Wangyangming's Mind And Zen

Wang Yangming lived in the mid-Ming Dynasty with one of the cultural characteristics being the integration of three religions and intercommunication between Buddhism and Confucianism. As the emperor, Bureaucracy and the monks advocate confluence of the three religions, Buddhism and Confucianism, so make Buddhism and Confucianism deeply intertwined with each other and break through the confinement of Zhu's Psychology, which induced the birth of Wang Yangming's school of mind. This article attempts to, based on the analysis of cultural background from which Wang Yangming's school of mind came into being, study the relations between Wang Yangming and the Zen, further comprehend Wang Yangming's school of mind as well as understand the influence of Buddhism on ancient Chinese scholars'life attitudes and life styles.Wang Yangming's thinking is based on heart and interpreters through conscience thus the heart constitutes the cornerstone of Wang Yangming's school of mind. Wang combines the heart and common manners aiming to convert the nature's external force to internal restriction of conscience. Wang believes that although the conscience is a natural gift, it has the authentic nature initially and only become a conscientious knowledge through the acquired knowledge and skills. The knowledge of subject on conscience is not acquired once but essentially a "no stop" process, which is specifically manifested as a dynamic unity of knowledge and action. It is in the process that rational consciousness and morality sublimation reach inner unity. Wang is deeply affected, as known to scholars by Zen. However, his actual contact with Zen is much less and its attack on Zen is more vital which is inversely proportionally mentioned. The study on Wang Yangming's school of mind was more prosperous in the late Ming Dynasty, and then decline. After once quiet in Qing Dynasty, the school of mind has shown in a revival. Except for Yan Fu's criticism on Wang's school of mind, a number of scholars including Wei Yuan, Kang Wei Yuan, Tan Sitong, Liang Qichao, Zhang Taiyan and the modern Neo-Confucianists Liang Suming, Xiong Shili and so on acknowledge and admire Wang's school of mind.As China's backwardness in modern history, Western impact was the cultural mainstream. Wang's school of mind exerted a complex influence on China's modern philosophy. This influence has a dual character: on one hand, Wang is a catalytic role on the recognition and acceptance of certain concepts of modern thought, and some of his positive elements is also gradually integrated in the meantime; on the other hand, the negative content of Wang's school of mind, as a heavy historic burden, has an undeniable negative effect on the evolution of modern Chinese philosophy. In a sense, this duality can be seen as further expansion of Wang's inherent duality in modern times as well as a historical reference for us to look upon Wang's thoughts.In Wang's mind, "conscience" is the heart of the body, no good or no evil is the heart unsheltered by selfish materialism. This is the "natural principle". He believes that when people generate spiritual activities, to add the things on this idea, this idea will have a difference between good and evil. When the evil idea rises, the people's judgments often go wrong, i.e., "spiritual move" makes a mistake and can not properly distinguish between good and evil and treat the evil as good, the good as evil. Then the person's "conscience" also makes an error and thus "investigation of things" will go astray. Then we must introspect and make efforts to make our hearts back to the state that is no good or evil. Back to the state that is no good or evil, and to have a correct conscience then there will be correct investigation of things. As long as the minds achieve a selfless heart through acquiring knowledge through investigation of things, the reason in one's heart is in fact reasonable ground for worldly things.Accordingly, Wang's acquired knowledge on natural principles is not empty words but relies on "investigation of things" and practice and introspection. Justice in one's selfless heart equals rules in the world to measure all things in the world. No matter how many squares and rounds there are and how big they are, the rules and laws can be revealed through acquiring knowledge through investigation of things, thus natural principles are in people's hearts. This is also demonstration of Wang's inherit of Lu Jiuyuan's thoughts in Song Dynasty based on Confucian Science. Wang stressed, "the mind is the reason", i.e., the highest truth is acquired without external demand, but obtained from our hearts. He criticized the school of Zhu Xi's emphasis on the "investigation of things to the end of truth." On this basis, he advocates that the aim is to reach conscious knowledge, thus the school of mind begins to have a clear and independent academic context.Wang stressed: "The properness of a heart is meaning and the well structuring is truth. No humanity can be sought outside of the heart and no meaning can be acquired outside of the heart, then can truth be sought outside of the heart?"On the relationship between knowledge and action, based on the unity of all worldly things, he opposed to Zhu Xi's" knowledge comes before action" argument. Wang Shouren holds that since we know this truth, it is necessary to implement this principle. If they continuously refuse to implement as they claim to have acquired the knowledge, it cannot be called truly knowledge as the real knowledge is inseparable from practice. Since the Song and Ming Dyansties, Wang is deeply influenced by the Buddhism among the various Confucian scholars. But still Wang's thought is categorized as Confucianism, as it is not only a return to the pre-Qin Confucianism under the stimulation of Buddhism (Dao) thinking but also a surpass under new historical conditions. Within the historical context of integration and opposition of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism, Wang actively absorbs Buddhism to overcome the flaws of Confucianism. The self-acquisition though put forward based on its influence by Buddhism and his denial of language to a certain degree is significant in today's society.Wang both absorbs and opposes to Zen. However, what made him use the Zen at the same time strongly opposes Zen? Wang's absorption and rejection of the Zen is not only derived from the development of Confucianism and Zen, but also closely linked with his own experiences, and therefore it is a necessity.From the doctrinal view of the relationship between Wang's school of mind and the Zen, we should see not only Wang's absorption of Zen but also his criticism of the Zen. In the former case, not only Wang's school of mind is related to Zen in the content, but also similarity exists in the theoretical framework, i.e. ontological thinking pattern and ontological methodologies. Therefore, Wang's absorption of Zen is judgmental and a creative conversion and it should be regarded as a highly integration of Confucianism and Zen and a neo Confucianism with absorption of Zen thoughts rather than a simple combination of Confucianism and Zen. Wang not only integrates Zen on academic level but also integrates endless spiritual obstacles of Zen on spiritual level through their own spititual exploration. This spirit mix, dated back to the early days of Wang, is culminated after he is enlightened in the dragon stage.