A Research On Zhang Junmai's Philosophy

Junmai Zhang(1887-1969),originally called Jiasen,styled himself as Junmai,who was born in Bao Mountain,Jiangsu Province(now belongs to Shanghai).He is an ideologist with multiple aspects in modern history of China and the important representative of Neo Confucianism.In the later period of May 4th Movement,he launched “the debate of science and metaphysics” and advocated the “Revival of Songology”.In the sunset of his life,he focused on the composition and propaganda of “the Revival of Confucianism”,who made great contributions to the Chinese “Neo Confucianism”.As the figure in 20 th century who shouldered the responsibility of inheriting and innovating Confucianism,he devoted all his life to the revival of Chinese traditional Confucianism and took the mission of creating a new Chinese culture which integrated with western cultural spirits.However,because of some reasons such as his political opinion,before 90 s in 20 th C,the mainland of China had few researches about him.From 1990 till now,as the opening and reform policy deepened and Chinese cultural confidence boosted,the mainland's outcomes about his ideology succeeded to appear,but most concentrated on law or ideology history,and “Philosophy of Junmai Zhang” didn't form systematic and independent research field.Based on the point of cultural confidence,cultural innovation,cultural tolerance,it is necessary to systematically investigate and sort out the posthumous about his philosophy,in order that the Neo Confucianist's philosophic system could be wholly presented to the audience.Junmai Zhang is a philosopher for “world concept”,instead of “college concept”,which means he took philosophy as “ideal career”,not “job”.His philosophic ideology is the base and soul of his comprehensive ideological system.The traditional scholar took him as the image who lingered between “academy and politics”.For Junmai Zhang's comprehensive ideological system,from the ideological aspect,its core is Confucianism;from the political aspect,its central idea is the national revival under the influence of Confucianism.Therefore,no matter from ideological aspect or the political aspect,Junmai Zhang's main ideology is Confucianism.His research on Confucianism could be split into two parts.One is with originality pre-Qin dynasty Confucianism philosophy;the other one is from middle-Tang dynasty Han Yu to late-Qing dynasty Guofan Zeng around one thousand years Confucianism philosophy,and Junmai Zhang called it Neo Confucianism.He took Neo Confucianism as an outcome of Buddhism,which means,in his perspective,the introduction of Buddhism supplies the new perspective and new ideological material,and Confucianism renewed itself from “the debate between Confucianism and Buddhism”.From his point of view,the renewal is “Songology”.Based on the cognition of Confucianism and the apprehension of World War I,Junmai Zhang advocated scanning the relationship between “science” and “outlook on life” and he held the idea that “science” couldn't decide “outlook on life”.Based on this,he thought the revival of our nation laid in both,and it is essential to establish our own nation's confidence,and started from inner independence,instead of imitate or copy western civilization.Thus,he supported if we wanted to “establish a country” or “revive our nation”,first and foremost,we should solve the inner problems,which means “the heart problem” or “cognition problem”.Junmai Zhang thought “outlook on life” is the bond of culture and Chinese originally culture is Confucianism,therefore,Chinese culture future trends to the Confucianism returning and innovation under spirits' freedom,and defined it as “Confucianism Revival” under the new environment.Junmai Zhang held the idea that “Confucianism Revival” needed “spirit perseverance” or “mental freedom”,which means,“Confucianism Revival” lay emphasis on the observation between “heart” and “object”.He advocated: “ Heart is the basis of our universe”,maintained “merits and intelligence”,supported “knowledge starts from heart”,agreed “from universal to self-examination” and then form his philosophy system: “outlook on life”,“culturalism”,“metaphysics”,“epistemology”,“moralism” and “cosmology”.Roughly,this is the logical order that he did the research.As a philosopher takes “world” in his heart,Junmai Zhang was advocating Confucianism,for which the main purpose is to put Confucianism beneath the world,in search for the complement for west and east.Obviously,his “Confucianism Revival” had exceeded the Chinese language context.Junmai Zhang supposed that the cultural crisis which led by the two world wars required Chinese Confucianism offer the thinking pattern solution.In the new environment,Confucianism also needed to absorb and learn western civilization outcome to develop itself.So,his “Confucianism Revival”,to some degree,is “the mutual appreciation between west and east”,not “Apply Chinese pattern to the west”.The ultimate purpose of Junmai Zhang Confucianism is boosting Chinese confidence,finding self-ego,cheering up and spurring on Chinese modernization sensibly.The key to realize this process is take “free will” life outlook as basis,cultivate “stress on both merit and intelligence” cognition,and then bring up new talents.Junmai Zhang's philosophic system is the compass for rejuvenation of nation and cultivation of talentsAlthough Junmai Zhang had multiple identities,he essentially was a philosopher.Therefore,we should consider him as a academic,philosophic and pure ideologist to research,and put him in the outlook of the world's Confucianism research,instead of just domestic Confucianism research.As Junmai Zhang left a large number of posthumous,language system and sentence tunes are different from nowadays,which requires observational method,especially sutra exegesis and emendation,supplemented with comparison,which means,get Junmai Zhang's philosophy through the implication of world philosophy.For the study of Junmai Zhang's philosophy,we should not neglect the features of the epoch.Furthermore,we should put it into the historic and social environment.We should speak highly for his devotion to the awakening and rise of national consciousness and practical application.We also should acknowledge and recognize his dialectical thinking and big setup.In conclusion,the analysis and sort out of Junmai Zhang's philosophic system,should break up the traditional “fragment” way,control his philosophy in whole,from which to enrich the content of Neo Confucianism.