Wang Shouren (1472-1529) was born in Yuyao, Zhejiang. Born in a scholarly family, his family is wealthy, and his qualifications are intelligent, but he is not very enthusiastic about the fame of the imperial examination, and he has been determined to become a saint and sage since he was a child. At the strong request of his father, at the age of twenty-eight, he was admitted to the Jinshi and entered the official career, but he was almost persecuted to death because he offended the eunuch Liu Jin, who was in power, and was demoted to Longchang, Guizhou, as a post man. After Liu Jin's death, he was well-connected, and the official went to the governor of southern Jiangxi, pacified the rebellion of Jiangxi and Fujian and the rebellion of King Ning, and was appointed governor of Liangjiang in his later years, pacified the civil strife in Guangxi, and died on the way home. Wang Shouren developed the science of mind during his lifetime, proposing that "the heart is reason" and "there is nothing outside the heart", and advocated "the unity of knowledge and action". Wang Yangming's psychology has spread overseas, especially to Japan, North Korea and other countries. Wang Yangming was awarded the title of Xinjian Bo for his military merits, and was one of the three civil servants who were knighted for military merits in the Ming Dynasty, and was enshrined in the Confucian Temple after his death.
Author: Kunik
Picking off pants and hitting the board was a common thing in the court of the Ming Dynasty. But the extraordinarily grand scene runs through the history of the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, and there are only a few times.
In the eighteenth year of Hongzhi (1505), the most playful and troublesome emperor in history, Zhu Houzhao of Ming Wuzong succeeded to the throne, only fifteen years old, and changed to Yuan Zhengde.
Being the emperor doesn't seem to have brought too many changes to Zhu Houzhao's life. He still played as always, and seeing that he was about to lose his country, the ministers left by his father all stood up and advised him to be the emperor well. He felt that the long-winded Wenchen was disappointed, and from then on he was only close to the close eunuch who had played with him since he was a child.
The eunuchs were headed by a man named Liu Jin, with a total of eight people, known as the "Eight Tigers", who played with power and misbehaved, tossing an empire into a miasma. Seeing that it was about to end, the civil officials united to put pressure on the emperor to kill the Eight Tigers and reorganize the dynasty.
The Eight Tigers can't fight Wenchen, but they are good at playing the emotional card. The night before the civil officials were about to take action, they ran into the palace overnight, hugged Zhu Houzhao and cried bitterly. Zhu Houzhao not only promised not to kill them, but also gave them all officials and knights.
▲ Zhu Houzhao
The next morning, the civil servants who were gearing up had already declared defeat before they had even begun. Two of the three ministers were forced to resign, and Emperor Zhu Houzhao approved it without the slightest hesitation, and many officials wrote to protest. For these people, Liu Jin's method is traditional and simple: he picks up his pants and cane. One was counted as one, and more than 20 people were beaten together, and some of them were beaten to death with a slightly weaker physique.
But such a battle did not frighten the brave civil officials, and the more people continued to study, and of course the more people were spanked.
One of these brave men stood out because of his humble position. He is Wang Shouren, a six-rank sesame official of the Military Election Department of the Ministry of War, and so far he has nothing to attract attention, but his future will become a legend in the Ming Dynasty and even in the entire Chinese history.
In the eighth year of Chenghua of the Ming Dynasty (1472), Wang Shouren was born in Yuyao, Zhejiang, and it is said that his ancestor was the famous Wang Xizhi.
Regarding the birth of Wang Shouren, there is also an inexplicable and uninspired legend. One day, his grandmother had a dream that a heavenly god came from the clouds and sent a child to the king's house. Therefore, Wang Shouren was called "Wang Yun" when he was born, and the house he was born in was also renamed "Ruiyun Building". But the boy was five years old and still didn't speak like a mute, until an old monk passed by and pointed out that the word "cloud" in his name had leaked the secret of heaven. Only then was renamed Wang Shouren, taken from the "Book of Songs" in which "benevolence cannot be kept, although it is gained, it must be lost." ”
The Wang family is wealthy, rich and landed, and is a well-known landowner in ten miles and eight townships. The ancestors were officials for generations, and it is said that the ancestors once followed Zhu Yuanzhang to fight the world, and his father Wang Hua was the champion of the dynasty. The Wang family has the conditions and confidence to train Wang Shouren into a big man who is enough to glorify his ancestors, so he paid a lot of money to invite many famous teachers to teach Wang Shouren to read. Wang Shouren also lived up to expectations, starting to read the Four Books and Five Classics at the age of ten, and his comprehension ability was particularly fast, which made the teacher and his family very happy.
