Zhou Yuanxia | qi has a great sense of endless learning - reading "Mencius" has a feeling

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There is no end to learning

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Zhou Yuanxia, Institute of Philosophy, Fujian Academy of Social Sciences

In 2003, I entered Shandong University to study with Teacher Yan, who taught introduction to Confucian philosophy, and the first class first let everyone (the Chinese Master of Philosophy enrolled fourteen people that year, and every class everyone sat around an oval conference table, which can really be described as "crowded") to talk about their favorite historical figures, everyone spoke freely, from the pre-Qin zhuzi to modern revolutionaries, from Confucians and Taoists, to lawyers and miscellaneous families. When everyone was finished, Teacher Yan also talked about his favorite historical figure, that is, Mencius, which no one mentioned. Teacher Yan said: "Confucius is the awakening of man, Confucius cannot be learned, Confucius is round. Mencius is the awakening of the scholars, he wants to cultivate Haoran righteousness, he is angular. These words were recorded that day, but at the time it was not possible to understand their true connotations. It wasn't until I attended Teacher Yan's Bible study class every Friday to read through Mencius twice, and after writing my master's thesis in the second year of research, "On the Spirit of Mencius", that I understood to a certain extent what Teacher Yan meant by "the awakening of the scholars." After leaving Shandong University, I never had the opportunity to recite Mencius with my teachers and friends, but I often involved the Four Books when I was studying for a doctorate and working, and my understanding of Mencius was gradually deepening. Roughly speaking, my understanding of Mencius has gone through three stages: I first learned about Mencius meteorology during the master's degree; I learned about the process of Mencius's ascension from "son" to "jing" during the doctoral period; and after working, I gradually realized the important value of Mencius in the history of Chinese philosophy.

I. Mencius and the "Awakening of the Scholars"

When I was writing my master's thesis, scholars had a wealth of research on Mencius, and Mr. Tu Weiming's "Mencius: The Self-Consciousness of Scholars" was the most representative. On this basis, my thesis focuses on two contributions of Mencius: one is his exposition of the rationality of the existence of the scholar class, and the other is his regulation of the spiritual quality of the scholar class and its cultivation work. The paper first analyzes Mencius's view of "Shi Shangzhi", arguing that the connotation of "Zhi" is the way of benevolence and righteousness, and the way of benevolence and righteousness is a further development of Mencius's "Shi Zhi in the Tao". Then I equate the path of benevolence with the nature of sexual goodness, which is very inadequate, but this view is not untenable. The thesis proposes that Mencius demonstrated the uniqueness of the scholar Shangzhi from the two aspects of the "Tao" of benevolence and righteousness and the "sex" of sexual goodness. The priest has both a firm pursuit of the Tao and an inherent stipulation of sexual goodness in himself, so he has the dual personality of reality and transcendence.

The core part of the thesis discusses the reality and transcendence of Mencius to the scholars, and the reality is divided into subjectivity and sociality. Subjectivity is what Teacher Yan called "the awakening of the soldiers", and it is also what Mr. Tu Weiming called "the consciousness of the scholars". The article focuses on two examples: one is Mencius's general Wang Zhang, the other is Mencius and Jingchun discuss the Eldest Husband Chapter, the previous chapter reveals a unique understanding of Mencius's relationship between kings and subjects, Mencius defended his "rudeness": "I am not the way of Yao Shun, and I dare not chen in front of the king, so the Qi people are as good as I am. Mencius proposed that the greatest respect for the king was only by advising the scholar by means of the Tao, rather than being obsessed with false etiquette. In the latter chapter, Mencius denied the view that Gongsun Yan and Zhang Yi were great husbands, and put forward the standard of a great husband in his mind, that is, "to live in the world, to establish the right position under the world, and to walk the road under the world; to have the will and the people; not to be willing to go their own way." Rich and noble cannot be adulterous, poor and lowly cannot be moved, and mighty cannot be bent, which is called a big husband. In Mencius's eyes, the person who can make contributions to society is not necessarily a big husband, and the spirit of a big husband is a moral personality with independent character and subjective consciousness. In exalting subjectivity, the scholar did not ignore social reality, and then the thesis discussed Mencius's sense of distress and sense of mission. The sense of mission of "thinking of the people of the world, if they are not pushed into the ditch of Yao Shun, if they are pushed into the ditch" (Mencius, Ten Thousand Chapters), prompts the scholars to try their best to get out, but the subjective consciousness of "never following the Tao and not from the king" often makes it difficult to get out. In the end, Mencius put forward the source of "the poor are good for themselves, and the good is good for the world" (Mencius, "Mencius, Dedication to the Heart"), which has become the basic principle for future generations of scholars to settle down and establish their lives.

