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What are the life stories of Wang Shouren, the first great man in Ming Dynasty?

Wang Yangming, master of psychology

Wang Yangming (1472- 1529), born in Yuyao, Zhejiang, is the hometown of Yu, a great contemporary poet in China.

Mr. Yangming is the most admired person of Mr. Chiang Kai-shek. Although Chiang Kai-shek is unbearable, he also has his own advantages, which shows that Mr. Yang Ming is superior. As a scholar-bureaucrat, in the history of thousands of years in China, Mr. Yangming is one of the few people who have both virtue, insight and merit. His virtue and achievements are still admired by scholars, which shows his great personality charm.

Speaking of Wang Yangming, we can't help but mention his predecessor, Mr. Lu Jiuyuan of Xiangshan. Wang Yangming's theory of mind, which developed after his theory of mind, together with the theory of mind, became the only Confucian school that could compete with the so-called authentic Confucianism represented by Zhu, a great scholar, which had a great impact and influence on China Thought at that time and later generations, and also made great contributions to the history of cultural thought and philosophy in China.

Lu Jiuyuan is recognized as a genius. When I was four years old, I looked up at the ground and meditated with my tender and distant mind: "What is poverty between heaven and earth?" Thinking so hard that he didn't eat or sleep, his father finally had to use his father's authority to stop him. -Qu Yuan asked a similar question just a few days ago, and it has probably been established. However, Lu Jiuyuan naturally won't follow the traditional path of his parents. Sometimes what you imagine can determine what is real. On behalf of traditional parents, they can stop their offspring, but they can't stop them from changing their minds. The mystery of nine yuan has been hidden in his heart for ten years. When he saw the annotation of the word "universe" in ancient books: "the universe is everywhere, the universe is everywhere", he suddenly realized and said excitedly: "It turned out to be infinite. People and everything are infinite. " -After Wang Yangming, Longchang had a similar enlightenment, which can be described as "the same strain" with Lu. Although this is only a factual judgment, it also implies bold reasoning in infinity. He picked up a pen and added, "What is in the universe is internal matter, and what is in the universe is internal matter." If in a country where the idea of harmony between man and nature has long been deeply rooted in people's hearts, it is only novelty rather than revolution, and his following two sentences are the new slogan for the earth:

"The universe is my heart, and my heart is the universe.

In his later years, Lu explained that my heart is the universe:

"Everything is between square inches, filling the heart and filling the universe."

"People must think about this problem in their leisure time. The universe is so vast that I will become a masterpiece when I stand in it. "

This "masterpiece of one person" is not an egomaniac, but a realm of harmony with heaven and earth. Therefore, the study of mind and nature at this time restored the masculine and heroic attitude of early Confucianism and the Confucian "gentleman" demeanor: "Climb to the south, turn over and lean on Beichen, and look up to the sky without me!"

There really is no such person. Different from Zhu, Lu Jiuyuan learned from other masters, but rose from a dry land, surpassing everything popular at that time and drawing lessons from the past-directly inheriting Mencius' theory of mind and nature; Teacher's heart-invented his own heart, so he opened the theory that "heart is reason", which shocked the world and was carried forward by Wang Yangming.

A major feature of psychology is "expansion method": find a kind conscience, and then let it evaporate like nuclear fission, and a revolution will break out in the depths of the soul. After Lu Jiuyuan laid the foundation for the study of mind, he began the arduous course of exploring "good roots". He thought he had no talent, so he went to visit celebrities like Zhu, hoping to win his heart. However, the result often disappointed him: all the "celebrities" he met were regarded as orthodoxy and respected the "pedantic theory" of "knowing and doing", so Wang lamented: "They all learn from children, not psychosomatic studies." Until he was 18 years old, he met Zhai Yi, a famous Confucian building.

