Wang Yangming is one of the saints in the history of China who meet the requirements of "making contributions and making immortal statements". What enlightenment can we see from him for education?
1.
Family environment-father's "role model" and grandfather's "inaction"
Wang Yangming was influenced by scholarly family since childhood. At the age of 4, he had recited many classics. At the age of 10, he casually became a poem. However, he is both naughty and curious. He liked playing chess for a while, and then he fell in love with Taoist health preservation. A few years later, he was addicted to gun dancing and playing war games. Once addicted, he studies hard and forgets to eat and sleep. Father Wang Hua is Wang Yangming's invisible role model. His character is mellow and calm, he is not ignorant of money and is not threatened by temptation. He is an enterprising top student in high school, and he also strictly disciplined Wang Yangming when he was young. Grandpa is very open-minded and often becomes his "umbrella". He believes that the best education is guidance rather than compulsory control, and education should follow children's habits. Wang Yangming's childhood grew up in such a balanced environment of yin and yang. His parents raised his integrity strictly, and his grandfather "indulged" him in developing his nature. Of course, people's talents vary widely, but a family's culture and spiritual outlook can be passed down through the family. For the Wang Yangming family, it is: stick to (inner) conscience and be poor.
2.
What matters is not who you are, but what you want to be.
Young people are ambitious, ambitious and handsome. Wang Mingyang, 1 1 years old, took becoming a saint as the first important thing in his life when he started studying in a private school. How to become a saint under the background of culture and times at that time?
"Make a heart for heaven and earth, make a life for the people, inherit the past and the future, and be peaceful for the world." /kloc-at the age of 0/3, Wang Yangming bravely pursued Tatar beyond the Great Wall. /kloc-at the age of 0/5, he wrote a peace plan for the imperial court, showing his courage, mind and ambition. Look at Wang Yangming's life, whether it's his dream of running a poetry club when he was young, or his beating, imprisonment, distribution and even hunting at the beginning of his career, whether it's the achievement of the bandits in Jiangxi and Guangxi and the rebellion of Ning Wang, or the initiation of mind learning in Longchang, and his life ideal of being a saint with emphasis on spreading mind learning and enlightening people's conscience.
Wang Yangming himself attaches great importance to determination. In his letter to his stepson, he wrote "I wish you and be determined" and wrote the famous "Tell my brother to be determined". When he presided over the examination in Shandong Province, his topic was "Determined to be a Yin-minded person and learn the art of Yan Zi". In his Dogma of Showing Life in a Dragon Field, he also talked about the four stages of learning: determination, diligence, correction and the responsibility of being kind. A perfect life should be to create a life value that you are proud of as much as possible under the guidance of conscience. If we say that conscience is the compass you carry with you when you get lost and go astray, and it is the way to be "inner saint", then ambition is a beacon that can break through the clouds, a monument built in your heart, and a way to preach "outer king".
3. What do you think of the exam? Know the ending of the story
Of course, Wang Yangming took part in the imperial examination in order to find a platform to display his ambition and be a saint, just like Confucius traveled around the world to seek officials. Although he failed in the exam twice, Wang Yangming's mentality left a deep impression on people: "You are all ashamed of being behind, but I am ashamed of being behind." Later, I wrote an article on "Showing the Exam" for disciple Xu, and talked about how to prepare for the exam with a normal mind: first, be upright, don't care too much about gains and losses, and second, recuperate, keep a clear head and be smart.
Behind the mentality of looking at the exam in this way, we can see Wang Yangming's thinking logic of distinguishing the beginning and the end: it is more important than the exam result ("end") not to lose ambition and peace of mind ("this"). For another example, for a child who tried to help his mother but screwed up, his heart to help his mother was good ("Ben"). Although the result was a mess ("ending"), if we just flew into a rage and scolded him for not helping, it might be the child's heart to help others. As Huang Zongxi said in the case of Confucianism in the Ming Dynasty: "Since ancient times, husbands have taught people to do good and eliminate evil. Doing good is innate, and doing evil is nothing. If the ontology is like this, try your best, and only one. " Good here is the foundation, and evil is the purpose. "Too many things in education and life are the same.
