【Commemorating the 1000th Anniversary of Zhang Zai's Birth】
Date: August 23, 2020
Organizers: Guangming Daily, International Federation of Confucianism, Confucius Xuetang Cultural Communication Center, Guangming Network
■Moderator:
Xu Ning (Professor, Institute of GuanXue, Shaanxi Normal University)
■Guests:
Li Cunshan (Research Fellow, Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
Xu Hongxing (Professor, School of Philosophy, Fudan University)
Ding Weixiang (Professor, Institute of Guanxue, Shaanxi Normal University)
Chang Xin (Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University)
Xu Ning: Hello guests! General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that since ancient times, China's intellectuals have the ambition and tradition of "establishing a heart for heaven and earth, establishing a destiny for the people, continuing to learn from the saints, and opening up peace for all the worlds". All philosophical and social science workers with ideals and ambitions should undertake the glorious mission entrusted by history. The phrase "establish a heart for heaven and earth" is the famous "four sentences of the horizontal canal". Zhang Zai (1020-1077), also known as Zihou, was a native of Fengxiang County (present-day Hengqu Town, Mei County, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province). He was the Grandmaster of Guan Xue and one of the founders of Song Dynasty Science. The Song Dynasty was the peak of the development of Confucianism, of which "Lian Luo Guan Min" is the most famous. "Guan" refers to Zhang Zaizhi's study, because of his lectures on Guanzhong, so his study is called Guan Xue. Zhang Zaiguanxue made important contributions to the mainstream spirit and core values of Song Ming Confucianism. 2020 is the 1000th anniversary of Zhang Zai's birth, in order to commemorate and remember the sages, inherit and promote the culture of GuanXue, the 2020 Confucius Academy Summer Debate Conference will carry out debates with the theme of "Zhang Zai's World". The debate is divided into two links: "argumentation" and "argumentation", and now it has entered the "argumentation" link.
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Li Cunshan: The neo-Confucianism of the Song Dynasty responded to the challenges of Buddhism and old doctrine, mainly to solve two problems, one is the self-cultivation of scholars, and the other is the governance of society, which is the Confucian "inner saint" and "outer king". Zhou, Zhang, Ercheng and other theorists constructed a set of theoretical systems with "reason, qi, mind, and sex" as the core category, which reached the level of theoretical thinking equivalent to the Buddha and old doctrines at that time, and fully expressed the value orientation of Confucianism. As far as the latter is concerned, this is also the "Four Sentences of the Horizontal Canal" that "establishes a heart for heaven and earth, establishes a destiny for the people, continues to learn from the saints, and opens up peace for all the worlds." In the 11th century, theoreticians such as Zhou, Zhang, and Ercheng, as well as other neo-Confucian scholars, completed a revival of Confucianism, thus re-establishing the main or subject status of Confucianism in Chinese culture.
Picture of a fragment of Zhao Mengkai's book "Xi Ming"
Zhang Zai is undoubtedly one of the pioneering builders of Taoism or Theory in the Song Dynasty, and zhou, Zhang, and Ercheng have their own theoretical characteristics. Generally speaking, Zhang Zaizhi's study is "to take "Yi" as the sect, "Zhongyong" as the body, and Kong Meng as the law", which is a saying in the "Song Shi Zhang Zai Biography". That is to say, Zhang Zai's thought is based on the exposition of the Zhou Yi, and also contains the ideas of the Zhongyong, the Analects, and Mencius. It can be seen from this that Zhang Zai read the "Zhongyong" in his early years and "still did not think it was enough", and after years of studying and explaining, the old thought "instead sought the Six Classics", he mainly established the basis of his ideological system from the understanding and interpretation of "Zhou Yi", so Wang Fuzhi said in the "Zhengmeng Commentary" that "Zhang Zi's learning is nothing more than "Yi".
