The University Problem is an introductory classic of "the study of mind" founded by Wang Shouren. Note that "university questions" are university questions, not big knowledge. Shen Shixing, the first official in the Wanli period, said when he agreed to worship Wang Shouren: "What you say must be done, knowing the university, and conscience comes from Mencius." Therefore, before reading "Da Xue Wen", let's take a look at the related vocabulary of "Da Xue" and "Mencius". I am not a scholar, and this paper is not an academic paper. I can ignore those philosophical terms and theoretical schools and realize some truth directly from their narratives.
University comes from Chapter 42 of the Book of Rites. The opening paragraph is the following text:
The way of university is to be moral, to be close to the people and to stop at perfection. Zhi Zhi then has a decision, then he can be quiet, then he can be quiet, then he can be safe, then he can think about it, and then he can get it. Things have a beginning and an end, and things have a beginning and an end. If you know the order, you will find a shortcut. If the ancient desire is obviously superior to the world, rule the country first; If you want to govern your country, you should first get your family together; If you want to reunite with your family, you should first repair your body; If you want to cultivate yourself, you should be upright first; If you want to be correct, be sincere first; To be sincere, you must know first, and you must know the style. Everyone knows everything, everyone knows it and is sincere, sincere and upright, upright and upright, well-trained and well-groomed, well-groomed and well-governed, well-groomed and well-governed. From Tian Zi to Shu Ren, one is based on self-cultivation. If the chaos is not cured in the end, the thick ones will be thin, and the thin ones will be thick, and nothing will be left! This is called knowing it, and this is called knowing it.
Mencius advocated "the theory of good nature", and the relevant text in Mencius is:
Everyone has a heart that cannot bear others. The late king had a heart that could not bear others, and Sri Lanka had a policy that could not bear others. With the unbearable heart, you can't stand other people's politics and rule the palm of the world. So everyone has a heart that can't bear others. Nowadays, at the first sight that obedient boys will go down the well, everyone has a pity. Therefore, we should pay tribute to the obedient boy's parents, and also get the praise of the friends of the township party. From the point of view, there is no compassion, and it is inhuman; No shame, no humanity; It is inhuman to have no resignation; A heart without right and wrong is inhuman. Compassion is the purpose of benevolence; The heart of shame and evil, the end of righteousness; The words of the heart are the end of the ceremony; The heart of right and wrong is also the end of wisdom. Man has four ends, but he still has four bodies. There are those who claim that they can't do it on all sides, and some who are thieves; He who says he can't be a king steals his king. Anyone who has four ends in me will expand his knowledge and fill it up. If the fire starts, spring will begin. If you can fill it in, it is enough to protect the four seas; If you don't fill it out, it's not enough for parents.
Ok, we can watch the University Question. I still copy the full text of the original text according to the habit, and then attach my feelings (including no feelings, just repetition). The purpose of doing this is to let everyone read the original text coherently and ensure that you will not be misled by me. In order to facilitate reading, I divided 20 paragraphs.
1。 Those "great scholars" once thought that adults should study. Dare to ask why the learning of adults lies in honesty and virtue?
Yangming Confucius said: Adults are also the integration of heaven and earth. It regards the world as one family and China as one person. If my husband has nothing to do with me, I am a villain. The ability of adults to integrate everything in the world is unintentional. If their hearts are kind, they will be integrated with everything in the world. Only adults? Although the villain's heart is nothing else, he cares about his ears.
"University Question" is written in question-and-answer style. Students ask questions and Wang Shouren answers them. The students' first question is about the opening sentence of "University": "The way of university lies in Mingde". Why did adults learn this?
Wang Shouren, the son of Yangming, replied: The so-called adult means that everything in the world can be regarded as one, so in his view, everyone in the world is actually a family. If you can't do it, just share it with each other, then you are not an adult. Adults can regard the world as a family, not because they are smarter and can think of anything you can't think of, but because they are kind. In fact, the villain also has this kind heart, but I don't know how good it is, and I am weakened.
We need to stop here. The ancients said: sages, too! Virtue is actually all the beautiful things accumulated in you, whether born or acquired. We now call it morality. Mingming virtue is to show its distinctive moral character.
It is also very important that when we talk about benevolence and filial piety, we are only talking about a humanistic feeling and a moral call, not about the contractual relationship between people in human society. When many people oppose Confucian filial piety, they regard humanistic feelings and moral calls as social contract relations and always emphasize reciprocity. Big love doesn't actually mean. The so-called person who goes to hell if I don't go to hell, the so-called person who hits you on the right face, you give him the left face.