Mencius not only focused on the realistic level of the way of obtaining the king, but also on the aspect beyond reality, that is, "the husband and gentleman have passed through, the god who exists, and the upper and lower levels are in the same flow with the heavens and the earth" (Mencius, "Mencius, Dedication"), Mencius believed that the gentleman can go straight to the heavenly path, this is because the goodness that man originally has comes from the heavenly path, so the gentleman can achieve "knowing the heavens with all his heart, and cultivating the heavens with his heart". Mencius proposed that everyone can be Yao Shun, because there is a commonality between the saint and the mortal and the gods, the so-called "desirable is good, there is self-belief, full is beautiful, full and glorious is great, great and holy is holy, holy and unknowable is God." Mencius repeatedly emphasized that by constantly expanding and cultivating the mind, we can finally realize the path of the sages and the realm of "flowing with heaven and earth", and the key to the problem lies in the individual's infinite pursuit of the Tao and the diligent cultivation of the Tao. If you are self-satisfied, you will dwell in peace; if you dwell in peace, you will be deep in capital; if you are deep in capital, you will take it from the left and right, so the gentleman wants him to be self-sufficient. The view that a gentleman can be "self-sufficient" is an inevitability of sexual goodness and an expression of the subjectivity of the scholar.

At that time, my understanding of Teacher Yan's so-called "Mencius is the awakening of the scholars" was roughly like this. Looking back now, the place where I admired Mencius in my early twenties was mainly his positive, arrogant, open-minded and optimistic behavior and sage atmosphere, but this understanding was flat and lacked a sense of history.

II. The Ascension and Deletion of Mencius

In 2008, when I was preparing to write my doctoral dissertation on Zhu Xi's Analects, the first problem I faced at that time was to clarify the formation process of the four-book system, one of the key links of which was the ascension process of Mencius. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, and the "Third Master of the Song Dynasty" all honored Mencius. After the celebration of the calendar, Zhou Dunyi, Ercheng, Zhang Zai, Shao Yong, Wang Anshi, etc., all belonged to the Zunmeng faction. Wang Anshi was a key figure in the process of Mencius's ascension, on the one hand, he had a deep understanding of Mencius's thought, and he absorbed a lot of Mencius's political and economic ideas in the transformation of the law. In order to argue the necessity of changing the law, he made an in-depth discussion of Mencius's idea of "power". He agreed with Mencius's view of the Tangwu revolution, believing that Tang Wu, who made a revolution, was not a traitor to the people, but a righteous act of Shuntian. Mencius advocated the restoration of the well field system, and Wang Anshi proposed the Fangtian Average Tax Law. More importantly, in the fourth year of Xining, Wang Anshi included Mencius in the "Concurrent Classic" of the imperial examination, replacing the original "Book of Filial Piety", and using the "Mencius" annotated by Wang Anshi, Wang Yun, and Xu Yuncheng as the standard. "Concurrent Scripture" is the scripture that all scholars must take the examination at the same time in the examination of the JinshiKe, the Ming Scripture, or the Various Disciplines, except for the selected scripture. This means that Mencius is a compulsory subject for the scientific examination of scholars, thus promoting Mencius to take an important step from "Son" to "Jing". With the failure of Wang Anshi's reform of the law, there were many voices in the old party questioning Mencius, but the status of Mencius in the imperial examination did not waver after all. Therefore, the "General Catalogue of the Four Libraries" says: "The examination of the table chapter of Mencius as a scripture actually began with Wang Anshi. Wang Anshi is regarded as Mencius of the Song Dynasty, and he has a poem written about Mencius: "The soul of the sinking and floating soul cannot be summoned, and the posthumous editor thinks of the wind vane." Why is the whole world too broad, so there are People of Si who are comforted and lonely. From this poem, it is not difficult to see that the place where Wang Anshi and Mencius were introduced as confidants is precisely the kind of crazy atmosphere that is not afraid of difficulties and obstacles and bravely moves forward.

