Review: The Bamboo Zhouyi from the State Chu Researches

A thorough study of the original text of the Yijing should also involve an examination of the variant texts that exist of this classic. It would be a fallacy to think that the Book of Changes never changed; through archaeological excavations we now know that the text of the Yi was not as fixed as many want us to believe. Especially before the Qin dynasty, but also during the Han dynasty, there we versions of the Yijing that are different on many points from the version that we use today. The received version is only a compromise of different schools, it should never be seen as the Yijing, it is just one version of the book. To get a better picture of the Yijing and its language through the ages it is necessary to study the different variant texts alongside with the received text.

We mainly have four variant texts of the Yijing:

1. The first variant text that got worldwide attention was the Mawangdui text of the Yijing that was discovered in 1973.
2. A text which was found 4 years later is seldom mentioned, mainly because of its fragmented state and late publication of these fragments: the Fuyang bamboo slips.
3. In 1993 the Shanghai Museum bought an amount of bamboo slips on a market in Hong Kong, among it was a portion of the Zhouyi.
4. Through the ages fragments are found of the Xiping Stone Classics Zhouyi from the Han dynasty.

For each of these texts it is possible to purchase several books, as I did the last few years. A lot of books are published about the Mawangdui Yijing, but the best studies of it are the following books:

• 帛書周易校釋 by Deng Qiubai 鄧球柏; 2002, ISBN 7543812975
• Das Mawangdui-Yijing - Text und Deutung by Dominique Hertzer; 1996, ISBN 3424013072
• I Ching by Edward L. Shaughnessy; 1997, ISBN 0345362438

The Fuyang Zhouyi is studied in every detail in

• 阜陽漢簡《周易》研究 by Han Ziqiang 韓自強; 2004, ISBN 7532537242

A thorough study of the Xiping Stone Classics Yijing can be found in

• 漢石經周易殘字集證 by Qu Wanli 屈萬里; 1961, republished in 1999, no ISBN

The best book for the study of the Shanghai Museum Manuscript has been 上海博物館藏戰國楚竹, Vol. 3, ISBN 7532530140. It is a magnificent book, in the best quality possible. The only downside was its size: 44 x 30 cm is not something you carry easily with you. But this has changed since the publication of 楚竹書《周易》研究 by 濮茅左 Pu Maozuo last year. It has the size of a large dictionary, is published in two volumes containing a total of 1045 pages, and compared to the 上海博物館藏戰國楚竹, Vol. 3 a huge amount of extraordinary material has been added. If you want to study the variant texts of the Yijing, then this is the book to have. It contains transcripts of all variant texts I mentioned, and a lot more. Below is the contents of the book, with notes and images to explain some sections.

《楚竹書《周易》圖版
The first section of volume 1 contains full-color images of the bamboo slips, along with a transcription in modern characters.


上編 - 楚竹書《周易》研究

The first volume deals in detail with the Shanghai Museum Manuscript.

• 楚竹書《周易》導言 - 兼及近年來楚竹書研究
  Introduction. About the 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 series and its contents, importance of the Chu Bamboo Yijing and other Chu bamboo books (《太一生水》, 《緇衣》, 《魯穆公問于子思》, 《五行》, etc.) found in recent years.

• 第一章 楚竹書《周易》概況與研究

• 第一節 楚竹書《周易》概況是馬承源先生把楚竹書《周易》搶救回歸。
  A short biography of the life and work of Ma Chengyuan 馬承源 (1927-2004), director of the Shanghai Musem, who acquired the bamboo slips which were found at a Hong Kong market in the spring of 1994. See also here and the obituary in Early China 29 (2004). This part also gives an account of the publications and research since the discovery.

• 第三節 楚竹書《周易》符號
  About the meaning of the coloured markings at the beginning and end of certain hexagram texts.

• 一、 符號的讀法及意義
• 二、 符號位置的確定
• 三、 符號對卦名的分類
• 四、 對殘簡卦符號的判斷
• 五、 對同卦異類符號現象的認識
• 六、 楚竹書《周易》的類序
• 七、 總結
  In the conclusion it is assumed that the markings refer to a separation of the Zhou Yi into two halves, just as the received version, but with different hexagrams in each half.

• 第四節 楚竹書《周易》文字應用的時代特點
  About the language of the document, often used characters, loan characters, different forms of one character, etc.

• 一、 常用字、詞使用穩定
• 二、 通借字的使用
• 三、 不同的楚文字, 通借同一今字
• 四、 同一楚文字, 借為不同的今字
• 五、 用作本字, 叉借為他字
• 六、 一字多體
• 七、 不使用本字, 而使用通借
• 八、 使用古文、異體宇

• 第二章 楚竹書《周易》原文考釋
  A detailed account of every bamboo slip, it's condition, size, and contents.

• 附錄一: 楚竹書《周易》原文
  A transcript in modern characters, with punctuation and substituted loan characters added.
  

