The Study On Zhou Dunyi's Philosophy In Life

The characteristic feature of the Chinese philosophy is human oriented and focusing on the human life. "What is living for?" and "How to have a meaningful life?" are the most important subjects for the ancient philosophers especially for the Confucian scholars. Zhuo Dunyi, as the "ancestor of the Neo-Confucianism", inherited the Dao "outer king and inner sage" from the traditional Confucianism and extended the ideology of the "ZhuoYi" and "ZhongYong". He researched for the philosophical bases of the source of everything and pointed a new direction for the development of Confucianism. The core of his philosophy lies in re-interpretation of the heaven-human relationship from the angle of the inner link between heavenly laws and the human life, which supports the bases for making people's moral life stand more upright. His theory also can guide people's daily life through seeking a meaningful goal.This assay elucidates Zhuo Dunyi's pursue of life value from analyzing his philosophy on life and his realistic practice.First, it discusses Zhou Dunyi's research for the bases of the origin which was significant for the life value of the Confucianism .In his book "Tai Ji Tu Shuo", from the point of Cosmo-Ontology and the relationship of the heavenly laws and humanity, he set up the foundation of existing and the value of social life. "Wu Ji" is the origin of the Cosmo, passing by Tai Ji—Yin Yang—Wu Xing, finally creates this vivid world and human beings. During this procedure, the human beings is gifted according to he has the ability to learn and can tell the differences between good and evil. His theory set up the status of human beings so that the value of people has been greatly affirmed.Secondly, it elucidates Zhou Dunyi's view of human nature and mind. Zhou Dunyi believe that honesty, which means true and genuine, is the nature of the human heart. Sometimes the honesty can be inhibited by the personality, it would be specifically expressed as hard and softness, good and evil which is the short coming of the human beings. People have to over come this by accomplishment of character to reach the honesty nature of benevolent and righteous. The reason that he highly valued honesty is that he wants to set up a solid base for the Confucian's outer king and inner sage, also wants to over turn the recession of the Confucianism; guide people to stay away from the negative thoughts from the Taoism and Buddhism that ignore the realistic life and try to surpass the real world.The Third part is to elaborate Zhou Dunyi's morality developing theory—Quietness of mind and Desire free of heart. He believes the only method to be sage is to keep this desire-free and honesty heart inside and keep all the factors of disturbing outside. When people are developing his moral value, he should control his temper, confine the desire, keep the good nature and correct all the mistakes, to be desire-free and unselfish. Only by relaying on the quietness of mind and desire free of the heart, the ideal realm of "Zhong (Doctrine of the mean)" can be finally reached.The fourth part of this assay discussed Zhou Dunyi's ideal life value~"Be sage, be Heaven". In the history of Chinese thought, the sage is considered as the embodiment of the ideal personality, and the Confucianism believed that pursuit of the saints' personality is the only way to realize their ideals. How do the people achieve the sage personality realm? Zhou Dunyi pointed out the path and the goal of "be sage, be Heaven", which is to have the same happiness philosophy as Confucius and YanHui. This theory added new charm for creating Confucian ideal personality.The fifth part is to investigation into Zhou ZunYi's realistic practice. The ultimate love of the Confucianism is not only a moral concept; it is trying to gain value for the society. There is a well set up model about how to be a gentleman, which is cultivating moral character, putting family's affairs in order, governing the state and conquering the world. Zhou is the perfect example according to this standard. Zhou had been government officials for over thirty years; he was strictly virtuous, knowledgeable, honest and incorruptible. He gained huge achievement in his official career, did well in performing duties and contributed to the people. He had the gentleman personality just as the lotus "Grows out of the dirty mud but not polluted; cleansed by the pure water but not seductive."The conclusion, this thesis summarizes the historical position of Zhou's philosophy on life and its impact for the later generations. It point out that under today's ideology, it has significant realistic meanings to advocate Zhou's theory of moral ethics and realization of the personality.