A Study Of Cheng Yining 's "Nanhua Scriptures"

The Researches on Cheng Yining’s ZhuangZi Notes and Commentaries is one of the most important literature about Zhuangzi originated in the late Ming Dynasty. However, research on this masterpiece has been very limited through past dynasties due to lack of relevant materials. As a scholar starting out by Confucianism, Cheng Yining, with his life experiences and academic development, is a researcher worth being noted. This dissertation firstly deduces and verifies Cheng Yining’s life, family and friends based on the limited information of ancient literature, so as to investigate the influences of his life experience on his works. Then through the main body, the author summarizes the demonstration of "Three Religions into the Same Flow" (the Confucianism, the Buddhism and Daoism) in Cheng Yining’s ZhuangZi Notes and Commentaries through all dynasties, and elaborates on this book using the theories of "Three Religions" and Daoism Alchemy. In terms of inheritance and innovation, the author carefully investigates Cheng Yining’s references on works of Cheng Yining’s ZhuangZi Notes and Commentaries and Buddhism books, and analyzes his spirit of innovation on feasibility of Inner Alchemy practice compared to the previous scholars. Based on literature review and relevant materials, the author delves into the features of this book on interpreting Zhuangzi’s theories, aiming at extensively illustrating the academic and practical values of Mr Cheng’s masterpiece, and thus restoring the book’s social status through the research history of Zhuangzi’s theories.