• 附錄二: 竹書、帛書、今本比較表
  Comparison of the bamboo text, the Mawangdui text and the received text (see here).

• 附錄三: 楚竹書《周易》詞目解釋
  An index with explanation of certain phrases used in this book and in the Chu Bamboo Zhouyi, like 又孚才道, 小子礪又言，etc., arranged by stroke count of the first character.
  

• 附錄四: 楚竹書《周易》逐字索引
  A concordance of the characters in the Chu Bamboo Zhouyi, arranged by stroke count.
  

下編 先秦兩漢出土與傳世易學文獻資料

• 第三章 考古易的發現
  This chapter deals with references to the Zhouyi and its components as found on oracle bonze, bronzes inscriptions and other pre-Qin and Han dynasty texts.

• 第一節 甲骨文中所見易卦
  Part one talks about the character yao 爻 ('hexagram line') on oracle bones, the bagua numerals as discussed by Zhang Zhenglang in his provocative article 'An Interpretation of the Divinatory Inscriptions on Early Chou Bronzes.' Early China 6 (1980–81), pp 80–96; (see also Stephen L. Field, Who Told the Fortunes? The Speaker in Early Chinese Divination Records, Asia Major 2000 ( and Li Zongkun 李宗焜, 數字卦的內容與疾病記述). Examples with lots of pictures.
  

• 第二節 金文中所見易卦
  This part also discusses the character yao 爻 and the numerals, as found on bronze inscriptions.
  

• 第三節 其他器物中所見易卦
  Objects like stone utensils, bronze mirrors etc. with numerals and trigrams are discussed here.

• 第四節 竹簡中所見易卦、《周易》
  Part 4 is very interesting, as it discusses hexagrams, bagua numerals and other Yi fragments found in other Chu Jian manuscripts, like the Bao Shan Bamboo Slips.
  

• 一、 《包山楚簡》申所見易卦
• 二、 《新蔡葛陵楚墓。竹簡》中所見易卦
• 三、 天星觀卜筮竹簡中所見易卦
• 四、 《郭店楚墓竹簡》中所見《周易》
• 五、 阜陽漢簡《周易》
  A complete transcript of the Fuyang Zhouyi. Or what is left of it.

• 第五節 馬王堆漢墓帛書中所見《周易》
  Part 5 deals with the Mawangdui Zhouyi and it's additional chapters. The parts 一, 甲 and 乙 have a transcription of the text accompanied with the original silk characters and the received text; the other chapters only have a transcription in modern characters.
  

• 一、 馬王堆漢墓帛書《易經》
• 二、 馬王堆漢墓帛書《易傳》
• 甲、馬王堆漢墓帛書《二三子》
• 乙、馬王堆漢墓帛書《繫辭》
• 丙、馬王堆漢墓帛書《易之義》
• 丁、馬王堆漢墓帛書《要》
• 戊、馬王堆漢墓帛書《繆和》及《昭力》

• 第六節 漢石經中所見《周易》
  Part 6 deals with the Xiping Stone fragments of the Yijing. It gives rubbings of the fragments, as well as a transcription in modern characters alongside with the stone characters.
  

• 一、 熹平石經《易經》
• 二、 熹平石經《彖》
• 三、 熹平石經《象》
• 四、 熹平石經《繫辭》
• 五、 熹平石經《文言》
• 六、 熹平石經《說卦》
• 七、 熹平石經《序卦》
• 八、 熹平石經《雜卦》

• 附: 關於王家臺秦簡《歸藏》所見易卦
  This appendix deals with the Wangjiatai Guicang, it gives a transcription of its contents.
  

• 第四章 傳世文獻中的易學記載
  Chapter 4 gives a transcription of parts from several pre-Qin and Han dynasty texts which contain references to the Yijing. Part two is an extensive list of book titles and compilations of Yijing books throughout the history of China; part three gives the received text of the Yijing.

• 第一節 散見於先秦兩漢等文獻中的易學記載
• 第二節 歷史上的《周易》典籍
• 第三節 今本《易經》與《傳》
• 一、 《易經》(今本原文)
• 二、 《彖》(今本原文)
• 三、 《象》(今本原文》
• 四、 《文言》(今本原文)
• 五、 《繫辭》(今本原文)
• 六、 《說卦》(今本原文)
• 七、 《序卦》(今本原文)
• 八、 《雜卦》(今本原文)

• 參考與引用論著目錄
  List of references.

There is nothing more for me to say. All the variant text convenient together in two volumes, in excellent quality, with interesting articles added. I you have the slightest interest in the variant texts of the Yijing, then what are you waiting for. Buy this book. It is worth the money.

楚竹書《周易》研究(上下)
Author: 濮茅左
Publisher: 上海古籍
Pages: 1045
Date: 2006年11月
ISBN: 7532541886
ISBN13: 9787532541881