Wang Bi 226 – 249
Wang Bi was a Chinese philosopher of the Three Kingdoms period and the most important early commentator on the Daode jing and the Yijing. Although he died at twenty-three, his short life produced commentaries that decisively shaped the reading of the foundational Daoist texts for the next eighteen centuries. Drawing on the metaphysics of original non-being, he developed the school known as Profound Learning, in which the underlying Dao is identified with the formless ground from which the manifold of phenomena emerges. His commentaries are now read alongside the original texts as part of the classical Daoist canon.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Chinese
- Era
- Ancient
- Movements
- Taoism
Selected quotes
-
Attributed to Wang Bi:
“Original non-being is the foundation of all being.”
-
Attributed to Wang Bi:
“The Dao that can be named is not the eternal Dao.”
-
Attributed to Wang Bi:
“Returning to the root is the way of the wise.”
-
Attributed to Wang Bi:
“The sage rules without acting; the people are content without compulsion.”
-
Attributed to Wang Bi:
“Names cannot reach what is most fundamental; only the wordless can name it.”