Lou was a student of Wu Yubi, a famous Neo-Confucianism scholar in the early Ming Dynasty. Although he thought it was authentic, he also had a tendency to learn from the heart. Lou told Wang that the Confucian principle that "a saint must learn" was scratching Wang's itch and "grasping deeply", which played a role in determining his dedication and pointing out the maze. After Lou's daughter married to be a princess, she died because of collective punishment, and Yang Ming buried her with ceremony, which was also considered human feelings. Later generations thought that Lou was not the founder of Yangming's mind, but it played an important role, because another student of Lou's classmate Wu Yubi once put forward that "knowing and doing are one, and learning is also important". Later, Wang went to Linchuan to see Wu under Lou's recommendation and heard this statement.

In the next few years, Yang Ming entered the official position. After more than ten years of ups and downs, he was finally convicted and imprisoned. Later, Liu Jin, who was impatient because of the words of Emperor Zheng De, said, "It's not there at all, you can consider it yourself. Why bother me?" He was sent to Longchang, Guizhou, a post station that can't be found on the general map. In fact, it is more similar to a remote place in the animal world. It is said that the post station is located here, not for military purposes, but because of one of Liu Jin's. For Yangming, this place is really not much better than a prison. For Beijing, the climate is naturally incomparable, and there are many prisoners who can "talk about Tao".

However, being thrown into this Jedi, the whole world becomes simple-the relationship between man and nature becomes simple, so Yangming is thrown back into the "primitive society" and can think about things like "where he came from and where he went". Such a basic philosophical question. After experiencing the realm of life and death every day, Yang Ming finally knows what "rebirth after death" means.

Put it to death and be born. Militarily, this may just be a big talk to boost morale, but when the philosophy and wisdom of survival are forged, it is impossible to find the true "yes" without the truth of "practical things", which is a "basic principle" In the words of existentialism, it is impossible to find the real situation of existence and see the essence of "existence" without entering a critical state. However, Yang Ming has no time to delve into these "knowledge". What he wants to capture is a practical "reason". So when he put together all his possessions in 37 years and took out all his 3,000-year cultural heritage, he had an epiphany at midnight at the turn of spring and summer. This is the famous "Dragon Field Epiphany".

After an epiphany, Yang Ming said, "I am enough to be a saint. In the past, it was a waste of time to seek justice from foreign things. The road from the outside to the inside is a misunderstanding. " Knowing the purpose of "understanding things" leads to the three theories of "mind is reason", "conscience" and "unity of knowledge and action", which are self-contained, and adds: "Wang Dao relies on his skills, and utilitarian people pretend to be similar to heaven, which helps his private interests but deceives others." I don't know if there is a heart, what is the so-called justice? "Refuting neo-Confucianism, formally raising the banner of mind.

Mind is Reason directly inherits Lu Jiuyuan. This idea is clearly reflected in Wang's assertion: "I have something outside my heart." Therefore, he is regarded as the representative of China's subjective idealism. "Nothing outside the heart" is quite like a front of Buddhism:

"Pneumatic evil? Incite evil? "

"Non-pneumatic, non-swaying, and heartbeat."

This is actually due to Wang Yangming's thinking experience. Similar to Lu Jiuyuan, Wang also sought a psychological breakthrough from the illusory Buddhism. The difference is that Lu advocates famous teachers, while Wang advocates wise teachers. There was once a legend about Wang Yangming that when Wang visited a temple, he saw a door closed. Out of curiosity, he ignored the monk's advice and insisted on opening the door. As a result, he was shocked It turned out that there was a dead old monk in the room who looked like Wang Zhi's face. There was a poem on the wall behind him, which read:

"Fifty years later, Wang Yangming, who opened the door, is still behind closed doors; The elves came back after closing the door, and they believed that Zen was not bad. "

Wang dim, know that it is his past life, leaving a poem:

"Jinshan is as big as a fist, breaking the underwater sky;

Last month, Yu Di blew a hole and the dragon fell asleep. "

This matter is extremely mysterious and obviously unbelievable, but the deep relationship between Wang Yangming and Buddhism can be seen, which also confirms the influence of Buddhism on Wang from another side.

