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Wang Bi: “The Structure of the Laozi’s Subtle Pointers” 75 The Genre of the LZWZLL The elements li ͛, lüe ᯆ, and zhi ྆ appeared in the titles of literary works since the Later Han and the Sanguo period; they purported to elucidate both the structure and meaning of classical texts systematically. The Tang writer Xing Shou ⴧ䔗 explains the meaning of lüeli ᯆ͛ in his Commentary to Wang Bi’s Zhouyi lüeli: Lüeli is a term comprehensively explaining the structure (gangmu ℏᲿ) and a designation of systematically illuminating the literary organization (wenli ᄽ᫧) of a work. . . . [Wang Bi] wrote the [Zhouyi] lüeli in order to refute the errors of the different schools and to give a systematical exposition of the entire organization [of the Zhouyi].21 He Shao assigns similar functions to the LZWZLL, saying that Wang Bi “wrote the Commentary to the Laozi and made a Zhilüe about it which manages to arrive at a systematic exposition ⎐ሷ᫧⃥.”22 The many polemics in the actual text also confirm the third feature mentioned by Xing Shou. The element zhi ྆, “to point,” is taken by Wang Bi in a more verbatim sense than by some of his predecessors.23 However, Dong Zhongshu ┷˰ ⎧(179–104 b.c.e.) uses it in an analysis of the indirect language of the Chunqiu ᆨẠ. Dong argues that the Chunqiu does not explicitly condemn war but through various descriptive techniques arrives at a sophisticated and more realistic assessment of the different types of war. To understand this, it does not make sense to stare at the words, ci Ⲇ, of the Chunqiu. He writes, “the words are not able to achieve this [to communicate this complex thought], all is in what [the Chunqiu] is pointing at Ⲇʃ⋱‫ד‬ᲀ ߱ᅠ྆.” In this sense “he who sees what [the Chunqiu’s expressions] are pointing at, will not put the weight on the [particular] words, and only if he does not put the weight on its [particular] words, will it be possible to go along with it [the Chunqiu] on the Way ⣲Ң྆≛ʃ˶ҢⲆʃ˶ҢⲆ ᤋര‫ⳬ⳺⎞ר‬ᵦ.”24 The intrinsic structure of the recondite object of the Laozi’s reflection does not permit definition, thus it can only be “pointed at,” and the zhang of the Laozi are such pointers toward an undefinable center. “He, however, who imposes a discursive analysis upon the textual patterns of the Laozi will miss what he points at (zhi) ᤋԅ≘ઈʠᄽᓥⲈ≟⥽≛ԅ दҢᅼʬ,” Wang Bi says.25 76 A Chinese Reading of the Daodejing His structural analysis thus rebuts commentaries of the zhangju ὁ ‫ן‬ kind, laying bare the structure of the Laozi as part of an answer to the problem ontology has with language. Within Liu Xie’s categories in his Wenxin diaolong, the LZWZLL is a subgenre of the lun ⧄. Liu defines the genre lun at the beginning of the chapter devoted to it: “The patterns and regulations of the Sage’s time are called jing ⃻, while explanations of the classics’ structure (xuli ᄝ᫧) are called lun ⧄.”26 The LZWZLL forms that subgenre of lun that emphasizes wen ᄽ, “literary refinement.” Liu calls the LZWZLL and other lun by He Yan ̬ ૈ, Xiahou Xuan ऑͬ᪐ , Xi Kang ௄ನ, Wang Can ᪗⁛, and Fu Jia ϼ ϐ the “heroes among the lun, containing the individual insights of these masters’ hearts, the epitome of subtle secrets.” With an image borrowed from Wang Bi, he describes the lun as the “weir and trap of the hundred thoughts, the weigh and beam for the ten thousand affairs. Thus, as far as meaning goes, [the lun] cherish the well-rounded and communicable, and as for formulation, they shun branching off as well as scattered fragments. One must achieve harmony between thought and [literary] structure and arrange it so that no one can see any cracks. When the formulations cohere and the thoughts are dense, the opponents do not know on what to base [an objection]—these are the essentials” [of the genre lun].27 The lun has thus acquired its own philosophic and literary stringency, and the LZWZLL is said to excel in this respect. The LZWZLL is of twofold importance, as the earliest and most important analysis of the “Structure of the Laozi’s Pointers,” and as a philosophic treatise in its own right. In my opinion, the LZWZLL is the most important surviving Chinese philosophic treatise of the third century. Wang Bi is not the first to assign a specific purpose and function to the overall structure of a text. The “wings” attached to the Zhouyi, especially the Xici and Shuogua, have pioneered this approach with an analysis...

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