Researches on the I Ching

163 Pages·1980·43.061 MB·English

by  Iulian K. Shchutskii

Researches on the
I Ching
Researches on the
I Ching
Researches on the
I Ching
I BY IULIAN K. SHCHUTSKll
\:i
Translated by
William L. MacDonald
and
Tsuyoshi Hasegawa
with
Hellmut Wilhelm
With an Introduction
by Gerald W. Swanson
ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL
LONDON AND HENLEY
Translated from JO. K. HlyuxnR KHTaRCKlUI KJiaccHuecrcaH Contents
«KHHra nepeMeH» (I. K. Shchutskii, 'Kitaiskaya klassistyeskaya
"kniga peryemen"') (Moscow, 1960). Acknowledgments
VI
Introduction to the English Edition, vu
by Gerald W. Swanson
First published in Great Britain in 1980
Introduction to the Russian Edition xlix
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
by N. I. Konrad '
39 Store Street, London WC1E 7DD and
Biographical Sketch, by N. A. Petrov lxv
Broadway House, Newtown Road,
Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 1EN
PART I
Printed in Great Britain by
Introduction
Redwood Burn Ltd 3
l. The Study of the Book of Changes in Europe 13
Trowbridge & Esher
Copyright© 1979 by Princeton University Press 2. Noncommentatory Studies in the Far East 56
No part of this book may be reproduced in
PART II
any form without permission from the
Introduction
publisher, except for the quotation of brief 129
passages in criticism l · Monolithic Nature of the Text 132
2. Differentiation by Content 158
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data 3· Differentiation by Techniques of Thinking 166
4. Differentiation by Language
Shchutskii, Julian 173
5. Dialect of the Basic Text
Researches on the I Ching. 177
1. I Chit~g 6. Chronology of the Parts of the Text 181
I. Title 7. Problems of Dating the Basic Text 186
1811.11 8. Commentatory Studies 196
ISBN o 7100 0531 8 9. Commentatory Interpretations 207
ro. Influence on Chinese Philosophy
212
First published as a paper
II. Problems in Translating the Book 224
ISBN 0-7102-0585-6 12. Reflections in Artistic Literature 229
Bibliography
Index
Introduction to the English Edition
Ac know ledgments
The details of Iulian K. Shchutskii's academic life are suffi
Our thanks go to the former Far Eastern and Russian Institute
ciently outlined in the Ru~sian biography by Konrad. Left
at the University of Washington, the Graduate Research
untold is the story of Iulian Shchutskii, the man. Some im
Board of the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign),
pression of him was conveyed to the present writer through
and the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Illinois
an interview he and Dr. David Knechtges had in August
(Urbana-Champaign) for financial support; to Margaret
1974 with the famous Mongolian expert Dr. Nicholas Poppe,
Karzmar, Barbara Thayer, and Barbara Manning for the
a friend ofShchutskii's who had been best man at his wedding
typing; to Howard. Goodman for help with editing and
in 1928.
research; and to the many friends and colleagues who helped
Julian began his studies in 1920-1921, and he finished in
out with advice and consultations.
T. H., W. L. M., H. W. 1926-1927. According to Dr. Poppe, his primary concern
was ~he _Chinese spirit and its manifestations. He had a great
poetic g~ft, and was at home in both poetry and philosophy.
He studied under A. I. Ivanov, an expert in history, philos
ophy, and the Hsi-hsia language. 1 He considered himself
'
'
I. For a brief history of Soviet sinology, see B. G. Gafurov and Y. Y. Gan
kovsky, eds., Fifty Years of Soviet Oriental Studies (Moscow: Nauka Publishing
House, 1968). Characterizing Soviet sinology in the twenties, Gafurov and
Gankovsky have the following observations: "At that rim~ there existed a
definite gap between the Sinologues of the so-called classical school, whose
stronghold was in Orientological establishments of Leningrad and who dealt
mainly with the problems of philology and old literature, and the school of
Sinologues of a new denomination, mostly Muscovites, for whom the scientific
problems of the Chinese revolution were of primary importance" (p. 6}. The
sam~ essay has thi~ to say about Shchutskii: "I. K. Shchutskii's posthumously
pu~hshed transl~tion_ and essay 'Chinese Classical Book of Changes' (1960),
which by analyzmg different layers of that extremely complicated philosophical
treatise lays bare its inner meaning, was doubtless a momentous event in Soviet
science" (p. 24). I wish to acknowledge the assistance of Hellrnut Wilhelm
Frederick Mote, David Knechtges, Robert Daniels, Luther Martin Wan~
Ching-hsien, Martha Powers, Sanford G. Thatcher, Polly Hanford, Alan
Berkowitz, Tim Phelan, Crispin Wilhelm, and especially Dr. Nicholas Poppe.