But soon everyone also discovered that Wang Shouren was not a good student who was worry-free, and his mind was not on the right path. I don't read the books of the serious scientific examination seriously, but I have a strong interest in the side ways such as military books, and I like to dance with guns and sticks and ask some strange questions of nervousness.
▲ Wang Shouren
Wang Shouren wrote poems when he was twelve years old, but the content of the poems is not obvious to ordinary people.
The mountain is near the moon and the moon is far away, and the moon is small, so this mountain is larger than the moon.
If a man's eyes are as big as the sky, let him see the mountains and the moon wider.
——Wang Yangming, "Poems of the Hidden Moon Mountain House"
At first glance, this poem "Full Moon Mountain House" is a limerick poem written by a child, but it has profound dialectical thoughts when you think about it carefully. It's just that it definitely doesn't help much for the imperial examination. Fortunately, his father Wang Hua is not a stubborn nerd, and he sees his son's unique thinking and vision from this poem. He realized that maybe the kid needed a bigger picture.
With the support of his father, Wang Shouren rode out of Juyong Pass at the age of fifteen, and saw the grassland and desert outside the Saiwai for the first time. Zhu Yuanzhang drove the Mongolians out of the Central Plains to establish the Daming Dynasty, and during the Yongle period, Zhu Di repeatedly made personal expeditions, and the Mongolian cavalry had to retreat north repeatedly. But at the moment, the Ming Dynasty was weak, and there were many invasions of the border by Warat and Tatar, threatening the rule of the Ming Dynasty.
Figure | Documentary "Wang Yangming". ©
Returning from Guanwai, Wang Shouren told his father a terrific plan. He wanted to write to the emperor and allocate tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to go out of the customs to fight against the Tatars and defend the territory for the Ming Dynasty.
At this time, Wang Shouren was only a fifteen-year-old boy, and in the eyes of his father Wang Hua, this action was naturally nonsense. But judging from Wang Yangming's military talent in the future, perhaps he was not just whimsical at this time.
After his dream of leading troops out of the customs and killing the enemy was strangled in the cradle by his father, Wang Shouren had a new ideal in life. It's just that in the eyes of others, it's even more outrageous. His new ideal was to be a saint.
Wang Shouren thought of it and put it into action. It's just that he doesn't know how to become a saint, so he has to keep exploring. In the eyes of others, his behavior is becoming more and more grotesque.
Seeing that he was going farther and farther down the evil path, his father realized that if he didn't find a way to discipline Wang Shouren, he would probably not only fail to become the pride of the family, but also become a joke and disgrace the Wang family.
The way Wang Hua thought of was to ask him for a family affair, let the woman and the family manage him, so that he would not think nonsense, and think about fame with one heart, and barehead the lintel. This year, Wang Shouren was seventeen years old, and he was repeatedly jumping between Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism to explore the path to the saint, and he almost went mad.
His father set him a parent, the daughter of an official eunuch in Nanchang, Jiangxi. At that time, Wang Shouren left Beijing alone to get married in Nanchang, but on the wedding night, he disappeared as the groom.
Wang Shouren didn't run away from marriage, he just forgot that he got married on the same day. On the same day, he went out for a stroll, passing by a Taoist temple on the outskirts of the city, and chatted speculatively with the Taoist priests inside, and he thought that he might be able to learn the way to the sages. He began to learn to meditate, and he sat for a day and a night. It wasn't until the next morning, when everyone was anxiously looking for him, that he remembered that yesterday was his wedding day.
