1. The "universe" is not a physical universe in the scientific sense, but a spiritual universe in the philosophical sense. The exploration of the material universe stems from the inherent curiosity nature of human beings, and the interrogation of the spiritual universe comes from the ultimate concern that is deeply rooted in human nature. Born as human beings, the life and world we have are ultimately finite, short-lived, and relative, but at the same time, human beings always look up to and pursue the infinite, the eternal, and the absolute in the depths of their souls.
2. Wang Yangming teaches us to give conscience, that is, to make us realize this spiritual origin in the present moment, so as to establish a broad and internal connection with others, heaven and earth, and all things. In this way, our lives can be firmly based, and our hearts can be settled, thus establishing the meaning of life and starting a valuable life. In the words of the ancients, it is said to "settle down and live" and "be born in the original way". Of course, believing that the universe has a spiritual essence, and believing that human life has a noble and sacred source, cannot be verified by scientific means. Because it is a belief, holding on to that belief and living according to it can be called faith. And faith is neither proved nor falsified, it all depends on each person's own choice: you can think that life is only a small and short existence in the vast universe, that man comes into the world purely by chance, that there is no special meaning in living, that is, eating, drinking, men and women; you can also think that the origin of life is noble and sacred, and everyone comes to this world with a mission, that is, to perfect his personality, give full play to his potential, and then create value for others and society. At the same time, let yourself get a happy, happy, successful high-quality life.
3. Needless to say, in today's China, most of us have fallen into the above predicament to varying degrees. The reason for this is that there are two most fundamental points:
First, we attach too much importance to material things and money, thinking that happiness, happiness and success can all be achieved by material means, which leads to the expansion of material desires and the atrophy of spiritual life. Today, we are generally trapped by this established and single value and way of life, basically losing the freedom of choice, and seem to dare not imagine that there is another possibility of life. In the words of the American philosopher Marcuse, this is called the "one-dimensional man."
Second, we attach too much importance to the evaluation of society and the eyes of others, so that we give our own happiness, happiness and success to the definition of society and others, thus ignoring our true spiritual needs. And when popular values and the collective unconscious conspiracy of the masses kidnap each individual, our ego is lost, and our personality will show a serious "extraversion" characteristic. In the words of mr. Liang Shuming, a modern Neo-Confucian, this is a kind of "outside the center of gravity" life, and such a life is difficult to experience real happiness and happiness, even if you have achieved some kind of "success", such success may only be defined by the outside world, not necessarily what you really want.
4. As we all know, this person who realized his life overnight in a deep mountain cave is Wang Yangming. The place he realized, called Longchangyi, is located in the midst of the thorns of the Wanshan Mountains in the northwest of Guizhou. The above scene is a brilliant page in the history of Chinese thought--the Dragon Field Enlightenment.
Wang Yangming,also known as Shouren (守仁), courtesy name Bo'an, was born in the eighth year of Ming Chenghua (1472) and died on November 29, 1529 (January 9, 1529) of the eighth year of Ming Jiajing, and was known as Mr. Yangming because he had lived in seclusion in Yangmingdong in Huijishan In Yuecheng (present-day Shaoxing) and founded Yangming Academy.
5. People's cognitive ability is limited, and the perception of things is relative, so a lot of our common sense actually cannot withstand scrutiny. Therefore, if a person wants to live a clear life, he must first learn to doubt, and secondly, learn to think independently, so that he will not live a lifetime in the misconceptions instilled in us by society and others.
6. The key factor that determines a person's ultimate success is not his academic performance or diploma, but whether he has a lofty ambition in his heart and the determination to work tirelessly for it.
7. The story of Wang Shouren's rebirth and re-emergence tells us: If you want to teach your children to read seriously, don't impose your own expectations and goals on him, and then tell him that reading is to achieve this and achieve that. Such an education is bound to fail, just as Shouren's father and teacher repeatedly imposed the goal of being a leader on him, and the result could only provoke his rejection, disgust, and ridicule.
