A Study Of Fang Hsiao-ju's Confucianism

Fang Hsiao-ju is a well-known Confucian scholar in the early Ming Dynasty,his only existing writings are compiled to A Collction of Xunzhi Study(??????).Hsiao-ju's thought was rooted in the traditional Confucianism education from his two teachers,Fang Ke-tsin and Song Lian.It also formed from the social environment that manifested as thriftier material lives and the Hu-hua(??)of etiquette and custom,and political environment that manifested as absolute monarchy and strict laws of the Hongwu period.Then,it showed pure feature of Neo-Confucianism,pressing practical spirit and strong responsibility of the times.Hsiao-ju's ideological construction aimed at Confucian practice,so it might focus on both of human self-transformation and transformation of the world,that corresponded to his doctrine of Nei-sheng(??)and Wai-wang(??).Fang Hsiao-ju's doctrine of Nei-sheng is based on his thoughts of Neo-Confucianism,which spread to two dimensions as the way to be a human and the way of human living,that corresponded to his ideology of learning and philosophy of life.Firstly,Hsiao-ju' s metaphysics discussed about ontology,and the relatiorship between nature and man,and the theory of human nature and mind,and his Gong-fu(??)theory.It began with "harmony of nature and man(????)",ended off the Gong-fu theory around nourishing mind.We can see it inherited the Neo-Confucian tradition that "let there be justice but no lust(??????)”,and because of aiming at providing a metaphysical basis for the solution of practical problems,it tallied with the practical spirit of Zhuzi's doctrine in the early Ming Dynasty.Secondly,Fang Hsiao-ju implemented his Gongfu theory at learning and built his own ideology of learning that was completely Confucian-moral-oriented.On the connotation of learning,Hsiao-ju thought that it was equated whether throw oneself to learning or the teachings of TAO,as he advocated learning itself was a type of moral practice.On the methodology of learning,Hsiao-ju thought that Confucian scholars mought centre on the FourBooks and Five Classics(????),and be known first,set to practice next.On the motivation theroy for learning,Hsiao-ju thought that Confucian scholars should always be determined to throw himself to the teachings of TAO,so it was immoral to be a simple literary man.Besides,he also put forward his philosophy of education correspondingly.Thirdly,Hsiao-ju's philosophy of life was absolutely his knowledge about the way of living that from his learning activities on the whole.It was based on his ethics,and his ethics is presented as a double hierarchical structure as virtue ethics including deontological ethics.It started off the theory of Xing-shan(??)and the moral principle of "to value justice above material gains(????)”,and reflected via the investigation of realistic value sequence and the problem of the disunity of morality and happiness.Then it arrived in the philosophy of life that was built around his Confucian view of heavenly mandate,and focused on two ethical fieldworks of "weak inside or weak outside" and "life or death".Fang Hsiao-ju's doctrine of Wai-wang is directed of his cultural philosophy,and put into practice at the two sides of the opposition to Buddhism and the political thoughts of people-oriented thought and policy of benevolence.Firstly,Hsiao-ju's cultural philosophy pointed at the cultural dilemma of the special social and historical context in the early Ming Dynasty,through the discussing of the theory of Yi-xia(??),and the orthodox problems,and the view of ancient and modern civilization,he established the status of the Three Dynasty(??)as a benchmark of Chinese civilization,so that it made Hsiao-ju's thoughts and actions express a specific retro tendency.Secondly,Fang Hsiao-ju's opposition to Buddhism aimed at the reasons of the prevalence of Buddhism,not only refuted the theory of Samsara which was the representative of Buddhist thought,but also proposed that the only efficient measure to defuse Buddhism was to promote Confucianism.Moreover,why Fang Hsiao-ju stuck to oppose Buddhism should be to protect the continuance of Confucianism from the influence of Buddhism,and to guard the existing achievement of Confucian social construction.However,Fang Hsiao-ju's way to think about the relationship between Confucianism and Buddhism was not objectively.From his standpoint as a Confucianist of selfish departmentalism,it is decisive that he could not really solve the conflict between Confucianism and Buddhism.Thirdly,Hsiao-ju's political thoughts carried out his cultural revivalism,which of the fundamental purpose was to achieve peaceful and prosperous times as the Three Dynasty in this world.Thus,his monarch theory talked about the political origin of monarchy,and the duties and learning of monarch,asked the monarch to follow the ancient holy kings.And his govern theory talked about his economical thoughts that let people be wealthiness first and moralized next,and his institution thoughts that let it be etiquette-oriented and people-oriented,asked the realistic institution to back of the Zhou Dynasty.However,Hsiao-ju also saw these ideas were difficult to be achieved,so he turned to develop his self-government by civilian theory named Zong-yi(??),advocated the Confucianism out of field to find another way to restore the institution of the ancient king.All in all,the most prominent feature of Fang Hsiao-ju's Confucianism construction is Jing-shi-zhi-yong(????).His theory of Nei-sheng-wai-wang has carried forward the consistent spirit of Confucian moral-Idealism,which contains strong practical spirit and ethical beliefs,making his ideological construction and life practice highly unify,and achieve Hsiao-ju's immortal legend in the end.