Yang Jian’s Philosophy Of Mind And Quotes

Yang Jian is a famous psychologist in the Southern Song Dynasty,commonly regarded as Lu Jiuyuan’s brilliant student.In fact,the thought Yang Jian proposed has strong independence and particularity,immensely different from that of Lu Jiuyuan.Experts usually take "Bn-Qi-Yi" as the essence of Yang Jian’s thought.However,from the perspective of the discourse system in Yang Jian’s thought,it is undoubtedly more important to derive from the words in the book Kong Congzi,which said "as Confucius once said" and "the spirit of the heart is holy".If"Bn-Qi-Yi" expressed his idea from an opposite and negative perspective,then "the spirit of the heart is holy" is a positive affirmation of his ideas.This phrase marked the establishment of Yang Jian’s philosophy of mind,and is considered as the purpose of his thought.Such was strongly emphasized by Song Ming mind scholars.Throughout his life,Yang Jian had experienced many great enlightenment,such as Xunlizhai enlightenment in the Imperial College,Shuangmingge enlightenment in Fuyang,the enlightenment of "dark curtain"and the enlightenment of mourning.We believe that Yang Jian put forward "the spirit of the heart is holy" when he was about 56 to 62 years old,which marked the maturity of his ideological system of his philosophy of mind.He then used this phrase to guide the whole ideological discourse system."The spirit of the heart is holy" and its relevant expressions are carried out throughout his letters,articles and writings,making the character of his thought of mind more unique.Ancient psychologists like Cheng Hao,Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Yangming did not write much about classics.Lu Jiuyuan even said,"The Six meridians annotate me,there’s no need for me to explain them." Yang Jian,on the other hand,is keen on annotating the classics.He has a lot of opinions and even systematic annotations on the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics.In contrast to Zhu Xi who merely explains the contents in the classics,Yang Jian’s annotation is extremely subjective,sometimes even took some remarks completely out of context.He criticizes some classical texts and their words in a very sharply manner,sometimes even constitutes a subversion and disintegration of classical texts.In this regard,Yang Jian’s classical interpretation has a strong spirit of "Six meridians annotate me".The main body of his interpretation is his very own philosophy of mind,the six meridians are merely a reference to prove him right.He often rashly dismissed classical words that were different from his thought or that he did not like as "false" or "non-sage words".Compared to other psychologists who paid more attention on the Four Books,Yang Jian paid special attention to the texts of the Five Classics.He systematically annotated classics such as "The Book of Changes","The Book of History","The Book of Odes" and "The Spring-Autumn Annals".Yang Jian’s philosophy of mind is mainly based on "The Book of Changes".He likes to quote phrases in Yi Zhuan such as "The common people,acting daily according to it,yet have no knowledge of it","Follow the Book of Changes to make accomplishments","Thoughts of people shall follow the rules of earth and heaven","clear your minds and pause your behaviors".He believes that the idea of Change is the core and forms one’s mind.When someone clear his minds and pause his behaviors,pay no attention on his directions or belongings,and stay absolutely calm and quiet,he will fully understand the essence of Tao.Such was considered something that can be achieved by everyone,and was referred to as the divine nature of human and "the spirit of the heart is holy" With regards to "The Book of Documents",Yang Jian frequently used a phrase "Shun said heart of purity" from the article "Counsels of the great Yu" and annotated it in a quite subjective manner,claiming that "the Heart is the Tao".Apart from that,Yang also referred to the phrase"Find your repose in proper resting-point",claiming that the only way to capture the essence of Tao is to find peace in your heart with no intentions or considerations.As for"The Book of Odes",Yang stressed its essence as "His thoughts are without depravity".He also integrated the heart of spirit into the texts of the book and placed great emphasis on the expression "May your bright intelligence become perfect" from the poem"Daya·Jizui",claiming that divine spirits is the same as Tao,and when someone reaches the status of divine spirits,his mind and spirit can cover all that exists.He also quoted "the holy spirit cannot be predicted,let alone be captured" from the poem"Daya·Yi".Yang Jian praised "The Spring-Autumn Annals" as the work that captured the essence."things happened,thoughts learned".Yet the thoughts is not derived from the thing that happened,it comes from the heart.The spirit of "The Spring-Autumn Annals" lies in the fact that it demonstrated the good and evil in a quite straightforward manner,none of the two was suppressed by the other.Yet the root of the spirit is not complicated,it is still the thought of "clear your minds and pause your behaviors" and"thoughts come from actions".While scholars discovered the hatred of Yang Jian towards Dai Li,he still quoted "men are the heart of the earth" from the article Li Yun in "The Book of Rites" and "The change of season and weather are the methods the earth teaches us" as well as "Sadness and Happiness are born together,you can’t see in your eyes or hear it in your ears" from the article "Kongzi Xianju",and use these phrases to explain his philosophy of mind