About 500 years ago, Wang Yangming realized Taoism in Longchang, and Yangming's mind was born. Since then, there have been countless followers.

The Ming Dynasty overthrew the treacherous court official Yan Song and wiped out Xu Jie, the former headquarters of Chaogang. Zhang Juzheng, who raised the imperial power, initiated the political reform, which lasted for half a century for Daming. Huang Zongxi, known as the father of China's enlightenment in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, is a descendant of Yangming's mind.

Reformists in the late Qing Dynasty, such as Lin Zexu, Zeng Guofan, Liang Qichao, Chen Duxiu, Yan Fu, Hu Shi, etc., were all followers of Yangming's mind.

In modern times, Chiang Kai-shek was even more obsessed with Yangming's mind. He not only did his own research, but also asked his son to do it. He even named Caoshan Mountain in Taiwan Province Province "Yangmingshan". Mao Zedong regarded Wang Yangming as a spiritual mentor from his youth, and he benefited a lot from his lifelong practice.

2. Three parts of psychology.

Wang Yangming's theory of mind has three parts, namely, mind is reason, unity of knowledge and action and conscience.

Mind is reason: When Wang Yangming was young, he was still in the world of Neo-Confucianism in Zhu Cheng. At that time, he advocated that rationality was poor and sought rationality through rationality. But Wang Yangming planted bamboo for seven days and seven nights for no reason. On the contrary, he is very ill. Later, Wang Yangming was in the dragon field and in the sarcophagus, and finally realized that everything was in his heart, and all the reasons did not need to be found outside. The meaning of the world is also given by your heart. Just a heartfelt request.

Unity of knowledge and action: "Unity of knowledge and action is inseparable", and it is meaningful to know the truth only if it is linked with practice. Knowing and doing are inseparable, only knowing and doing, actually still don't know.

Conscience: Seek inner reason, then act and realize, that is, conscience.

3. Mao Zedong learned two things.

Mao Zedong regarded Wang Yangming as his spiritual mentor and even called him his "missionary". He summarized Wang Yangming's psychology into two parts.

One is expensive for me, and the other is related to today.

People who value me, "across the void, across the mountains and rivers, there is nothing to rely on, only people who can rely on me";

People who travel through the present, "It's been a long time, past lives, there is no evidence, but we can base ourselves on the present."

The so-called "expensive me" means "mind is reason"; The so-called "connecting the present" means "knowing and doing in one".

Since the truth does not need to be sought from the outside, one can concentrate on one's own heart and self-improvement. As long as a person is mature and perfect, success is only a matter of course. This made Mao Zedong get rid of the idea of sacrificing the ego to realize the ego in his early years. The universe is in my heart, and my heart is the universe, which gives Mao Zedong the spirit to breathe the sun and the moon. The atmosphere of a generation of great men was thus formed. In Mao Zedong's later poems, the momentum of praising mountains and rivers and pointing out mountains and rivers came from this. In the face of China's chaotic political situation, you will have leisurely self-confidence.

Wang Yangming once said that knowing and doing are inseparable. Mao Zedong said in "On Practice": If you want to know the taste of pears, you must eat them yourself. Wang Yangming said: True knowledge means doing what you do, but knowing what you do is not enough. Mao Zedong said in "On Practice": If we have a correct theory, we just talk about it temporarily, shelve it and don't implement it, then even the best theory is meaningless.

Marx's thought was introduced into many countries, which can be said to be a mess-Eastern Europe failed, the Soviet Union failed, North Korea failed, and Vietnam failed. Only in China has it been successful. The reason is that under the influence of Wang Yangming, Mao Zedong did not let Marx's thought become empty talk, but combined it with China's practice. Mao Zedong, who knows the unity of knowledge and action, knows that theory is theory and must be put into practice. This is what people call the process of Marxism in China.

Mao Zedong dabbled in philosophy, politics, economy, culture, history and many other fields all his life, but it was Yangming's mind that had the deepest influence on Mao Zedong. It is with these two ideological foundations that Mao Zedong Thought was born and a generation of great men was born.