Smart parents and teachers should learn fortune tellers, to discover the true expectations in the child's heart, or through sincere and effective communication, help him set the goals he really wants, and then encourage him to achieve them. That was enough, and the rest was up to him.
As the Buddha said, "Like a good horse in the world, see the shadow of the whip." "The successful method of education should be like an experienced coachman driving a carriage, wanting the horse to run fast, neither pulling the reins in front of it, nor having to whip the horse's butt, but giving it a crisp and just right whip in the horse's ear. If it is really a BMW good foal, it will naturally run hard and move forward. In other words, smart people will whip their hearts instead of on their butts.
8. The so-called Confucianism is a true Confucianism that conforms to the spirit of Confucius and Mencius that can integrate the "study of economy" (the study of the people through the world) and the "study of the mind" (the study of the mind and knowledge). In other words, the standard of Confucianism is that there is both virtue and deed, and there is no disconnect between thought and action. In the future, the reason why Wang Shouren vigorously advocated the teaching of "unity of knowledge and action" was that he hoped to use this lively, strong, and integrated true Confucian spirit to cure the disease of the times that was empty and fragmented, impetuous and hypocritical.
9. Zhu Xi's Theory of Lattice And Material Exhaustion means to realize the eternal and universal "reason" contained in it through the observation, reflection and study of things and things in nature and social life. This theory has two meanings: one refers to the order, law, and principle of things, and the other refers to the cosmic essence that generates all things in heaven and earth. Although "reason" is very abstract, as long as ju jing is sincere and sincere, exhaustively investigated, and wait until the effort is long, the kung fu is deep, and there is a day when it is suddenly penetrated.
10. Wang Shouren said: "The world is ashamed of not being the first, and I am ashamed of not being the first to move." ”
The so-called cultivation of the ancients, when viewed today, is actually a strong heart. The so-called "moving heart" refers to a person's negative emotions due to external encounters, and then let this emotion affect the mentality. Therefore, Wang Shouren said that he was "ashamed of not being moved by the first heart", which means that no matter whether he is admitted or not, he is not moved, and once he is moved, it is a shame for him. In other words, in Wang Shouren's view, the failure of the imperial examination is not a failure, and only because of this failure does it cause frustration, which in turn leads to inner pain and trouble, is the real failure.
In a word, "not moving the heart" requires a person to maintain his inner calm no matter what kind of situation he faces, and always be the master of his soul and the master of emotions. Mencius's expression of this is that "the rich and noble cannot be adulterous, the poor cannot be moved, and the mighty cannot be bent", and the saying of the "Zhongyong" is "plain rich and noble, doing rich and noble; plain poor, doing poor and lowly; Su Yidi, acting like Yidi; su suffering, doing suffering, gentleman without entering and not being self-satisfied.". This is a kind of Confucian practice, and it is also the basis for a person to settle down in this world.
However, it is necessary to point out that the Confucian sages' indifference of "infallible and self-satisfied" is by no means a cynical philosophy of resignation, let alone a Q-like spiritual victory, but a wisdom to grasp the truth of things, an attitude of life that focuses on the inside and does not pretend to seek outside, and a free and powerful spiritual force that arises from it.
This free and powerful spiritual force is what Mencius called "the mighty qi." It is precisely because this immovable realm is not a kind of rigid suffocation or self-deception, so when Wang Yang explains Mencius's "unmoving heart" to his students tomorrow, he will add eight words in front of "Haoran Qi" - "vertical and horizontal, lively and lively".
11. Maltz also tells us that in order to effectively control the mind and be a strong person, we must separate facts from opinions, real situations and amplified obstacles, and then firmly base our reactions and actions on the facts themselves and not on the opinions of ourselves or others.
12. When Wang Shouren ascended to his senses, he wrote the wall of the mountain house and left a poem:
Dangerous Yiyuan does not lag in the chest, what a floating cloud through space!
The night is quiet and the sea is thirty thousand miles, and the moon is flying tin under the heavenly wind.
On the road of escape from this nine deaths, in this precarious predicament, a person without deep learning and a strong heart would definitely not be able to write such a magnificent and heroic work.