Everyone felt that something was wrong with Wang Shouren's brain. In the eyes of ordinary people, he is indeed somewhat neurotic. But only he understood that he was only single-mindedly exploring the path to the sages.
Figure | Documentary "Wang Yangming". ©
Wang Shouren started with Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, trying to find inspiration to become a sage, but unfortunately he had no clue.
In the year after marriage, Wang Shouren lived in a miserable life. The father-in-law's family is not good to interfere too much, let him go, as long as he doesn't lose it again.
A year later, Wang Shouren returned to his hometown in Yuyao with his newlywed wife. Halfway through, he met Lou Liang, a university scholar at the time, and asked for advice on how to become a sage. Lou Liang told him that if he wanted to become a sage, he had to "exhaust his reasoning".
This is the proposition of Zhu Chengli in the Song Dynasty. Everything in the world has a "reason", and everyone should "save the reason of heaven and destroy people's desires". Some people interpret "reason" as a law, and "learning from things and poor reason" is to grasp the law of all things. "Gewu" is the method, and "poor reason" is the goal. How to find things, Zhu Xi didn't say. Cheng Yi said, "Today's grid is one thing, tomorrow's grid is one thing", until one day "suddenly through, finally know the truth of heaven".
From then on, Wang Shouren only read Zhu Xi's books, hoping to find a way to learn from things. Unable to find a way in the book, he decided to give it a try himself. Since Cheng Yi said that he wanted one thing and one thing, Wang Shouren decided to start with the bamboo in his backyard.
He didn't eat or drink, and stared at a bamboo tree in a daze, trying to find the "reason" hidden in the bamboo. His family thought he was stupid again, but he said that he was enlightening the way of a saint.
Wang Shouren faced the bamboo for a few days and nights, but the "reason" did not come out, but he became seriously ill. For the first time, he also had doubts about Zhu Xi's remarks, so can he really be reasonable? Can you become a sage?
Seeing his son's crazy and stupid energy, Wang Hua understood that he couldn't count on him to go further, but he begged not to be too embarrassed. The father and son therefore reached an agreement, as long as Wang Shouren can be admitted to the Jinshi, he will be free to do whatever he wants from now on.
Figure | Documentary "Wang Yangming". ©
Everything went well, and Wang Shouren was lifted at the age of twenty-one. Just when everyone thought that he was about to be admitted to the Jinshi in the gold list, he was not on the list in the two examinations in the sixth year of Hongzhi (1493) and the ninth year of Hongzhi (1496). Wang Hua was very anxious, seeing that his son was not confused when he was approaching, and he couldn't even pass the Jinshi exam, which was both worrying about his future and embarrassing. Wang Shouren himself is also very frustrated, if a Jinshi can't pass the exam, what is there to talk about being a saint!
Soon Wang Shouren was no longer depressed, but his father Wang Hua was even more depressed. Wang Shouren told his father that he was really wrong to repeatedly think about such an inconsequential matter as falling off the list. He believes that only by learning the art of war can he truly serve the country.
At this time, Wang Shouren was already twenty-six years old, and since then he has only read military books, learned the art of war, and also practiced martial arts and cavalry archery. In order to comfort my father, I occasionally read the Four Books and the Five Classics.
In this way, when Wang Shouren was twenty-eight years old, he took the third general examination and finally won the Jinshi with a good score of second place.
Wang Shouren entered the official career, Wang Hua's wish has been fulfilled, and he will no longer interfere with him too much. Wang Shouren is not active in officialdom, and he still wants to be holy, but unfortunately he still hasn't found the way.
Until one day, Wang Shouren walked into a monastery in Hangzhou when he was asking for Buddha and met a monk who had attained the Tao. It is said that the master has already seen through the red dust, and the four major ones are empty and the six roots are pure. Wang Shouren discussed Buddhism with the master, but nothing came of it. But he asked the master a question, and he benefited a lot.