But on the other hand, it is also wrong to strengthen the moral call into a social contract relationship! Filial piety is like this If the son must unconditionally listen to Laozi, the courtiers must unconditionally listen to the monarch, which makes filial piety become a social contract relationship, and the right thing becomes the wrong thing.
How to understand this subtle difference? There is an example in The Analects of Confucius. Confucius' students killed me for three years in anti-filial piety, thinking that it would delay many things. Confucius asked him, do you feel at ease if you don't keep filial piety and eat well and dress well? Kill me and say that I feel at ease! Confucius said, then don't keep it! He was neither expelled from school nor arrested by the relevant departments. Of course, Confucius still opposed killing me, thinking that he was not a kind person. Another example: we despise selfish people, we respect those who often do good deeds, but we firmly agree that people's private property is sacred and inviolable!
All right, keep looking down.
2。 Therefore, when a willing son goes into the well, there must be compassion, which is the fusion of his benevolence and his willing son. Obedient people are the same kind. When they see the cries of birds and animals, they will have a patient heart. This is the integration of their benevolence and birds and animals. There are people who are aware of birds and animals, and they will have compassion when they see the destruction of vegetation. This is the fusion of their benevolence and vegetation. There are still merchants in vegetation, and when they see the rubble destroyed, they will have pity, which is the unity of their benevolence and rubble. It is also the benevolence of its integration, although there must be a villain's heart. Rooted in the nature of destiny, the natural spirit is not ignorant, so it is called "Mingde"
Yang went on to say: Therefore, most people will naturally feel nervous, afraid and worried when they see an ignorant child walking to the wellhead and about to fall, which will touch his so-called sympathy. The reason is that at this moment, his inner humanity is integrated with this child. It is not surprising that children are still of the same kind, but in fact, even if we see the whining of birds and animals, the withering of plants and even the collapse of a beautiful building, we will be moved by this compassion. As the saying goes, a flower and a stone can keep people on purpose. When we have such emotions, it is because our inner love is integrated with them.
Worker bees don't argue with Xiong Feng. I've eaten less and worked more in my life, and I haven't had a chance to do that with the queen bee. Your son doesn't work all day, but he has enough food and sleep. Why? The reason is that bees are social animals, and each bee is only a part of the group, just as our right hand doesn't care about our left hand, and our lucky feet don't care about our mouths to eat and drink.
Benevolence in people's hearts is something that everyone has and is born with. This is the "Mingde" mentioned here and the "good nature" mentioned by Mencius!
3。 The villain's heart has broken away from the humble, and its integral benevolence can still be ignored, because it is unmoved by desire and not covered by private interests. What's more, they are moved by desires, secretive, with interests attacking each other, and with mutual anger, they will do anything, even eating each other's flesh and blood, and they will never die. Therefore, if you are covered by selfless desires, you are a villain, but being a Jew is also a benevolent; When there is a cover of selfish desires, it is an adult's heart, but its separation is still despicable. Therefore, the husband is an adult scholar. He only needs to get rid of his own selfish desires, and he can understand his own virtue and restore his nature of integration of heaven and earth. It can't be something outside, but something.
Regardless of each other, there is no selfish desire, and we can see the benevolence in everyone's heart. However, once selfish desires grow, interests attack each other and arouse people's anger, people will do everything they can, so that their flesh and blood will eat each other, and their inner kindness that can regard the world as one will be gone. Therefore, the study of adults is to eliminate the growth of selfish desires and restore the inherent kindness. This is the meaning of "the way of university lies in moral integrity". Note that what only restores the inner nature does not come out from the outside through the grid.
The difference between Wang Shouren and the former Confucianism has already started here!
4。 Yue: But why are you "close to the people"?
It is said that those who are well-known stand for the integration of heaven and earth, and those who are close to the people achieve the goal of integration of heaven and earth. Therefore, it is clear that virtue must lie in being close to the people, and being close to the people is therefore clear about its virtue. So my father, the father of man, the father of the world, and then my benevolence and reality, and my father, the father of man, the father of the world are integrated. It is an organic whole, and then the filial piety will be clear. Kiss my brother, brother of man, brother of the world, and then my benevolence will be integrated with my brother, brother of man and brother of the world. It is an organic whole, and then my brother's mingde will be clear.
Why is it "being close to the people" after "the way of university, knowing morality"?
"Mingmingde" is self-cultivation and "being close to the people" is application. Cultivation and application complement each other. The following passage should be rooted in Mencius' "old man and old man, young man and young man". Through the deduction from near to far, we can connect all the brothers and sisters in the world emotionally. The virtue of filial piety is thus revealed.