vii
Vl
Introduction to the English Edition
Gerald W. SUJanson
however, a student ofV. M. Alekseev (1881-1951), the leader on the flagpole paused awhile, then continued to scan
of the Leningrad school of sinology.2 Shchutskii's excellent ·~horizon. "I cannot accept your offer," the voice finally
command of the Chinese language, both spoken and written, ealled. "Yes, I could go to America and solve your Great
was remarkable since he had never been to China. He also :@epression, but then I would be out of a job; here on my
studied Annamese, and even published a manual of this flagpole I shall have a job forever. After all, a man must be
language, and in addition was aware of the importance of GOncerned with his position in life."
Japanese scholarship. He knew Manchu and used to make up For Shchutskii, instead of the revolution, the NKVD came,
humorous nicknames for others in Manchu. He was a deeply ~ he was arrested early -in 1937. They took him away in
the
religious man, and Buddhism played a great role in his night along with all his books and papers. Mrs. Shchutskii
religious beliefs. According to Dr. Poppe, "Shchutskii was and their daughter of a few months were left alone. Poppe
an idealist and believed in the soul and spirit of man." At the mnuelf managed to escape through the forests to Finland.
same time, he was an eclectic, not accepting any dogma 100 Shchutskii's doctoral dissertation, which we have here in
percent. He was a great admirer of Western psychology and :English translation, also escaped. It had been deposited at the
had studied Freud. He and Poppe both had to read Marx Institute library and was buried somewhere in the book
against their will. "It would not be correct to label him .a bU:idery, where it remained until after the death of Stalin.
Marxist," said Dr. Poppe, in a very deliberate and emphatic Although Shchutskii was never brought to trial, Poppe was
able to find out that he perished in a prison camp, along with
tone.
Shchutskii was gay and very sociable. "This was possibly ·bjs friend Nevskii and at least one other student. His skull was
his downfall," related Dr. Poppe, "as he used to tell political yrushed with a chain. Nevskii, an expert on Japanese as well
jokes." He was fond of a particular joke about an ~merican as Hsi-hsia language, had interested Shchutskii in a study
capitalist visiting Leningrad during the Dep~e~s1on. The ~led "anthroposophy."3 According to Poppe, "these activ
American capitalist came upon a strange man s1ttmg on top ities were condemned, and this was certainly one reason he
\fas
of a forty-foot flagpole, scanning the horizon with an imagi eliminated." Nevskii's wife was also taken by the secret
nary telescope. He was able to get the man's attention and ·iplice, leaving a two-year-old daughter. The girl stayed two
shouted: "What are you doing on top of that flagpole?" A ~ys in an empty apartment until found by Nikolai I. Konrad,
voice answered: "I'm waiting for the revolution." "Well, the Russian editor of the present work. Konrad was a younger
then," returned the American capitalist, "since you seem to ~end of Shchutskii, Poppe, Nevskii, and the others. 4 Konrad
be a man of discerning judgment and keen insight, why don't ~Rparently had a keen sense of how to survive, because he
you come to America and solve our Great Depression?" The
nJ· It is not known whether Shchutskii's brand of "anthroposophy" is the
2. V. M. Alekseev was appointed head of the Chinese Department of the ~~e as that of Rudolph Steiner, who founded the Anthroposophical Society
Institute of Orientology of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1929. He was m· t912. Steiner called his version a "spiritual science" and claimed that man
not bothered in the purges of the thirties, possibly because of his international dould again regain the faculty of spiritual perception.
reputation as a scholar. See L. z. Eidlen, "Akademik V. M. Alekseev kak istorik 4, Nikolai Iosifovish Konrad (1891-1971) was an instructor and then
kitaiskoi literatury," Izvestiya Akademia Nauk/Otdelenie literatury i iazyka S ~~fessor ofJ apanese Language and Literature from 1922 to 1939 at Leningrad
(1946), 239-244; English trans. Francis Woodman Cleaves, H]AS 10 (1947), University. In 1941, he was made chairman of the same department at the
MO$Cow Institute of Oriental Studies.
