Wang Bi

Wang Bi was born in 226, in the period after the fall of the Han dynasty, into a family of scholars, and died in 249 at the age of twenty-three. In his short life he became the leading figure of xuanxue, the “learning of the mysterious” or “of the dark”, a movement of philosophers who turned from the scholastic commentary of the Han to the Laozi, the Zhuangzi and the Book of Changes.

His commentaries on the Laozi and the Book of Changes became the standard interpretations for centuries; his edition of the Laozi is the basis of the received text. He held a minor office at the court of Wei, and was caught up in its political struggles; he died of illness the year his patrons fell.

Wang Bi read the Laozi not as a book of magic or longevity but as philosophy. He argued that all things have their root in nonbeing (wu), which is not a thing, cannot be named, and is the source and unity of all that exists. He also held that Confucius, who did not speak of nonbeing, understood it better than Laozi, who did. His thought prepared the ground on which Chinese Buddhism would build.