A Study Of Liu Zongzhou’s "Shen Du"

Liu Zongzhou is the last greatest philosopher of "Yang Ming study (Wang’s thought)". Liu created his philosophy by developing the idea of "Shen Du" in The Doctrine of the Mean. All the other philosophers lived before his ages gave "Shen Du" the means of "self‐restraining in privacy", which is a self‐cultivate way, whereas Liu took "Shen Du" as an ontological concept. His disciple Huang Zongxi said in The Learning Case of Ming’s Confucians,”Liu’s thought is based on ‘Shen Du’ theory, all Confucians have researched on ‘Shen Du’ theory, but only Liu obtained the essential meaning of it.” Liu’s "Shen Du" theory represented the characters of Chinese philosophical terms, which is a unification of Ontology, Epistemology and Self‐cultivation.My paper contains five major chapters to study the forming process and development of “Shen Du” theory, as well as its intrinsic logic. In addition, I will explain my understanding some academic questions in nowadays’ Liu’s study.In chapter1, I will introduce the forming and develop process of Liu’s “Shen Du” which is based on The Chronicle of Liu Zongzhou’s Life written by Liu Zhuo and another reviewed version written by Yao Mingda. Both of their works were combined with Liu’s academic, political and personal life. For this reason, I will only focus on his academic career. I stated that his apprentice to Xu Fuyuan in1603, comprehending the Mind/Heart in1614, building his theory of “Shen Du” in1625and Believing Yang Ming Study in1627as key points in his forming of “Shen Du” theory. From1631to1645is his main academic career. In this period, his academic activities was focus on debate with the left wing of Yang Ming Study’s offspring and perfecting his “Shen Du” theory. I will particular illustrate this period in the following chapters.In chapter2, I will study the relation between Liu’s “Shen Du” and the Four Book. I will take The Note on the Original Daxue, Miscellaneous Commentary on Daxue，Explanation on the First Chapter of the Doctrine of the Mean and his reference Teaching notes as Liu’s primary works on Daxue and The Doctrine of the Mean. Besides, because Liu’s work on Daxue and The Doctrine of the Mean was finished in his late ages, I state that these works could represent his main thought. So, I will particular focus on explaining their meanings. For his Learning Case of the Analects which was finished in his early years and My Tutor’s Understanding of Mencius which was written by his disciple Huang Zongxi, I will briefly conclude the main idea as “pursuing the benevolence” as written in The Combination of Confucian and Mencius.In chapter3, I will indicate Zhou Dunyi’s influence on Liu’s “Shen Du”. In brief, I state,“Shen Du” is an inheritance and development of Zhou’s “Wu Ji Er Tai Ji”. For detail, I will intellectually divided my point into three aspects. First, the entity of “Du” of Liu Zongzhou is a lineage of “Tai Ji” of Zhou Dunyi. Furthermore, Liu Zongzhou comprehended “Cheng Yi” as the access of self‐cultivation from Zhou Dunyi’s “Ji” in Tongshu. Finally, Renpu, the most important works of Liu Zongzhou, is also a development of Zhou Dunyi’s Taijitushuo.In chapter4, I will demonstrate Liu’s understanding of “Yang Ming Study”. Here,“Yang Ming’s Study” means two parts, Yang Ming’s thought and the left wing of Yang Ming’s offspring’s thought. For the former one, I will focus on the question that whether Liu comprehend the core of Yang Ming’s Study. To answer this question, I will explore Liu’s works of The Main Idea of Sage’s Education and The Recording of Yang Ming’s Core Thought. Based on Liu’s understanding of the core of Yang Ming’s Study, I will further state the reason that Liu’s educated on “creating one’s mind”. For the later one, I will declare the major contradiction between Liu and Tao Shiliang in “Testify Human School”.In chapter5, I will state the intrinsic logic of “Shen Du” theory. First, I will demonstrate the different understanding of ontological terms between west and east philosophy. Then I will explore the Unification of ontology, epistemology and self‐cultivation in “Shen Du”. In the end, I will compare “Shen Du” with “Zhi Liangzhi” based on this theory.