13. Surviving in such a difficult and dangerous environment is actually not a problem for Wang Shouren, because so many years of immersion in the way of the sages have already trained him, even if he has not yet become a saint, he is no longer ordinary. What's more, Old Master Meng has long said: "The heavens will descend on the Si people, and they will first suffer their hearts, strain their bones, starve their bodies, empty their bodies, and mess up their deeds, so they will be moved to endure and gain what they cannot do." As long as Wang Shouren read this sentence a hundred times a day, it was enough to transcend things and not invade poisons.
14. Although fromm describes the enlightened state of Zen Buddhism, it can be said that Wang Shouren's Dragon Field Enlightenment is in line with this. If we want to truly grasp the meaning of this enlightenment, we may wish to listen to the words of an insider: "This is a great setback that Yang Ming suffered in his life on the verge of life and death." ...... Only when a person reaches the end of the road can he be born again. Everything that must be real is shattered and nothing is left, and then the 'red wheel of the sea', a 'universal spiritual entity', begins to appear completely. This is called great enlightenment. Gain and loss of honor and disgrace, even life, are forced to give up, not in the mind, not in the mind, not in the mind, and then truly returned. ”
15. "Those who know the way of the saints, who are self-sufficient, who seek reasons for things, are also mistaken!" ("Wang Yang Next Year's Spectrum")
The so-called way of the saints, expressed in our language today, is the method and process of man's self-growth, self-improvement, and self-realization. A saint, on the other hand, is a person whose potential is fully realized and whose personality is perfect. The so-called self-sufficiency of my nature does not mean that I am originally a saint, but that my mind has all the potential or "holy nature" to become a saint. Later, wangmen scholars often said that "the streets are full of saints", referring to this potential. It is precisely because this potential or "sacredness" is something I originally possess, that if I seek outward, to seek the conditions and principles of sanctification in external things and things, I am completely misguided.
This sentence that Wang Yangming said when he was enlightened is not only the end point of his thoughts that he has groped for more than twenty years in Zhu Zi Theory, but also the logical starting point of the entire Yangming Mind Science. It was from this place that Wang Yangming officially parted ways with Zhu Zili.
After enlightenment, Wang Yangming was hired to lecture at the Guiyang Civilization Academy, and began to reveal the purpose of "the unity of knowledge and action".
16. What is the "heart"? Zhu Xi said, "The heart, the perception of man, the Lord is in the body and the one who should be in the work." This sentence is easy to understand, that is, the mind has the function of being able to perceive, is the master of the body, and with this perceptual function, man can deal with external things and things. However, with regard to the "heart", Zhu Xi's words are not finished, and there is another sentence after it: "Those who refer to those who are born of form and qi are called the hearts of the people; those who refer to those who originate from righteousness are called the Tao mind." That is to say, the "mind" has a duality: when it manifests itself as the selfishness of the individual, it is the human mind; when it conforms to heavenly reason, it is the Taoist mind. Therefore, in Zhu Xi's case, the process of personality perfection is the process of using heavenly reason to dominate people's hearts and turn people's hearts into Taoist hearts.
17. In Zhu Xi's context, Tianli is external to my universal moral code, so the basis of personality perfection is not rooted in my heart, and even if I am taught to be sanctified, I am only passively subordinated to a set of established social values. In Yang Ming's view, the potential and kinetic energy of sanctification are intrinsic to my life, so personality perfection and self-realization are my innate responsibilities (because you are a gold mine, so you must become gold), and at the same time it is my natural right (no external encounter can deprive you of your gold essence). And people's initiative, self-confidence and creativity are also revealed here and generated strongly.
18. What science wants to destroy is only the materialistic desires that overflow the moral and run rampant in society, not the normal desires of man who operate within the laws and moral norms. In Zhu Xi's words, "desire is the flow of water and as for indiscriminate use", bad desire is that the water flows too much and leads to flooding. The so-called "abuse" means that it exceeds the reasonable scope and violates the principle of legitimacy. As for the general physical and psychological needs of man, that is, of course, legitimate and at the same time moral. In Zhu Xi's view, "it must be to eat what it deserves, to desire what it deserves", and "not to lose the so-called Taoist heart".