There are still major differences in the academic community on how to recognize and evaluate Zhang Zaizhi's learning, and one of the focal points is whether Zhang Zai's philosophical thought is qi ontology. Mr. Zhang Dainian proposed in his "Outline of Chinese Philosophy" that in the Song Ming Theory, there are not only two schools of science and psychology, but also the theory of qi represented by Zhang Zai and Wang Fuzhi. I think that Zhang Zai and Ercheng are the same as Kong Meng, and the same rebuke of the elder, but in the construction of the theoretical system, there is a difference between the logical starting point of "pre-knowledge creation" and "pre-knowledge of ren", which forms the difference between qi ontology and theoretical ontology. Zhang Zai said: "Easy, creation also." The meaning of the saints is not to know the creation first, and then the knowledge of the creation is then exhausted. But he did not know creation, and thought that it was illusory. Zhang Zaizhi's theory of qi is determined by the logical starting point of his "prescient creation". Because there are differences in the understanding of the "Confucian discernment", Zhang Zaizhi first logically affirms that the world is real, and then says that the world is moral; Ercheng Luoxue logically affirms that the world is moral, and then affirms that the world is real. In affirming the reality and morality of the world, Guan and Luo are the same, and their differences are only different in the logical starting point of the construction of the theoretical system. We first affirm that Zhang Zai is a theoretician, but this cannot be excluded from the theory of qi represented by Zhang Zai and Wang Fuzhi in the thinking of the theoreticians.
In recent years, scholars who have denied that Zhang Zai's philosophy is a theory of qi ontology have mostly been influenced by Mr. Mou Zongsan's "two-tier existential theory". Mr. Mou talked about Zhang Zai's dichotomy of "qi and god" in "Mind Body and Sexual Body", and the historical material quoted is that "scattered and can be like qi, and clear and clear cannot be like god" as ". "Scattered and visible" refers to the accumulation of qi and tangible things, the "qi" mentioned here should refer to "temperament", and "clear and unsensable" is the invisible qi, "qi and god" do not constitute duality, which is what Zhang Zai said, "The nature of qi is virtual and God, then God and sex are inherent in qi". As for "God and sex are inherent in qi", Mr. Mou believes that "it is particularly suffocating and unsmooth", which is not based on Zhang Zaizhi's texts.
Regarding the "too illusory and formless, the ontology of qi", this "ontology" is not the "ontology" of "two-layer existence" in the Western philosophical sense. In the Song Dynasty Xiong Jie compiled the "Commentary on the Book of Sexual Theory", Xiong Gangda's annotation to this sentence is "in the emptiness, the initial invisible body, but the body segment of the gasification of the original nature", this annotation is correct. According to the term "body segment", it is like saying appearance or trait, "too illusory" is a trait that indicates the nature of "qi", not the "ontology" in the Western philosophical sense that transcends "qi". "Too virtual" originally refers to the vast and boundless space, because the qi is "infinite", "the xiwei is not formable", and "full of too virtual", so Zhang Zai said "too vain is qi" or "the void is qi". "Too vain" is not beyond time and space, not beyond qi. Zhang Zai said: "If it is said that the void can be angry, then the void is infinite, the qi is limited, the body is used in a special way, and the theory of nature that 'there is birth from nothing' is not known, and the so-called confusion or non-unity is commonly said." If we understand "too virtual" as an "ontology" in the Western philosophical sense that transcends "qi", it is precisely Zhang Zai's criticism of "virtual infinity, limited qi, and extraordinary use of the body."
Zhang Zai said: "Too vain is clear, qing is no obstacle, no obstacle to god; anti-qing is turbid, turbid is obstructed, and obstruction is shape." Then he said, "Where the qi is clear, it is clear, the dim is dull, and the clear pole is god." The phrases "too vain to be pure, and clear to be unhindered" and "qi to be clear" here obviously refer to the nature of "too virtual and invisible", that is, the nature of qi. Some scholars have said: "'Where qi is clear,' the 'qing' of the words 'qi' and the 'qing' of the 'too vain' in the previous chapter belong to two different levels of 'purity', and they should not be confused." The so-called "two different levels" are the "two layers of existence" that divide Zhang Zai's thought into "cosmic ontology" and "cosmogenesis theory". I think that in Zhang Zai's thought, "cosmic ontology" and "cosmogenesis" are unified or identical. If you arbitrarily interpret Zhang Zai's philosophy as "two-layer existence", you will be trapped in a situation where Zhang Zai will not be able to write articles. Zhang Zai's "too vain is clear" and "qi is clear" are immediately followed by the previous sentences, what reason do we have to say that his previous sentence is about "cosmic ontology" and the latter sentence is about "cosmogenesis theory"? I'll stop here and I'll add to that later.
