Lyu Liben’s Yijing Ben Zhi Analysis on Understanding between Catholicism and the Book of Changes

In the middle of Qianlong’s reign, a book with Catholic ideas as its main interpretation appeared, namely Yijing Ben Zhi (The Original Intention of the Book of Changes)written by Lyu Li-ben (life unknown). The manuscript of Yijing Ben Zhi is collected in the Xujiahui Library in Shanghai. It was edited and compiled by Nicolas Standaert, Adrian Dudink,and Wang Renfang, and was later published by the Ricci Institute in Taipei, included the first and second volumes of Xujiahui Catholic Documents of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The interpretative structure of the Book of Changes in Yijing Ben Zhi mainly focuses on the hexagrams, lines and texts. At the same time, it is based on the pre-understanding of Catholic thought, Catholic teachings and mythological stories, therefore it is full of strong Catholic flavor and demonstrates a tendency of divine interpretation. This article mainly compares Yijing Ben Zhi with the Holy Bible, which focuses on four aspects: the theme and style of the Yijing Ben Zhi,the relationship between heaven and man, King Li born of the Xun woman (superior woman),and the views of heaven and earth in the Holy Bible and the Book of Changes, thus explores and analyzes the unique connotation of Yijing Ben Zhi influenced by Catholic teachings. In short, Lyu Liben’s adoption of Catholic ideas to annotate the Book of Changes contains the religious significance of defending the original Catholic scriptures. This method is similar to the categorical method commonly used when Buddhism was first introduced to China; however,during the transformation process, the teachings to be conveyed are likely to be limited by the context, causing the teachings to deviate from the original scriptures. Furthermore, the academic values of the similarities and differences between the study of the Book of Changes by Western Jesuit (Figurism, Societas Iesu) missionaries such as Joachim Bouvet (1656-1730) and Lyu Liben’s interpretive stance, approach and content as a Catholic are somehow understudied and remain an area yet to be explored.