After Wang Anshi changed the law, many opponents began to question and criticize Mencius, Sima Guang's "Doubtful Mengzi" pointed out that Mencius did not have the courtesy of a monarch and was contrary to the righteousness of his subjects, Sima Guang, Su Shi, and Su Rui also directly denied Mencius's theory of sexual goodness, and Li Qi and Zheng Hou also criticized Mencius, just as the so-called "Wen Gong is suspicious but dare not be wrong, Tai Bo is close to slander, and uncles are slandered and scolded." The controversy of the Northern Song Dynasty is by no means a simple dispute of academic ideas, it reflects the phenomenon of party struggle between different interest groups. This trend of doubtful Meng thought was not liquidated until the Southern Song Dynasty, when Yu Yunwen, a Jian'an man, wrote "Zun Meng Discernment", refuting Sima Guang's "Doubtful Meng", Li Qian's "Changyu", and Zheng Hou's "Art Garden Compromise". Then Zhu Xi wrote "Reading Yu Yinzhi", and wrote "Notes on mencius collections" and "Mencius's outline". At this time, Zhu Xi's distinction between Chen Liang and Ye Shi was also a further development of Mencius' wang hegemonic thought. As Zhu Zixue became the official ideology, and the Four Books, Chapters, and Sentences became the standard textbook for the imperial examination, the doubts about Mencius among scholars gradually subsided.

However, because mencius recorded a large number of people's behaviors and remarks in resisting the situation with the Tao, it was no different for the monarch, so there was a legend of ming taizu Zhu Yuanzhang deleting books and deposing the gods. It is said that Taizu was greatly enraged when he read that "the king regards his subjects as earth mustard, and the subjects regard the king as a vendetta" and said, "So that this old man is today, would rather be spared?" At one time, Mencius was expelled from the Temple of Literature and was not allowed to accompany him. Ten months later, Taizu also believed that Mencius "had the merit of dispelling heresies, discerning heresies, and inventing the way of the first saints", and restored Mencius's treatment as a companion. Zhu Honglin, an expert in Ming history, pointed out that these legends are from late Ming novels, which are far from those contained in the archives. However, during the Ming Dynasty, a Copy of mencius's Verses was compiled, and the original inscription of Hongwu's twenty-seven years still exists today. The book was compiled by the eighty-two-year-old Hanlin scholar Liu Sanwu at the behest of the eighty-five articles, and Liu Sanwu indicated in his "inscription" that this was done out of a precautionary consideration. Rong Zhaozu believes that this reveals Ming Taizu's "stupidism and the boredom of being too worried about the plan." It is undeniable that Mencius's discussion of the relationship between monarchs and subjects is indeed not conducive to absolute monarchy under the great unified dynasty. The compilation of mencius and Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude toward Mencius also reveal the incompatibility between Mencius and the absolute monarchy. Although Mencius is not the ideal classic in the mind of the king, modern scholars have interpreted the modern meaning from it, such as: Qian Mu believes that Mencius's theory of sexual goodness contains the meaning of freedom and equality, and Liang Qichao believes that Mencius's theory of sexual goodness contains the assumption that "everyone has free will". In any case, the elevation of the status of Mencius is of great significance to the history of traditional Chinese culture, which not only reflects the recognition of the subjectivity of scholars by society and intellectual circles in a certain period, but also reveals the tolerance of the political system of a certain era and the tolerance of politicians to the concepts of equality, democracy, and freedom.

