On Lu Jiuyuan’s Mind Hermeneutics

How can the ancient traditional culture gain a new life? That is a question not only people in modern society but also Lu Jiuyuan, a famous philosopher in Southern Song Dynasty who had a great sense of social concerning, thought hard of.In Southern Song Dynasty, the country faced the domestic revolt and foreign invasions. However, at the same time, many scholars are full of enthusiasm about the study of Confucian classics which had prevailed around the time from Han and Tang Dynasties to Southern Song Dynasty. Confucian scholars continued studying even when they were hoary-headed. On one hand, misery and suffering of society greeted the eyes everywhere. On the other hand, almost all the scholars were immersed in making commentary and explanatory notes. After much cogitation, Lu Jiuyuan had to make a judgment that the traditional research method of Confucian classics around the time from Han and Tang Dynasties to Southern Song Dynasty was radically useless to solve practical problems. In form, the traditional method seemed to keep accumulating the Confucian thoughts. In fact, the method had deviated from the Confucian orthodoxy which was constructed by Confucius and Mencius because it replaced the concern of cultivating the moral character and people’s livelihood by the concern of the text itself. From that time on, Lu Jiuyuan started his way which was different from the traditional way of Confucian classics. In order to contribute to the resurgence of traditional Confucian culture, he put forward his hermeneutics thought about the philosophy of Mind which was characterized by the thought of honoring the virtuous nature.Master Meng’s theory of mind and nature and his thought of the method for interpreting classics were the sources of Lu Jiuyuan’s Mind hermeneutics. As far as the specific impacts were concerned, the reasons were mainly indicated in three aspects. Firstly, Mencius’ Theory of "Goodness of Mind (良心)" was the ideological roots of Lu Jiuyuan’s Original Mind Theory (本心论), even the word "Original Mind" was also introduced from Master Meng’s works. Secondly, the theory of benevolence and justice of Master Meng provided the basis to Lu Jiuyuan’s theory of "honoring the virtuous nature" and "developing and enlightening one’s original mind". Thirdly, Master Meng’ classical methods of interpreting Confucian classics such as "to seek for author’s intention by reader’s own imagination ("以意逆志")", "to understand author by studying his social life("知人论世")" and "making proper adaptation to changing situations ("权变")" inspired Lu Jiuyuan with the methodological thinking on hermeneutics philosophy of Mind and the orientation of practical philosophy.Lu Jiuyuan’s Mind hermeneutics differed from the researching pattern of Confucian classics which had prevailed around the time from Han and Tang Dynasties to Southern Song Dynasty. He paid his researching attention to the "understanding" itself, not to the "explaining". Broadly speaking, the Lu Jiuyuan’s thinking of hermeneutics philosophy of Mind was mainly concerned with aspects such as "the theory of the target of understanding", "the theory of the basis of understanding" and "the theory of the method of understanding".On the thinking of the theory of the target of understanding, Lu Jiuyuan held the opinion that the target of understanding should not be limited in the text. Both the semanteme of the text and the spiritual intention of the author were just the primary aim of the understanding. The Tao (道, Way) and the Principle (理, Reason) must be pointed to at the very end of understanding. That was so called "to apprehend the principle by reading" ("读书明理") or "to exhaustively pursue principle by investigating things" ("格物穷理") Under the frame of the concept of hermeneutics philosophy of mind, understanding means the way in which human beings communicate with each others. Furthermore, understanding of text works as no more than the medium leading to "apprehend the doctrine of Tao". In addition, the medium isn’t the unique way to understand Tao and Principle.How is understanding possible? In another word, what is the basis of understanding? Lu Jiuyuan’s theory of the basis of understanding was based on the theory that "the sense of justice and rationality is the same with everybody", which was the presupposition of the intercommunity of mankind. In his point of view, whosoever, ordinary men or sages are gifted with original mind and nature of goodness. Whosoever has the capacity and possibility to apprehend the doctrine of Tao. The sages are the ones who get into the realm earlier than us ordinary men. So, ordinary men also have the possibility and basis to understand just like the sages. People don’t have to completely rely on ancient sages’documents and classics to apprehend the doctrine of Tao. Making commentary and explanatory notes is also not the only way to transmit wisdom and impart knowledge.Lu Jiuyuan had his original ideas about the way of understanding by relating to the presupposition of the intercommunity between "Mind" and "Principle". The base point of the understanding activity in his theory was "developing and enlightening one’s original mind". Whether people understood texts or all things, they should firstly develop and enlighten their Original Mind. Developing and enlightening one’s Original Mind was the basis and precondition of "reading" and "investigating things". "Honoring the virtuous nature" also became the basis and precondition of "following the knowledge". However, it should be pointed out that Lu Jiuyuan’s understanding way wasn’t inward only. The way was from the inside out. He never used "developing and enlightening one’s Original Mind" to negative the importance of "reading" and "investigating things".After establishing that understanding approach, Lu Jiuyuan started his understanding methodology thinking of hermeneutics philosophy of Mind. We can divide the thinking into two parts