Xu Hongxing: I will mainly discuss Zhang Zai's world of thought. Zhang Zai lived in the special historical era of the Northern Song Dynasty, the period of Confucian revival. From the Han Dynasty, the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, Chinese culture was in a crisis and was challenged by all sides, most notably from exotic Buddhism. In the face of Buddhism at that time, Chinese culture can be said to have been in decline at first, because the existing cultural traditions at that time could hardly cope with the series of problems raised by Buddhism at that time. With the continuous collision between cultures and the sinicization of Buddhist theory, it was not until after the Middle and Tang Dynasties that Chinese scholars gradually clarified their minds: the conflict between Chinese culture and Buddhism at that time was not the problem of metaphysical and instrumental level, not the superficial problem of monasticism or not, but the contradiction at the highest level of existence. This allows the two cultures to begin a dialogue on the same plane – responding to the highest question.
In the view of The Buddhist culture at that time, Chinese culture was actually very shallow, such as Zongmi's criticism of the Taiji Yuanqi theory in the "Theory of The Original People", and the criticism of hanging on to the biochemistry of people. Buddhism has set a two-tiered worldview of "this shore" and "the other shore", while our cultural tradition has always talked about only one world, seeing it as a living society, which exists, rationally and objectively. For example, Confucius often cleverly "prevaricated" the issues of "sex and heavenly tao" and "life and death", which is a clever slip and a common wisdom way for Both Confucianism and Taoism to deal with problems.
From the middle of the Tang Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, the "Confucian revival trend" and the "Tang and Song Dynasty transformation problems" have gradually unfolded. From Li Ao, to the Song Dynasty Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, Mr. Song Chusan, Li Qian and others all participated in the process. Faced with the deterioration of Confucianism, they realized that Chinese culture must stand on its roots in order to continue to develop. It was not until after the celebration of the calendar, in the academic atmosphere cultivated by Fan Zhongyan, that education and classics really began to revive. This entered a new stage in which the five sons of the Northern Song Dynasty re-established the foundation for Confucianism after clearing the obstacles. The first is Zhou Dunyi and Shao Yong, who have made important academic contributions, but many theoretical problems have not yet been effectively solved. When it comes to Zhang Zai and Ercheng, they actually continue to move forward by following the problems of the two and trying to correct their deviations.
Moreover, when I talk about the positioning of Zhang Zai's philosophy, I basically agree that he belongs to the philosopher who belongs to the "main theory of qi". "Qi" is too old, it existed before Kong Meng Laozhuang, matured in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Qi theory is rich in content and has become one of the most core concepts in the Chinese cultural tradition. In addition to the philosophical level, traditional medicine, astronomy, alchemy, geography, etc., are inseparable from the theory of qi. The Song Dynasty can be said to be another big explosion of Chinese qi theory, and it is Zhang Zai who represents its highest achievement and completes an ideological framework. After Zhang Zai's qi theory, I don't think it can surpass his.
Zhang Zai's entire philosophical foundation is on qi, and his main point of view cannot be said without qi. In fact, qi is an ontological thing of Zhang Zai, and then there is his theory of human nature, epistemology, and so on. Zhang Zai is an indispensable link in Song Ming's theory, and the ercheng brothers are equivalent to taking out a "theory" on the basis of Zhang Zai to complete the "upward machine", but there are also deviations. Zhu Xi was more clever, and he combined reason and qi together, so what really completed the construction of Song Ming's theory of science was Zhu Xi's "theory of rational qi".