You don't need to appeal to love yourself. If you love someone other than yourself, you need a deduction of "counting one". The most natural feeling of "being treated as one" is that mothers treat their children. The so-called meat that fell from her is originally a piece, and maternal love does not need to be interpreted. The feeling of fatherly love is slightly weaker, but it is basically unnecessary to buckle. But children love their parents, and the love between brothers, the so-called "filial piety to their brothers", not everyone can do it naturally. Therefore, filial piety is the starting point of great love, and it is the easiest to be regarded as one. Interpreting the emotional exercise of "taking it as one" to the whole world shows the distinctive character of filial piety.
5。 Your Majesty, your husband and your wife, your friends, even mountains, rivers, ghosts, birds, animals and plants have the kindness to kiss each other, thus achieving our unity. Then my virtue is unknown, and I can really integrate everything in heaven and earth. My husband is said to be the best in the world, but he also said that the country governs the world, so he called it the best.
Similarly, if we apply it to the monarch, his wife, friends, and even mountains, rivers, ghosts and gods, animals and plants, and establish emotional ties with them, we can finally regard everything in the world as one. This is the moral character of showing light, this is the rule of the country and the security, and this is to play one's own nature.
6。 Yue: What about "not doing the best"?
Yue: The best is the best, and the best is virtue and being close to the people. The essence of destiny is the essence of goodness, and its spirit is not ignorant. This is the essence of virtue, called conscience. The best development is to do the right thing, not to do the wrong thing, to be light and heavy, to be responsive, to change, and not to live in nature. This is the extreme principle of the people and the Yi people, and it is not allowed to increase or decrease leisure. If there are few proposals to increase or decrease one's leisure time, it is a private intention of Xiao Zhi, which is not the best. Since a person is not careful, but the only one is fine, how can he compare with this?
Then what is "the best"?
Mingde, close to the people to the extreme, that is, "stop at the best." Human nature is pure and perfect, so we can be good because of my good heart! This is Wang Shouren's "conscience", not the result of acquired education. Looking at the world from the best angle, yes or no, everything is spontaneous, natural and primitive. There is no need to discuss every point, it needs to be increased or decreased. Otherwise, it is not the best, but selfish Xiao Zhi.
We can clearly see that Wang Shouren is deeply influenced by Buddhism, which is simply a copy of the Heart Sutra, immortal, unclean, neither increasing nor decreasing. Of course, as we will see later, Wang Shouren abandoned Buddhism.
7。 The people behind just don't know that the best is in my heart, but measure it with their own private wisdom, thinking that everything has its own theorem, which is based on ignorance of its right and wrong, and it is fragmented. People want to die arrogant, and the people know that the world is in chaos. The man who made the past naturally wants to know his virtue, but he doesn't know how to stop at perfection, but he is too selfish, so he loses his emptiness, and his family has nothing to do with the world, so there is no family. Those who want to kiss their people originally, but don't stop at perfection, but drown their selfishness in meanness and lose their business skills, which has nothing to do with kindness and sincerity, will be gone. Yes, I don't know how best to stop.
Confucianism after Confucius and Mencius did not know the goodness of benevolence. I have it in my heart, but I just have to go outside to find out the truth and try to find the perfect universal law. Instead, I found it more and more chaotic. People's desires cross-flow, justice disappears, and well-known universities that are close to the people are seriously distorted. Buddhism and Taoism also know the morality of showing light, but their prayers are too high and lost in vain. In particular, they are unwilling to practice this morality through home, country and the world, and they are not close to the people. Like the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period, although they are close to the people, they let their selfishness be dirty, like to play with ingenuity and politics, and have no kindness at all. The common feature of both is that they don't know how to stop at perfection.
The best is the goodness of nature. But kindness is just a seed. Kindness is life in seeds, but it can't grow out anyway. It needs good soil, watering, fertilization and cultivation. Of course, it is impossible to be cold for ten days a day. And the obvious virtue and closeness to the people here are also the process of this cultivation.
8。 Therefore, the best Mingde Yu, people-friendly, and Jewish rules are also in the countryside, and the scale is based on length and weight. Therefore, Fiona Fang does not stick to the rules, but it is cool; The length is not limited, and you should be good at it; Weight is not limited to weighing, which loses accuracy; Obviously, being virtuous and close to the people does not stop at perfection and is destroyed once. Therefore, it is said that adult learning stops at being perfect and close to the people, and knowing its virtue.
Painting Fiona Fang requires composition, measuring length requires a ruler, and measuring weight requires a scale. Similarly, we should be virtuous and close to the people. This is the way of university.
If there is no life in the seeds, no matter how good the soil is and how scientifically cultivated it is, no crops can be planted.
Reading Wang Shouren's University Problems (Ⅱ)