The Study On Sun Qifeng’s Yi-ology Under The Vision Of Neo-Confucianism

Sun Qifeng was a leading exponent of Confucianism between Ming and Qing dynasties, who was regarded by Quan Zuwang as one of the " Three Leading Confucians throughout the country " with Li Er-qu in Guanzhong and Huang Zongxi in Eastern Zhejiang. Ming and Qing dynasties were characterized by full of class conflicts and ethnic conflicts cross the nation. At that time, thinkers blamed " merely talking about nature of mind " of " Wang Yangming school " for leading to the downfall of the Ming Dynasty; therefore they advocated the idea of practical utility. Although Sun Qifeng’thoughts originated from Lu and Wang’s Theory of Mind, he was not a stereotyped scholar but focused on the study of " practice in person ". He explained Lu and Wang’s Theory of Mind according to the thoughts of Cheng-Zhu Confucian School so as to intergrate the theories of Zhu Xi and Lu Jiuyuan. Sun Qifeng started to learn Yi-ology from Li Feng at67years old. At the same time, he also began to write Duyidazhi, which was finally completed after4drafts.As Sun Qifeng’s Yi-ology originated from the integration of theories of Zhu Xi and Lu Jiuyuan, unavoidably it had the characteristic of the above theories. This paper is a further study of Sun Qifeng’s Yi-ology on the basis of his book Duyidazhi along with other related books. Firstly, in the exordium it introduced Sun Qifeng’s life story and academic background as well as present research situation about his thoughts to have a overall overlook on his Yi-ology. Secondly, this paper consists of four parts, namely views of Yi-ology, ontology, mind-nature theory and cultivation theory, to discuss his Yi-ology.The chapter one illustrated the views of his Yi-ology originating from Cheng-Zhu School. Firstly, He thought that Yi’school principle was the principle of universe and the Yi book was an imitation of the universe. Secondly, although Sun Qifeng’s Yi-ology put emphasis on philosophical connotations, he was not opposed to image-number. In Sun Qifeng’s opinion, the philosophical connotation of Yi-ology can be clarified by the means of image-number while image-number can obtain its meaning only in the discussion of philosophical connotation. Philosophical connotation and image-number were related but philosophical connotation took the domain. Finally, Sun Qifeng interpreted Yi-ology in the content of reality of human beings, which was also the reason he advocated real learning. Only Yi-ology prevails in the actual world, can people as life subject understand the principle of universe.The chapter two discussed the ontology of Sun Qifeng’s Yi-ology. He regarded " TaiJi " as the highest category in the Yi-ology, which was not only the ultimate foundation of the existence and progress of everything in the world but also the law prevailing in the universe which existed before the existence of the universe. The concept " WuJi " was the innate ontology of" TaiJi " to explain the saying that " WuJi is TaiJi." Eight Diagrams " derived from " Yin and Yang ",while " Yin yang " derived from " TaiJi " and everything was united in " TaiJi ".The sage noticed this principle so they created the images of " Eight Diagrams " and everything generated and changed on this basis." Eight Diagrams " represented different things so everything had different characters.The chapter three described the mind-nature theory of Sun Qifeng’s Yi-ology which was based on his ontology theory of Yi-ology." TaiJi " was the highest principle and also was the principle of Yi,which was embodied in the mind of sages. The principle was the principle of mind so in this regard we can say mind was the principle. He referred human nature to mind so mind, principle and human nature were the same. As human nature came from the principle, it was the highest good. Owing to the different extents of density and purity of " Yin and Yang " which fell on human beings, human nature was not necessarily the highest good, but Sun Qifeng still admitted the possible evil was also human nature.The chapter four discussed the cultivation theory of Sun Qifeng’s Yi-ology. He advocated following the cultivation of sincerity and respect. Sincerity referred to authenticity and honesty so we should cultivate sincerity to preserve the goodness in people’s heart. Respect included the meaning of quietness and the goodness of one’s true heart can be back by quieting one’s heart. Besides, Respect also was a suffering consciousness and it’s a necessary way to cultivate one’s morality and administer the country and pacify the world. People can be in harmony with the universe by such cultivation of sincerity and respect.In the end, the paper made an evaluation about Sun Qifeng’s Yi-ology. It concluded that Sun Qifeng’s Yi-ology was his own thinking based on the predecessors’ achievements. By integrating philosophical connotation and image-number to illustrate the principle of Yi as well as coordinating the theories of Cheng-Zhu and Lu-Wang, Sun Qifeng’s Yi-ology with characteristic of real learning was finally implemented in the real world.