply regarding the relationship between them as that between tools and objects. Just as rabbit nets can be discarded after catching rabbits, and fish nets can be discarded after catching fish, one can forget words after obtaining images, and forget images after obtaining meaning. Wang Bi said: "However, those who forget images are those who obtain meaning. Obtaining meaning lies in forgetting images, and obtaining images lies in forgetting words. Thus, images are established to exhaust meaning, but images can be forgotten." (Essential Points of the Book of Changes·Clarifying Images)
The "meaning" obtained by abandoning images is nothing but the understanding of the transcendental and super-phenomenal void ontology, which is fundamentally different from cognition based on practice. The idea of "taking non-being as the foundation" also has methodological significance, which is mainly manifested in "esteeming the root and neglecting the branches". Here, the so-called "root" refers to "non-being", that is, various factors in a potential state; "branches" refer to various things with direct reality. "Esteeming the root and neglecting the branches" as a method is mainly characterized by striving to capture and rely on various potential factors, taking them as the basic conditions for resolving contradictions and completing tasks. In fact, this is also a method of taking the reverse as the positive. Wang Bi attached great importance to this method, pointing out that "the reason why all things exist is the reverse of their forms; the reason why achievements are accomplished is the reverse of their names." (Summary of Laozi's Ideas)
For example, the reliable guarantee for survival does not lie in the actual living conditions but in not ignoring those potential factors that lead to destruction; the reliable guarantee for safety does not lie in the actual safety conditions but in not ignoring those potential dangerous factors. Therefore, striving to maintain actual living conditions will inevitably lead to destruction, while not ignoring those potential factors that lead to destruction can instead ensure one's own survival. Those who are content with the status quo are in danger, and those who do not forget danger are safe. On this basis, Wang Bi further put forward the proposition that "the Dao is opposite to form", emphasizing the opposition between the "Dao" ("non-being") and concrete things, believing that the "Dao" ("non-being") is superior to concrete things, and the existence and development of concrete things completely depend on factors opposite to them: "What is safe is actually safe, yet it is said that it is not what makes safety safe; what exists actually exists, yet it is said that it is not what makes existence exist; kings and lords are actually respected, yet it is said that it is not what makes respect; heaven and earth are actually great, yet it is said that it is not what makes greatness; sage achievements actually exist, yet it is said that they are established by repudiating sages; benevolence and virtue are actually prominent, yet it is said that they exist by abandoning benevolence." (ibid.)

The reason why safety reaches a truly safe level is because there are various non-safe factors; the reason why survival is effectively guaranteed is because there are various factors that endanger survival; the reason why kings and lords are truly respected is caused by various factors that profane kings and lords. Other things such as the greatness of heaven and earth, the existence of sage achievements, the prominence of benevolence and virtue, etc., are also caused by factors opposite to them. According to this view, only the opposite factors have positive significance for the survival and development of things. Therefore, starting from the opposite side and striving to grasp the opposite factors is the most reliable way to preserve and develop things: "Thus, only after repudiating sages can sage achievements be complete; only after abandoning benevolence can benevolence and virtue be profound. Hating strength is not desiring not to be strong, but striving to be strong leads to losing strength; repudiating benevolence is not desiring not to be benevolent, but striving to be benevolent leads to hypocrisy. Having governance leads to chaos; preserving safety leads to danger. Putting oneself behind yet oneself comes first—coming first is not achievable by putting oneself first; putting oneself aside yet oneself survives—survival is not achievable by striving to survive. Achievements cannot be sought, and beauty cannot be used. Thus, one must only take what is the mother of achievements." (ibid.)

It can be seen that the method of "esteeming the root and neglecting the branches" and taking the reverse as the positive ultimately means simply "taking what is the mother of achievements", that is, valuing non-being and belittling being, valuing ugliness and belittling beauty, advocating abandoning positive efforts and the directly realistic aspect of things. For example, only paying attention to certain causes of evil events without investigating the direct responsibility of those who committed the evil events; preventing evil events only emphasizing "preserving sincerity" while abandoning "being good at observing" (ibid.). There is no doubt that this method of "esteeming the root and neglecting the branches" is correct in paying attention to the role of opposite factors, but it is incorrect to excessively exaggerate the role of opposite factors while abandoning positive efforts.