Wang Yangming's theory of mind is a philosophy of life, which tells people the attitude and values they should have towards the world. It is both a world outlook and a methodology. It is both epistemology and practice. The most important point of Yangming's theory of mind is to teach people how to cultivate their minds. Only with a bright mind can the future be bright.
Yangming's theory of mind emphasizes that mind is reason, which leads to the unity of conscience and knowledge. Its central principle is the foundation:? "The heart is also. There are things outside the heart in the world, and things outside the heart are reasonable. " Conscience is the backbone: "The heart will naturally know filial piety when it sees the father, compassion when it sees the brother, and compassion when it sees the boy entering the well. This is conscience, not an illusory external demand. If the conscience is born, it will be even more selfless, that is, the so-called' full of compassion, benevolence is not available'. " The unity of knowing and doing is the practical method of Yangming's psychology. "A taste says that knowing is the idea of doing, and doing is the kung fu of knowing." Yangming's theory of mind is a real study of mind cultivation.
Wang Yangming longed to be a saint like Confucius and Mencius since he was a child. When he was studying, he heard that the teacher regarded fame as the first important thing in life, and Wang Yangming immediately denied it. He believes that being a saint is the ultimate pursuit of life. Yangming's theory of mind was established and gradually improved under his pursuit. Therefore, the core content of Yangming's theory of mind is how to become a saint.
Let's walk into Wang Yangming's world and embark on a journey of spiritual purification.
Wang Yangming longed for adult sanctification all his life. In the traditional Confucian theory, a saint is a person who can restrain selfish desires and become an adult. In the Taoist point of view, anyone who can abandon his inner distractions and achieve no ego outside his heart can be called a saint. But how many people can do it through the ages? After all, man is a creature full of desire, and it is precisely because Wang Yangming finally achieved it that he is so admired by the world.
In the 13th year of Zhengde in Daming (A.D. 15 18), Wang Yangming led an army into Longchuan, Guangdong Province to suppress bandits, and it took only a few months to bring down bandits who had been rampant for decades. ? "It is easy to break a thief in the mountains, but difficult to break a thief in the heart. It's no different from a rat thief. It is a great achievement for a gentleman if a sage sweeps away all the achievements of a bosom friend. " Wang Yangming said this in his letter to his disciples after the bandits were wiped out. It is not difficult to eliminate the thieves in the mountains in Wang Yangming's mind, but getting rid of the demons in his heart is the real factor that hinders people's progress. That is, I believe that the power of the human heart can overcome the harsh external environment. People who can see others clearly are smart, but people who can see themselves correctly are really great wisdom.
Wang Yangming's Mind Theory originated from Chen Xianzhang and Zhan Ruoshui's Chen Zhan Mind Theory. Chen Xianzhang was a pioneer in the development of Mind Studies in Ming Dynasty. He initiated the theory of mind in Ming Dynasty, and Zhan Ruoshui further improved the theory of mind on the basis of Chen Xianzhang. It was not until Wang Yangming's time that it really became a masterpiece of psychology.
Wang Yangming, Confucius, Mencius and Zhu are called "Confucius, Mencius and Zhu Wang". Confucius founded Confucianism, and Mencius is the master of Confucianism. In the Song Dynasty, Zhu developed Confucian Neo-Confucianism on this basis, which emphasized the normative role of external forces on people and advocated learning from things. After in-depth study of Zhu's Neo-Confucianism, Wang Yangming found that his Neo-Confucianism viewpoint was insufficient. In his view, Neo-Confucianism overemphasizes the role of external forces and ignores people's subjective initiative, failing to achieve the unity of knowledge and action. In Wang Yangming's view, anything is meaningless if it is not felt.
In order to prove and explain his theory, Wang Yangming once compared flowers: when you see a flower, it is gorgeous and real; The same flower, when you don't look at it, it no longer exists and loses its meaning. The core of this theory is that all things, only the human heart has a truly decisive role. The quality of the world depends on how people view it. People's mood is clear and the world is beautiful. If people lose their conscience, the world will fall into darkness. Wang Yangming inherited his thoughts from Mencius. As early as 1000 years ago, Mencius believed that the value of life lies in finding his lost conscience.
Throughout the ages, the tasks of saints are nothing more than two: one is to save the world; The second is to save people's hearts. In Wang Yangming's view, the human heart is the world, so saving the human heart is saving the world.
The most basic part of Wang Yangming's theory of mind is that mind is reason. Wang Yangming believes that the value of "mind is reason" lies in virtue, closeness to the people and perfection. He emphasized people's subjective initiative and asked people to consciously regulate their words and deeds and be a moral person.
Mingde, being close to the people and stopping at perfection are the three cardinal principles of Confucianism. From the Book of Rites University: "The way of a university is to be well-known and close to the people, and stop at perfection."
The so-called Ming Ming De, the first Ming is a verb, which means to carry forward and flourish, and the second Ming is an adjective, which means to be bright. Therefore, Ming mingde means: carry forward the virtue of kindness. It is a very important part of Yangming's mind, and the key to doing good is to get rid of one's own selfish desires. Wang Yangming believes that,
Overcoming selfish desires is an important character of a person, and its importance even exceeds the advantages and disadvantages of a person's original virtue.
Since ancient times, self-denial has always been the way of a good minister. If you want to be a saint, getting rid of your own desires has become an indispensable character. Self-denial means finding your true heart, putting aside all other thoughts and externalizing your inner conscience between heaven and earth. This is the so-called unity of knowledge and action.
In Wang Yangming's theory of mind, the unity of knowledge and action is an extremely important part. The so-called "unity of action and action" means resolutely abandoning evil thoughts and actively doing good in the "launching place of one thought". Wang Yangming believes that in practice, evil thoughts are easy to eliminate, and the most difficult thing to eliminate is the evil thoughts in people's hearts. Therefore, in order to eliminate evil deeds from the source, we need to establish the concept of doing good in our minds and maintain a heart of benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom in real life.
Conscience theory holds that the fundamental task of life is to turn one's conscience into good deeds. In this way, only when there is no practice in theory can the relationship between knowledge and action be separated. In Wang Yangming's theory of mind, the fundamental task of conscience is to be sage inside and king outside. A person's conscience is innate, so conscience is the combination of cultivation concept and cultivation behavior. And the heart is the foundation of all things. To regulate people's behavior, we must first educate people's hearts, cultivate ourselves, and cultivate people's hearts first.
The unity of knowledge and action was advocated by Wang Yangming all his life, but it was rarely mentioned in Wang Yangming's middle age, because the theory of the unity of knowledge and action has been integrated into the more concise proposition of conscience. Conscience is theory and practice, and conscience is the unity of knowledge and action.
Summary:
Wang Yangming is a master of psychology. He devoted his life to the development of the theory of mind. With his efforts, the theory of mind and nature has become an indispensable knowledge in Confucianism. He has established the lofty ideal of becoming a saint since he was a child, and it is at the request of the sage that he regulates himself in real life and becomes a "perfect man" recognized by the world. He put his theory into practice with his life, which is a living textbook. He used his whole life to prove the rationality of his theory and truly achieved the unity of knowledge and action. Wang Yangming's thought of mind and nature and his spiritual quality are still worth studying.