ABSTRACT
Best-known in the west as an important representative of neo-Daoism, Wang Bi (226-249) is remembered in traditional Chinese sources as a brilliant interpreter of the Laozi and the Yijing, whose radical reformulation of the dao in terms of “nonbeing” (wu) sparked not only a revival of Daoist philosophy but a new current of thought known as xuanxue, the “learning of the mysterious” or “profound learning.” This does not mean, however, that Wang was a Daoist in the sectarian sense of the word, especially if it implies anti-Confucian sentiments.
