Wang Bi


Wang Bi, courtesy name Fusi, was a Chinese neo-Daoist philosopher.

Life

Wang Bi served as a minor bureaucrat in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. He was married with a daughter when he died of sickness at the age of 23.
Wang Bi's most important works are commentaries on Laozi's Tao Te Ching and the I Ching. The text of the Tao Te Ching that appeared with his commentary was widely considered the best copy of his work until the discovery of the Han-era Mawangdui texts in 1973. He was a scholar of Xuanxue.

Writings

At least three works by Wang Bi are known: a commentary on Confucius' Analects, which survives only in quotations; commentaries on the I Ching and the Tao Te Ching, which not only have survived but have greatly influenced subsequent Chinese thought on those two classics.
His commentary on the I Ching has been translated into English by Richard John Lynn, The Classic of Changes
Several translations into English have been made of his commentary of the Tao Te Ching: