Research On Yang Cihu’s Thought Of Benevolence

Benevolence has always been the core concept in Confucianism.Yang Cihu believed that Confucians should be both academic and benevolent.So benevolence is greatly significant to Yang Cihu’s life and academics.One of the characteristics of Cihu’s benevolent thought is its close connection with his theory of mind.Therefore,the entry point of this paper on the study of Yang Cihu’s benevolent thought is his theory of mind.The foundation of Yang Cihu’s benevolent thought lies in his theory of mind.Cihu’s theory of mind first focuses on people who open up their minds and achieve their ideal personality.The mind is abstract,and it is clear and unpredictable as the ultimate entity that is intangible.Th’e reason why people cannot present the true face of mind in actual daily life is because the private intentions have not disappeared.The intention to obscure the mind makes human hard to express themselves,thus unable to realize themselves,achieve the ideal personality and do the righteousness.Yang Cihu inherited the Lumen’s tradition and fully practiced it.Yang Cihu really valued the practice of benevolence.Yang Cihu greatly praised Confucius.His interpretation of benevolence was basically expressed through the interpretation of The Analects and other documents about Confucius.In the way of speaking,he adopted the method of Cheng Mingdao,Xie Shangcai and Zhang Zikai on training to be benevolent.As for the substance of his thoughts,he absorbed more of the spirit of his master,Lu Xiangshi.Yang Cihu’s benevolent thoughts are rich in content,and he explained the benevolence from different angles.First of all,he used the way of saying that understanding is benevolent,and he thinks that benevolence lies in that"understanding is always clear".Secondly,he relied on the human heart to release his benevolence.He believed that people can realize that the state of the mind is clear.In order to keep his heart clear and self-evident,he proposed to seek for benevolence through the senseless.Finally,he elaborated on the relationship between benevolence and courtesy.Through theoretical construction,he eliminated the external mandatory nature of ritual,so as to ensure that people consciously abide by rituals,thus helping people practice "benevolence".This paper adopts the methods of conceptual analysis,comparative research,philology and intellectual history to deeply explore the main content and academic value of Yang Cihu’s benevolent thoughts,in order to further promote the development of Cihu’s academic thoughts and enrich the thought of benevolence.