When he learned that the master's mother was still alive, Wang Shouren asked him softly, "Do you miss your mother?" ”
It should have been that no one had ever asked the master this question, because everyone thought that missing his mother was something that only ordinary people would do, and since the master had attained enlightenment, it must be different from the mortal womb with the naked eye, and all the worldly feelings should have been severed long ago. Only the master himself knows that this is not the case.
Wang Shouren's question caused the master to fall into a long silence, and he was embarrassed and ashamed. But he is still an honest person after all, and he answered Wang Yangming truthfully: "How can you not want to? ”
What happened next was even more unexpected. Wang Shouren said to the master: "It is human nature to miss my mother, what is there to be ashamed of? ”
When the master heard this, tears flowed for a long time. He leaned over and bowed deeply to Wang Shouren, then packed up and went home to accompany his mother.
At that time, Wang Shouren may not have known that it was not until this time that the master really attained enlightenment, and it was under his on-demand.
What Wang Shouren never expected was that at this moment, he was actually only one step away from becoming a sage.
Figure | Documentary "Wang Yangming". ©
Zhu Chengli has always emphasized the need to "preserve the principles of heaven and eliminate human desires". It's as if human desires have been intolerable from the very beginning. That's why everyone generally thinks that a monk who has attained the Tao can't miss his mother like a mortal.
Wang Shouren's on-demand broadcast of the master has inadvertently formed an understanding: human desire is the principle of heaven. Whether it is an ordinary person or an immortal, it is really not necessary to regard people's innate natural desires as enemies, let alone be ashamed of this, and everything should respect their true hearts.
Wang Shouren almost got the answer he had been working so day and night. But the unexpected happened.
In the eighteenth year of Hongzhi (1505), although Wang Shouren had a low official position, he performed very prominently. Others only asked the emperor to spare those ministers who opposed Liu Jin, but only Wang Shouren not only asked to save people, but also scolded Liu Jin as a traitor in the song.
There are many people who hate Liu Jin, but he was the first to scold Wang Shouren clearly, so he naturally got Liu Jin's special care, and he only wanted to kill him.
first picked up his pants and beat forty boards, but he didn't die. He was also charged with treason with the party and sent Jinyiwei to prison. In prison, he was entertained with all kinds of cruel punishments, physically and mentally. Wang Shouren is better than dead, and relies on the silent deduction of the "Book of Changes" to support himself to live. The methods were exhausted, and Wang Shouren did not die. But after all, he was an official of the imperial court, his father was the champion, and he had also been an emperor, and Liu Jin couldn't find enough reason to kill him blatantly, so he had to demote him to a remote noble dragon field to be a small post man, and he also sent Wang Hua to Nanjing to be a nominal official secretary.
Guizhou was an undeveloped remote place at that time, and most of the local natives were ethnic minorities, nominally the children of the Ming Dynasty, but in fact the imperial court almost ignored them. Yicheng doesn't even have a grade, let alone a good fortune.
Liu Jin exiled Wang Shouren to Longchang, Guizhou, just to make him suffer a lot, and it was best not to come back from now on. Even so, Liu Jin is still not at ease. Just as Wang Shouren was leaving Beijing and rushing to Guizhou, he secretly sent killers to intercept and kill him halfway. Fortunately, Wang Shouren had expected it, and when he ran to Hangzhou, he threw his hat and shoes into the Qiantang River, disguised as the scene of suicide by jumping into the river. In order to confuse the killer, he also took great pains to write a suicide note and left it by the river, probably meaning that he was humiliated and jumped into the river to get free.
The killer sent by Liu Jin didn't carefully verify it, and went back with the evidence specially left by Wang Shouren to hand it over. The killer must have described the fact that Wang Shouren committed suicide with a vivid voice and an oath. In addition, the local officials in Hangzhou also believed it and held a more solemn conjuring ceremony for Wang Shouren by the river, Liu Jin believed it and crossed out Wang Shouren's name in his mind.
escaped death, and Wang Shouren, who was officially recognized as dead, did not know where to go for a while. It is impossible to go back to Beijing, and it seems unreasonable to continue to report to Longchang for fear of affecting my family when I go back to my hometown. He decided to secretly visit his father in Nanjing first.