What exactly does "qi" in Zhang Zai's philosophy refer to? There are still many different views in the academic community, which are worth continuing to explore. The question I am most concerned about is where does Zhang Zai's qi theory ultimately end? I think it fell on the "people's compatriots" of "Ximing", so it returned to the real roots of Chinese philosophical culture, so Ercheng highly commended "Ximing". The implementation of "people's compatriots and things" is the manifestation of the idea of the unity of heaven and man in traditional philosophy, and Zhang Zai uses qi theory to unify heaven and man. This is closely related to Ercheng and Yang Ming's "benevolence and all things" or "benevolence of all things", which is the most concerned issue in Chinese culture, establishing the Confucian emphasis on survival and the realistic concern of life at present; it is also a response to Buddhism's "living to death" and pessimistic emptiness, which actually solves the ultimate problem of human existence.
Zhang Zai's contribution is very important, he reactivated the old framework of the theory of the unity of heaven and man handed down from the pre-Qin Dynasty in the Song Dynasty, and under the new historical conditions, completed the construction of the theory of the unity of heaven and man. This is the center of gravity and foothold of Zhang Zai's thought, and the value and positioning of Zhang Zai's philosophy are all here. He filled in the theoretical loopholes of previous generations of scholars. Today, we are facing the second period of large-scale introduction of foreign cultures, and if Chinese culture wants to make a new breakthrough on the basis of absorbing foreign cultures, it should be able to find experience in its own cultural traditions. Zhang Zai's idea of jumping out of the old problems and frameworks and extensively absorbing the foreign wisdom of the Buddhist Path can all give us inspiration and reference.
Ding Weixiang: I summarize Zhang Zai's philosophy into three layers. The first layer is Zhang Zaiwei's life and life in politics. Zhang Zai has always advocated that politics and Taoism are not the same, and his life experience is relatively simple.
The second layer is Zhang Zai's theoretical construction of the world. Zhang Zai was confronted with a major theoretical problem of Confucianism—the unity of heaven and man. From Zhou Yi to Xunzi to Han Confucianism, he has some arguments about the unity of heaven and man, but Zhang Zai criticizes this theory of cosmogenesis. For example, Xun Zi said in "The System of Kings": "Water and fire have qi but no life, grass and trees have life and ignorance, animals and animals have knowledge but no righteousness, people have qi, life, knowledge, and righteousness, so they are the most expensive in the world." "From water and fire all the way to man, this is a process of cosmic evolution, and its starting point is qi. This kind of biochemical cosmology, which continues to the study of the Two Han Classics, was first criticized by the Three Theories of Sangha. Because according to the Buddhist theory of dependent voidness, existence and non-existence are dependent and existing, not true existence and true non-existence, which is equivalent to completely sweeping away the dispute between existence and non-existence from the Two Han Classics to Wei and Jin metaphysics. In the tantric tantra, since qi is based on biochemical epidemics, if we want to solve the problem of the unity of heaven and man on the basis of qi, it is equivalent to basing ourselves on biochemical epidemics, which lacks the basis of reality and oneness. Within Zhang Zai's theory, is it a kind of equal relationship between void and qi, nature of heaven and earth and temperament, and knowledge of virtue and smell? In fact, this grasp of dichotomy is a major theoretical creation of Zhang Zai, but he also needs to unify these two-way levels. Zhang Zai tried to find a true, one entity to serve as a solid foundation for the unity of heaven and man.
The third layer is the world of Guan Xue's study style and human spirit represented by Zhang Zai. The Song Dynasty was a society dominated by small landlords and self-employed farmers, while Guanzhong used to be the ancient capital of the Thirteen Dynasties. In the Song Dynasty, with the eastward migration of the political and economic center to the south, it began to show regional folk customs, which was the basis for the formation of Guan Xue. From the perspective of the approach to learning style and the spirit of being a person, if Zhang Zai is the theory of qi, then "people's cells and things" have become a clump of biochemical qi, how will Confucian values be established?
I think that Zhang Zai is too virtual ontology, and the gasification epidemic shows the role of the "too virtual" ontology, which is the so-called "virtual qi phase", that is, "too virtual" is always inherent in the qi and inside all things, which is the construction of ontology rather than the biochemical theory of the universe. I am not opposed to the theory of gasification, but I just feel that there must be a turn and an improvement in placing Zhang Zai in the context of the development of science from Han and Tang Confucianism to Song Ming. Zhang Zai's "Too Virtual" is an ontological concept formed on the basis of inheriting his predecessors, which is mainly manifested in three connotations: the space of Zhuangzi, the biochemistry of easy transmission, and the benevolence of Confucian heaven.
