The core terminology of Xuanxue, with Chinese characters, pinyin, and explanations grounded in the philosophical tradition. A guide for navigating the conceptual landscape.
The foundational polarity of Xuanxue. Wú (无) is not mere absence but the formless, nameless source from which all things emerge — the enabling emptiness. Yǒu (有) is the world of concrete, named, formed things. The debate over which is primary defined the Wei-Jin philosophical landscape.
Tǐ (体) is the underlying nature or essence of a thing — what it is. Yòng (用) is its expression, operation, or function — what it does. Wang Bi argued that substance and function are unified: the same "non-being" that is the substance of all things also manifests as their functioning. This pair became central to both Chinese philosophy and Buddhist thought.
Běn (本) is the root, trunk, origin — the fundamental. Mò (末) is the branch, the derivative, the secondary. Wang Bi used this organic metaphor to argue that "non-being" is the root of which all particular things are the branches. To focus on the branches while ignoring the root is to miss the point entirely.
The "Words and Meaning" debate (言意之辩) asked: can language fully capture truth? Wang Bi argued for 得意忘言 — "grasp the meaning, forget the words." Language is a net: useful for catching fish, but the fish is the point, not the net. The Zhuangzi's famous image of the fish trap (筌蹄) became the standard metaphor.
Zìrán (自然) is "self-so-ness" — the spontaneous, natural state of things without external imposition. Míngjiào (名教) is the Confucian system of names, roles, and rituals that structures social life. The debate: are these compatible or contradictory? Ji Kang famously declared "越名教而任自然" — "Transcend norms, follow nature." Others, like Guo Xiang, argued they are ultimately one.
The central concept of Daoist philosophy. For Xuanxue thinkers, the Dao is not a "thing" but the underlying principle or pattern of all reality. It is formless, nameless, and inexhaustible — yet it gives rise to all forms and names. Wang Bi identified the Dao with "non-being" (无), making it the ultimate foundation of his metaphysics.
Guo Xiang's radical contribution. Dúhuà means that things transform and arise by themselves, without a first cause or cosmic ground. There is no Dao that "creates" things — things create themselves. This is not random chaos but spontaneous order: each thing follows its own nature (性), and the harmony of the whole emerges without a designer.
Does the ideal person (sage) feel emotions, or transcend them? The orthodox view held that sages are "without emotion" — detached and serene. Wang Bi overturned this: sages feel emotions more deeply than ordinary people, but they are not bound by them. "The sage has emotions" was a revolutionary claim — it meant that full humanity, not cold detachment, is the ideal.
A key concept in Xuanxue aesthetics: the mental image or concept that arises when meaning transcends literal description. Wang Bi's commentary method — reading the hexagrams of the Book of Changes for their conceptual significance rather than their literal imagery — established yìxiàng as a foundational term in Chinese aesthetics, later central to poetry and painting theory.
The three canonical texts of Xuanxue: the Daodejing (老子), the Zhuangzi (庄子), and the Book of Changes (周易). Together they formed the textual foundation of the movement — hence the name "Xuanxue," the study of the "dark" or "profound." Every major Xuanxue thinker produced commentaries on at least one of these three.