本文從《易》象數的角度來解釋周敦頤的《太極圖說》與《通書)，認為這種象數的「二對生」的區別性特徵是周氏學說的內在發動結構，由此而提出一些很不同於流行的「宇宙論加上倫理學」的解釋模式的思路。在一些被長久爭論的問題上，比如「太極與無極的關係」、「太極與兩儀的關保」、「誠與太極的關係」、「中與太極和誠的關係」，都提出了新的看法。在這新的理解方式中，周敦頤的《太極圖說》就不止是程朱陸王的一個含糊的先導，而是融合了儒道釋的思想精華，而又有著自己獨特的思想原發力與中和的精微境界的劃時代的哲理學說，其蘊義 ( 比如超出理氣二分的原本發生論 ) 並未被後來的理學家們窮盡。本文最後將周敦頤的思想與西方的畢達哥拉斯及萊布尼茲的學說進行對比，一方面揭示「象數」在偉大的哲理傳統中的關鍵作用，另一方面又表明中西兩大傳統之間存在的深刻差異在結構上的原因。

This paper interprets Zhou Dunyi's Explanations of Tai Ji Diagram as well as his Essay on Transforming (Tong Shu) through the perspective of the image-numbers of the Changes. It argues that the distinctive doctrine of the so-called "production by opposition" function as the inner dynamic structure of Zhou's thoughts. Accordingly, some new interpretations are proposed, and they are quite different from the prevailing explanatory mode of "cosmology plus ethics." Also related are such long debated questions as: the relations between taiji (the ultimate) and wuji (none-ultimate), (aiji and liangyi (two poles), cheng (sincerity) and taiji, and that between the middle (zhong) and (aiji as well cheng. From this new perspective, Zhou's Explanations of Tai Ji Diagram is not merely a vague prelude to the later prevailing doctrines (Cheng, Zhu, Lu, Wang), but a groundbreaking (or, epoch-making) invention that has its own distinctive originality and conceptual sophistication, and is not exhausted by the following neo-Confucians. In the final part, the paper compares Zhou with Pythagorean and Leibniz' thoughts, in order to foreground the key role played by "image-number" in forming the great Chinese philosophical traditions and the structural differences between Chinese and Western traditions.