48-59.
ix
vm
Gerald W. Swanson Introduction to the English Edition
eventually found his way into an important position in the k is overdue in the West, but with it, much of the diffi
Soviet Academy of Sciences. According to Poppe, Konrad ty of this unique book will ~e overcome.
was a very compassionate man. One ofhis first actions after Part 1 of his work, Shchutskii calls attention to the many
the Stalin era was to publish his old friend's thesis as a book. dequacies of Western scholarship concerning the Book of
He also raised Nevskii's daughter as his own child. 'ges. He calls attention to the Western tendency to
Dr. Poppe told us that these purges were accepted as in '~proach the book with a set of preconceived constructs
evitable in Leningrad at the time. "One never knew where ·~'bout. its nature. Thus Lacouperie and Conrady saw the I
the snake would strike next." He feels that "what this young i'~hlng in terms of the European philological tradition-as a
man Solzhenitsyn says in his Gu lag Archipelago is correct." It ;ij~onary. Shchutskii demonstrates that such a thesis cannot
is perhaps a poignant ending to a tragic tale that Iulian ·:·~en be stated without involving itself in manifold contra-
Shchutskii's work has gained a wider audience with this /·.diction .
translation into English. .~ ;~ .. Shchutskii's critical appraisal of James Legge and Richard
Wilhelm reflects his opinion of the views they held on prob
. ~in which he had a strong interest, such as the origin and
An Appraisal of Shchutskii's Work
.·~;morship of the_ text. But he fails to give them credit for
Shchutskii's dissertation was immediately recognized as a .:·~r most important contribution, the translation of the text
major scholarly work, not only for the difficulty and impor ··•·;·~~lf. Legge translated the text in accordance with the objec
tance of its subject matter, but also for the great amount of . •tive standards of the best available scholarship, but Legge was
new information it contains. In his review in T'oung-Pao, ''l!i>t particularly interested in the I Ching, and one often
Paul Demieville said of Shchutskii: he would not have translated it at all were it not for
fact that'he set out to translate all the Chinese classics.
Shchutskii did not take long to realize-as all of us do-the necessity
As with Legge, Richard Wilhelm also used the Chou I che
for whoever reads the texts, whatever dynasty or subject it may be,
•'ung edition of the text, but the influence of his teacher, Lao
to be familiar with and understand as best as possible, the I Ching;
·:..hsiian (1843-1921), provided an essential difference be-
there is found one of the primary sources of the cardinal points of
Chinese thought and of the terminology which is found in most en his translation and that of James Legge. 6 Legge trans
works.5 ' The biography of Richard Wilhelm's teacher, Lao Nai-hsiian, contains
following: "In November 1913, Lao accepted an invitation from the
Certainly Professor Demieville is correct in emphasizing
man Sinologist Richard Wilhelm to preside over the Confucius Society,
the necessity of being familiar with the I Ching, for the Book ded by Wilhelm and a number of former imperial officials in the German
of Changes, as it has come to be known in the West, is part of d territory of Tsingtao. The two men became close friends, and their
the very bloodstream of Chinese philosophy. Anyone who tual interest in the I Ching (Book of Changes) resulted in a new edition of
''f:at text by Lao entitled Chou I tsun-ch'eng (the Book of Changes according
wants to study not only traditional Chinese philosophy, but
lifu,the Ch'eng school) and a German rendering of the classic by Wilhelm, the
also history and, for. that matter, every aspect of Chinese
:!IJJGing. Das Buch der Wandlungen, published at Jena in 1924." See Howard
intellectual life, must be conversant with the general cosmo !\Boatman, ed., Biographical Dictionary of Republican China, 11 (New York:
logical principles of the I Ching. Without doubt, Shchutskii's ·~~olumbia Univ. Press, 1968), 282. Legge's relationship with Wang T'ao was
:. . ,~at quite the same: Wang T'ao was paid twenty Hong Kong dollars per month
5. Paul Demieville, "Review ofKitaiskaya Klassicheskaia Kniga Peremen," :: ;7tt>' help Legge with his translations of the Chinese classics. See Arthur W.
