The philosophical inspirations of the Da Zhuan in interpreting the Zhouyi (Yijing)

The Da Zhuan (the Great Commentary) is broadly understood as a comprehensive masterpiece attached to the Zhouyi (I-Ching, Yijing, The Book of Changes) in which various schools of thoughts were incorporated to interpret the philosophy of the “Change” initiated in the “jing” (“guayaoci” or the Classic). In the past century, scholars attempt to explore the major philosophical arguments and ideas elaborated in the Da Zhuan. Despite the still existing impact from the negative criticism on the authorship and credibility of this masterpiece by Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072) and later scholars, the aforementioned scholars successfully obtain valuable insights which favor the establishing of the Yizhuan philosophy. On top of the insights of previous scholars, this paper would like to highlight the inner connections between the Da Zhuan and the “jing” to find out how it extends and expands the primitive, concise, and implicit ideas embedded in the “guaci” (hexagram judgments) and “yaoci” (line judgments) on the one hand and incorporates Confucianism and Daoism philosophy on the other.