A Study Of Liu Zihui’s Ethics

Liu Zihui is an important figure in the inheritance of the neo-Confucianism of Southern Song Dynasty in Fujian.He and Hu Xian and Liu Mianzhi were also called three teachers of the Mountain Wuyi.He was one of the teachers when Chu Hsi was studying in the Mountain Wuyi in his early years.The turn point of the Song Dynasty was a period of turmoil.The invasion of foreigners and the gloom of the political ruling made the Southern Song Dynasty in danger.At the same time,Confucianism faced enormous challenges and needed to build a new theoretical system to regain a dominant position in social life.The ethical ideology of Liu Zihui was born for the emergence of this demand,aim at reconstructing a Confucian moral code that a scholar and even a civilian can follow.From the source of thought,Liu Zihui’s ethical thought is mainly from Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi,and it also incorporate the Buddhist self-cultivation theory.Liu Zihui’s ethical thoughts can be divided into three parts: the theory of mind,the theory of moral cultivation and the concept of benevolence.In the theory of mind,he regarded "Tao" as the noumenon and regards “Mind " as the only medium to recognize“Tao"."Temperament" is features not shown of“Mind”.Everyone is born with“Temperament”,and everyone has the same“Temperament”.“Emotion”is pleasure,anger,sorrow,joy,which caused by the "Mind" triggered because of things.In the theory of moral cultivation,Liu Zihui emphasizes the role of respect and self-denial.The role of respect is to cultivate“Mind”.The role of self-denial is self-cultivation.The combination of respect and self-denial constructs the moral cultivation theory with "not far away" as the core.In the concept ofbenevolence,Liu Zihui based on "All Living Things Are Brothers" thought everything in the earth is the object of love,in order to achieve“Loving the world.”Generally speaking,there are two characteristics of Liu Zihui’s ethical thought: Firstly,moral cultivation has attached great importance to the role of respect,and attaches importance to the decision-making role of "heart" in value selection.Secondly,it has a strong civilian tendency,focusing on the influence of Confucian morality on the daily life of civilians.It can be said that the neo Confucianism consideration carried out by Liu Zihui is not only a philosophical response to turmoil and moral anomie at the turn point of the Song Dynasty,but also an effort to regain the dominant position in social life of civilians in the revival of Confucianism.The ethical construction he carried out constitutes the prelude to Chu Hsi’s construction of the neo Confucianism system in the future.