俞琰对邵雍先天易学的发挥

Yu Yan’s Elaboration on Shao Yong’s Former Heaven Scholarship on the Changes

俞琰对邵雍先天易学的发挥,以阐发《周易参同契》的丹道理论为关键环节。他通过诠释先天图式,论说了由“身中之易”返“先天之易”、“披阐先天图环中之极玄”、“降心火于气海”等思想,对丹道炼养的时机、入手处、关键方法等进行了理论说明,从而建构了一个由后天复归先天的道教易学体系。由于俞琰旨在阐发丹道理法而非解释先天学本身,他对先天学的论说偏离了邵雍的本意。清初学者猛烈批判先天易学,实与俞琰等人的发挥不无关系。

Yu Yan’s(1258-1314) elaboration on Shao Yong’s Former Heaven scholarship on the Changes took the elucidation of the alchemy refinery theory of the Zhouyi can tong qi(Token for the Agreement of the Three According to the Zhou Changes) as the crucial part. By interpreting the Former Heaven diagrams, he discussed the ideas of returning from the “Changes in the body” to the “Changes of Former Heaven”, “expounding the extreme mystery in the diagram of Former Heaven” and “lowering the heart fire to the sea of qi(an acupoint in abdomen)”, and theoretically explained the timing, starting point and key methods for the alchemy refinery, by which he constructed a Daoist system of Changes scholarship aiming to return to the state of Former Heaven from the state of Later Heaven. Yu Yan’s theory of Former Heaven deviated from Shao Yong’s original idea because he aimed to elucidate alchemy refinery theory and method rather than to explain the Former Heaven theory itself. Scholars in the early Qing dynasty(1636-1912) strongly criticized the Former Heaven theory, which was really related to Yu Yan and other scholars’ expansions of the theory.