Zhu Xi’s Comments On Various Scholars

As a master of Neo Confucianism,Zhu Xi occupies a high position in the history of Chinese thought.Starting from the standard of natural principle,Zhu Xi judged the scholars from the perspectives of qualification,self-cultivation for learning and practical application.He divided them into three categories: orthodoxy,academic orthodoxy and heresy.His attitude can be divided into three categories: praise and absorption,opposition to criticism and disregard.Zhu Xi’s judgment on the scholars is based on the highest standard of real people,which is the sage who shows all the heavenly principles.From the perspective of the sage,we can see the advantages and disadvantages of the scholars.Behind his Tao as the orthodoxy and the sage ideology is the natural principle as the noumenon and its concrete application in the metaphysical world.Zhu Xi regards the heavenly principle as the highest noumenon,which is the origin,criterion and the highest realm of the characters in the real world.Zhu Xi took the ideal personality of sage as the standard to judge the scholars,and affirmed the possibility of real people reaching the realm of pure goodness.It recognizes the role of temperament differences on people,and widens people’s development path in reality.Zhu Xi’s attitude to the pre Qin and Han and Tang scholars is quite different.The thoughts of the pre Qin scholars were closely related to the social environment of the falling rules and systems at that time,mainly focusing on the solution of practical problems.At this time,the relationship between Confucianism and other scholars was complementary,and there was a way to remedy;In the Han and Tang Dynasties,the original scholars declined and The Buddhism and Taoism flourished.They competed with Confucianism for people’s spiritual home.On the one hand,Zhu Xi demoted other schools of thought as heresy,on the other hand,he actively absorbed its ideological essence to enrich the content of Confucianism.Confucianism,which has undergone continuous absorption and change,has become the theoretical crystallization of Chinese culture.Zhu Xi’s research and evaluation of scholars is actually the construction process of his Neo Confucianism ideological system with excellent traditional Chinese culture as the core.Therefore,to a certain extent,Zhu Xi’s thought is the concrete expression of Chinese civilization from the pre Qin period to the Southern Song Dynasty.Zhu Xi’s thought of Confucianism is an important part of his ideological system.Zhu Xi’s thought is the source of his theory,and the evaluation of Zhu Xi’s thought is also the application of his Neo Confucianism,which has a great impact on the formation of his Tao as the orthodoxy and the sage ideology,enriches and perfects Zhu Xi’s Neo Confucianism ideological system.