Wang Tingxiang (1474-1544), also known as Ziheng (子衡), was a native of Yifeng County, Kaifeng Province (present-day Yifeng Township, Lankao County, Henan Province) in the Ming Dynasty. Wang Tingxiang was an official, poet, and philosopher in the mid-Ming Dynasty. He served the official Zuo Du Yushi in the Metropolitan Inspection Yuan, serving the official honesty and public service; for the knowledgeable and creative; as a poet, he left many excellent poems, such as "Crossing the Li Mountain":
The jade girl nihon fights the rainbow, and the king immortal goes to the phoenix floor.
Only now there are only weeping poplar trees, leaving the Forbidden City in the cold.
In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Tingxiang was an upright official with a great sense of justice, who was jealous and hateful, had the courage to fight against the power and eunuchs in the middle of the Dynasty, and boldly proposed reforms in response to the social shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty, and strove to implement them.
Wang Tingxiang (stills)
Many of Wang Tingxiang's propositions and strategies were of positive significance for correcting the ills of the Ming Dynasty at that time.
For example, in the area of frontier defense, Wang Tingxiang advocated the selection of good officials and good generals, attached importance to repairing the city and the city, and built border defenses; he implemented various measures to strictly prohibit the greed and bribery of all gate armies, especially the eunuchs who dared to privately occupy the quota of the regular army; he advocated "giving military salaries to reserve troops," "vibrating the military system," and "educating soldiers in agriculture." All of this can be said to be a flaw in the dictatorship of the Ming court eunuchs at that time.
For another example, Wang Tingxiang took a clear-cut stand in advocating anti-corruption and anti-corruption; he went to the imperial court to request the dismissal of corrupt officials who were greedy for money and flattering, forming parties for personal gain, investigating and dealing with corrupt officials, re-investigating unjust imprisonment, and investigating all kinds of accumulated defects such as the accumulation of yellow books; he proposed anti-corruption and anti-corruption measures such as "suppressing arrogance," "auditing books," and "right rents." At the same time, he forcefully refuted the stubborn and conservative Confucians' proposal to restore the wells and fields; he proposed reforming the maladministration, adopting various measures to strictly prohibit the government from overreporting and fraudulently receiving money and grain, and implementing the "law of righteous warehouses."
For another example, on the issue of law enforcement, Wang Ting, on the contrary, opposed tyranny, advocating "law enforcement is upright" and emphasizing "prudence and clarity in prison".
In addition, on the issue of dealing with the peasant rebel army, he proposed "leniency in taxes and light labor", reformed the system of collecting silver grain and grain, benefited the people, and strove to put an end to the exploitation of corrupt officials and officials, so as to quell the peasant uprising.
Wang Court Minister Image
In terms of philosophical thought, Wang Tingxiang was one of the main representative figures of Ming and Qing shixue, and made important contributions to the Ming Dynasty in correcting the ideological misunderstandings of Cheng Zhu Lixue.
In terms of philosophical theoretical sources, Wang Tingxiang absorbed the qi ontological ideas of philosophers such as Xun Quan, Wang Chong, Zhang Zai, and Xue Xuan, and absorbed Fan Zhen's view of annihilation theory to create his "Dao Qi" theory.
Wang Tingxiang greatly appreciated the practicality of Zhang Zaiguanxue's thought, and through the play of it, he criticized Cheng Zhu Lixue and Lu Wangxinxue, injecting a fresh philosophical atmosphere into the ideological circles in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.
Wang Tingxiang's philosophical thought was based on a critique of Cheng Zhu Lixue and Lu Wangxinxue.
First of all, Cheng Zhu Lixue believes that "Heavenly Reason is the origin of all things", "The Principle of One Thing is the Principle of All Things", "There is Reason and then There is Qi", and regards Reason as the origin of the universe, and in Wang Tingxiang's view, such a theoretical view is neither in line with the facts nor reasonable. In essence, it is pseudo-Confucianism, a distortion of the fundamental theory of pre-Qin Confucianism.
