The Xi Introspection Thought

Zhuxi, was not only a great philosopher and educatof, but also afamous moralist. The theory of moral cuItivation was an importam pan ofall his ethical thoughts. TO bring about the consistence of the interiormind-heart and the exterior moral regulations, Zhuxi advanced lots ofmethods of moral cultivating including seIf reflection, to Which heattached great importance. The thesis intends to reveal Zhuxi's theory ofself reflection from the aspects of theoretical basis, theoreticalconnotations,characteristics of the theory, historical effects and modernimp1ications.Paying attention to the act of self reflection was a tradition by, Confucian. Confucius was the first man who clearly advanced the methodof introspection. Mencius Summarized his thoughts about introspection asmaking sincerity by self reflection. The New Confucian of Song Dynasty,such as Zhoudunyi, Chengyi, Chenghao,Huhong all mentioned this methodin their books. MoreoveT, Zhuxi was influenced by Zen and Taoism.On thebasis of the human nature also, Zhuxi advocated that one should constantlyinspect one's thoughts and acts so that one could firmly observe the moralregulations of the society.Zhuxi defined self reflection as a consciously course of inspectingthe thoughts and acts of one's by oneself It could be summarized asself understanding, selfcritisizing and self imProving.Its effects was justto identify good and evil, abnegating lust and ameliorating human nature.Through analyzing the relation between self coniainment andself reflection,Zhuxi drew the conclusion that self reflection was the3flexible appliment of the act of respect.Zhuxis theory of self-reflection has four characteristics: longing for the realization of the model character; manifesting the consciousness of man in moral cultivating; valuing the function of self-regulating;stressing the integration of self-reflection,self-containn-ient and the act of respect.The theory has a vast and profound influence on the later ages. The influence is two-side.We should treat the theory dialectically:eliminating the detrimental factors and taking advantage of the good factors.