A Study Of The Thought Of "Shendu" In Pre-Qin Confucianism

As an essential ingredient of the thought of " Humanology " in Pre-Qin Confucianism,the thought of "Shendu" is mainly expressed in the Great Learni ng,the Doctrine of the Means,the Ritual Vessels,Xunzi,the Five Elements a nd other documents.The Ritual Vessels and the Five Elements intend to expou nd the thought of "Shendu" in the ontological sense,which emphasize the con notation of Du.Based on the relationship between rites and inner spirit,the Ri tual Vessels defines Du as the inner spirit of rite and stress the inner values a nd significance of the Rites.The Five Elements further explains the connotatio n of Du.While the inner spirit of rites is explained as a person's true feelings,Du is explained as a person's inherent moral nature,which embodies the inne r truthfulness achieved by the transcendence of the external formality.the Grea t Learning,the Doctrine of the Means and Xunzi intend to expound the thoug ht of "Shendu" in the implementation level,which emphasize the achievementsof "Shen".The Great Learning explains "hendu" with do not deceive yourself and stress the motivation of behavior.It also emphasizes that our inner naturemust be seen in our bodies and behaviors.The Doctrine of the Means discus ses the means of achieving our inner nature in two aspects of negative "precau tion" and active "choosing good stubbornness"."Precaution" explains that in or der to eliminate the possibility of evil,we must prevent the invasion of the ex ternal environment and lust."Choosing good stubbornness" explains that in ord er to achieve human "self-explanation," we must maintain the morality as well as further self-consciousness and reflection.The combination of "precaution" a nd "choosing good stubbornness" can achieve the "neutral".Xunzi focuses on r ealm and realistic results achieved by "Shendu," emphasizing that people will a chieve the unity of body and mind through the practice of "Shendu" and affect ing others.Although the above text has its own emphasis on the thought "She ndu",it is not a different "Shendu".The thought of "Shendu" includes two aspects of ontology and implementation."Du" naturally has its own tendency of externalization in real life,and inherently implies the realization of itself.The i mplementation of "Shendu" takes the "Du" as the basis,embodies the process in which the "Du" expresses its own value in real life.The thought of "shen du" emphasizes that people are able to have a thorough knowledge of body a nd mind,embodying the life course of the people's new virtues and dedicationand the "neutral".In order to restore the whole scene of the "Shendu",we must simultaneously grasp the ontology and inplimentation.