People understand Zhang Zai as the theory of qi, mainly out of three aspects of "taboo". The first layer of "taboo" comes from the taboo of Buddhism at that time. In fact, Xiao Cheng's criticism of Zhang Zai's "big void" revolves around "too virtual". Zhu Zi opposed Zhang Zai's "pinching qi to make one place", so it is necessary to separate the rational and qi, the metaphysical and the sub-form, Zhang Zai is actually a rolling theory of heaven and man, and the body. Luo Qinshun was dissatisfied with Cheng and Zhu's dichotomy, so he specially played the side of Zhang Zaiqi to correct Cheng and Zhu. Ming dynasty qiologists, including the later Wang Fuzhi, all highlighted Zhang Zai's qi content. However, there are also critics of Zhang Zai, such as Wang Tingxiang, who opposes Zhang Zai's "immortality" and "sex", believing that it is "a view of fragmentation and nothingness, and the Buddha's view". Therefore, in order to keep a distance from Buddhism, Ming Qixue tried to avoid the "too virtual" side. The second layer of "taboo" is the taboo of idealism. Mr. Feng Youlan pointed out that if "void" refers to "qi", the "combination of falsehood and qi" on the list becomes "aiki and qi". Later, people thought that as long as they talked about "too vain", they would go to idealism, and I could not agree with this. The definition of matter is objective reality, but who can deny the objective reality of space? It exists, but it is formless and invisible. Therefore, Zhang Zaicai specially built his own metaphysical system based on "too virtual", and "too virtual" has both metaphysical attributes and is internal to the gasification epidemic, which is the true spirit of Confucianism. The third "taboo" is a taboo for Mr. Mou Zongsan. It seems that since Mr. Mou said" "too virtual god body", then we must talk about qi.
As a student of Guan Xue, I think that for any thinker in the history of thought, we must regard him as an objectively existing independent world, seriously go in and look at his world, so that it is established, to see the problems he cares about, his spiritual orientation, and to see how his philosophical edifice is constructed. After internalizing his system, look at people's elaboration and research on him. When we study Zhang Zai, we must take Zhang Zai as our entire world, rather than going to the Zhang Zai Ji after we have formed our own ideas to find the basis that meets our needs.
Chang Xin: I will mainly discuss two controversial issues that Zhang Zai's thought and research have not yet been resolved. The first problem is Zhang Zai's academic positioning. Lü Da Lin said in "Mr. Hengqu's Behavior" that Zhang Zai "saw that ercheng abandoned heterogeneous learning". Also holding the same views as Lü Da Lin were You Shu's "After the Book" and Yang Shi's "Mr. Bahengqu and Yichuan Jian". The description of the relationship between Zhang Zai and Ercheng in these three literatures seems to confirm that Zhang Zaiqi's learning comes from Ercheng. I think this issue is still debatable.
First, let's look at the problem of Lü Dalin's writing of the "Xingzhi". Lü Da Lin studied with Zhang Zai for about 6 years, while he studied with Ercheng for about 15 years, and the depth of his influence on Ercheng's thought can be imagined. However, when reading the "Xingzhi", it was found that the first sentence of Lü Dalin's sentence was an account of Zhang Zai's "courageous withdrawal of Gao Bi" in the first year of Jiayou, so it magnified Zhang Zai's intention of learning Ercheng, and this behavior was severely reprimanded by Ercheng: "Cousin Pingsheng discussed that the Yi brothers had the same place, but if they learned from the Yi brothers, it was nothing." This shows that Zhang contains the meaning of modesty and learning, while Ercheng is unwilling to seize the beauty of people and has a humble gentleman's personality.