The second is "to conscience", which is praised and criticized by later scholars, and some even think it is extremely. This is a tool used by the king to fool the people in order to facilitate the control of the rulers, but it is a big "poisonous weed" and a big fallacy. At that time, in the Forbidden City, the emperor was unconscious and did not go to the DPRK for several years; Above the imperial court, * is in power, and good and evil are clear; On the street, people are addicted to sex and never die, which can be described as "the wind and rain are gloomy and the chickens crow endlessly." At this time, Wang Yangming put forward the theory of "to conscience", which transformed certain social moral norms into people's conscious consciousness and behavior, emphasized the power of subjective determination and subjective spirit, emphasized people's self-renewal, advocated self-satisfaction in learning, and advocated people's "inventing their own minds and self-restraint". However, to change today's society, the moral bottom line is close to collapse, the wicked are almost fearless, and the good people are almost helpless. Terrible things and acts that harm nature and justice happen from time to time. How can we say that today's moral theory is far better than Yangming's "evil to conscience"?

One of Wang Yangming's most important thoughts is "the unity of knowledge and action". This is one of his most admired ideas, and it is also a "famous work" of his generation. It is precisely because of this that he can completely "draw a clear line" with Zhu and others, and stand proudly at another peak of Confucianism with Lu Jiuyuan, so that future generations can "sing" to this day.

By the time of Confucianism in Song Dynasty, "Cheng Cheng" became the absolute authority, and the "Zhu Cheng" theory developed in this context also became the Confucian orthodoxy. As for its advocacy of "acting after the prophet", it was naturally accepted by the "silent majority" and became the "mainstream" of philosophy. With its unparalleled talent, Wang Yangming pointed out its fallacy: "The beauty and evil of eating. It can be seen that Wang's thought of the unity of knowledge and practice attaches great importance to the unity of theory and practice, so later generations assert that his judgment has nothing to do with "integrating theory with practice" and "integrating theory with practice", which is arbitrary because he is an idealist. Hegel and Feuerbach are obviously not followers of Marx, but aren't their materialism and dialectics still an important part of scientific Marxist thought?

As a theory, "the unity of knowledge and action" has also successfully guided some special actions of Wang, the most famous of which is action. Wang Yangming is neither a strategist nor a schemer. After King Ning rebelled, the ruling and opposition parties shook, and many strategists and conspirators were at a loss. He was the only one who had been imprisoned by the imperial court and stood up to fight. There is no loyalist king. He is only in charge of the officers and men of the counties near Jinling City, and even a group of newly recruited bandits. More than 3,000 people were called the "army", but Yang Ming won everything with this team and completed all the work in 40 days. It was once called "Daming Army God". -a great scholar, commanding thousands of troops to write and study pen and ink, isn't it "the unity of knowing and doing"?

Interestingly, Wang, as one of the brightest ideological stars in the history of the Ming Dynasty, destroyed all the secret letters with courtiers after his victory, almost intentionally leaving a handle on a group of people who had already opened their eyes in the court. So when these little people made a fuss, Wang was finally relegated again and floated into the mountains, calmly becoming the master of his mind-he probably believed that "good wine is not afraid of the depth of the alley"

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Wang Yangming's Ideological System

The core of Yangming's ideological system is "to conscience". Including the following aspects: the heart is the reason, the unity of knowledge and action leads to conscience and the benevolence of all things. The basic point and starting point of his ideological system is based on the criticism of Zhu's theory of knowing things.

