Wang Bi - A figure in the Lu Southwest dialect

Wang Bi (王弼), courtesy name Fusi, was born in 226 AD and died in 249 AD, a native of Gaoping, Shanyang (present-day Jinxiang County, Jining, Shandong). A famous scribe and philosopher of the Three Kingdoms, one of the representatives and founders of Wei and Jin metaphysics.

The "Biography of Wang Bi" written by the Western Jin Dynasty minister He Shao records that "Wang Bi was young and discerning, more than ten years old, good old, and able to speak in a general manner", which means that Wang Bi was already very intelligent when he was young, and when he was more than ten years old, he was a good old man, and his eloquence was outstanding, and he was on a par with Zhong Hui; when he was not weak, he was already known to the officials and literati at that time. After discovering Wang Bi's prodigy, He Yan, a well-known metaphysician at that time, sighed: "Zhongni said that the future life is terrible, and those who are Ruosi people can be related to the time of the heavens and the people", and recommended Wang Bi to serve as the Tailang of the Cao Shuang period of the Wei state.

In 249 AD, Wang Bi died of a furuncle disease at the age of 23, leaving behind a wife and a daughter, and the Biography of Wang Bi records that "the pawn of Bi, the king of Jinjing heard it, and the sigher was tired, and he was so sorry for Gao Zhi." Although he died young, he worked diligently and brilliantly, leaving behind several works, such as the Commentary on Lao Tzu, the Zhiluo of Laozi, and the Four Commentaries on Zhou Yi and Zhou Yi, which interpreted the ideas of Zhou Yi, as well as several works, such as "Interpretation of Doubts in Analects", "Three Volumes of Zhou Yi Great Derivation", one volume of "Zhou Yi Poor Micro-Theory", and one volume of "Yi Debate". Because the original text of the Tao Te Ching has been scattered for a long time, Wang Bi's Commentary on the Tao Te Ching was the only surviving document of the book until the discovery of the original Tao Te Ching in Mawangdui in 1973.

Later generations concluded that Wang Bi's critical study of the metaphysics of Yixue swept away the corrupt and pedantic style of yixue research in the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties; he established a metaphysical philosophy with a complete system and abstract speculation based on Laozi thought; and the new views and new insights he put forward in ontology and epistemology had a profound impact on the development of Chinese intellectual history in the future. In terms of easy learning, Wang Bi's annotation of "Yi" is first of all to turn the study of elephant numbers into a speculative philosophy, and to annotate the "I Ching" from the height of speculative philosophy; secondly, to stand on the taoist standpoint and metaphysically study "Yi". According to the Southern Qi Lu Cheng's Book of Harmony with Wang Jian: "At the beginning of Yuan Jia's jianxue, (Zheng) Xuan and (Wang) Bi stood on two sides. Capturing Yan Yanzhi as a sacrificial wine, deposing Zheng (玄) and placing Wang (弼), with the intention of Guixuan (learning), and failing Confucianism", which shows that during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Wang Bi's metaphysics had replaced Zheng Xuan's scriptures. In addition, Wang Bi's "Noble Whatever" had a great influence on the later Generations of Song Ming Theory, and his metaphysics also played an important role in the sinicization and localization of Buddhism, and his "triumphant" thinking method also had a certain influence on ancient Chinese poetry, painting, calligraphy and other art theories.

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