Let's look at two questions from You's "After the Book line". The first is to exaggerate Zhang Zaixiang's meaning of learning the second course and the discussion of the issue of "characterization"; the second is to summarize the tradition of "bowing down to etiquette" of the Guan Sergeant as the second course of "fazhi". The following questions were raised about the former: Zhang Zai and the second-course theory were roughly three times, the first two Zhang Zaizhi's studies had not yet been finalized, and there were many benefits to the second course, and the third theory, that is, the "Luoyang Discussion" in the year of Zhang Zai's death, had already shown the obvious differences between Zhang Zai and the second course. As for the "qualitative" issue, the "Reply to Mr. Zhang Zihou's Book of Hengqu" records In more detail Cheng Hao's reply to Zhang Zai's question, Zhang Zai has a more mature thinking on "sex", and Cheng Hao agrees with this. Regarding the traditional issue of Sergeant Guan's "bowing to etiquette and teaching", Ercheng commented on Sergeant Guan as follows: "The scholar of Guanzhong is a scholar of linguistics and politics, a scholar of politics and the study of liturgical military punishment, and a scholar of Shu Jishan. It can be seen that the Guanzhong ritual tradition was not formed by Zhang Zai inspired by the second journey, but has existed since ancient times. This can also be corroborated by Sima Qian and Zhu Xi.
Yang Shi's "Mr. And Yichuan Jian" Yun: "The origin of the study of Hengqu is from the Cheng clan, and the guanzhong students respect their books and want to be their own family, so they record this brief to show scholars, so that although the knowledge of Hengqu is detailed, it must be consulted in the second course, then the others can already be known." This document contains the meaning of Cheng Men's disciples' contention for the right to speak in science.
The first question I would like to conclude with Zhu Xi's fairer evaluation: "The study of Hengqu is actually a family of its own, but its source is from the ears of Mr. Er. ”
Let's talk about the second issue, that is, Zhang Zai's academic approach and direction. Zhang Zai, known as the "Five Sons of the Northern Song Dynasty", incorporated Zhu Xi's Daoist sequence, but after Ercheng, this order diverged within Theory. I explain this from a linguistic point of view.
The question of language in Zhang Zai's ideological expression is expressed in Ercheng, Zhu Xi, and later Wang Fuzhi. For example, Ercheng's letter to Zhang Zai said: "The meaning is repeatedly suffocated, and there are small in and out. Zhang Zaizi was inferior to Ercheng, and during the seven years he returned to Hengqu, he "sat in a room all day long, editing left and right, reading from top to bottom, thinking about it, knowing what he had, or sitting up in the middle of the night, taking a candle and a book", this process of learning was as Cheng Hao said, "The son is thick but so unfamiliar".
Combined with Ercheng and Zhu Xi's micro-words on Zhang Zai's thoughts and Zhang Zai's self-description, it involves linguistic issues. The process of Zhang Zai's writing of "Zhengmeng" is exactly the process in which Wittgenstein's so-called boundaries of language and the "boundaries" of my world in "Logical Philosophy" coincide, Zhang Zai strives to use concise and concise language to clearly express the problems of heaven, Tao, sex, and mind in "Zhengmeng", but during this time, he encounters the harmony of his own thoughts and the difficulty of using language, resulting in the dilemma of "repeatedly suffocation of meaning". As the successor of the Ercheng Thought, Zhu Xi disagreed with Zhang Zai's use of "Tai Xuan" as a Daoist body, so it is not difficult to understand that Zhang Zai should be ranked after the Ercheng, and the Daoist lineage he constructed was confirmed and passed on in the later Cheng Zhu Lixue.
Let's examine it from another angle, that is, the originality and perfection of the "Northern Song Dynasty Five Sons" theory system. Among the five sons, Zhou Dunyi's "Wuji and Taiji", Ercheng's considerate "Tianli", Zhang Zai's "Too Vain is Qi", and Shao Yong's "Elephant Number" science undoubtedly opened up a new world of Confucianism in the Northern Song Dynasty. However, in terms of the rigor of the "Heavenly Dao Life" integrated logic and the completeness of the system, Zhang Zai's "Zhengmeng" is slightly superior, especially Zhang Zai's "Ximing" is highly praised by Ercheng and Zhu Xi. From this point of view, it also makes sense to put Zhang Zai before the second journey.
