Exploration Into Zhang Zai's Philosophy On Gong-fu Idea

The traditional Confucianism is defined as teaching men how to achieve Confucian Sagehood learning,its nature is practicality.Therefore the theory of Gong-fu is the main problem of Chinese philosophy,especially Neo-Confucianism.The practice means"achieving the ontology"when the Neo-Confucianists established the ontology theory.So how to"achieve the ontology"become the main subject of the Neo-Confucianists.Zhang Zai as one of Neo-confucianism founders demonstrated the theory of human nature based on the"Taixu"ontology.He divided the human nature into"the nature of the world"and"the nature of the temperament".In his theory , he regarded"the nature of the world"as achieving the ultimate purpose.According to these above,he put forward his Gong-fu thought of"refining nature and changing temperament".The first part makes an analysis of the term of Gong-fu and illustrates the practicality inherent characteristics of the traditional Chinese philosophy by expounding the Gong-fu theory of Confucius,Mencius and Xunzi.The second part discusses the theoretical basis of Gong-fu thought which are from two sides: the universe and human nature theory.Zhang Zai based on the"Taixu Ji Qi"universe theory,formatting a theory of human nature,proved the metaphysics basis of his Gong-fu theory.The third part is the main body of this thesis.From the premise,the way and the purpose of Gong-fu to expound Zhang Zai's Gong-fu thought.Firstly,"changing temperament"is the premise of the Gong-fu theory.Because"the nature of the temperament"mixed the good and evil,obstructed the realization of"the nature of the world",so we should change"the nature of the temperament".Secondly,the article discusses the concrete way of"changing temperament",that is to say,the method of Gong-fu.The main content are"knowing"and"ceremony".Finally,Gong-fu achieves the goal which are"the nature of the world"and the sincerity ideal realm.The fourth part compares the Gong-fu theory of Zhang Zai with Cheng Yi and Lu Jiuyuan's.It emphasizes that the characteristic of Zhang Zai's Gong-fu idea are stage and change.It requests people to change"the nature of the temperament"through continuous learning,upgrades their temperament step by step,so it also demonstrates the bottom-up characteristics.The last section discusses Lv Dalin and Wang Fuzhi's Gong-fu theory were influenced by Zhang Zai.Zhang Zai's Gong-fu thought plays a important role in the development of Neo-Confucianism.