A Study In Wang Yangming's Body-Mind Philosophy

Confucianism has developed its own traditions since before Qin danasty , one of which is "Learning for oneself .Actrually its means self-cultavition of one's body-mind. This kind of learning is widely advocated and fully developed in some Confucians in Song and Ming Danasty. Wang yangming was the most important thinker during this period.Wang yangming has two fundermental viewpoints :firstly,mind and body are a unity in essence,body is mind's function,and mind is body's ruler.It is seen as an a whole and it is really a whole originally.Secondly, in appearance body and mind are separate and opposed,which is called contrasting between human desires and transcendental principle .But in fact mind and organs are integrated in one's body,which are linked with Qi(one kind of "energy")and interact each other .Conflicts between these two ones make everyone disturbed .It is the most serious problem for Confucians that how to overcome that .Wang yangming's way is to teach each scholar to ease his own mind and tranquil his body .At last this method makes scholar's mind and body harmony .In this course it needs adjusting of one's own Qi through his whole body .Wang yangming starts from the point that mind and body are a whole body and extends this view outside us to the whole world .He thinks that human's mind especially innate knowledge as a kind of integrator of Jing,Qi and Shen is not only person's subject and also the world's foundation . He thinks that human's body is a kind of thing and social tings are related with our mind ,so social things certainly are formed by all people's ideas ,feelings and other human's meaning ,so it has no pure objective things .In Wang yangming's viewpoints the world containing ourselves is a contructive body or organism ,its linker is Qi,which as invisible running water flow through each part of the world even our skin and our blood ,so we can sense ourselves and any other things ,one's spirit or called innate knowledge is the core of the whole world.So we can sense others' pains or happiness ,it was seen essentially if we can achieve some accomplishments of cultavition ,we all can sense each other and any other things in the world ,because we all are intergratd in the whole strcture .Wang yangming's doctrine of unity of body and mind in the meantime is the foundation of his doctrine of unity of knowledge and action . In fact ordinarly knowledge and action mean knowledge of mind and action of body .Because human's body and mind are a kind of unity ,and moral mind is conscince or innate knowledge ,so conscience is the starter of our behaviour or subject .Consince as the pure moral will is the arbitrator of goodness and evil as well as the subject of our moral actings ,conscience is a kind of "bility"or "enegy"or "impulse",it is a kind of intuition.It can be called loving or hating ,it in fact has been a strong moral emotion,so it can products a series of moral actions .When one cleans his obstacles or rubbish in his body,his will can directly reach all parts of his own body,qi as a kind of energy flow through his any part smoothly ,so any action is the breakfast of this energy ,and once emergy of moral conciousness can form a kind of reaction on his body ,whether it is explicit or implicit, so we can say such as Wang yangming's words :any intention is can be called knowledge and at the same time called action .These kinds of actions in reality become performance of human's free will or application of practical reason .In. this course everyone can sense a change in his unity of mind and body,and it has become mindbody even moral will or pure will,and this sense is not the cognition which is used in modern science but another "knowledge",someone calls that "embodimeht",it may has better name in the future .