that "Tao comes from the earth in a natural way".He also repeatedly emphasize that the Six Meridians share the same essence,thus can be considered as a series,follow its words and the mind of Tao can be shaped.Compared with the Five Classics,Yang Jian had a rather negative review towards the Four Books.He was unsatisfied with the arrangement of the Confucian Analects,claiming the words of Confucius’ disciples shall not be mixed into the book,especially those of Youzi should not be so valued.Yang Jian interprets Confucius’ words from the perspective of the spirit of the heart is holy.In the first chapter of Confucian Analects,Confucius wrote "learn with a constant perseverance and application".In response,Yang Jian equalized the phrase with "Learning without proper review","Learning without any other intentions or pretension" and "Learning all the time".Yang also attaches great importance to the theory of "When knowledge is sufficient to attain,virtue can hold fast",and that virtues can only be acknowledged when constantly reviewed and held fast.Yang Jian believed that "To subdue one’s self and return to propriety,is perfect virtue".To achieve such goal does not involve overcoming one’s own selfish desires,but requires the self-reflection and self-consciousness of the person himself,ability to act and sense.Yang Jian highly praises and often quotes the following words of Confucius "no foregone conclusions,no arbitrary predetermination,no obstinacy,and no egoism","Conceal nothing from anyone","Person indeed possessed of knowledge did not know himself’and "Silence leads to enlightenment".Yang Jian also affirmed Mencius’ theory of "the nature of man is good",and strongly agreed with and frequently cited his "Benevolence is the mind of man" and "no need to sort out one’s mind",thus proving that divine spirit is the nature of mankind.Different from Lu Jiuyuan’s comprehensive respect for Mencius,Yang Jian criticized Mencius’ theory of self-cultivation from the theory of the spirit of heart is holy,claiming that the nature of human heart is good and clear,and there is no need to exercise self-cultivation.Yang Jian’s criticism towards "Great Learning" is more fierce,and regarded the book a disparity of sage words;Virtue lies in the nature of man and there’s no need to rectify it,to make it sincere,or to extend one’s knowledge;When you clear your mind and pause your behaviors,Rectification becomes a deprivation of heart."Tao is only thing matters",anything different from that comes from someone’s personal thoughts.Such was considered the disadvantage of the "Great Learning" by Yang jian,as he believed that the Tao of "Great Learning" is just something in daily life,and the essence of Great Learning is the deprivation of personal thoughts based on his theory of "Tao is the same as the mind of man".Zisi,as the grandson of Confucius,did not thoroughly understand the core of Confucius’ theory,and shall not be considered as sage.Yang Jian held a negative thought of words in the Doctrine of the Mean,such as "The state of equilibrium and harmony","the Tao cannot be disobeyed under any circumstances" and"When someone respects his own nature and obsesses empathy,he is not far from Tao".Yang Jian thought is of greatest height and brilliancy.On one hand,he repeatedly stressed that the heart is the Tao,no thought,clearing one’s mind leads to divine spirits;On the other hand,he attaches great importance to ethical practice and believes that filial piety and loyalty is the great Tao.Filial piety is not only the manifestation the heart of mankind,but also the implementation of the Tao in daily life.Filial piety is the great Tao,the learning of Tao is the same as that of filial piety.The natural flow of Tao,behave what your heart leads you to and the deprivation of self-cultivation is truth of filial piety.Yang Jian advocated that "Loyalty is Tao" and "loyalty is the heart of Tao"according to the book of the article "Xiao Bian" from Da Dai’s "Book of Rites".He affirmed that Zeng Zi summarized the core of Confucius lies in the respect of his own nature and empathy,and regarded Zeng Zi as the true inheritor of Confucius.Yang Jian’s philosophy of mind is a special form of Confucianism combined with the spirit of Zen,therefore can be called Zen Confucianism.Throughout history,there are those who deny and ridicule his philosophy as well as those who admire it.Until modern times,Zhang Taiyan still highly praised Yang Jian’s thoughts,demonstrating that Yang Jian’s thought has its own special value.The theory of "Shen and Creation"in "Yi Zhuan" has had significant impact on the philosophy of mind in Song Dynasty.Zhou Dunyi,Shao Yong,Zhang Zai,Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao in the Northern Song Dynasty made more comments on the change of Shen from the perspective of Shen itself.In the Southern Song Dynasty,Neo-Confucianism advocates like Yang Jian laid more emphasis on the philosophy of mind as the Shen within man’s heart,as well as the integration of Shen in the heart of man,that is,the heart is the same as the Tao or God.In this regard,Yang Jian’s philosophy of mind can be considered as another peak of the philosophy of mind in Song Dynasty.He accumulated great knowledge and made huge contributions to the philosophy throughout his entire life.He not only led the development of Confucianism in the late Southern Song Dynasty,but also played a leading role in the initiation and development of the the philosophy of mind by Wang Yangming in Ming Dynasty.He also played a significant role in the enlightenment,construction and development of Confucianism today.