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Xu Ning: Let's move on to the debate and exchange session. I first asked Professor Ding Weixiang, Mr. Feng Youlan, in the "New Edition of the History of Chinese Philosophy", proposed that "who is the founder of Taoism", pointing out that it is only a misunderstanding to regard Zhou Dunyi as the founder of Taoism, and the real founders of Taoism should be Zhang Zai and Ercheng. Please ask Teacher Ding to talk specifically about zhang Zaiguanxue's pioneering and foundation for Song Ming's science?
Ding Weixiang: I think Zhang Zai's ontology of too virtual is of great significance, the first of which is to reverse and correct the gasification cosmology since the Han and Tang Dynasties, so as to elevate the entire Confucianism to the level of ontology. Its specific manifestation is that Zhang Zai believes that knowing people but not knowing the heavens, seeking to be a sage and not a saint, is a great cover for scholars since the Qin and Han dynasties. At the same time, Zhang Zai also criticized that after Kong Meng, his mind was not transmitted, such as Xun and Yang could not know, that is, he criticized the lack of transcendent pursuit of Han and Tang Confucianism, believing that Confucianism must be established on the basis of a transcendent metaphysical ontology, so the ontological construction of the whole theory of science began with Zhang Zai. The second is that Zhang Zai proposed the "too virtual" ontology, in fact, existence and implementation is space, but it is the premise of biochemistry, the basis of Tiande. Therefore, Zhang Zai's "too virtual" essence not only absorbs the buddha's metaphysical consciousness, but does not return to emptiness, because space is real, so Zhang Zai really internalizes the buddha's metaphysical pursuit of spirit, but does not boil down to Buddha. Among the five sons of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhang Zai first explored the metaphysical formation mechanism, such as "the metaphysical person, the name of the proud Si, the name of the Si Dexiang", if Zhang Zai is the ontology of qi, then his discussion of metaphysical cannot be established, because the qi that theoreticians jointly believe that qi exists as a reality can only be at the metaphysical level. Third, among the five sons of the Northern Song Dynasty, Shao Yong promoted the Taiji of the origin of all things in heaven and earth through the interpretation of "Yi Chuan" and Yang Xiong; as for Zhou Dunyi's "Taiji Diagram", it is a typical cosmological biochemical theory. If Zhang Zai is the theory of qi, then Zhang Zai can directly expound Tai Chi like Shao Yong and Zhou Dunyi, but Zhang Zai carefully tasted in "Taihe", "Tai Void" and "Tai Chi", and finally chose the concept of "Too Virtual", which has the attribute of nothingness, but does not boil down to nothingness, which is the most powerful anti-Attack on the Buddha at that time. From Shao Yong to Zhou Dunyi, in fact, it is a set of cosmic biochemical theories, and only Zhang Zai has elevated them to the height of ontology, so from Zhang Zaizhi's "too virtual" to the "Heavenly Reason" of the second journey, it is completely the same logical forward relationship.
From this point of view, the whole theory from the Five Sons of the Northern Song Dynasty to the Three Sages of the Southeast is presented as a series of exploration movements of elite figures going forward and after, and Zhang Zai's interpretation of the "Zhongyong" expounds the two different ways of learning, "self-sincerity" and "self-sincerity", which are implemented between Cheng Zhu and Lu Wang. Self-evident and sincere is to start from the extroverted personality to know, so the first exhaustion of reason to exhaustion; and the latter is to first exhaust to exhaust reason. Therefore, since Zhang Zai's too virtual ontology, rigaku has finally transcended Han and Tang Confucianism and advanced to the ontological stage. Of course, Zhang Zai's "too virtual" ontology is still insufficient in terms of penetrating the heavenly beings, which is also the development of the two-way heaven theory to Zhang Zai's too virtual ontology.
Zhang Zai played a role in opening up the scale and defining the dimension of the entire science. From a historical point of view, Zhang Zai is a theoretical pivot from the perspective of the universe of the Han and Tang Dynasties to the ontological perspective of Song Ming, which I think is a reasonable positioning of Zhang Zai.
