A Research On The Study Of The Four Books Of The Middle And Late Ming Dynasty

Since its founding in the Southern Song Dynasty,the study of the Four Books has experienced a development process of ups and downs,which means,from Song to the early Ming Dynasty,Zhu xi’s interpretation was the core,and from the Qing Dynasty,the Four Books became silent.So in the mid-late Ming Dynasty the study of the Four Books formed a new pattern beyond Zhu xi,with diversified ideas,various forms and free contents,and went to the peak of the study of the Four Books.In this process,the emergence and development of Wang Yangming’s philosophy played a key role.The study of the Four Books of the mid-late Ming Dynasty faced a new historical context in many ways,such as,a free and active environment,deeply integrated with the history of ideas,and profoundly influenced by the imperial examinations.An in-depth study of it will highlight the rich and diverse aspects of the Four Books,deepen the understanding of the intellectual history and the culture and society of Ming Dynasty,and uncover the wisdom of the Ming people in interpreting the Four Books.Previous studies have mostly focused on several cases,no comprehensive books published,and mostly rely on the philosophical analysis,especially from the school of Mind,the unification of the three religions,and the convergence of Confucianism and Buddhism.On the basis of sorting out and mastering the literature,this paper is devoted to a general and comprehensive study of the interpretation of the Four Books in the mid-late Ming Dynasty,clarifying the development lineage,distinguishing the interpretation path,summarizing the main features and values,and making a special study of representative works.The research approach of this paper is the history of scripture rather than the history of ideas,which is the biggest difference from predecessors.While the approach of the history of ideas tends to treat the study of the Four Books only as a tool for interpreting ideas,the scripture-historical approach focuses on the scriptures and their interpretations,mainly about the main idea and position of the writings,interpretative methods and features,and new inventions in interpreting the important concepts and chapters.According to the changes in interpretative ideas and styles,the study of the Four Books in the mid-late Ming Dynasty can be divided into four stages,namely,the succession of Zhu Xi’s interpretation,a new way started by the School of Mind,the diversified interpretations,and the multiple reflections on the new ones.Since the middle Ming Dynasty,Zhu Xi’s interpretation had a new development,However,as the voices of criticism grew louder and louder,it declined,and only to a certain extent continued.School of Mind created by Yangming jump out of Zhu Xi’s framework,emphasizing the essence of conscience and inward work,which had new development by Wang Ji and Luo Rufang,opening up new horizons for the Four Books.After Wanli period,the interpretation on the Four Books became more active in either ideas or forms,and various new and different interpretations emerged,showing a diversified trend.With the drawbacks brought about by the diversified trend,many scholars began to reflect on it,some revising new interpretations,some compromising the old and new,and some refuting the heresies.After Chongzhen period,a tendency to return to Zhu Xi’s scholarship became clear.The four stages are both successive and intersecting,constituting a complete academic chain.The paper also pays attention to collective sayings and textural research of the Four Books which are two major branches of the study of the Four Books.The collective sayings,which appeared in large numbers after middle Ming Dynasty and had a wide impact,became an important background in the cultural life of the time and also had certain documentary value.The all-inclusive of Four Books(四书大全)was largely replaced by new books in the mid-late Ming Dynasty,such as an Enlightenment of the Four Books(四书蒙引),and were constantly revised and recodified because it no longer adapt to the needs of the times,and at last caused the event that Zhang Zilie(张自烈)wanted to replace it with the book he wrote.Due to the demand of knowledge for the imperial examinations,the popularity of practical learning and the influence of the trend of showing off erudition,a large number of textural research books on the Four Books appeared after the middle Ming Dynasty,but most of them are crude and sparse except some by Yang Shen(杨慎)and Chen Shiyuan(陈士元).Tan Zhenmo(谭贞默)’s Seeing the Holy of Three Scriptures(三经见圣编)is a model of explaining the idea through textural research,emphasizing the knowledge of historical background of the Four Books,which is quite innovative and can be seen as the highest peak of the Four Books study of the Ming Dynasty.In general,the study of the Four Books of the mid-late Ming Dynasty had many new features,that is,setting predetermined purpose and position precedence,Emphasis on embodiment and mindfulness,good for the new opinions,study of literary properties,and caring for reality.Its main value lies in the comprehensive and systematic reflection on Zhu Xi’s interpretation,promoting active thinking,giving many creative interpretation of the scriptures.The spirit of questioning authority and free interpretation of the scriptures are also worthy of recognition.Of course,there are also shortcomings such as conjecture and detachment from practice.In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties,the practical studies emerged,and the Great Learning and The Mean gradually left the Four Books,leading to the study of the Four Books went into decline.In terms of academic status,the Four Books study of the middle and late Ming Dynasty created a new model which can best reflect the colorful and diverse interpretations of the Four Books,and is the peak of the Four Books study,and the sermon on scripture that it shows is a self-contained system,becoming an important branch of scripture study.This paper is innovative in four aspacets.First,the most comprehensive collection and collation of the Four Books literature have done,including a total of nearly 1,000,more than 400 still existing now,which are divided into eight categories,and make use of a large number of first-hand documents that have seldom or even never been paid attention to.The paper discusses systematically the collective sayings and the textural research of the Four Books for the first time.Second,it provides a comprehensive discussion of the Four Books study of the period,constructing a complete academic development chain through four stages dividing,comprehensively summarizing its characteristics and values,scientifically evaluating its historical status,revealing the many rich aspects of the Four Books study,making a systematic and comprehensive chronology of the Four Books study.Third,we have studied in depth many important cases that were overlooked by predecessors,revealing the significance of their coordinates in the history of the Four Books study,as well as valuable inventive interpretation of the Four Books,such as Doubts on the Four Books(四书存疑)by Lin Xiyuan(林希元),Refute Differences of the Analects(论语驳异)by Wang Heng(王衡),Seeing the Holy of Three Scriptures by Tan Zhenmo,etc,.Fourth,on academic perspectives,we reveal the "two sides" of the of the Four Books study of the period through a large number of cases,both meritorious and academic,that is,one person can hold two opposing views at the same time,as well as revealing the features of the lecture chapter of the Four Books study.A new examination of numerous documentary issues has also been made.