Wang Tingxiang pointed out tit-for-tat: "The birth of all things, qi is the basis of reason, reason is the load of qi, and only when there is vitality can there be movement." In his opinion, "all reasons are out of anger, and there is no reason to be independent." Creation has its own entry into nothingness, self-action, this qi is always there, and it has not tasted extinction." "He who is born of qi is also, and although the qi is scattered, it is still in two rooms, and it cannot be extinguished, so it is said that 'all things cannot be too vain without scattering.'" Reason is rooted in qi, and cannot exist alone, so it is said that 'both God and sex are inherent in qi.' ("Horizontal Canal Rational Qi Discernment"). Therefore, qi is the foundation, and reason is out of qi.
Wang Tingxiang used this to criticize the science of science, saying: "Shi Confucian is said to be 'reason can be angry', that is, Lao's Dao sheng heaven and earth", "Lao Zhuang said that Dao sheng tiandi, Song Ru said that heaven and earth were preceded by only this reason, this is to change the face and establish the ear, what is the difference with Lao Zhuang's purpose? In Wang Tingxiang's view, Rigaku is just the "leftovers" of Lao Zhuang, which is a distortion of Confucianism.
Wang Tingxiang also pointed out: "Confucians know: There are all forms between heaven and earth, but reason is immortal. Rational invisible, and decayed? In terms of facts, after the concession is to be released, after the felling is to usurp, the field is bad and the county is set up, the feudal strike is set up in the county, the former cannot be done later, the ancient cannot be suitable for the present, the reason is appropriate for the time, the deceased are all dogs, are not decaying? That is to say, how can the so-called principles of intangible matter be immortalized? Even if it is reasonable, it is also a form that is adapted to the conditions of the times, and can only be possessed by the principle of qi.
Secondly, Lu Wangxinxue believes that "everything comes from the mind", "it is inside and not outside", "meditation without response", etc., and these views are only the embodiment of the heresy of the Taoist Yang Zhu school that absorbed Buddhist thought. In Wang Tingxiang's view, the "heart" is only perception and cannot change the status quo, so it is impossible to be nothing outside the heart. The view of mind science is just a reproduction of the view of meditation!
Wang Tingxiang criticized: First of all, the inside is to the outside, this is said to move the heart, the heart must not be moved; from the outside to touch the inside, this is said to be the heart, the heart must not be without, must not be without, can not be without... Why is it so touching that it reaches the world? Therefore, we should not be without heart. (Yashu I) "If the human heart has things, it is mainly what is things." (Shen Yan, vol. VI, "The Chapter of Immersion") As for saying "to the conscience of my heart to things and things" (the first part of the Yashu), it is even more false. In his view, "the heart cannot be without", and external objects touch people's hearts, which is "should be the heart", and the heart cannot leave the external objects.
Wang Tingxiang also said: "There is no change in the desert, everything in Vientiane has been formed, this silence is not felt, and the human heart and the created body are the same." So that there is no external feeling, how to move? The one who moves outside the cause also arises. Should be in the quiet also, the machine outside also. It has been done, and it is quiet. Therefore, it is possible to move to disturb the quiet, it is not possible to say that the movement is born in the stillness, and the situation is to be quiet to be born in the movement? He also said: "The study of heresy has nothing, silence and silence, silence and extinction; the study of My Confucianism has the Lord, quiet and feeling, and feeling and responding." In his view, only heretical studies can think that there is nothing outside the mind, and advocate that there is no external sensation, which can only lead to "silence" and lead to "extinction", which is the essence of heretical doctrines such as mind science and meditation, and is a false theory.
Writings by Wang Tingxiang
Wang Tingxiang established his philosophical system of "Dao Qi" through critical theory of science and psychology.
Wang Tingxiang believes that all things in heaven and earth originate from the invisible and ubiquitous qi, which is divided into yin and yang and can be transformed into different forms, so it can be seen that qi is an entity. He said, "Yuan Qi is the Dao body, where there is emptiness, there is Qi, where there is Qi, there is Tao, there is change in Qi, and there is change in The Tao." Qi is the Tao, the Tao is the Qi, and no clutch theorists can be used. In this way, qi and Tao, qi and void, qi and change are all linked and become unified.