Figure | Documentary "Wang Yangming". ©
Wang Shouren's original intention was to say goodbye to his father and then find a place to live in seclusion for the rest of his life. However, Wang Hua was a traditional Confucian scholar, and felt that Wang Shouren should be diligent in the affairs of the king, reported to Jun'en, and suggested that he should go to Guizhou to take office.
Obviously, Liu Jin doesn't care about a dead Wang Shouren, nor does he care about the remote dragon farm. Otherwise, when Wang Shouren takes office, he will definitely know.
Although Wang Shouren escaped death, the tragic situation in the dragon field exceeded everyone's expectations.
Guizhou is located in the middle of nowhere, and although it has been incorporated into the territory of the Central Plains Dynasty as early as the Qin Dynasty, it has always been in a semi-civilized state. As far as the eye can see, there are mountains, miasma is everywhere, and most outsiders will not live long here.
The local indigenous people do not read and learn to write, and they do not understand Chinese at all. It is even more disobedient to the control of the government, some things obey the orders of the patriarch, and most things follow the most primitive law of the jungle, speaking with fists. The few Han people are all criminals who have been exiled here, and most of them are not good at stubble.
The situation at Longchang Station was even more miserable. Although it sounds like an institution of the imperial court, it doesn't even have a decent house. There are no subordinates, and the superiors don't care. Wang Shouren said that he was relegated here as a post man, but in fact, he had neither grade nor wealth. To put it simply, he was exiled to this place, and his life and death were left to fate.
When he first arrived at Longchang, before he had time to be depressed, Wang Shouren fell seriously ill first. He was already weak, but when he arrived in this wild place, he was tortured by illness, which made it even worse. More tormenting than the physical is mental despair. Scholars all take the world as their own responsibility, "set their hearts for heaven and earth, establish their lives for the people, continue their studies for the saints, and open peace for all generations," Wang Shouren's ambition is greater, and he wants to become a generation of sages. But in this place of Longchang, whether you can survive or not is a question, let alone show your ambitions!
escaped from Liu Jin's clutches with great difficulty, and still came to such a place of nine deaths. Wang Shouren built a sarcophagus for himself, which was both a house and a bed when he was alive, and when he died, he would lie down and bury him on the spot.
One day it rained heavily, and an old official passed by with his son and servants, describing himself as withered and full of sorrow, claiming that he was coming from Beijing and was going to work in a more remote place than Longchang, and stayed in the home of the local Miao people.
Wang Shouren wanted to inquire about the situation of Jingshi, so he sent a servant to inquire early the next morning, but the person had already left. When it was almost noon, I heard that an old man had died on the side of the road at the foot of the mountain, and the two of them were crying very sadly. In the evening, I heard that the dead man had become two, and one of them sat down and wept bitterly. When someone came the next day, they said that all three were dead.
Wang Shouren wounded him, took his servants and tools, and buried the three corpses in the barren grass. At first, the two servants were reluctant, but Wang Shouren said to them, "We are similar to them!" The two of them went willingly.
Figure | Documentary "Wang Yangming". ©
After burying three people who had never known each other, Wang Shouren came from it and found some simple sacrifices. I can't forget it, and I wrote a "Sick Travel Article".
In the text, he questioned the deceased almost in an accusatory tone: Who are you, where are you, who ran to this ghost place to be a lonely ghost! The ancients taught us not to leave our homeland easily, and I was degraded here, and there was no way. What are you trying to do? The official salary is less than five buckets, and he stays in the Central Plains to farm more than this number, and he can stay with his wife and children. Sold your seven-foot body for five buckets of rice? That's it, but also to take the son and the servant. If you really came here because of those five buckets of rice, then you should be happy. But why do I see your sad face again......
Wang Shouren seems to be asking questions to a dead man he doesn't know, but in fact, every sentence is asking his own heart. As he said, there was not much difference between him and the old man who died. At the end of the article, Wang Shouren also wrote two lyrics.