Give full play to your talents, don't stick to your own opinions.
In Wang Yangming's life, whether in his idle official period or in the campaign of counterinsurgency, especially in the later period of his life, he regarded giving lectures as the first priority more important than being an official. In his heyday, there were thousands of his disciples, so it is not an exaggeration to call him an educator and thinker. Ancient Yanwu once commented: "It has been a hundred years since a person changed the world. It has existed since ancient times ... Now it is. This is Wang Bo's conscience. "The Diamond Sutra of Buddhism also regards spreading wisdom as the greatest charity.
How did Wang Yangming educate his disciples?
Wang Yangming's basic education policy is "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, teaching students in accordance with their aptitude and not sticking to one pattern". Crazy people will achieve him from madness, and stubborn people will achieve him from jealousy. When telling his disciples the truth, he will be cynical if he needs tailoring, and he will be inspired by his confidence if he needs encouragement. At the same time, everyone chooses their own majors with similar gender and qualifications to work hard. Teach beginners to sit still, rest, think and get rid of human desires; It's no use studying after you have settled down, lest you just hang in the air, motionless as a dead tree. When the body and mind are pure and natural, everything will be the same ("nothing"), that is, "if you decide to make saints available to everyone, you will be responsible for yourself." Wang Yangming's theory of mind itself is a powerful weapon for psychological and behavioral adjustment.
Wang Yangming did not subjectively override others in his lectures, but followed their thoughts and left a deep impression on people. If you study hard, it means "don't be persistent"; if you use Buddhism, it means "no self"; if you use Taoism, it means "view your heart with your heart" and "be vain about yourself". When it comes to revealing your personality, many people can do it through hard work, but it is a higher realm to let go of yourself without being self-righteous. This kind of thinking height is not only reflected in Wang Yangming's spread of his mind (see his book Notes for details), but also in his daily life, dealing with interpersonal relationships and even dealing with chaos:
Wang Yangming is a vegetarian, but when entertaining disciples who are not used to vegetarianism from afar, he did not forget to order the kitchen to cook some meat dishes. Isn't it a sign of empathy and not insisting on imposing your own requirements on others? When dealing with interpersonal relationships, Wang Yangming is good at observing other people's inner concerns, seeing what people say, and achieving his own persuasion purpose through "rhetoric", which is typical when Wang Yangming is facing court officials and admonishing students. Before he began to quell the chaos, Wang Yangming always had to investigate the root causes of the chaos, distinguish the cause and the end, and thus worked out the general policy of appealing to the people, suppressing the chaos or other things. In the concrete appeasement, Wang Yangming's strategy is clever and cunning, and the reality is changeable. He makes good use of psychological warfare, resourceful people (such as generals or local talents), pays attention to reality but not form, and knows what his opponent thinks (know yourself and yourself). A letter "Tell the Thief of Touwo" is a heart-to-heart conversation that touches people's hearts, confuses their will, enlightens their conscience and tells the consequences from the thief's point of view. In governance, it is necessary to investigate and understand public opinion extensively and deeply, and take the "two museums" system (similar to the red and black list) as an example to awaken people's inner kindness and cultivate honesty; With the system of "ten brands" (similar to Jiabao), the people govern the people and supervise each other to achieve autonomy and stability. Many practices also have direct and profound reference or enlightenment to our current education.
Wang Yangming's life is a life of "cultivating integrity as a child, cultivating records as a teenager, cultivating sexuality as an adult, and Xiu De as an old man". It is a life of "the gentleman is my friend, the villain is my asset, the hardship is my success, and everything is ready". It is his life of constantly shining his conscience and practicing things, and it is also his life of leading by example and enlightening future generations on the road of educating people.