"There is no goodness and no disgusting body, there is good and malicious movement." Knowing good and knowing evil is conscience, and removing evil for good is a special thing. ”
Being able to know what is right and what is wrong just shows that what Wang Yangming said is true, conscience exists in the heart of each of us, there is no need to ask for it, we just need to always be aware of the heartbeat to see if it is in line with conscience.
The biggest and most common misconception about Yang Ming Mind is that the unity of knowledge and action is that cognition and action are one, and how you look at a thing will make what choices you will make, and what kind of actions will be generated.
This is not the case, which is far from the true meaning of Yang Ming Mind.
01. Justify the name of "Unity of Knowledge and Action"
The knowledge of "the unity of knowledge and action" in Yang Mingxin is not cognition, that is the biggest difference between him and Zhu Xi's theory, and the biggest reason why we modern people have such a wrong concept is that it is misled by Zhu Xi's "knowledge of things".
Zhu Xi believes that everything in the world has its own truth, and we must be diligent and sincere and trembling all our lives to "check" out all the truths hidden in it, so that we can "know" and obtain the truth, understand the heavenly reason and the dao.
We are not the only ones who are deceived, because Zhu Xi's influence is too great, he is an academic star spanning hundreds of years between the Song and Ming dynasties, and he is also the only editor-in-chief of the designated textbooks for the college entrance examination, so not only thousands of students, but even Wang Yangming has been fooled by him.
Wang Yangming aspired to be a saint from the age of ten, the greatest saint in ancient and modern times was Confucius, and the nearest saint was Zhu Xi, who was recognized at that time as the master of Confucius's learning.
Therefore, Wang Yangming had absolute trust in Zhu Xi's words, and Zhu Xi said that he not only repeatedly read Zhu Fuzi's book notes, but also practiced what he preached and practiced, which made Himself a joke for seven days and seven nights, and finally fainted himself and did not make a famous joke.
Zhuangzi said:
My life also has an end, and knowledge has no end, and there is no end to it.
Everyone's life is limited, but knowledge is infinite, and it is a dead end to explore endless things with limited time. This sentence perfectly refutes Zhu Xi's argument that "gewu zhizhi" is a complete error, and the truth is there, but people have ignored it for thousands of years.
According to Zhu Xi's logic, only "qualities" can "know", everything has its own reason, and there are thousands of things, and we can only understand the heavenly principles and become saints if we have exhausted the principles of all things.
If this is the case, then the world is doomed to darkness, because this is an impossible task, and no one can do it, and no one can become a saint.
So he lifted a stone and dropped it on his own feet—did the Confucius he believed in, the sage of the ages, fall from the sky?
Finding that Zhu Xi's path was not working, Wang Yangming had also been confused and lost, he had been addicted to meditation, immersed in monasticism, and once despaired of his childhood dream of becoming a saint.
He knew that Zhu Xi was wrong, and he also knew that this road was not working, but what was right and where to go, he himself did not know, until he was persecuted by Liu Jin, sent to Guizhou, Longchang Wudao.
In a flash of inspiration, he suddenly realized that the way of the saints, I am self-sufficient, there is no need to ask for it. Conscience is in each of us, born, so why go outside and seek it?
Wang Yangming's "knowledge" is not cognition, but a synthesis of awareness, perception, and feeling, which is a kind of "induction" if it has to be described in one word. For example, in the matter of filial piety to parents, you do not need to buy a copy of "100 Articles of Filial Piety to Parents" to learn article by article.
Filial piety to parents only need to know what parents need most is enough, winter to keep warm, summer to cool down, this is not to learn, do you have to sign a study class to learn, then is not a fool?
You can perceive the needs of your parents, think of your parents suffering, you will have feelings of guilt, and you will have physical and psychological reactions, which is both "knowing" how to honor your parents and "doing".
Feeling and should happen at the same time, so knowing and acting are one, like two sides of a coin, cannot be separated. You obviously know that some things are wrong, but you still do it, and it does not prove that Yang Mingxin's "unity of knowledge and action" is wrong, on the contrary, it just proves that the unity of knowledge and action is right.
It is only because what you think of as "knowing" and "acting" is not the same concept as the "knowing" and "acting" of Yang Ming Mind.
Second, practice in a matter of fact
It is not enough to be aware of conscience, to have the induction of the unity of knowledge and action, but also to practice it, to verify it, to see if it is really the truth, in line with the Heavenly Principle and the Heavenly Dao.
