Comments on the Preface of Ancient Books 1 The Preface of Ancient University Literature by Mr. Wang Yangming was written in 15 18. At the age of 47, Mr. Wang Yangming served as the military commander and put down many rebels in Jiangxi and Guangdong, with outstanding achievements. He works, lectures and writes. The two articles he shared earlier, Sacrificing the Mountain God and Teaching Covenant, were written in this year.
"University" was originally Article 42 of the Book of Rites, and its famous sentence is "The way of university lies in showing virtue, being close to the people and stopping at perfection" and "Knowing knowledge lies in learning things". If things are known, then honesty, then honesty, then righteousness, then repair, then repair, then rule the country, then rule the world. "University" refers to "the study of adults" (adults are people who have the heart to integrate everything in the universe), "the study of gentlemen" (gentlemen are moral models of responsibility and moral responsibility) and "the study of officials" (officials who care about people's interests). Daxue was written between the end of the Warring States Period and the Western Han Dynasty, and recorded the main times of Confucian self-cultivation, which was highly praised by scholars in past dynasties.
Later Confucianism suspected that the original title of Daxue was out of order because of simplification errors. Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao, great scholars in the Northern Song Dynasty, successively compiled the original chapter of Great Learning as the final edition of Great Learning. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu inherited the idea of "Cheng Cheng". He thinks that "The University" has "Wen Que" ("Wen Que" refers to a doubtful but unwritten sentence), so he "adjusts the text to supplement the biography" of the University. He believes that "Jing" was said by Confucius and described by Ceng Zi; Ceng Zi said that biographies were recorded by his disciples, so he divided the university into classics (one chapter) and biographies (ten chapters), making it a supplement to knowledge and biography, and moved the explanation of sincerity in biographies back to the explanation of righteousness, forming the "three classes", "eight orders" and "eight orders" after the imperial edict. Later, it was designated as the official textbook of the imperial examination, which continued until the Qing Dynasty and became a must-read for scholars.
Since Great Learning was paid attention to, the debate about its version has never stopped. Wang Yangming had a different understanding of knowledge from Zhu when he was in Longchang, Guizhou on 1508. He has been reading carefully, suspecting that Zhu's "University Chapters and Sentences" was not the saint's original intention. He believes that the study of saints is simple and easy to understand, and his book is one, without distinction between classics and classics. So he wrote the preface of this ancient university book, which reflected his thinking on psychology.
Zhu believes that "learning from others" is the essence of "university" and interprets "learning from others" as "poor management", so he pays attention to the "exploration" of external things. In this Preface to Ancient University Books, Wang Yangming said: "The essence of a university is honesty. Sincere work is just a matter of consideration. Very sincere, stop at the best. If you stop at the best time, you will know. " Wang Yangming thinks that "university" is the most important. He interpreted "knowing by observing things", "being wise" and "being close to the people" as "being upright" and "being sincere by observing things". "The sage was afraid of what people wanted from outside, but he repeated his words."
Wang Yangming said in the article: "The University" is "analyzing the old and the sage's meaning is dead." Therefore, it is not well-intentioned, but only in the case of things; It's none of your business, and the honest one is empty; Things are based on knowledge, but being sincere about things is called fallacy. Support and falsehood are far from the best. Combine with respect and interests, and make up with communication and interests. I was afraid that the day of study was far from the best, so I went to chapters and restored old books. What should I do next to it to introduce its meaning? "He pointed out that Zhu's revised version of" University "had the disease of" pretending to be false "in order to restore the original version that he thought was correct.
This Preface to Ancient University Books and his later recorded book "Questions from the University" contain his central philosophical thought, which is an important embodiment of his psychological thought of "mind is reason, knowledge and action are integrated, and conscience is communicated". He has repeatedly stressed that the heart of a saint does not need to seek outside, and the best is in my heart, that is, learning from things means learning from the heart, and knowledge is the conscience leading to the heart. Wang Yangming's lectures and these debates with scholars at that time made Wang Yangming's understanding of the style of "University" more and more clear, which had a significant impact on the intellectual community at that time. Zhu's authority was greatly weakened, and the study of "University" showed a diversified trend.
Wang Yangming's mind thought highlights the individual's subjective initiative spirit in moral practice and objectively improves people's value and role; Yangming school dares to challenge Zhu and other traditional authorities, which is also the embodiment of seeking truth from facts and the unity of knowing and doing, and provides us with scientific and pragmatic thinking methods and spiritual motivation; Yangming's theory of mind has established moral idealism with moral conscience as its core, which is a good medicine to cure the moral decline and mercenary disadvantages in today's society. Yangming's idea of "being close to the people" and attaching importance to people's livelihood is of reference significance for us to realize the three leading values of socialism: "Prosperity, democracy, civilization and harmony are the leading values at the national level, freedom, equality, justice and the rule of law are the leading values at the social level, and patriotism, professionalism, honesty and friendliness are the leading values at the personal level of citizens".
In his revised edition of Mr. Yichuan's University, Cheng Yi only put the word "as new" above the word "close to the people", but did not directly change the word "near" to "new". Yichuan pointed out that there was something wrong with the ancient university edition, not the lack of prose, but his note of "waiting for the new" did pave the way for Zhu to directly change "being close to the people" to "being new to the people". Zhu interpreted Cheng Yi's "pro" as "new" and interpreted it as innovation and transformation, which unilaterally required people to abandon the old and establish the new, and to get rid of evil and do good. Wang Yangming never agrees with this misinterpretation of the original intention of the university.
