A Study Of Wang Chuanshan’s Lirong Thoughts

Lirong refers to the definition of the body movement(容貌),facial expression(颜色),words expression(辞气)and clothing(服饰),which is embodied in the norms of the body movements,facial expressions,connotation and tone of speech and clothing.It is a kind of virtue cultivation and has the characteristics of internal and external interactions.Wang Chuanshan’s thought of lirong is directly inherited from Confuc ius and Zeng Zi.It takes the lirong as the basis for cultivating one’s morality and establishes the equivalent value of the cultivation of lirong in one’s internal mind.Wang Chuanshan criticized the lirong of Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming.Zhu Xi took the lirong as the test standard of spiritual cultivation,put the lirong under respect(居敬),reduced the moral cultivation of the lirong to the spiritual cultivation of the heart(心性),and regarded it as a means to assist the spiritual cultivation,eliminating the lir ong as an independent path of moral cultivation.Wang Yangming thought that only to conscience(致良知),no need for lirong,completely cancelled the role of the cultivation of the lirong.Wang Chuanshan believes that cultivating one’s morality is a process of internal and outer cultivation,and both the disposition(心性)and the lirong cannot be neglected.Wang Chuanshan’s theory of Qi(气)provides a philosophical basis for the lirong,Qi created everything,including the human.The human mind has a certain abili ty to control the shape and movement of one’s body(physical senses).Therefore,one can constantly select the qi of others in theaposteriori life to improve the nature in the future.People’s Daily life is carried out by people’s audio-visual and verbal activities.in essence with people,lured by the qi of the others and disrupt the qi of people themselves,let the role of the embodied in,people in the specific situation in accordance with the capacity to practice,human quality of the qi and content in t he qi phase,interact with each other,avoid the content of the qi to disturb people close to itself,the qi of others in perfecting the human’s aposteriori nature.The program of the lirong consists of body movement(容貌),facial expression(颜色),words expression(辞气)and costume(服饰),the movement of the human body,the appearance of the advance and retreat of the body,the facial expression of the human,connotation and tone of the human speech,the costume of the human clothes.Due to the visible and imitative features of the lirong,the snob can use the lirong to fulfill their improper purposes.At the same time,the cultivation of the lirong needs to go through a process of"familiarity and tranquility".Therefore,according to the different degrees of familiarity of the lirong,Wang Chuanshan divides the ceremony and appearance into four levels:F irst levels is the disguises of the snob.the use of the lirong to complete his poor purpose.At the beginning of the ceremony,due to the variety of the lirong and people’s"intention"(成心)and"Qibing"(气禀),people focus on the imitation of the lirong;People in the specific situation practice lirong,connect the ceremony of the lirong with the specific situation,familiar with the lirong;Sage in the specific situ ation,the body movement with"Ji"(几),are in line with the lirong.The lirong can promote the growth of people’s virtue from the outside to the inside,and at the same time can adjust the relationship between people and others.At the same time,the lirong can show filial piety,kindness and other virtues in the outside world,providing others with a visible and exemplary model of moral cultivation,which has the role of regulating the family.for a virtuous gentleman,lirong is a way of enlightenment.Through the lirong of a noble character,people are encouraged to practice lirong,so that people can place themselves in their positions and realize harmony.The ultimate lirong as the ceremony of the text,is the symbol of difference between human and brute,civilization and barbarism.