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Stanford Philosophy Encyclopedia: Wang Yangming
Source: Translator authorized Confucianism website Published
First published on July 11, 2014; and the main revision was conducted on September 17, 2024
Wang Yangming (1472Baoqing – 1529), a Chinese politician, military strategist, and neo-Confucian philosopher. He is one of the important critics of Zhu Xi (1130-1200), a philosopher of the orthodox neo-Confucianism. The most well-known academic saying that energy is “unity of knowledge and action”, and this theory can be interpreted as denying the ability of thin will.
Introduction to the editor:
Cao Mingyu, Zhang Yupian/Relation
Cao Mingyu, a graduate student of the 2022 academician from Zhejiang University of Philosophy;
Zhang Yupian, a graduate student of the 2023 academician from the National Academy of Chinese Studies;
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Table of Contents
Stanford Philosophy Encyclopedia: Wang Yangming 1
1. Life 3
2. Knowledge and Scene 5
3. Integration of Knowledge and Action 8
4. Interpretation of “Big School” 10
5. Metaphysical Learning 13
6. Influence of Later Life 14
Author’s Notes 16
The Translator’s Notes 17
Reference Book 19 /p>
Wang Yangming’s works 19
Other Requested Works 21
Other Network Resources 22
1. Life
Wang’s name is “Shouren” and his courtesy name is “Bo’an”. [1] But tomorrow we call him “Wang Yangming”, this is Breed in love The “number” he used when he lived in Yangmingdong, Luji Mountain. He was born around Hangzhou in 1472 (located in today’s Zhejiang Province). His father, Wang Hua, was a victorious official. Therefore, when Wang Yang was young next year, he taught him a relatively traditional teaching. The focus was that in Confucian dreams, the heroine’s theme was achieved well, and the four books in the Ye Qiu tradition that had the lowest performance: “Theory” (the record of Confucius and his direct students), “Big School”(The letter contains the headlines of Confucius and the comments of his chief student Zengzi), “The Doctrine of the Mean” (usually believed that the author is Zisi, Confucius’ Xuezi, and Zengzi’s student) and “Mencius” (the record and dialogue of Zisi’s student Mencius). The young Wang would keep these classics and the attention of Zhu Xi (1130-1200) in mind. People at that time believed that learning these classics and their inscriptions could cultivate moral character; but they also learned four books, but the goal was to pass the subject examination, which was an important way to gain political power and to be related to wealth and reputation. When Wang Yangming was 17 years old (1489), he had a conversation with a feather. This conversation made him deeply interested in this alternative philosophical system and career method. At the same time, he was also attracted by the teachings, so he was always wandering between Taoism, religion and Confucianism during his young age. Confucianism emphasizes our ethical obligations and political participation in the government, but Taoism and teachings of the same era encourage people to repel their real world. Wang Yangming and one of his companions tried to become saints in the way Zhu Xi they knew when they were young, but after studying Zhu Xi’s Confucianism as hard as possible, he felt excited:
… To be a saint with his money friends, he must conceive things across the country, and now he would have such great energy; he pointed to the bamboo in front of the pavilion and asked to look at it. The money went to the bamboo morning and night to slap the bamboo, and it took three days to get sick. When I first said that this was a lack of energy, he was not able to understand the truth early and night. On the seventh day, he also caused illness by thinking about it. So they could not do anything with the sage, and they could not find anything else. (Original quotation from Chen Rongjie, 1963, 249)
As shown in the following text (Chapter 2), it is difficult to say whether Wang Yangming and his companions can understand Zhu Xi’s “studying things” correctly. But this experience made them realize that it is impractical to find the “reason” of the universe in internal things. This conclusion impressed Wang Yangming and influenced the subsequent philosophical development.
Wang Yangming was still studying Taoism and sects since then, but he was also interested in practicing military combat methods and exploring literary creation skills. At the same time, he also passed the examination of various subjects and finally passed the examination in 1499 (the highest level). After that, Wang Yangming was promoted to the court quickly, and he had posts in departments including the Ministry of Works (Public Works), the Ministry of Justice (Criminal Indictment) and the Examination System, and achieved remarkable results. At the same time, he began to talk about his early yearsThe creator of Yu Di’s poems is not full of content. Later, he tried to criticize and strive to write the lyricist creator: “Make the whole country contend to practice lyrics in order to seek knowledge in the world without regaining the knowledge of the truth and the anti-prudent and meticulous behavior” (Tiwald and Van Norden 2014, 275).
At the same time, Wang Yangming began to abandon Taoism and religion, and believed that believing in the two religions means giving up his social responsibility: “However, he does not know how to stop at the highest good, but he is too high in his selfishness. Therefore, he loses the silence and silence, and does not have the benefits of the whole country. This is the case with the two clans.” (Tiwald and Van Norden 2014, 244, gloss mine). Despite this, the rest of his life showed that he was still very familiar with Taoism and Buddhist culture and concepts.
In 1506, something happened that changed Wang Yangming’s life. The Taishu Liu Jin was in trouble in the government and the court, and several capable officials were detained for opposing him. So Wang Yangming also “reported” to the emperor to show his protest. Liu Jin responded to this by giving a court stick and exiling him to an inconspicuous, undisclosed part, which is now located in the province of Guizhou. Here, Wang Yangming needed to fight against the double challenges of physical and mental confrontation, but through these exercises, he completed the main philosophical transformation (1508), which was expressed in a poem that he later wrote to students:
Everyone has his own definition, and the origin of all transformations is always in his heart. I smiled and saw it from the front, and the branches and leaves were on the outside. (Ivanhoe 2009, 181)
In a sentence change, just like when Wang Yangming and his companion, they look for “moral truth” outside themselves, and suddenly see that our moral insight does not come from outside, but from the inherent “knowledge” that generates itself.
Fortunately, in the year when his term in Guizhou ended (1510), Liu Jin, the Taishu who was responsible for his role and exiled him, was decided. Wang Yangming was promoted quickly afterwards and made outstanding achievements in both martial arts. He failed to prevent the attack from many factions within the court. He was even accused of sharing the rebellious leader who had been under pressure from his own town.
Wang Yangming had attracted many students interested in seeking Taoism before being exiled to Guizhou. They later compiled the “Traditional Record” (which included Yang Ming’s speech, letters and dialogues, which was one of the important materials for studying his philosophy). The conversations recorded in this work reflect Wang Yangming’s philosophy, and the conversations in this work are scattered in his life as a public colleague. On the eve of his life, Wang Yangming was asked by the court to go to the town to suppress a rebellion (1527). On the morning before leaving, a door student recorded the “Big School Question”, aiming to provide new door students with door reading for Wang’s philosophy.. Later, Wang clan won the rebellion and pacified his rebellion, but because of his health and well-being, he had been surrendering for several years and passed away soon after (1529).
Wang said before the end: “The light of this heart is not the same as the words”[2]
2. The landscape of knowledge
Wang Yangming’s mainstream thought in that era was Neo-Confucianism (or Taoism). Neo-Confucianism originated from Korea and Li Ao in the early Tang Dynasty (618-906), but it was not until the Northern Song Dynasty and Southern Song Dynasty (960-1279) that it entered its maturity. Zhou Dunxi, Zhang Xiu, Cheng Xi, his brothers Cheng Jun and Zhu Xi all made theoretical contributions for him. The early stages of the development of Neo-Confucianism were opposed to religion, but it was a pity that it was also deeply influenced by religion and used many major teaching concepts, including the manifestation of various “things” in the universe as a potential “reason”, and selflessness TC:
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