Mencius's Study Of Life And Death

Xin,Xing,Tian and Ming are the important content of Mencious' system. His Doctrine of “Xin Xing” and “Tian Ming” plays an important role in Chinese philosophy. There is a close connection between Xing and Ming, while investigators used to seprate the two concepts into “Xin Xing” and “Tian Ming” in the past. Therefore this thesis tries to combine Xing and Ming and discuss Mencious' thoughts on XingMing and the implement on Mencious' other parts.This paper can be devided into five parts including preface and four chapters. In the body part, the first chapter traces to the origins of Xing and Ming and the beginning meaning; the scend chapter expounds the development of the thought on XingMing in Early Confucian; the third and forth chapter analyzes Mencious' thought on XingMing and the implement on Mencious' other parts. Among the four chapters, the third and the fourth chapters are the key points.The preface briefly introduces the significance of the selected topic and the goal of this research, also the literature review indeed in academe.Chapter one is the Origin and the Early Development of Xing and Ming. In this chapter,firstly we search the origin of Ming, while was born in Yin and Shang Dynasty, the meaning of Ming was the God's order. Secondly the concept of TianMing turned from the religious level to the philosophical level in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The Western Zhou Dynasty vigorously publicized and used TianMing to defame the Yin and Shang Dynasty and to consolidate his own regime. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, people began to pay attention to the influence on the TianMing, the original ideology of TianMing changed in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The second section discusses the origin and the early meaning of Xing in the late Western Zhou Dynasty and Xing had a new meaning in the Spring and Autumn period, moreover, the thinking about human nature started.The second chapter is the Development of thought on XingMing in the early Confucian. Confucious thought Zhi as human nature, his thought on TianMing showed both the religious implication and metaphysical implication. Xing and Ming tended to integrate. After Mencious, Zisi promoted the development of the idea of XingMing. He proposed “the mandate of Tian is human nature, acting according to human nature is Dao” in the Doctrine of Mean. Therefore he got a thorough knowledge of XingMing and had a profound effect on Mencius thoughts with Xing-Ming.The third chapter is “the Mencius doctrine of Xing-Ming. First we analyze the innovation of Xing via the debate about human nature between Mencious and Gaozi. Second we discuss the meaning of Ming in Mencius' thoughts. On this basis expounded the Mecius' good human nature theory and its enlightment on ethical education and then discussed the realization of the value of Xing-Ming in all sectors of society. Finally the conclusion was drawn that Ming has a limitation to life, but achieves life at the same time. Finally Mencious realized the unity of Xing-Ming.The fourth chapter is “the implementation of the doctrine of Xing-Ming in the the other parts of Mencius' thoughts”. In this chapter, we choose two aspets that closely related to real life and also can best embody the Mencius thought——theory of Self-cultivation and theory of Self-cultivation——to discuss the implement of Mencious' doctrine of XingMing on Mencious' other parts.In summary, this thesis aims to provide reference to Mencius doctrine of Xing-Ming after the work of exploring the emergence and development of the thoughts of Xing-Ming and the discussion of Mencious doctrine of Xing-Ming.