As we all know, "Gewu Zhizhi" is neither Wang Yangming's invention nor Zhu Xi's patent, but originally came from the "University": Gewu zhizhi. Knowing and then sincere, sincere and then righteous, right in heart and then cultivating...
However, Wang Yangming's Gewu Zhizhi was later developed into a complete set of mental science systems by him, and Zhu Xi's Gewu Zhizhi was even difficult to justify himself.
Zhu Zi was an academic star and a celebrity in the cultural circles at that time, and his disciples were countless and gained countless fans, and almost all of them had a blind degree of reverence for him, as long as it came from his mouth, he was naturally enshrined as the truth.
However, we can carefully distinguish that Zhu Xi's core philosophical view of "Gewu Zhizhi" is actually difficult to form a system of its own, and even suspects of contradiction, which is why in his later years, he conducted a profound reflection on his own doctrine, almost overturning his previous remarks.
These views and articles were included in the "Conclusion of Zhu Zi's Later Years" in the last volume of the Chuan Xi Lu by Wang Yangming's disciples.
Regarding the knowledge of gewuzhi, Zhu Xi has elaborated completely, which is known as ZhuZi's "Zhizhi Of Gewu Zhizhi". Zhu Xi believes: "The historian of bishi, that is, the things of the heavens, cannot benefit from the poor because of the truths they know, so as to seek the extreme." As for the length of the force, and once it is suddenly penetrated, the subtlety of the things is not clear, and the total usefulness of my heart is unknown. This is called a lattice, and this is known to the end".
First of all, according to Zhu Xi, everything has its own reason, and scholars need to verify it one by one, and they must also do it to the extreme. This in itself is an insurmountable task, because Zhu Xi's so-called "things" are not only physical objects, but also things, and there are endless things in the world, how can you exhaust them?
Secondly, if you say that Haoshou has exhausted the principle of everything in the world in his lifetime, and has been consistent, theoretically speaking, it also makes sense and is also a self-consistent path. But then the conversation turned sharply: "Once it suddenly penetrates...".
Since it is to exhaust the reason for things, of course, it is necessary to go to the black and rush to the end of the world to end, how can it suddenly be "suddenly enlightened" to play "epiphany"?
If there is such a day, what day is it, are you exhausting ten thousand truths or one hundred thousand? This becomes an inconclusive thing, turning Confucianism into a theory of god and mind into metaphysics.
Third, since you say that everything has its own reason, that things are not exhaustive, that reason is not exhaustive, and that reason is not fully known, where does this suddenly penetrating "once" come from?
The fundamental reason why there is such a contradiction and the preface does not match the afterword is that Zhu Xi has separated the "grid object" and the "zhizhi", and the thing is outside the heart, but the knowledge is in the heart. Even if his reasoning makes sense, the day when there is really a reason for exhausting all things in the world, the reason is physical, outside the body; the mind is inside the body, it is its own.
The theory of matter and one's own theory are not the same, and even if you exhaust physics, how can you ensure that physics and your own theory are connected?
The Ming Dynasty scholar Chen Baisha once raised such a question, but because Zhu Xi was in the limelight at that time, Chen's teacher was a disciple of Zhu Xi, so he was scolded by the teacher and eventually expelled from the division.
However, if it is Wang Yangming's personality and material harmony, there is no such problem, because "the heart is reason", conscience is born, and his things and knowledge come from within the heart, and there is no need to ask for it. "The master of the body is the mind, the heart is the intention, the essence of the mind is the knowledge, and the place of the intention is the thing."
For example, the meaning is to be a relative, that is, a thing is a thing.
So he says that knowledge and action are one, and that knowledge and action arise from within the heart; so when he says to conscience, he seeks a purely selfless heavenly principle, a clear and flawless conscience, in all things.