A Study On Jiang Xin's Philosophy Of The Mind And Its Dissemination

Jiang Xin was a scholar of Mind Theory in Zhengde and Jiajing reign, Ming Dynasty. He studied Mind Theory from Wang Shouren and Zhan Ruoshui, the two greatest philosophers of Mind Theory in Ming Dynasty, and disseminated the philosophy in the provinces of Hunan, Guizhou and Sichuan widely, which promoted the development of Mind Theory in these areas tremendously. This thesis examining Jiang Xin's thoughts and his academic activities in three aspects, explores his academic influence. Firstly, it generally summarizes the whole story of Jiang Xin's learning experiences from Wang Shouren and Zhan Ruoshui, and introduces the circulating situation of his academic writings. Secondly, it discusses the contents of Jiang Xin's Mind Theory, analyzes the origin of his thoughts and studies to which master's homegate he belongs. The noumenon of Jiang Xin's thoughts is mind. Meanwhile, he supports the doctrine of "an organic whole of everything" and asserts that Xin, Xing, Li and Qi are interlinked. On the theory of moral practice, Jiang Xin advocates the principle of "reaching the supreme good and recognizing benevolence" as a way to academic research. Simultaneously, he encourages that people can achieve the realm of "between never forgetting in heart and never helping them grow" through moral practice of "tranquil sitting and meditation", "vigilance in solitude" and "neither negligence nor hastening". Jiang Xin's thought absorbs the doctrines both from Wang Shouren and Zhan Ruoshui, creating its own theory system, but since his thoughts mainly originate from the theory of Zhan Ruoshui, he belongs to Zhan's disciple. Jiang Xin's rigorous and sound learning spirit has a great influence on whole society in the late Ming Dynasty, promoting the transformation from Mind Theory to the theory of Qi. Thirdly, it discourses Jiang Xin's main academic activities in dissemination of Mind Theory, such as building academies, giving lectures and carrying out academic discussions with other scholars. Thereby, Jiang Xin cultivated a lot of excellent students, such as Man Tingxi, Sun Yingao and Li Wei in Guizhou province, and Liu Dongbo, Yao Xuemin and Long Defu in Hunan province, which enlarged the influence of Mind Theory in Hunan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces.Jiang Xin's doctrines were highly praised by scholars such as Huang Zongxi and Tang Boyuan. The academic activities in his later years, centralized in Hunan Province, made enormous contribution to the development of Mind Theory, and expedited the combining of Mind Theory and the theory of Huxiang School.