MENCIUS and the History of Chinese Philosophy

After graduating with a Ph.D. in 2009, with the deepening of my research on Zhu Zi, I found more and more that Mencius had a unique position in the history of Chinese philosophy and played an irreplaceable role in the history of science. Beginning with Han Yu, Mencius was regarded as the terminator of Confucian Taoism and was accepted by Song dynasty scholars, and Zhu Xi quoted Han Yu in the Preface to Mencius: "Yao Yi is Chuan Zhi Shun, Shun is Chuan Zhi Yu, Yu Yi is Chuan Zhi Tang, Tang Yi is Chuan Zhi Wen, Wu, Zhou Gong, Wen, Wu, Zhou Gong, Wen, Wu, Zhou Gong Zhuan Confucius, Confucius Chuan Meng Ke, Ke's death can not be passed on." Xun and Yang Ye, choosing but not refining, speaking vaguely but not detailed. Another said: "Meng's mellow also." Xun and Yang, big alcohol and small defects. Zhu Xi also quoted Cheng Zi as saying: "Han Zi on Mencius is very good. Unless I saw Mencius's will, I couldn't say it. Its discussion of Xun Yang is not also true. Xun Zi was extremely biased, only a sentence of sexual evil, and the big ben had been lost. Although Yangzi is less than that, he is also ignorant of sex, let alone even more so. It can be seen that Mencius's Daoist identity is closely related to his theory of sexual goodness, which in the view of theorists is the great origin of Confucianism, and Xunzi is denied only because of a sentence of sexual evil. The theorists spoke highly of Mencius's theory of sexual goodness, and Cheng Zi could be described as a chant and three sighs, saying: "Mencius has made great contributions to the world, and he is also good in his words." He also said, "Mencius's theory of goodness in nature and nourishment of qi was not developed in the previous sanctuary." (Mencius's Preface) The theory of sexual goodness and nourishment of qi is the most core part of Mencius's philosophical thought, and it is also a key topic of repeated debate in the history of Chinese philosophy and the history of East Asian Confucianism. Given that this issue is both grand and subtle, far from being covered by a small article, let's briefly elaborate in combination with personal research experience.

I have combed through the letters of Zhu Xi and his teacher Li Tong on Mencius, and the "Yanping Answers" clearly discusses seven articles of Mencius, mainly focusing on the chapters of "Nourishing Qi", "Night Qi", and "The Reason Why People Are Different from Animals" chapters, which have an important impact on Zhu Xi's theory of cultivation kung fu and the theory of character similarities and differences. At first, Zhu Xi thought that Yang QiZhang was just "to get the heart and qi together", li Tong instructed him to pay attention to "ji yi" and "zhi yan", and finally Zhu Xi emphasized the consistency of "knowing the words and cultivating the qi without moving the heart". Regarding the discussion of the night qi theory, Li Tong encouraged Zhu Xi to "focus on the cultivation place" and instructed him to "cultivate the heart" by meditating. The discussion of the chapter "The Reason Why Man Is Different from the Beast" chapter of the master and apprentice involves the issue of similarities and differences in characters. At first, Zhu Xi believed that the difference between human nature and material nature was that the reason was different, and Li Tong pointed out that the "origin" of people and things between heaven and earth was one, and the difference was the completeness and partiality of the qi that was possessed. In the end, Zhu Xi accepted the teacher's theory of the same qi and different qi, and in the "Notes on mencius", it is said: "The birth of the characters is the same as the principle of heaven and earth, and the same as the qi of heaven and earth is the form; the difference between them, the only person in the middle of the form of the qi is correct, and can have the full nature, for less different ears." Although there are few differences, the reason why the characters are divided is really this. (Notes on mencius, vol. VIII)

