Wang Yangming's "Gentleman's Pavilion" and the cultivation of gentleman's personality

The world knows that Mr. Yang Ming's seven days and seven nights are not a saint, and he has come to the psychological theme of "to the conscience". However, few people know that Yangming Longchang enlightenment has achieved the "Four Laws of Moso Bamboo". The Four Laws of Maozhu are the four-point weather of "virtue, exercise, time, and tolerance", which is the gentleman's way proposed by Mr. Yang Ming from the standpoint of mental learning, which is still of great benefit to people today who are sincere in their hearts and cultivate themselves.

In the first year of Ming Zhengde (1506), Liu Jin rebelled against the government, Wang Shouren resisted the intention of neglect, and after being imprisoned and imprisoned, he was demoted to The Longchang Yicheng in Xiuwen County, Guizhou. In the third year of Zhengde (1508), Yang Ming led people to cut down wood and build a house, and built the place of He Ugly Xuan and Junzi Pavilion, and composed the "Record of Junzi Pavilion".

What is "Gentleman's Pavilion"? According to the "Gentleman's Pavilion", "Yang Mingzi is why the ugly Xuan, fuyin Xuan before the camp, driving the pavilion, planting bamboo around the ring, and the name is 'Gentleman'." It can be seen that the Junzi Pavilion is nothing more than Wang Yangming planting a circle of bamboo around the minimalist pavilion in front of his home, which is called "Junzi Pavilion". But he was able to use the rough bamboo pavilion to pin his ambitions on the steadfastness of his career and the ups and downs of his life.

There is a cloud in the "Gentleman's Pavilion": "Bamboo has the four ways of a gentleman: the middle is empty and quiet, the communication is intermittent, and there is the virtue of a gentleman." The outside is strong and straight, through the four times and Ke Ye has nothing to change, and has the discipline of a gentleman. It should be stung out, hidden in the face of ambush, rain and snow obscure, omnipresent, and a gentleman's light. When the breeze comes, the sound of jade is calm, the middle is gathered and the xia is harmonious, and the sun is pitched, and the intersection of the sages of the Soo Si group is gathered; the wind is quiet, standing upright, indomitable, and if the back of the Yu Tingqun is crowned, and the side of the tang majesty is listed, there is the appearance of a gentleman. Bamboo has four, and the name of 'gentleman' is worthy of its name; Wu Ting has bamboo, and because of the name of bamboo, the name is worthy of my pavilion. The four laws of "virtue, exercise, time, and tolerance" are derived from this.

Bamboo is not only one of the "three friends of the cold years", but also one of the "four gentlemen", because of its straight body and eternal green, it is often endowed with spiritual qualities such as elegance, purity, humility, moderation, and rigidity. Literati love bamboo, often borrow bamboo to bede, Su Shi's poem "Yu Qian monk Lu Yunxuan" said: "You can make food without meat, and you can't live without bamboo." No meat makes people skinny, no bamboo makes people vulgar. "It can be described as the elegance of the bamboo. Zheng Xie's "Bamboo Stone" poem Yun: "Firmly believe that the green mountain does not relax, and the root is in the broken rock." Thousands of grinding blows are still strong, and Ren'er's east, west, south and north winds are strong. "It's even more popular. Wang Yangming's way of the gentleman in the moso bamboo is a moral practice that strongly points to the path of the sages, and the "Gentleman's Pavilion" thus has a deeper connotation of personality cultivation.

The term "gentleman" first appeared in the Book of Shang and became popular in the Western Zhou Dynasty. In the "Commentary on the Interpretation of Texts", it is written: "Jun, Zunye." From Yin, the number. "Jun" originally refers to the monarch in traditional society, referring to the commanders and rulers who give orders, and "son" is an ancient honorific title for men. "Gentleman" was originally a generic term for a ruler, often in opposition to the ruled people and the people. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the ceremony collapsed and was broken, and Confucius's evaluation of the gentlemen at that time in the Analects of Shuer, the so-called "virtue is not cultivated, learning is not taught, hearing righteousness cannot be migrated, and not being good cannot be changed." Based on the needs of social governance and the maintenance of traditional social power, Confucius put forward systematic moral requirements for "gentlemen", which were continuously passed on and interpreted by later generations and practiced, so that the gentleman was gradually stereotyped as an ideal personality. Later, the word "gentleman" generally referred to a virtuous and cultivated person, who was dignified, polite, dignified, and calm, all of which were of his qualities and had moral metaphors.

