Study On Zhu Xi's Thought Of Interpreting The Classic Texts

During the two thousand years' process of inheritance of Confucianism, there emerged many Confucian scholars, and among them, Zhu Xi was one of the most important representatives in the post-Confucius era. Zhu Xi lived in the Song dynasty which was in history the period starting to reform Confucianism.To fight against Buddhism, the heresy, Confucians of the Song dynasty had to reinterpret the previous Confucian classic works with the hope of reviving the culture predominant of Confucianism. As the main figure at that time, through the desperate devotion to the reinterpretation of the Confucian classics, Zhu Xi established the ontological system of philosophy, centering around the Justice Theory, and conversely applying the doctrines of Justice in the interpretation of the classics of Confucianism, resulting an interactive procedure. Zhu Xi's interpretive thoughts and views formulated in the course of interpreting the Confucian classics represent the summit development in interpreting the ancient Chinese classic works.Zhu Xi first established the formal criteria in interpreting the Confucian classics, upon which he applied the Theory of Justice to the interpretation, securing its validity and definiteness. To him, the classic expressions were actually uttered by Confucius, expressing Confucius' s ideas, embodying the essence of Justice as well. The classics, the Confucius' s ideas and Justice form a trinity, yet, among the three Justice undertakes the absolute commanding function. Hence the interpretation of the classics within the framework of the Theory of Justice only. The interpretation is liable and valid in that it conforms to Justice, otherwise it is a misreading of the classics.After setting the formal criteria for the interpretation of classics, Zhu Xi succeeded in shifting the focus in the interpreting activity, raising the fundamental principle of the classics interpretation. What the traditional study of Confucian classics focused on was initially the Five Classics (The Book of Songs, The Book of History, The Book of Changes, The Book of Rites and The Spring and Autumn Annals). In Han Dynasty the study ringed on the explanations of specific expressions, which was usually farfetched and tedious. From Han to Tang Dynasty the Han classic study actually didn't break through the traditional stipulation, namely, "the explanation to the notes should not digress much from the notes per se, and the notes should not deviate much from the texts" , leaving little space for the interpreters to be themselves. In the early Song dynasty, with the development of the social reform and the advancement of new ideas, there began the transference from the detailed explanation of particular words and expressions to the exploration of the gist and the significance woven in the classic texts. The Song classic study featured by the exploration of truth substituted for the explanations of notes to the texts predominant in Han and Tang dynasties, which bore a direct relation with the focus shift. The two master Confucian scholars Cheng Ying and Cheng Yi emphasized the importance of interpreting the texts in a systematic way, so as to carry forward the spirit of the Four Books (The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius, and Mencius). On the basis of that, Zhu Xi gradually replaced the explanative approach to the Six Classics with the study of the gist of the Four Books, making the Four Books the main stream of the Confucian classic study. He spent more than forty years in the writing of his work The Collective Notes to the Chapters and Expressions of the Four Books which is one of his masterpieces.Though Zhu Xi was the representative figure of the Song classic study, he was not restricted in only concentrating on the exploration of the significance of the classic works; on the contrary, he upheld the principle of devoting both to the literal explanation of the expressions and the global significance of the texts. In the course of interpretation he hacked his way by explaining the meaning of concepts, identifying the entities, iterating the relationship between the concepts and the entities, as to reach the literal understanding of the texts, and ultimately the full mastery of the implications of the classic works. He argued that the ignorance of the literal meaning of texts yielded a strained and farfetched explanation; by contrast, focusing only on the literal explanation of expressions resulted in the lost of the interpretation of the classics. Zhu Xi put forth his own hermeneutic methodology when interpreting the texts. In the literal explanation he argued for the exceptional principle, namely, "the interpretation according to the context" and "the specific meaning in the specific text" . Although the classic texts, Confucian ideas and the Justice were united as an integrity, yet the essential understanding of texts in the literal sense was the starting point for the interpretation and expansion of the spirit of the classical texts. Therefore, the accurate explanation on lexical level was an important link in the strain of interpretation. In addition, he pointed out that "to experience" was an important way. Literal explanation was subject to the texts themselves while "to experience the texts" was subject to the interpreter himself, and the latter involves the interpreter's psychological activities. He emphasized on the principle of "starting with theory and ending in action" . No matter it is to seek for the literal idea of texts or to the implications underlying the texts, it would finally end in action. This demonstrates the active social individuality and property of the Confucianism. The interpretation in experience needs the interpreter' subjective and psychological participation, the purpose of which is to derive the gist by inference.Zhu Xi started from the analysis of human mind, admitting that humans shared a common mindset. Based o one's own mind it was possible to trace back for the Confucians' mind, and by means of which we might infer what they possibly thought about. Human nature was the body of mind; the stable human nature secured the accuracy and the objective validity for the interpretation in experience adjoined with the interpreter's subjective and psychological factors. On conceptual level Zhu Xi is different from the western hermeneutic theories in understanding the concept of "experience" . Zhu Xi was not like what did who took "experience" only as an epistemological concept; on the contrary, he stressed on the practical function of "experience" , i.e., the individual's personal reflection, yielding the unity of "experience" as the method and the purpose in the interpretive activities.Zhu Xi's unique, characteristic method goes to the category of interpretation through things, namely, "thorough interpretation lies in the investigation of things. " This stresses on the application of the classics in real life, the source of which is "one theory, multiple phenomena" , the important idea of the Theory of Justice. Zhu Xi inherited Cheng Ying and Cheng Yi's theory and took it as the theoretical ground for the theory "extension of knowledge through the investigation of things. " In his opinion the world of the classic texts was though quite different from that of real life, the two could transfer to each other interactively. To Confucians, participating actively in daily lives was actually exploring and verifying the truth in the classical texts. The truth of Confucianism was entailed in daily life, hence the need of extending knowledge through investigating things. Zhu Xi' s research shows that Confucian study is not study-restrained learning, but has its own pragmatic merits.It is evident, though compared with the articulated western hermeneutics, Zhu Xi's thought and views formulated in his interpreting activities are fragmental, not systematic, he had his own insights. It is particularly so when he explicated the relationship among the original idea expressed by the text, the author's intention and the readers' uptakings. On this regard, Zhu Xi's method, especially his theory of "extension of knowledge through the investigation of things" , has more explanatory force than the western hermeneutic theory. It complemented the inadequacy of the western hermeneutics, highlighting the characteristics of Confucianism.