I am a song, and you listen to it. The song says: Even the peaks and the sky are dark, and the birds can't pass. The wanderer is nostalgic for his hometown, and he doesn't know the west and the east. I don't know the west and the east, but the sky is the same. Exotic, surrounded by the sea. Daguan is with the residence, and Xi must give the palace. The soul is terrible, and there is no sorrow to threaten.
He also sang a song to comfort him: The separation from the land of Erdu, the barbarians do not know each other's words. My life is unpredictable, I died in Zixi, and I led my servants to come from Yuxi. I and Er are frolicking, riding purple and riding on the text, looking at the hometown and sighing. I have been born and returned, Erzier's servant, Shang'er's follow, and there is no one to be sad! The mounds beside the road are tired, and many of them are displaced, and they are wandering with each other. The food is windy and dewy, and there is no hunger. Friends of the elk, twilight ape and perch. Er'an is dwelling, and doing nothing is better than the ruins!
——Wang Shouren, "Travel"
Wang Shouren is not comforting the dead, but comforting himself.
At this time, Wang Shouren had been in Longchang for three years, and every day was extremely depressed and desperate. At this time, when he saw the old official who died in a foreign land, he really saw himself, but there was no way to get rid of it. In the past three years, he has done his best to teach the ethnic minorities around him to learn literacy and etiquette, which has been very effective, but it is still far from his goal of becoming a sage.
The death of the old officer, master and servant made Wang Shouren understand a truth, objective things cannot be changed, but they can change their hearts. The change of heart will make one's state and realm different, and then the world will become different. The difference between people is simply because of the difference in heart. The so-called reason for everything means that all people will have their own interpretation in their hearts when they see everything, so "the heart is reason, and there is nothing outside the heart." ”
This truth is incomprehensible to many materialists, and even criticized.
Figure | Documentary "Wang Yangming". ©
I once had a friend who went out with Wang Shouren. The friend pointed to a tree and flower on the side of the road and asked Wang Shouren: "Since you said that there is nothing outside your heart." You see, this tree and flower, growing in the deep mountains, opening itself up and withering, what does it have to do with my heart? ”
Wang Shouren's explanation is: "When you don't see the flowers, your heart and the flowers are silent. You see it, and the flower enters your heart. In your heart, it exists. ”
Wang Shouren complicated things. The layman's explanation is: What is not in my heart, what does it matter to me?
This is called "nothingness outside the mind". A relatively easy to understand example, until now, humanity has not known how big the universe really is and where the boundaries are.
Those unknown places are equivalent to non-existence for us. It cannot be ruled out that in some unknown space of the universe, a dazzling flower also grows, but if we don't see it, if we don't think about it, it will be as if it does not exist.
Since the world in our hearts is related to us, isn't changing a person's heart equivalent to changing that person's world?
That being the case, the correct attitude for us to live should be to seek from the heart, not to the outside world. After figuring out this truth, Wang Shouren found that he was very close to the goal of the sage: "The way of the sage, I am self-sufficient, and I do not seek anything else. In this way, not only Wang Shouren can become a sage, but everyone can be a sage, as long as there is a sage heart.
This is not enough. What does it take to become a sage? Of course, the first thing to ask yourself about is to ask your heart. Everything is in line with your heart, no matter what the situation, you can be at ease. This is called the unity of knowledge and action.
The reason why knowledge and action cannot be unified is because they are coerced and kidnapped by foreign objects. Tao Yuanming's so-called "being in the cage for a long time" is getting farther and farther away from his heart. Confucius said, "Do what you want and don't exceed the rules", which is the state of unity of knowledge and action.
Wang Shouren's epiphany was a milestone in the study of mind. Historically, it is known as the Dragon Field Enlightenment.
It is still the dragon field with a harsh environment, but after enlightenment, Wang Yangming suddenly felt that the world was bright. It's not that the dragon field has changed, it's that his inner world has changed.
The real legend of Wang Shouren's life really began. And the reason why he can write a legend is that from then on, all his actions are only inward pursuit of his own heart.
Figure | Documentary "Wang Yangming". ©