19. Loyalty is neither an externally imposed moral code nor an unconditional obedience based on the hierarchical order of dignity and inferiority, but a person's faithful performance of his duties and his reverence and adherence to the moral law in his heart. It is man himself who legislates for himself, and then legislates himself to comply with it. It is here that the talent embodies his nobility and dignity that distinguishes him from animals.
In the context of psychology, the "moral law of the heart" is tianli, so Wang Yangming will say: "With this pure heart of heavenly reason, the father is filial piety." What happens is loyalty. To make friends and govern the people is to believe and be kind. ”
True loyalty, true filial piety, true morality, true conscience, are all from the inside out, and they are not established by external applause, nor disappear by external blows. Reverence, perseverance, and fulfillment of these things do not necessarily bring us wealth, status, and fame; the moral laws or heavenly principles of the heart never promise us happiness, happiness, and success. But without reverence and adherence to these things, it is difficult for a person to call them human, and it is difficult for a society to bring true harmony and happiness to its members.
These things are the roots of our lives, and we have to keep the roots.
20 Kant makes a very complex argument for this, and concludes that the inner structure of the mind determines what we can know.
21. Man's cognition of the outside world is not only a passive reception of external information by the sensory organs, but often the subject of cognition projects his own knowledge, experience, concepts, attitudes, feelings, etc. onto the object, which constitutes the cognitive activity of man. In other words, in this process, through his own cognitive system and consciousness structure, people will "humanize" the external material nature, or aesthetically and symbolize it.
22. The Austrian psychologist Adler said: "No one can be separated from meaning." We feel reality through the meaning we give to reality. What we feel is not reality itself, but interpreted reality. ”
23. The so-called "knowing" focuses on transforming the old structure and content of consciousness and establishing a set of worldviews and outlooks on life that conform to the way of the sages; the so-called "doing" focuses on implementing and deepening your understanding and concepts through interaction with the outside world. In fact, the two are originally two different descriptions of the same thing. To this day, if we still understand "knowing" and "acting" simply as "theory and practice", then why should Wang Yangming feel bad?
In Zhu Xi's case, there are two worlds, one is the abstract world of reason and the other is the world of concrete things, but in Wang Yangming's case, there is only one world, and that is the world that he has given meaning. That is to say, both reason and matter must be projected by my subjective consciousness in order to produce meaning. Therefore, in the world of Yang Ming Mind, knowing, that is, the search for and establishment of meaning, is itself an action; action, is the manifestation and completion of meaning, and therefore cannot be separated from knowledge.
24. Whatever doctrine or religion you believe in must be a rational choice you make after thinking and judging, and if what you believe in is not tested, compared and examined, and has only a narrow set of ideas, then I can only regret to tell you that you are not truly an adult spiritually.
The most important sign of a person's spiritual adulthood is to realize that the ideas and ideas that others or society have given me are only one of many alternative systems of ideas that can be questioned and tested.
25. Wang Yangming said a very classic sentence. This passage, almost all books that introduce Yang Mingxin will be quoted:
It can be seen that in the middle of the heavens and the earth, there is only this spirituality, and people are only separated by their own forms. My spirit is the lord of the heavens and the earth and the demons. Heaven does not have my spirit, who will look up to him? The earth does not have my spirit, who will bow down to him? The ghosts and gods do not have my spirit, who will discern his auspiciousness? If the heavens and the earth, ghosts, and gods, and all things are separated from my spirit, there will be no heaven and earth ghosts, gods, and all things. My spirit is separated from the heavens and the earth, the spirits, and all things, and there is no spirit of mine. In this way, it is flowing in one breath, how to separate it from him? (Book of Traditions, vol. 2)
This passage is not only the best interpretation of "nothing outside the heart, irrational outside the heart", but also fully demonstrates Wang Yangming's holistic world view. If Wang Yangming is subjective idealism, then how can he say, "Apart from all things in heaven and earth, there is no spiritual clarity for me"? How can it be said, "Leave the body and ask for my heart, and what is my heart"?