Confucianism Propagation: A Study Of The Academy And Confucianism In The South Song Dynasty

Since the emergence of Buddhism in China and the growing amount of missionary activities of Taoism and Buddhism,the orthodox status of Confucianism is challenged,it's authoritative identity is in crisis.In order to rescue this crisis,scholars in the Sung Dynasty established various academies to propagate doctrines of the ancient Confucianism.The title of my dissertation is “A Study of the Academy and Confucianism in the South Song Dynasty”.In my research,I will combine the study of the five regulations and characters of Academy(teaching,rite,school's regulation,library and publishing books)with the historical development of Neo-Confucianism to provide a new perspective for studying the relationship between the Neo-Confucianism and the Academy.Besides,I wish my study could provide a new angle in thinking how to succeed the traditional Chinese culture and transform it into modern education system.Neo-Confucianism in Song Dynasty is a strong revival of pre-Qin Confucianism that has gradually declined since the Sui and Tang Dynasties.The essential thing to revive Confucianism is to rescue Confucianism out of its identity crisis,that is,to answer which is the Orthodox of Chinese culture among the three.Confucian scholars not only criticize Buddhism based on the Confucian standard,but also reconstruct and proclaim the Confucian Orthodoxy to against the two.In this process,some famous Academies were established,they are Min Xue,Hu Xiang Xue,Xiang Shan Xue and Wu Xue.In ontology,heart-mind theory and Gongfu theory,they all proclaim success from the authentic of Confucianism,but they are various in detail.So,the question that who is the authentic one rises.In this period,Zhu Xi,Zhang Shi,Lu Jiuyuan,Lv Zuqian and other scholars successively founded their Academies and taught their own doctrines to defend the authentic status of Confucianism.In my study,I will study the above question.And further,how the Confucian Orthodoxy could success in these Academic activities? In the South Song Dynasty,Neo-Confucianism and the Academy present a resonance situation.It is owed to the five basic characters of the Academy,that is teaching,rite,school ' s regulation,library and publishing books.They were established entirely in South Song Dynasty.So,the teaching in the Academy could carry on sustainably,the Confucian Orthodoxy could succeed and the crisis could be resolved.With a deep comprehension of Buddhism,Daoism and the heterodox of Confucianism,these scholars criticized Buddhism as “only discussing the body but not in practice” and the heterodox as "only in practice but not understand the spirit of Confucianism".Based on these understanding,scholars set “presenting the essence and the practice of the authentic Confucian teaching” as the goal of their academic activities.When they built their Academies,they set "Inner Sageness and Outer Kingness" as the educational tenet,advocated the students to know both the spiritual essence and practice way of Confucianism.The founders of the Academies set up various courses,such as Reading the Classics,Explaining the Classics with philosophical connotations,History,Politics and etc.These courses are great helpful for students to understand both the spiritual essence and the practical principle of Confucianism.The forms of lessons include lectures,seminars and discussions,during these activities,the spirit of Neo-Confucianism is promoted.The sacrificing objects of the South Song Dynasty Academy are Confucius and other Confucian lineage figures.These figures represent a strong meaning of the Confucian Orthodoxy,it reminds the scholars to carry on the historical mission of re-booming Confucianism.In the South Song Dynasty,Neo-Confucian scholars,to promote their school's traditions and demonstrate their new academic ideas and spiritual pursuits,normally added distinctive shrines in their Academies to worship the scholars that directly related to their academic traditions and formed their unique ritual system.The ancestral rituals of the Academy are established according to their academic traditions,and the existence and development of the ancestral rituals of the ancient Academy promotes the manifestation of the dignity of Confucianism,the academic interests of Neo-Confucianism and the academic debate for the Orthodox.The sacrificing rite of the South Song Academy stimulated the debating on the authentic way of Confucianism.The Regulations of Academy have gone through a long historical process from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the Song Dynasty.The South Song scholars have built various Regulations for their own Academies.For example,Zhu Xi wrote the Regulations of Bailudong Academy,Lv Zuqian worte the Regulations of Lize Academy,Lu Jiuyuan also tried to establish the “no regulation” in his Xiangshan Academy.Ontology is the foundational and essential issue of Song-Ming philosophy,and it is also the logical start-point of the educational activities of the South Song Academy.To answer “how is education possible”,one must know clear of its ontological foundation.The academic Regulation of the Academy built by the scholars are based not only on their ontological theory,but also their practical of the theory.The discussion between “heart-mind” and “nature” is the pivotal question among Song-Ming philosophers,and it is also the value orientation of the educational activities of the South Song Academy.It answers the question of “how is education possible” in practice.Regulations of Bailudong Academy,Lize Academy's Regulations,and Lu Jiuyuan's “no regulation” are all the real practice of their heart-mind and nature understanding.The theory of Gongfu,which is emphasized by Neo-Confucianism,is one of the important and distinct characteristics of Chinese philosophy.It solves the question,“how to educate one.” “Studying phenomena to acquire knowledge” is emphasized in Regulations of Bailudong Academy,“Reflections in oneself's mind” in Lize Academy's Regulations,and“Self-understanding of one's heart-mind” embodied in the no-regulation,are all the answers and practical way of how to become a man of virtue.Therefore,we could say,the South Song Academy's academic regulations are the real practice of Confucianism.Collecting and publishing books is a distinguishing feature of the Academy and an important way of inheriting Confucianism Orthodoxy.The prosperity of Buddhism and Daoism brings the popularization of collecting and publishing books of temple and Taoist abbey which poses a severe challenge to the revival of Confucianism.On the one hand,collectingand publishing books of temple and Taoist abbey makes the neo-Confucianism unconsciously invoke the thought of Buddhism when interpreting Confucianism,which forces the change of Confucianism form.On the other hand,collecting and publishing books of temple and Taoist abbey caused the loss of a large number of disseminators and recipients of Confucianism,which restricted the socialization process of Confucianism.Relying on academies to revive Confucianism,neo-Confucian scholars,by criticizing Buddhist and Taoist classics,re-engraving the "Four Books and five Classics" and publishing neo-Confucian works,strengthened the function of libraries in academies to dissolve the threat brought by libraries in temples and safeguard the orthodox status of Confucianism and Confucian classics.The activity of library and publishing books in the Academies of the Southern Song Dynasty is not only the tool for neo-Confucianism to remove Buddha and discard old people,but also the fundamental guarantee for inheriting and carrying forward Neo-Confucianism.Through thecollecting and publishing books,the Neo-Confucians constantly strengthened the unity consciousness of Neo-Confucianism,promoted the academic innovation and socialization process of Neo-Confucianism,and made the neo-Confucianism widely spread beyond the limitation of time and space,"learning among the people".Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties,the relation among Confucianism,Buddhism,and Taoism likes the three legs of a tripod,so a dispute about which is the orthodoxy is rising and the authentic status of Confucianism is in crisis.Therefore,Confucian scholars proclaim the orthodox status of Confucianism and try to rebuild Confucianism by reconnecting it to the pre-Qin tradition.After the orthodox status of Confucianism become a consensus among scholars,Confucianism begins his self-splitting.Then,a debate about who is the authentic doctrine of Confucianism among Min Xue,Huxiang Xue,Xiangshan Xue and Wu Xue who is arise.The South Song scholars found their own Academies to defence the spirit of Neo-Confucianism.Through teaching,rite,school's regulation,library and publishing books,they establish their respective schools and declared their distinct understanding of Confucianism.In these activities,The authentic status of Confucianism in society is reinforced.