1. Understanding the theoretical criticism of knowledge by considering things.

Wang Yangming's criticism of the theory of "governing by reason" mainly lies in the following two aspects: first, criticizing the internal contradictions of his theory from the perspective of moral cultivation; The first is to criticize the "academic disadvantages" of "governing by things" from the influence behind Zhu. On the one hand, Wang Yangming once believed in Zhu Xue's theory of things when he was young. However, when he used this method to carry out personal moral cultivation, he found that whether he was poor or reading in sequence, he could only be "in my heart and in my mind, which was not enough to solve the problem of personal moral cultivation." Therefore, he deeply doubted Jia Zhu's theory of "knowledge about things". His "Biography" said: "The Confucians explained that the things in the world are the things in the world. How to get everything in the world? Also said that every grass and tree makes sense. How can we get rid of it today How can you win your wish in exchange for vegetation? " In his view, Zixun Zhu's understanding of things is an impromptu theory. It is obviously futile to achieve the goal of being sincere to the world. Because the consequences of its style will only be divided into two, so that the subjective mind and objective reason can not be unified. For the latter aspect, Wang Yangming thinks that Zhu advocates seeking knowledge rather than paying attention to physical and mental cultivation, which leads to the separation of knowing and doing in moral cultivation in his later study, and thinks that he must have foresight to do it. This fragmented academic disadvantage will inevitably bring harm to the existing social order and is in danger of killing the world with academics.

2. Mind is reason.

In view of Zhu's lessons from learning from things, Wang Yangming advocated that the mind is rational, and based on this, he put forward the slogan of the unity of knowledge and practice, determined to establish the study of conscience, thus replacing Zhu's theory of paying attention to physical and mental cultivation, learning from things, being addicted to words and sentences, leaving things behind, lacking knowledge and being fragmented. His explanation of the case is, "People who case things, case their own things, case what they mean, and case what they know." . He who is upright in heart is upright in his own affairs; Sincere, sincere; You know, his explanation of things is: "the governor, the governor in mind, the governor in mind, the governor and the governor." . Is there a difference between inside and outside? In his view, there is no distinction between inside and outside, so it is a matter of heart, and it is to get rid of the injustice of heart and the righteousness of body. In this way, Wang Yangming's personality is not Zhu Xun's method of seeking knowledge, but more focused on the inner cultivation of doing good and eliminating evil, so that personality and conscience are completely consistent. This new theory of things includes his so-called mind is rational, and knowledge and action are consistent with conscience. The so-called mind is reason, in Wang Yangming's view, is that mind and reason can't be divided into two like Zhu, which leads to the separation of knowing and doing and learning. To this end, he inherited and developed Lu Jiuyuan's thought, and thought that the laws of all things in the universe belonged to the category of my mind's judgment, which showed that it was enough to carry out moral cultivation by focusing on the heart and working hard on it.

3. Unity of knowing and doing

Knowing and doing is a very old problem in China's philosophy. The sequence and difficulty of knowing and doing is a problem that China philosophers have not been able to solve well. On this issue, Wang Yangming's basic position is to advocate the unity of knowledge and action. Its general meaning is that knowing what is the same as the noumenon of the mind, knowing and doing work together, knowing and doing are inseparable, and so on. Specifically, he thinks that knowing is necessary, but not knowing is not enough; True knowledge must be done, and failure is not true knowledge; Knowledge is not limited to thinking, and line is not limited to line. Knowing and doing are two aspects of the mind, namely knowing and doing. As for the purpose of the unity of knowledge and action, according to Wang Yangming's own statement, one is the existence of disadvantages, and the other is to demonstrate the ontology of knowledge and action. In other words, the core content of the theory of the unity of knowing and doing is the unity of knowing and doing, with the focus on action. Knowing is the idea of doing, and doing is kung fu; Knowing is the beginning of doing, and doing is the achievement of knowing. As for the line here, although it contains the significance of social practice, it is only the moral practice in China's traditional society, which refers to a kind of so-called self-denial kung fu. At this point, Wang Yangming and Zhu are not fundamentally different. They all want to get rid of human desires and obey the laws of heaven, but in terms of methods and means, Zhu emphasizes that improving knowledge is the basic way to learn from saints, while Wang Yangming thinks that it is not necessary to strive to improve knowledge. In his view, learning and speculation are both good, not just the way to achieve knowledge by asking questions, but also the cultivation method of respecting morality and emphasizing deeds emphasized by Lu Jiuyuan. It can be seen that Wang Yangming's theory of unity of knowledge and action is actually a compromise and reconciliation of Zhu Lu's theory.