called "Nei Pian" (Inside Part) and "Wai Pian" (Outside Part)"Nei Pian" refers to the methodological thinking of "developing and enlightening one’s Original Mind" (发明本心) by Lu Jiuyuan. He thought that "developing and enlightening one’s original mind" should gradually follow three basic principles and methods:(1) be aware of the goodness of "Original Mind"; (2) set the aspiration of "enhancement of the Confucian Way"(弘道); (3) "Nourishing the heart" (养心)--- "lessening desires" (寡欲) and the method of "Jian Dan Fa" ("减担法"). The method of "Jian Dan Fa" was an approach which was originally created by Lu Jiuyuan. The method was the typical embodiment of his important idea called "Yi Jian Gong Fu" (易简工夫). The methodological thinking of "developing and enlightening one’s original mind" by Lu Jiuyuan directly pointed out the deficiency of traditional study of Confucian classics."Waipian" (Outside Part) referred to Lu Jiuyuan’s methodological thought on "reading books and investigating things". Though Lu Jiuyuan firmly objected to indiscriminate "extensive reading ", he didn’t completely object to reading books. On the contrary, he had much methodological thought on "reading and investigating things" with hermeneutical implications. First, Lu Jiuyuan analyzed the hermeneutical features of language. He made a distinction between two languages of different characteristics which are "Zi Shu" (自述, speech by one himself) and "Ta Lu" (他录, note by listener or others) including commentary and subcommentary. According to his view, when "Zi Shu" transforms to "Ta Lu", the intention of the text will also quietly change because of the intervention of the recorder. Furthermore, this change sometimes obscured and deviated from the original intention of the "speaker". Based on this idea, Lu Jiuyuan held that, in order to inherit the tradition of Confucian orthodoxy, one must "read ancient books" and face directly to "learning of the ancients". He also analyzed the phenomenon of polysemous words and the relationship between the phenomenon and pragmatics. According to his research, the conversion of spoken language to written language actually caused the loss of real time dialogue. He then clarified the philological origin of misunderstanding from different angles. It is just on the basis of dialectically analyzing the hermeneutical status of "Zi Shu"(自述)and "Ta Lu"(他录)that Lu Jiuyuan confirmed the necessity of various methods such as "Zhang Ju Xun Gu"(gloss). Then, Lu Jiuyuan had deeply researched the relevance between hermeneutic distance and "obstacles of understanding". He discussed three kinds of hermeneutic distance, which are the distance between the author’s idea and his textual expression, the text and reason and readers and authors. Lu Jiuyuan analyzed the affect of hermeneutic distance on obstacles of understanding. His goal was to prove up how to overcome the obstacle of the hermeneutics distance in understanding for comprehending of the author’s intention accurately. Finally, Lu Jiuyuan had meditated on fundamental principles and basic methods with a hue of practical philosophy. Lu Jiuyuan stipulated "reading text in carefree leisure and making it suit the reader himself’(“切己而优游”)as the fundamental principle of reading. He also insisted on that one would not lose himself by making the text suit himself in reading(“切近则不失己”), and that one would not be limited by object if he reading text in carefree leisure(“优游则不滞物”).This kind of viewpoint not only showed his proposition of learning for Cultivating one’s morality(“为己之学")but also carried out his great idea of uniting "honoring the virtuous nature" and "following the knowledge". Based on conforming the method of "Zhang Ju Xun Gu’’(章句训诂,gloss), Lu put forward the method of "Han Yong" (涵泳), it means diving and swimming in the text. In his view, "Han Yong" is not only immersing oneself in the text. What’s more, after careful reading, readers will find that the method of "Han Yong" demands a language which doesn’t bound by given text. By this method, readers will aware the meaning of ancient sage’words and apprehend the essence of text. Thus, Lu Jiuyuan emphasized the importance of "Si"(思, thinking) in the process of text comprehension. He also pointed out the concrete three methods of "Si" in reading process. The first method is "Da Gang Si Liang"(“大纲思量”)which means that readers should think or consider the meaning in a general view and never get themselves into a dead end. The second method is to research the relationship between "Yan" ("言", speech) and "Shi" ("实"actuality) and "Ming" {"名", name) and "Shi" ("实", actuality) so as to search the "actual Principle (Reason)" of the text language. The third method is that the universal Tao ("道", Way) and Principle ("理", Reason) implied in the text should relate to those concrete practical problems which readers are confronting. Readers can integrate the universal Tao and Principle with particular contexts. As a result, "Si" had been developed into the method of "Quan Duo"("权度", making proper adaptations) with a hue of practical philosophy. On the whole, by thinking of the target of understanding, the basis of understanding, the approach of understanding, the obstacle of understanding and the fundamental principle and basic method of understanding, Lu Jiuyuan constructed a comparatively integrated system of the hermeneutics philosophy of Mind. In his theory of the hermeneutics philosophy of Mind, Lu Jiuyuan advocated the unification between "honoring the virtuous nature"(尊德性)and "following the knowledge"(道问学)ind the unification between "Wei Xue"(为学, learning) and "Wei Ren" (为人, behavior or action). The theory apparently tended to practical philosophy. The theory contributed to getting ride of the traditional researching pattern of Confucian around the time from Han and Tang Dynasties to Southern Song Dynasty. His theory also had positive effect on leading people to concern social reality and solve practical problems.