T'oung-Pao 50 (1963), 266-278. · Hummel, ed., Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (rpt. Taiwan, 1970), p. 836.
xi
x
Introduction to the English Edition
Gerald W. Swanson
Legge and Wilhelm represent an earlier stage of I Ching
lated what the text said, while Wilhelm translated what the
scholarship. Their intent, although reflecting different assump
text meant; that is, Legge was primarily a translator while
tions, was to make the book available to Westerners, and in
Wilhelm was more of an interpreter, interested in the overall
this they were successful. Shchutskii has a different purpose,
significance of the text for Chinese intellectual life. Wilhelm
namely, to get back to the original text, to determine its
was fascinated with the significance of the text for Chinese
origin and authorship. Like Legge and Wilhelm before him,
intellectual tradition, but perhaps even more, he was drawn
Shchutskii opened up new areas of inquiry.
toward the possible significance of the text as an aspect of
world literature. The immense popularity of the Wilhelm The second chapter of Part I, "Noncommentatory Studies
in the Far East," is the strongest section of Shchutskii's work.
translation can only be accounted for by the realization that,
·There is much new material presented on the elaborate and
for Richard Wilhelm, the I Ching was not a lifeless artifact of
complex questions of lore associated with the I Ching, espe
archaic China, but transcended even China. Richard Wilhelm
cially in his discussion of Ou-yang Hsiu, Chang Hsiieh-ch'eng,
had an insight that separated him from his predecessors and
and P'i Hsi-jui. Shchutskii, in the final analysis, does not adopt
from Shchutskii as well: the ultimate significance of the I
many conclusions from these writers, but their presentation,
Ching is as a guide for one's personal psychic understanding.
together with their argumentation, is not found in Western
This is how it was used in old China; that is, the meaning of
works on the Book of Changes, and on this point alone Shchut
the book in China was to help one find perspective amid the
skii must be credited with drawing attention to them. Shchut
constant changes oflife. Wilhelm saw that it might have that
skii outlines some twenty points taken from Ou-yang Hsiu's
significance also for the West, and therefore in his translation
Questions of a Youth about the Book of Changes (I t'ung-tzu wen
and interpretation he kept the text as faithful to the Chinese
I.A-'I: -=f r,,i), the most important of which is the fact that Ou
understanding as possible. In this way Richard Wilhelm
yang Hsiu was the first scholar to call the Confucian authorship
raised the I Ching to the status of world literature. 7
of the Ten Wings into question.
7. Richard Wilhelm was influenced by Lao Nai-hsi.ian, but he was also The primary accomplishment of Chang Hsiieh-ch'eng was
encouraged by his friendship with Carl Gustav Jung. The Jung/Wilhelm to draw attention to an image theory of meaning as recorded
exchange was one of the more interesting intellectual relationships of the late in the Great Treatise [or Great Commentary], the largest and
twenties and deserves a separate study. The effect of this relationship upon
most philosophical essay of the Ten Wings. Shchutskii credits
Jung was to help crystallize his ideas on mandala and alchemical symbolism
Chang Hsiieh-ch'eng with having reached the conclusion that
and led to the collaborative publication, with Wilhelm, of Das Geheimnis der
Goldenen Blute. The effect upon Wilhelm was to give him access, through the images in the line texts of the I Ching
translations by Jung's student, Cary F. Baynes, to an English readership; first
are related to the poetical images of the Shih-ching, as internal aspects
with The Secret of the Golden Flower in 1931, and in 1950 with what became
of the external. Even though recognizing the perfection of the images
the standard English translation of the I Ching. Wilhelm was a missionary, not
of the Shih-ching, he nevertheless thinks that only the images of the
part of the German university community, and in his relationship with Jung
Book of Changes (proceeding in the final account from the natural
he received some measure of recognition when German scholarship was
rejecting him. Shchutskii dearly shows how unfair was the criticism of E. images of the world) carry system and harmony in themselves. (p. 86)
Hauer, a representative of the university community. See Richard Wilhelm Although Shchutskii does not follow Chang Hsiieh-ch'eng's
and C. G. Jung, The Secret of the Golden Flower: A Chinese Book of Life. English conclusions, he nevertheless holds him in very high regard as
edition translated by C. F. Baynes (New York and London, 1931; new edition,
a thinker:
1962).