4. Conscience

The statement of conscience comes from Mencius, and its meaning refers to a natural moral concept of "knowing without worrying". Wang Yangming gave full play to this point and introduced the word "knowledge" in "University", saying: "Knowledge lies in the shape of things"; "Only when you know what you are can you know." On this basis, Wang Yangming put forward the idea of conscience, arguing that conscience is justice, which requires people to first understand and restore the inherent justice in their hearts, and thus extend conscience to things, so that everything will be justified. That is, all his behaviors and activities are brought into the track of China's traditional social ethics. Its main points include: first, conscience is justice. In Mencius' view, conscience is a transcendental moral concept, which refers to compassion, shame, resignation and right and wrong, while Wang Yangming gives full play to conscience in ontology and thinks it is the conscience of my heart, which is the so-called justice. Transcendental moral conscience is regarded as a natural principle representing the origin of the world, so conscience becomes the moral origin in everyone's mind. In Wang Yangming's view, conscience is the heart of right and wrong, the heart of likes and dislikes, and the only criterion for judging right and wrong; Conscience is everywhere, from saints to fools. Everyone has a conscience, and everyone has his own criteria for judging right and wrong, good and evil. Therefore, he emphasized that conscience is a "spiritual noumenon" that everyone has. It exists in people's minds a priori, and people acting according to conscience will produce correct moral behavior, so there is no need to seek the source of moral behavior. Second, conscience is the noumenon of the heart. In Wang Yangming's view, the justice of conscience lies in people's hearts, and the consciousness of justice is the illusory consciousness of people's hearts. Through it, people can naturally feel or judge the good and evil of people's behavior, thus prompting conscience to play its own function and leading the process of people's moral behavior with good thoughts, which is the kung fu to conscience. It can be seen that Wang Yangming's theory of conscience fully emphasizes the subjective and dynamic role of conscience in moral cultivation, and makes it a spiritual ontology that dominates people's moral behavior. Third, Zhu's transformation of the theory of "knowing things". Zhu's theory of "knowing things and achieving things" emphasizes the role of knowledge in people's moral cultivation, but ignores the dynamic role of people's mind in this process. Lu Jiuyuan once expressed serious dissatisfaction with Zhu Xue's congenital deficiency, and thought that Zhu Xue's principle was indeed fragmented, and thus put forward his own new explanation. On this issue, Wang Yangming basically followed Lu Jiuyuan's thought. If there is anything different, it is that he has made a new interpretation of Zhu's repeated emphasis on "knowing things", that is, interpreting "things" as "things" and "examples" as "righteousness". In this way, "overall consideration" means to do evil for good wherever there are ideas, to avoid the understanding of evil in subjective thoughts and to be close to the feeling of good. He believes that such things can avoid the disadvantages of "legacy" and put an end to "fragmented" diseases. It shows that the knowledge of "the study of university" lies in the understanding of things, doing good and eliminating evil at the starting point of thought, and not deceiving the feeling of conscience. This is sincerity.

So it can be said that Wang Yangming's knowledge is actually my inner conscience. Thus, the practical moral thought of "university" is transformed into his own moral cultivation theory of "respecting things and leading to conscience".

5. the benevolence of all things

The benevolence theory of the integration of all things is related to Wang Yangming's theory of "being virtuous and close to the people". It was he who extended the philosophy of conscience to the social and political level and combined it with the political and ethical theory of universities. The significance of his theory of benevolence of all things lies in emphasizing that everything in the world is human-centered, that the human heart is the master of ghosts and gods in the world, and that human conscience is also the conscience of plants and tiles. According to him, the sage's heart should be integrated with everything in the world, and everyone should spread his conscience to the world in order to save the society from the quagmire.

