The Rise And Evolution Of Gongfu Curriculum In The Ming Dynasty

"Conducting small-scaled curriculum and doing in-depth Gongfu" is a well known saying to curriculum scholars.However,we may pay more attention to "Gongfu",which is the key discourse of Chinese classical moral education curriculum.In fact,behind the word "Gongfu",there is a set of curriculum wisdom of moral education with Chinese style.And "doing Gongfu" is the moral education topic stressed by Confucianism,Taoism and Buddhism.In today’s academic circles,the research on "Gongfu" mostly focuses on the field of Chinese philosophy,and it is urgent for educational researchers to explore this ancient and important educational issue from the perspective of pedagogy.And thus an appropriate analytical framework based on the basic issues of education is needed.From the professional perspective of curriculum and instruction,this paper sums up the Gongfu discourse in the context of Confucian,Taoist and Buddhist moral education,it can be found that the path,guidance and practice of Gongfu are the three basic dimensions of the curriculum wisdom of Chineses classical moral education derived from the core of Gongfu,corresponding to the concept of modern education in the curriculum,teaching and learning,similar but not the same.For Confucianism,as the mainstream of classical education in China,"Gongfu" refers to the cultivation of virtue,which inherited from ancient times,but was formally evident in Mencius’ s period.Although there had been much discussion about the cultivation of virtue in Confucius’ s time,Mencius was the first to systematically theorize the idea of the cultivation of virtue.Since then,the path of Gongfu initiated by Mencius has evolved and debated over the Gongfu Curriculum for more than 2000 years,among which the representative debates were the battle between Mencius and Xunzi in the Warring States period,the battle between Zhu Xi and Lu Jiuyuan in the Song dynasty,and the battle between Xin and Li in the Ming Dynasty,and so on.Among them,the debate of the School of Xin and Li and the debate of the different schools of the School of Xin are the most intense,the most marked change,and the most widely affected by education.In the history of Gongfu curriculum in the Ming Dynasty from the 15 th to the16 th century,Wang Yangming and Zhan Ruoshui were the most outstanding representatives of educational reform,from the 15 th to 16 th century,the history of Gongfu curriculum can be divided into three historical stages: "awakening of body and mind","the unity of two professions" and "the struggle between Dun and Jian.Accordingly,the Gongfu curriculum in the Ming Dynasty has different characteristics in different periods.The stage of " awakening of body and mind "(1409-1499)began in the seventh year of Yongle(1409),when Wu Yubi,the founders of Chongren school,burned the writings for imperial examination and decided to abandon the examination and turn to body and mind,and ended in the 12 th year of Hongzhi(1499).Chen Baisha,a disciple of Wu Yubi,passed on the Diaotai in Jiangmen as a symbol of their academic pursuits to Zhan Ruoshui.The representative educational figures of this period were Wu Yubi,Chen Baisha,Hu Juren,Lou Liang and so on.The educational characteristic of the stage is the re-awakening of the Gongfu curriculum.Some educators began to turn from "examination study" to "mind-body study",and to guide themselves to practice the virtue of Gongfu with Confucian classics.Specifically speaking,it has a distinct exploration in the path of Gongfu,although it has begun to produce differences,but the purpose of the curriculum is to turn to the body and mind;And the difference between Dun and Jian in the direction of Gongfu,which paved the way for the intensification of the later debate on Dun and Jian;There is a conflict between "Xiu" and "Wu" on the study of Gongfu,which is mainly reflected in the differences between Chen Baisha and Hu Juren.The "integration of the two professions" period(1499-1529)began in the 12 th year of Hongzhi(1499),when Zhan Ruoshui gained the Jiangmen Diaotai from Chen Baisha,and from then on he began to carry forward Xin school of Jiangmen,it ended in the eighth year of Jiajing(1529)when Wang Yangming died and Jiajing emperor began the second round of the "academic ban" against Wang Shouren’s theory of Xin school.The representative educational figures of this period were Wang Yangming,Zhan Ruoshui,Lv Nan and so on.The characteristic of the education stage in this period is the integration of the two professions of the Gongfu curriculum,which is different from the previous stage,when most of the Gongfu educators taught in the countryside,and at this stage,most of them advocated the integration of the two professions,that is,there is no contradiction between virtue and examination.Therefore,Wang Yangming,Zhan Ruoshui and Lv Nan all entered the political system of the Ming Dynasty through the imperial examination and actively promoted the educational reform in their respective positions.Specifically speaking,in the Gongfu path not only has the characteristic of "integration of the two professions",but also more manifests attempts to correct those who separates "the knowledge" and "the practice";Although different educators have different ideas on the teaching of Gongfu,they are different but harmonious.In Gongfu studying,corresponding to the paradigm of Gongfu instruction,educators of different styles do their best and encourage the learners to cultivate their own virtue either by Dun or Jian cultivation.The period of "struggle of Dun and Jian"(1529-1579)began in the eighth year of Jiajing(1529)and ended in the more severe academic ban initiated by Zhang Juzheng in the seventh year of Wanli(1579).The representative educational figures of this period are Wang Ji,Qian Dehong,Wang Gen,and so on.The periodic education in this period was characterized by the struggle between Dun and Jian,in which the school of Dun was especially popular among the people,and was also attacked by the school of Jian,which was mainly from the official class.From the perspective of the object of educational influence,under the influence of the "two Wang",especially Wanggen and his Taizhou School,the focus of education in this period returned to the people.Specifically,it breaks through the dependence on the educational media,and emphasizes the "direct commitment" as the subject of learning and "daily use of human relations" as the object of learning.Although Qian Dehong still adhered to the Dependent Teaching Paradigm,in general,the style of Dun was more vigorous than that of Jian.And in Gongfu practice,it corresponded to the Gongfu teaching paradigm,insight learning gets more emphasis than gradual learning.In fact,although the debate on Gongfu curriculum in the 15 th and 16 th centuries had concrete differences in the three dimensions of Gongfu Path,Gongfu Guidance and Gongfu Practice,but there are two basic educational paradigms: Autonomy Paradigm and Dependence Paradigm.The "debate between knowing and doing" reflects the debate between the Independent Curriculum Paradigm and the Dependent Curriculum Paradigm,and the "debate between Dun and Jian" reflects the debate between the Independent Teaching Paradigm and the Dependent Teaching Paradigm.The debate of "Wu and Xiu" reflects the debate between Independent Learning Paradigm and Dependent Learning Paradigm.Although the debate on education in the Ming Dynasty 500 years ago inevitably had its time limitation,the debate on the Educational Paradigm contained in it between independence and dependence had the quality of curriculum philosophy that transcended the Times,it is helpful to trace back to the curriculum wisdom of classical moral education,and to enlighten the current curriculum and teaching reform.