王陽明與周易

Wang Yang-Ming and the Book of Changes

本文討論王陽明讀《易》的方法，並進而探究王氏在為學成德過程中運用《周易》精義的情形。筆者根據陽明〈讀易〉詩、〈玩易窩記〉、〈五經臆說〉等資料，再參以相關的語錄及文錄，勾勒出陽明讀《易》由「不得」而「得之」而「玩之」的心路歷程；並以「精義入神以致用」、「利用安身以崇德」兩句話來標示他的讀《易》方法。筆者指出陽明在《周易》中所把握到的要旨：「體立而用行」，與其學說的核心思想－－「體用一源」、「致良知」等，都有密切關係；從陽明讀《易》的方法中，也可看出其所以能在廣泛的知識領域裏取精用宏，以成就盛德大業，為儒家合外內之道立一典範的緣由所在。

This article discusses Wang Yang-ming's approach to studying the Book of Changes (Chou I or I Ching) in order to explore how he employed the Changes in the process of learning and moral cultivation. Drawing on materials such as Wang's poem “Reading the Changes,” his “Memoir of Contemplating the Changes” and “Probable Explanations of the Five Classics,” and related sayings and writings, the article describes the stages of Wang's path in his study of the Changes, from incomprehension to comprehension to enjoyment. Wang's method of studying the Changes can be expressed in the maxims “the meaning enters the spirit and thereby is applied in practice” and “safeguarding the body in order to revere virtue.” The paper points out that the key principle Wang finds in the Changes-- “the substance being established, the function is thereby put into practice” --is intricately related to the core doctrines of his philosophy, such as that substance and function have the same source and that moral cultivation lies in the extension of innate moral knowledge (chih Hang chih). Wang's approach to the Changes also illustrates his ability to grasp essential insights and apply them broadly in a wide field of knowledge. In so doing, he demonstrates how to carry out the project of moral cultivation and establishes a paradigm of the Confucian tao (way) of unifying external action and inner cultivation.