In the Ming Dynasty, where Wang Yangming lived, politics was decaying, and the government officials who held state power did not refrain from self-cultivation, and although they verbally praised "the study of gentlemen", it was difficult to achieve a match of morality and position. Confucius said: "Cultivate oneself to respect, cultivate oneself to reassure the people, and cultivate oneself to reassure the people." "Therefore, when Wang Yangming developed the way of a gentleman, he first attached importance to his virtue." In the middle of the void and quiet, through and there is a room", Wang Yangming believes that the bamboo hollow is quiet, smooth but there are bamboo knots separated, virtual, quiet, through, inter-room four characteristics, respectively, corresponding to the gentleman should uphold the modesty, tranquility, accessibility, order. Gentlemen cultivate virtue, and the first weight is vain. Inner tranquility and indifference are the key to the gentleman's self-cultivation, and "emptiness" is the essence of the heart, which means that the human spirit enters an extremely calm state without desire, gain, loss, and utilitarianism, so that all the beauty and richness of external things will be displayed in front of the eyes. In this way, they will not be infiltrated by the "poison of utilitarianism". When we cultivate our minds by upholding the moral code of a gentleman without utilitarianism, we can transcend the requirements of the name of a gentleman and return to the cultivation of the nature of respecting the truth of a gentleman in our hearts.

As for the mastery and method, there is a saying in the Book of Transmissions: "Gai Qi's mind is pure and clear, and there is the benevolence of all his all-being, so his spirit flows through and his ambition is well-connected, and there is no distinction between people and themselves, between things and me." And "beasts and plants are both loved, and the grass and trees are raised and endured." Man and beast are both loved, slaughtered animals and beasts to raise relatives, and offered sacrifices, swallow guests, and the heart endures. Loved ones and passers-by are the same love, such as eating bean soup, if you get it, you will be born, if you can't die, you can't have both, you'd rather save your loved ones than save passers-by, and your heart will endure. "Gentleman's accessibility refers to the smoothness of the mind, and the gentleman's order refers to the inner norms and the rules of external things. On the one hand, it refers to the harmony between the inner order of man and the order of external objects; on the other hand, it also means that while the mind is clear and knows how to be flexible, it should also abide by objective rules and measures. It can be seen that "the middle is virtual and quiet, and the communication is intermittent", which not only emphasizes the moral cultivation of the individual, but also pays attention to grasping the measure and criterion of external moral practice.

"The outside is firm and straight, through the four times and Ke Ye has not changed", the gentleman's exercise is to have inner perseverance, not to change the changes in the external environment and the differences in life circumstances. Confucius said, "A gentleman who does not have a final eclipse violates benevolence, and when he creates a second order, he will do so, and he will be overthrown." Today's "do not forget the original heart, keep in mind the mission", the same is to require us to adhere to the original intention, to be consistent, also as "the old should be strong, rather move the heart of the white head?" Poor and strong, do not fall into the ambition of the clouds. ”

"Should be stung out, hidden in the face of ambush, rain and snow obscure, everything is inappropriate", the gentleman's time refers to the face of different situations, must take different ways of coping, everything is inappropriate but must obey the gentleman's will. Confucius "can be served, can be stopped, can be long, can be fast and fast". Wang Yangming belittled Guizhou Longchang, built houses and houses according to local conditions, and enlightened and taught, just as Mencius said: "The poor are good at their own, and the poor are good at the world."

The appearance of a gentleman refers to the external majesty and weather. This is different from Lao Tzu's admonition to Confucius that "good people are hidden deeply, gentlemen are virtuous, and their appearance is foolish", and the gentleman's appearance emphasized by Mr. Yang Ming is actually what Zhu Xi called "neat and serious", which advocates the cultivation of virtues with both internal respect and external righteousness, such as "dressed in the right clothes and looking up to the eyes". Wang Yangming believes that the personal cultivation of a gentleman is to cultivate both inside and outside, to cultivate his virtue inside and outside. The cultivation of external prestige and temperament is also aimed at the moral establishment of a gentleman's personality.

Overall, Wang Yangming's "Gentleman's Pavilion" is his insight into the way of the gentleman during the Longchang Enlightenment Period, and the wisdom of the article is not inferior to Zhou Dunyi's "Ai Lian Said". The "Four Laws of Moso Bamboo" pray for the moral practice of sanctification and sage, which is the biggest difference between YangMing Xinxue and Cheng Zhu Lixue. The four methods of "morality, exercise, time, and tolerance" are the multi-level development and specific practice of the study of gentlemen, and they are the practice measures of the unity of knowledge and action, rather than the exploration of pure knowledge. This is different from the previous people's understanding that the way of the gentleman only stayed in the stage of inner introspection, and gave people today a broader practical reference significance when improving their own moral cultivation.

◎ This article was originally published in "China Art News" (author Zhu Haoquan), the source network, the copyright of the picture and text belongs to the original author, if there is infringement, please contact to delete.