xiii
Xll
Introduction to the English Edition
Gerald W. Swanson
We must note that Chang Hsiieh-ch'eng is in general a confirmed am texts O£ kua-tz'u ~~; and the line texts or yao
Confucianist. But, appreciating such ideas which strongly distinguish lf. In the third edition of Wilhelm/Baynes, the first
him from the rest of the authors who wrote about the Book of Changes, ··of Shchutskii's four-part basic text are included under
we cannot but recognize in him one of those with the most original eral title of "The Judgment." Thus in Hexagram 30,
and interesting ideas who occupied an original place in the develop xample, under the Judgment text we have: "The Clinging.
ment of Chinese philosophy. (p. 87) verance furthers. It brings success. Care of the cow brings
Shchutskii devotes some twenty-two pages to a point-by fortune."
point discussion of the first eight chapters of A Comprehensive e term "The Clinging," is the name of the hexagram,
Discussion of Classical Scholarship (Ching-hsueh t'ung-lun I!~ t of Shchutskii's four parts. The name of the hexagram
~~)by the late Ch'ing scholar P'i Hsi-jui. As in the case of ~-tz'u is found in the first position in all of the sixty-four
Chang Hsiieh-ch'eng, Shchutskii does not follow many of ~arns, both in the Chinese original and in Wilhelm/
P'i Hsi-jui's conclusions, but again he gives him credit for es. The so-called Four Qualities, yuan, heng, Ii, and cheng
being an original thinker: chen) Jf;~;fljt{, are the second part. These terms in
elm/Baynes are consistently translated: yiian-"Su
Nevertheless, while disagreeing with the basic concepts of our author,
we cannot but recognize that his was a colossal study of the Book of e"; heng-"Success"; li-"Furthers"; cheng-"Perse
Changes and that his treatise is full of the most valuable information ce." Since Ii and cheng only occur together (with a
not yet taken into account in the European study of China. (pp. 108- exceptions of adjectives inserted between Ii and cheng),
are consistently translated by Wilhelm/Baynes as "per
109)
Thus, although Shchutskii by no means entirely agrees ce furthers." Yuan never appears without heng and is
with Chang Hsiieh-ch'eng and P'i Hsi-jui, this translation hted in Wilhelm/Baynes as "Supreme success." 9 The
provides us with all that is now available in English of their heng, on the other hand, does appear without yuan and
qualifiers other than the name of the hexagram. In those
studies on the I Ching.
Part 11 ofShchutskii's work consists of his research on eleven it is translated by Wilhelm/Baynes as "success."
separate problems about the I Ching. But before we can give chutskii's third part of the basic text is the remainder of
a general account of his results, we must correlate Shchutskii's hexagram text. This is also called "The Judgment" in
text divisions with the material in Wilhelm/Baynes. The elm/Baynes. This Judgment or hexagram text is, for
general reader who may know no Chinese can still follow utskii, older than the fourth part. The fourth part is the
Shchutskii's argument-indeed, that is one of the great texts or yao-tz'u; they are referted to in Wilhem/Baynes
strengths of this work. To follow the line of Shchutskii's he Lines." 10
argumentation, however, one must know where in Wilhelm/ e other texts, known collectively as the Ten Wings, are
Baynes to find the appropriate elements. 8 Thus the basic text
for Shchutskii consists of the following parts: the name of the There is a single exception to this statement. Hexagram 50, Ting, has the
s
chi ("good fortune") inserted between yiian and heng. This is translated
hexagram; the divinatory formulae; the remainder of the
ilhelm/Baynes as "Supreme good fortune. Success."
