Zhuxi's Experience Of "Going In And Out Of Huxiang" And The Development Of His Thoughts

The development and maturity of Zhuxi's thoughts experienced a long process.In the period of studying at home,he had the ambition of "studying for himself" and the appeal of "zide".However,his failure in get "zide" was the internal motivation that triggered the constant changes of his later thoughts.When learning from three teachers in Wuyi Mountain,Zhuxi felt confused when he studied various kinds of knowledge extensively.After failing to get "zide",Zhuxi learned Buddhism from Daoqian.With the help of the transcendental thinking of Buddhism,Zhuxi overcame the troubles of thoughts and felt he had got "zide".But he was shaken by Lidong's negation and question at this time.After rereading Confucian books,he experienced the "cuckoo night enlightenment" and realized the true meaning of "liyifenshu",then he became Lidong's disciple and abandoned Buddhism and converted to Confucianism.Although he had settled the miscellaneous troubles brought by extensive learning,he felt he could not understand “tiyanweifa”--the most important cultivation method of Daonan School.So,after the death of Lidong,Zhuxi was still depressed.At this time,he met Zhangshi who inherited Huxiang School's theory and began the process of "going in and out of Huxiang".After meeting with Zhangshi,Zhuxi put forward “Zhonghe old theory” by himself.At this time,he asserted that “xing is weifa while xin is yifa” and self-cultivation lay in “chashi” of “yifa”.This theory was similar to Huhong's.But in fact “Zhonghe old theory” had its gradual development process,at that time two kind of theories--Daonan School's and Huxiang School's--were mixed in his mind,which made him accept a Daonan School's opinion that “weifa” would decide “yifa”.This opinion promoted and deepened Zhuxi's thoughts objectively,and made him felt there was a “anzhai” in the changing world.At this time,his theory of “Zhonghe old theory” became mature and he believed huxiang school.However,in the following year,when Zhuxi visited some scholars of Huxiang School,he was surprised and dissatisfied with the their style of study which was like zen.Therefore,he began to reflect on this style of study.At this time,he still believed that this disadvantage was caused by the lack of self-cultivation of Huxiang scholars,and it was "the problem of individuals",so he and Zhangshi strengthened their attention and discussion on gongfu theory.Zhangshi's some works--GenZhaiMing,KeZhaiMing and JingZhaiMing--were the results of their joint efforts.There works all focused on gongfu theory,which shows their intention of overcoming the disadvantages.However,not long after,Zhuxi put forward the "Zhonghe new theory ".Through reading Cheng brothers' books,He thought that "weifa" and "yifa" were different mental states and "xing" and "qing" could be recognized and grasped in these different states respectively.Therefore,gongfu should not only be done in the "yifa",but also in “weifa”.So he established the theory that “hanyang” before “chashi”.He questioned the "zhonghe old theory" and expressed the “zhonghe new theory”systematically in The Theory of Weifa and Yifa.Then he revised it in the later letter Answer Zhangshi,and regarded xin as the centre to discuss his theory.He thought that xin determines xing and qing and works both in “weifa” and “yifa”.At the same time,he also established the gongfu of "jing".On this basis,he began to refute Huxiang School's theory.At this time he has made it clear that the problem of Huxiang scholars' style of study is "the problem of theory",rather than "the problem of individuals".In the discussion with Zhuxi,Zhanghi also changed gradually and turned to Zhuxi.At this time,other Huxiang scholars still insisted on their teacher's theory,so Zhuxi started a debate with them.First of all,he discussed Huhong's ZhiYan with Zhangshi and Lvzuqian,then he compiled their comments into The Question of ZhiYan.In this book,Zhuxi criticized Huhong's theories of xinxing and gongfu systematically.Among them,Zhuxi was concerned about the basis and source of "goodness" and how to establish the absolute meaning for the practical goodness,which were the problems of Huhong's thoughts.In addition,Zhuxi also undertook the historical task of restructuring Confucianism.He attached great importance to the accuracy of the use of philosophical concepts and the influence of texts on reality.He tried to avoid the possibility that Confucianism is confused with Buddhism in any aspects,which is also the internal requirement for the reconstruction of Neo-Confucianism.Later,Zhuxi criticized Huxiang School's theories on several issues and established his own theories at the same time.He opposed their theories of“guanguozhiren” and “yixinchaxin”,and analyzed some disadvantages that may be caused by the application of this kind of gongfu from the perspective of the function of consciousness.And he established his theories of “kejifuli”and “gong“.He also wrote The Theory of Ren,and opposed the huxiang school's “yijuexunren” and put forward the core theory of “ren” as "the virtue of xin and the principle of love".He criticized Huxiang scholars and many other scholars in interpreting the saying of“caozecun,sezewang”,and wrote Theory of Guanxin.In this paper,he asserted that human have only one “xin”,and opposed the "two minds" structure including benxin and empirical xin.He thought that the xin of “zhujing” is just the moral subject,which also establishes the supreme value of zhujing.Zhuxi's process of "going in and out of Huxiang" is the key of the development of his thoughts.It is in this process,Zhuxi's theory became more and more complete and sophisticated.He finally epitomized the thought of Neo-Confucianism.While Huxiang School began to decline in history because of Zhuxi's criticism and various subjective and objective factors.