Misunderstanding and Creation: The “Misreading” in Wang Daiyu’s Xi Zhen Zheng Da and Its Philosophical Significance

Xi Zhen Zheng Da (希真正答, True Answers of the Very Real) by Wang Daiyu (王岱舆, ca. 1592–1658), a Chinese Muslim scholar of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, is a dialogue record composed in question-and-answer format. Scholars have typically approached this work from the perspective of “Islamic–Confucian synthesis” (Yi-Ru huitong, 伊儒会通), emphasizing its function of “translating” Islamic doctrines into Confucian conceptual terms. This paper proposes an alternative reading: measured against contemporary scholarly standards, Wang’s interpretations of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism contain numerous “misunderstandings”—he demotes the Neo-Confucian concept of the “Great Ultimate” (Taiji, 太极) to a “created thing” (被造之物), literalizes the Daoist “non-action” (wuwei, 无为) as “inactivity”, and treats the Buddhist “gate of emptiness” (空门) as contradictory to the setting up of images (设像). However, these “misunderstandings” are not simply cognitive deficiencies but methodologically significant “creative misreadings”. Through a “transformative understanding” of the thought of others, Wang Daiyu constructed an articulable philosophical language for Islam within the Chinese context. Its value lies not in “correctly” translating either side but in opening up new spaces of thought within the tension between misunderstanding and dialogue.