8. Richard Wilhelm, trans., The I Ching or Book of Changes, English trans. . Later research into the Book of Changes, principally by Hellmut Wilhelm,
by Cary f. Baynes, 3rd ed., With a preface by Hellmut Wilhelm, Bollingen shown that Shchutskii is probably wrong in this estimation. We shall
the problem later.
Series XIX (Princeton Univ. Press, 1967), hereafter Wilhelm/Baynes.
xv
xiv
Introduction to the English Edition
Gerald W. Swanson
1$ or Commentary on the Small Image, and is found in
all later commentaries. Although this work is principally
concerned with the basic text, there is much new information · helm/Baynes only in Book III as a commentary to each
the lines. It is prefaced by "b)" to show that it is com
concerning the Ten Wings in Shchutskii's research. The first
:lnentatory to the "a)" part above, the line texts themselves
of the Ten Wings and the fifth part recognized by Shchutskii
l~e Hsiao-hsiang chuan is the source of certain explanator;
is the T'uan-chuan ~{$,and is called the "Commentary on the
c;oncepts, the most important of which is the notion of wei
Decision" in Wilhelm/Baynes. It is a commentary on the
f)L or "relative position."
hexagram text and provides a wealth of technical terms for a
, The eighth part of the I Ching text is the Hsi-tz'u chuan
discussion of both the line relationships in the hexagram and
the verbal symbolism in the hexagram text. For an example "•M1' or Ta-chuan *~, translated in Wilhelm/Baynes as
The Great Treatise. This is not a commentary as such, but a
of the technical term "correspondence" in the Commentary
on the Decision we can look to Hexagram 13, T'ung Jen. collection of separate essays on philosophical topics.
Shchutskii's ninth part is the Shuo-kua chuan ijjtj~~, trans
Here we have:
lated in Wilhelm/Baynes as "Discussion of the Trigrams."
Fellowship with Men. The yielding finds its place, finds the middle, This is similar to The Great Treatise in that it is not a com
and the Creative corresponds with it: this means fellowship with mentary, but a separate collection of essays discussing the I
men.11 Ching from the point of view of the trigram school of
When we look at Hexagram 13 __ we see immediately that interpretation current in the late Chou.
the yielding line referred to is six in the second place, that is, The Hsii-kua chuan If j~~ forms Shchutskii's tenth part of
the second from the bottom, broken line. The "correspon the text. It is translated by Wilhelm/Baynes as "The Sequence"
dence" referred to occurs between this yielding line and the and is placed, along with the Miscellaneous Notes, before the
firm or Creative line in the fifth place.12 The verbal symbol Judgment. The Sequence is a long prose poem, cut up and
in this case is the term "Fellowship with Men." This verbal attached to the various hexagrams; it is concerned with the
symbol is illustrated by the correspondence between the two ordering of the hexagrams from one through sixty-four.
lines. * Shchutskii's eleventh part is the Tsa-kua chuan ~!H$ and
The Ta-hsiang chuan fl ft , which is called "The Image" is translated by Wilhelm/Baynes as "Miscellaneous Notes." It
in Wilhelm/Baynes, is the sixth part recognized by Shchutskii. is primarily composed of glosses on the names of the hexa
grams.
It appears under each Judgment text in Book 1 and after each
Commentary on· the Decision in Book III of the Wilhelm/ The last of Shchutskii's divisions is the Wen-yen chuan )( 1§
Baynes. This commentary also explains the hexagram texts of f-', translated in Wilhelm/Baynes as the "Commentary on
Judgment texts, but from the point of view of the component the Words of the Text." This is a series of glosses on the words
of the Judgment and line texts for the first two hexagrams.
trigrams.
The seventh part of the total text is the Hsiao-hsiang chuan Havmg made correlations between Shchutskii's divisions
and the parts of the text as they appear in Wilhelm/Baynes,
I 1. Wilhelm/Baynes, p. 452. we are now in a position to give a general account of Part n
12. This is discussed in Wilhelm/Baynes, p. 356. But most of what occurs of Shchutskii's work, together with a comment upon its
in Richard Wilhelm's essay, "The Structure of the Hexagrams," is found in content.
the Commentary on the Decision.
xvii
xvi