He summed it up: "The Yuanqi, the President of Heaven and Earth and All Things." "Yuanqi becomes all things, and all things are born from Yuanqi." "Heaven and earth, water and fire." All things are transformed from the Yuanqi, and the cover is possessed by the Yuanqi itself, so it can transform the heavens and the earth, water and fire, and all things" (Yashu Part 1).
In Wang Tingxiang's philosophical system of thought, qi is both virtual and real, explaining: "It is the qi, the seed of form; and the form, the transformation of qi." One is false and one is real, and all are angry. (Neitai Ji, vol. 4, "Answering the Fourteen Songs of He Baizhai's Theory of Creation")
He also analyzed: "It is the accumulation and dispersion of the old qi, and there is no extinction." ...... For example, ice is in the sea, cold is ice, and gathering is also; melting is water, scattering. It gathers and scatters, the ice is inherently nothing, and the water of the sea is not damaged." "Although qi is invisible and visible, it is a real thing. The mouth can be sucked in, the hand can be shaken, and the non-empty and empty person has nothing to ask for. (The Inner Stage Collection, vol. 4, "Answer to the Fourteen Songs of He Baizhai's Treatise on Creation").
So, how does this qi, which is both virtual and real, come about? He explained: "Heaven and earth are not judged, yuan qi is mixed, there is nothingness, the yuan machine of creation is also, there is nothingness and there is qi, there is no qi, there is no qi, there is no qi, there is no beginning, there is no end." Can't know where it is, so it is called Taiji; it cannot be an elephant, so it is too virtual, there is a pole outside the yin and yang, the two qi are inducted, the group elephants are manifested, and the heavens and the earth and all things are born from it, and the non-entity is also? This is the most dialectical view of ancient Chinese philosophy on the interpretation of the origin of the world from the materialist point of view.
Since qi is the source of the world, and there is nothing other than qi to be the source, then God does not exist. Wang Tingxiang absorbed Fan Zhen's viewpoint of annihilation, denounced the heresy of gods and ghosts, and held that all kinds of theological views were nonsense.
He said: "The way of heaven is long and difficult to know, personnel affairs are close and easy to see, and those whose country is in crisis do not repair the government, the people are lost, and the superiors are derelict in their duties." Who sees the Emperor of Heaven? Who saw the Heavenly Emperor angry? In his view, only when people have qi can they have Gods, and only when they have qi and God can the body move, and when a person dies, he is destroyed by qi, and only the shell is not a living person, and there is no God.
Wang Tingxiang's qi science and his critique of science and psychology showed his profound philosophical thought and conformed to the trend of history, and among the scholars of his contemporaries, he criticized Zhu Xi as the most theoretical. Not only did he make his own independent judgment or sharp criticism of all the Dali scholars, but also the scholars of his contemporaries He Yao, Xue Hui and others also had fierce debates, and Wang Tingxiang's theory had theoretical contributions in both "breaking" (for science and psychology) and "standing" (establishing their own system of qi thought), and relatively speaking, "breaking" was more exciting than "standing".
Wang Tingxiang is the theoretical precursor of Ming Zhenxue, which has an important influence on the turn of Chinese philosophy in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and is a theoretical attempt to turn philosophy to reality, with Wang Tingxiang, there will be later famous practicalists Fang Yizhi, Gu Yanwu, Yan Yuan, Huang Zongxi Wang Fuzhi, Dai Zhen and so on.
Finally, take a look at Wang Tingxiang's very profound quotes:
1. The foundation of the government exists in agriculture.
2. Lead by example and be right for yourself.
3., the master of the move, point to the end.
4. There are thousands of skills, and they cannot be exquisite.
5. Those who can think of self-sufficiency, true; those who are skillful in habit, wonderful.
6. To speak of one thing is to do one thing, and to do one thing is to know one thing, the so-called true knowledge.
7. The study of a gentleman is broad in the outside and especially noble in the inside, and the truth is especially valuable in things.
8. Concentrate on contemplation to seek subtlety, observe and understand things as you go, and cultivate your own well-being.