Mr. Wang Yangming is worshipped by many people. Tougou Heihachirou, the Japanese navy general who defeated the Russian navy in the Russo-Japanese War, carved a seal and put it on his body, which read, "I will bow to Yangming all my life.". Chiang Kai-shek, a modern lean generation in China, also worships Wang Yangming. After his defeat in Taiwan Province Province, he changed Caoshan in Taiwan Province Province to Yangmingshan. Now there is a Yangming hospital in Yuyao, Zhejiang.

Wang Yangming's life behavior can be said to be a model of China intellectuals. Academically, his "Mind Learning" is unique, which is quite different from Zhu Cheng School. He is one of the few people in the history of China who can still worship Confucius Temple after death. He first advocated that "learning is more important than heart", and judged right and wrong with "heart" as the value standard, not taking Confucius' right and wrong as right and wrong, and began to doubt Confucius idols.

Expand the role of the inner self. As we all know, the heart is a living thing, and it is always the most difficult to grasp, so the so-called standard will not be the standard. Wang Yangming summed up all this.

In "Remember", objectively, it is obviously more emotional and flesh-and-blood, which is easily accepted by people. For the "Six Classics", Wang Yangming also gave a new understanding from a historical perspective, and put forward

Put forward a new view that "the Five Classics are only history". He has always advocated not sticking to the records of the Six Classics, emphasizing the pursuit of different hearts and taking "heart" as the standard for judging the Six Classics. In this way,

Through the link of "seeking the truth of the six classics in my heart", Wang Yangming will inevitably go to the point of impacting the biography of the holy man in the Bible.

In the sixth year of Ming Dynasty, Ning Wang Zhu rebelled, and Wang Yangming was ordered to put down the chaos. It took twenty-two days from the beginning of the war to the fall of Wang Ning. With his intelligence, Wang Yangming completely quelled this eight-year rebellion plan that shook the ruling and opposition parties. This fully shows that Wang Yangming is resourceful and uses soldiers like gods. Wang Yangming made outstanding contributions to the Ming Dynasty, with outstanding "achievements" and prominent position. His official position was also promoted to Nanjing Ministry of War, and he was named a newly-built uncle by the emperor, which was very prestigious in the court.

If Wang Yangming is only famous for his "achievements", there are tens of millions of generals in the history of China. Later generations pay more attention to Wang Yangming's profound philosophical thoughts. As we all know, he is one of the most successful philosophers in the history of our country, and the system of Mind initiated by him has become an important turning point in the development history of China's philosophy, laying a solid foundation for the emergence and development of heresy in the late feudal society.

In China, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, who were engaged in reform and political reform, and Sun Yat-sen, who explored the road to saving the country, all devoted themselves to studying Wang Yangming's works. Famous educators Tao Xingzhi and Xu Teli also praised Wang Yangming's educational thoughts. When our great leader Chairman Mao was a teenager, he read the complete works and biographies of Wang Yangming and commented word for word. Later, he criticized and innovated Wang Yangming's thought, and combined with the reality of China, led the China Revolution from failure to victory. Wang Yangming's theory even crossed the ocean, from ancient China to the world.

An 83-year-old monk in Japan brought Yangming theory back to Japan with crutches. Unexpectedly, it was all the rage at that time, and scholars gathered and classified. Yangming theory indirectly paved the way for the Meiji Restoration in Japan. In this century, Europeans and Americans with high noses and blue eyes who disdain China's ancient culture are also strangely fascinated by Yangming's theory, and even traveled across the ocean to visit Wang Yangming's former residence, which is quite imposing.

We admire Wang Yangming's contribution to China and the world. As China people, we are proud of our great philosopher.