In addition, when I studied the thought of the Korean Confucian Li Huixi, I found that the reason for the controversy of the four ends and seven emotions was that the provisions of the "Mencius" and "Zhongyong" were different, and there were also differences between Zhu Xi's theoretical ideological system and the text of Mencius, and the interlacing of the ideas of the times and the texts together caused a heated discussion of the four ends and seven emotions by Korean sex theory scholars, which made the most local and creative philosophical thought in the history of Korean Confucianism. In Mencius, both the original mind and human nature are good, and the argument is that the four ends of the love are good, which means that the four ends of the love are moral emotions. And in the so-called "joy and sorrow of the Middle" or "Etiquette and Fortune", "What is human feelings?" Joy, anger, sorrow, love, and evil desires, the seven can learn and be able to learn", and the seven emotions mentioned belong to natural emotions, which have good and evil. After Zhu Xi's joint compilation of the "Four Books", the Zhongyong and Mencius became a set of textual systems, and after the creative annotations of Zhu Xi's ideological system, the four ends and seven emotions were connected with the ontology such as rational qi, resulting in a more complicated debate between Korean sex theory scholars on the four ends and seven emotions. The argument between Li Huixi and Qi Gaofeng is whether the four ends and the seven emotions are homogeneous or heterogeneous, and then ask whether the two emotions are haircuts or angry hair. Li Huixi believes that "the four ends are haircuts and qi follows, and the seven emotions are qi hair and rationalization and multiplication", while Qi Gaofeng advocates that the four ends and seven emotions are all emotions, all are qi hair, and cannot be haircuts, because the reason is "ruthless, uncalculated, and unpretentious". This example alone shows that after the book of Mencius has been interpreted by theologians, it has continued to be interpreted by scholars in different eras and regions. From the perspective of philosophical history, Mencius is a philosopher who transcends the times, his theory of sexual goodness not only influenced the trend of Confucianism and laid the philosophical foundation of traditional Chinese culture, but also after the theoretical interpretation of Song Confucianism, Mencius continued to develop a variety of discussion topics such as temperament, mentality, and nourishment in addition to the theory of sexual goodness.

In 2021, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Mr. Yan's Bible reading class, as a witness and beneficiary of the Bible reading class, I thought that when I was studying at Shandong University, I walked into the gate of the new school and saw eight big characters standing proudly on the building: "Qi has a grandeur, learning is endless", which is the school motto of Shanda University that year, I think it can also be used as my experience of following Teacher Yan to read "Mencius" and learn "Mencius", so I made this article as a memorial.

bibliography:

Zhu Xi: Notes on the Collected Chapters and Sentences of the Four Books, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1983 edition.

Huang Junjie: A Treatise on the Hermeneutic History of Chinese Mengxue, Social Sciences Academic Press, 2004.

Zhu Honglin: Ming Taizu and the Feast, Life, Reading, and Xinzhi Triptych Bookstore, 2021 edition.

Sun Xianying, "Shengjing and Wang Anshi's Transformation of the Law: On the Controversy and Substance of Zun Meng's Doubtful Meng", Quest, No. 5, 2004.

Cheng Sudong, "Shengjing Examination: A Discussion on the Two Song Classics and the Concurrent Classics System", Chinese Literature and History Series, No. 3, 2010.

Zhou Yuanxia: On the Spirit of Mencius, Shandong University, Master's Thesis, 2006.

Zhou Yuanxia: "The Hermeneutic Significance of Zhu Xi", Doctoral Dissertation, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 2009.

Zhou Yuanxia, "The Influence of Li Tong on Zhu Xi's Four Books", History of Chinese Philosophy, No. 1, 2012.

Zhou Yuanxia: "The Difference Between Li Huixi's Interpretation of the "Four Ends and Seven Emotions" and Zhu Zi", Haidai Academic Journal, No. 1, 2016.

Zhou Yuanxia, "The Dilemma and Significance of Cross-text Interpretation: Centered on Li Huixi's Four Ends and Seven Emotions", Zhu Renqiu and Le Aiguo, eds., "A Hundred Years of International Academic Papers on Zhuzi Studies in East Asia", The Commercial Press, 2016 edition.