The first chapter of Biography edited by Xu Ai records the dispute between "being close to the people" and "being new to the people" discussed by their mentor and apprentice. This statement can only be regarded as a small-scale private conversation. The first chapter of Xu Ai Biography was officially published in thirteen years. In July, Yang Ming carved the ancient version of "The University", which was interpreted by the ancient university and made Zhu's conclusion in his later years. Then in August, master Xue Kan carved a biography, and the chronicle said, "I got the biography left by Xu Ai. At this point, the wonderful dialogue between Yang Ming and Xu Ai on the canal boat on their way back to the province six years ago was finally published and made public. Xu Riren first asked:
"Being close to the people", Zhu said it was "Xinmin", and the article "For Xinmin" in the later chapter seemed justified. Mr. Wang thinks that he is also "close to the people" from old books. Is there any evidence?
Yang Ming's answer is straightforward and convincing:
Being a new citizen is a reformed person, which is different from being a new citizen. Is this enough? The word "left" is relative to the word "pro", but it doesn't mean "new". The following "ruling the country and leveling the world" are all invented by the word "new". For example, "a gentleman is virtuous, and a villain is happy, such as protecting his son; What the people do well, what the people hate, this is called the people's parents, and so on, all mean "pro", and "pro-people" is better than Mencius'. People don't kiss people who are kind. Shun made a Covenant for Stuart, respected the five religions, and then kissed them. Yao Dian's "Ming Junde" means "Mingde", and from "pro-Jiuzu" to "Pingzhang Sheikh" means "being close to the people" and "Mingde is in the world". For another example, Confucius said that "self-cultivation means protecting the people", "self-cultivation" means "mingde" and "protecting the people" means "being close to the people", which is both enlightening and biased.
Why is it "close to the people" instead of "new people"? Another feature of Yangming's discussion is quoting classics, which is consistent with his style of study in Longchang. This passage, the central idea is prominent and concentrated, can be understood according to the following points:
First, the "new" of "being a new citizen" is a reformed person, which is different from the "new" of "being a new citizen" and cannot be explained to each other. In the third chapter of the so-called "University Chapters and Sentences" (Zhu Ben called this chapter "Biography Chapter 2"), "Tang Yue said:' Gouyue is new, and every day is new.' "Kang Patent" said, "Be a new citizen." The poem says: "Although Zhou is an old country, his life is only new." Therefore, a gentleman does his best. The meaning of "for the new people" in Shangshu Kangpang is completely different from the meaning of "for the new people" in the "Three Programmes" in the first chapter of University (Zhu Gai), and it ended successfully. "Being a new citizen" is used to prove the so-called "being a new citizen"
Secondly, since "Zuo Xinmin" in the ancient edition cannot be used to support the legitimacy of the change of the word "Xin" in Xinmin, the word "Zuo" is opposite to the word "Qin", but it does not mean "Xin", so it is natural to restore the word "Xin" in Xinmin to "Qin". In Yangming's view, "being close to the people" and "being new to the people" have completely different meanings: "being close to the people" means benefiting and cultivating the people, and "being new to the people" means pure education and innovation. Yang Ming quoted a large number of original texts in Daxue to prove it. He quoted the so-called "Meng Wen" chapter "A gentleman is virtuous, a villain is happy", and also quoted the so-called "managing the country like a son" and the so-called "governing the country and leveling the world" chapter "What the people do is good, the people hate it, and it is called the parents of the people"
Although there is a word difference between "being close to the people" and "being close to the people", they are actually two completely different ruling ideas. The former loves the people in benefiting the people and educating the people, while the latter governs the people in educational innovation. The former truly embodies the original Confucian concept of benevolence and ideal of benevolent governance, while the latter unilaterally emphasizes the rule of foreign Wang Zhidao. If "being close to the people" and "being new to the people" both reflect the external Wang Zhidao of Confucianism, then Yang Ming obviously tends to stick to the early Confucian position of Confucius embodied in Guben University, that is, the so-called "being close to the people" is better than Mencius'. People don't kiss people who are kind. Shun made a Covenant for Stuart, respected the five religions, and then kissed them. When the people were at odds, Shun let Qi be Stuart, and "respecting the five religions" made them close. In order to maintain the will of the saints, Yang Ming severely criticized Zhu's reform. What's more, "being close to the people" originally contains the meaning of education and cultivation. "It is both educational and instructive to say' being close to the people', and it is biased to say' new people'." Zhu's theory of "new people" is obviously narrow-minded.
Third, "Ming Ming De" means "being close to the people" and "Ming Ming De is in the world". Mingming virtue and being close to the people complement each other. Mingmingde naturally includes being close to the people. Without being close to the people, there is no obvious virtue. Without virtue, there is no saying of being close to the people. Yang Ming quoted Yao Dian as saying that "taking honesty as virtue" means "taking honesty as virtue", "being close to the nine clans" means "being close to the people" and "taking honesty as virtue in the world". These are all early Confucian thoughts, which belong to the meaning of saints. For another example, Confucius said that "self-cultivation is to protect the people." Self-cultivation refers to the adults referred to by sages. Self-cultivation means "Ming De" and "protecting the people" means "being close to the people". Without self-cultivation, how can we protect the people and be close to the people? In Yangming's view, can all these precious Confucianism and Zhu's narrow view of "new people" be covered?
Besides, "Left" corresponds to "pro", not "pro". The word "new" is not invented in the following places in "Governing the Country and Leveling the World", and the word "new" is not elaborated in the following places.
As lamented, due to Zhu's narrowness, "the hearts of scholars in the past six or seven hundred years must not be lost, and they also strive for new angles, and there are more and more universities." Zhengzhen then praised Wang Yangming's "contribution to retro".