This is "practicing in a matter of fact."
If "knowing" is just an idea, practice in fact is its "laboratory", whether the idea is objective, whether it meets the requirements of conscience, and whether it is in line with heavenly humanity, it must be verified to know.
This "knowledge" is not set in stone, and each "lattice" will produce a corresponding knowledge, which may be the same as the last time, or it may be different, and if you do not stop at the lattice, your knowledge will be infinitely close to the conscience until it is one.
All his "knowledge and deeds" are united with his conscience, his focus is on it, and he has reached the "unmoved heart", that is, the realm of the saint. This is also the ultimate goal of gewuzhi.
Knowledge is born, but because of the experience of the day after tomorrow and the infiltration of the environment, our knowledge may be polluted and blinded, mixed with a lot of selfishness and unnecessary desires, so we must continue to remove evil for good and continue to know things.
Practicing in fact is to verify whether you have made progress, whether you have reached that level, and whether your knowledge is consistent with your conscience.
3. To the Conscience
Because everyone has a conscience, there is no need to learn, no need for others to warn, before doing one thing at a time, you just need to be aware of your own heart, right or wrong will be clear.
However, because we have received different educations and different environments for growth, everyone's "knowledge" is different, because knowledge and action are one, so actions are also different.
For example, a child raised by wolves will naturally think that killing is justified, cannibalism is justified, and even if the living person is torn to pieces in front of it, he will not have sympathy.
Sometimes you know what is right, and that being who knows is conscience, but:
"Knowing is the beginning of action, and doing is the fruit of knowledge."
It is "knowledge," not conscience, that determines the outcome of your final actions. You may have had a bad experience before, such as stealing something with someone and getting benefits from it, and you remember the stimulation and pleasure at that time, which forms your "knowledge".
The next time you have this kind of thought, although the newspapers have said it, the legal channel has said it, and the parents have heard that it is wrong to steal things, it is only an idea, and in the end, it is the feeling you got from stealing things last time, the induction that you generated.
It is the feelings and emotions that ultimately determine you to act again, pushing you step by step into the abyss.
Therefore, in order to become a righteous gentleman, to become a person who contributes to society, at least a qualified and law-abiding citizen, not to cause harm to others, not to destroy oneself, you must "speak to your conscience" and always be aware of your own thoughts and thoughts.
If you know that you are wrong, you must correct it, and if you know that it is wrong, you must suppress the evil wolf in your heart, and you must bear not to do evil. The first time you control yourself and don't steal something, then you gain peace of mind.
According to social moral standards, you are not allowing yourself to degenerate into a bad person, you are becoming a decent person, which is the beginning of becoming a good person. Your actions will be recognized by the public, at least not condemned.
You derive a feeling of joy and peace from this knowledge of inhibiting and controlling your own evil deeds, and the next time you have the thought of doing evil, you will again feel the pain of being scolded and the peace of not doing evil.
So you choose not to steal, not to do evil. This is "to the conscience", step by step to make all your thoughts conform to the conscience, and over time, the evil thoughts in your heart are no longer visible, and you become a "saint".
Fourth, do not move
To be a saint is not to be free of evil thoughts.
"There is no goodness and no disgusting body, there is good and malicious movement."
As long as there is a mind, as long as there is a thought, there will naturally be evil.
The saint did not have the evil wolf in his heart, but only because of his innate purity or the continuous conscience of the day after tomorrow, the evil wolf could no longer do evil, it was like a cute and kind Shiba Inu, even if it opened its teeth and claws, in the eyes of the saint, it was just selling cuteness.
As long as people live, they will not be without thoughts, the Buddha said: forty thousand thoughts in one flick of a finger. How can the thought be eliminated, and the person who eliminates the thought hangs up.
It's just that whenever you have evil thoughts, you will no longer have an evil heart, and with good thoughts you will not be complacent; you will not be self-satisfied when you are pampered and praised by others, and you will not be angry when you are slandered and insulted by others, and you will always maintain a normal heart and not be insulted.
That is "not moving".
Because once you have a heart and are led away by the thoughts, you will have selfish desires, you will have superfluous desires, you will deviate, make actions that do not conform to your conscience, and fight back against mistakes with mistakes. Only by not moving our hearts can we maintain neutrality and objectivity and not embark on the evil road.
Listen to the flowers blossom and fall, and sit and watch the clouds cirrus. At this time, the mind is the most free, such a life is the most magnificent, it is completely one with heavenly reason and with the cosmic path.