Li Cunshan: Zhang Zai's "too virtual is qi" or "emptiness is qi", is this "ie" meaning "phase that is"? If Zhang Zai says "too vain is qi, qi is too virtual", then it can be said that "the virtual qi phase is", but Zhang Zai only said "too virtual is qi" or "void is qi", and did not say "qi is too virtual", so this can not be said to be "virtual qi phase". In fact, "i.e." has the etymological meaning of "near", which was later used in a common usage meaning "is". Zhang Zai's "too virtual is qi" or "void is qi" is the common use of the word "ie".
As for saying that the theory of gasification generation is not enough to solve the problem of Song Ru's "unity of heaven and man", this is to narrow the meaning of Zhang Zai's "too virtual is qi" or qi ontology. Zhang Zai said that "too virtual and formless" and "too vain is qi", its meaning is to say "in the emptiness, the initial invisible body", too virtual is full of invisible qi, which is "the body segment of the natural gasification". Why can't Zhang Zai say "Qi is too vain"? Because the qi is gathered and dispersed, this is the "guest form of change", "there is a guest who comes and goes", the gas is gathered and tangible, this is not the "body segment" of the nature of gasification, so it cannot be said that "qi is too virtual". The gathering and dispersion of qi is originally based on the "too virtual and invisible" qi, so Zhang Zai's philosophical thought can be said to be the theory of qi.
Is Zhang Zai's philosophical theory of qi just a simple cosmopolitan biochemistry? This is not in line with the reality of Zhang Zai's thoughts. Zhang Zai said that "the most quiet and insensitive, the source of sex", "too vain is clear, the clear is no obstacle", "the qi is clear and clear", which is to take the "too virtual and invisible" qi as the "source of sex", which is the source of "the nature of heaven and earth" between man and all things. Zhang Zai said, "Zhan Yi, the origin of qi; attack, the desire of qi." "Zhan Yi" refers to the "pure" state of qi that is "too illusory and formless", while "attacking, the desire of qi" refers to the "temperamental nature" caused by the "turbidity" or "faintness" of temperament. Therefore, in Zhang Zai's thoughts of qi purity and turbidity, communication and obstruction, there are two meanings of "the nature of heaven and earth" and "the nature of temperament".
Zhang Zai said that "the combination of falsehood and qi, there is the name of sex", "the totality of sex, the combination of two also". The "combination of two" here, I understand, is that Zhang Zai's "name of sex" contains two aspects: "the nature of heaven and earth" and "the nature of temperament". Therefore, the "qi" of "combining falsehood and qi" also refers to temperament. For Zhang Zai, "by gasification, there is the name of the Tao", so "the unity of sex and the Heavenly Dao" also contains the meaning of "gasification". Zhang Zai said that "too vain is pure, and purity is no obstacle", "all qi is clear", "the most quiet and no feeling, the source of sex", these are all the origins of "the nature of heaven and earth", that is, the source of human sexual goodness. The Confucian value orientation is contained in Zhang Zai's "too vain is qi" theory of qi, which is not a simple theory of cosmogenesis, and does not mean that after the qi is gathered into tangible things, qi and all things have no relationship. Zhang Zai said that "nature is in man, and the nature of water is in ice, and although condensation is different, it is one thing", which means that the "nature of heaven and earth" or "the nature of origin" originating from the "too virtual and formless" qi is intrinsic to man and all things. Zhang Zai actually inherited the idea of "the great virtue of heaven and earth" in Yi Chuan, and the first sentence of the Xi Ming said that "Qian is called father, Kun Chengmu" is derived from the "Qian, Tianye, so called Hu Father; Kun, Di ye, so called Hu Mother". Professor Xu Hongxing just talked about the "people's compatriots" proposed by Zhang Zai, which is based on the principle of "Calling The Father in Qian and Calling The Mother in Kun", which is used as a theoretical support to realize the unity of the Confucian Heavenly Dao and humanity.
Xu Hongxing: Just now Brother Cunshan put forward his own views on the ontology of Xiang Tai void, and there is some truth in what he said. I have read Wei Xiang's book, and I understand his views in order to highlight the difference between "too virtual" and qi, which actually has an ontology and a phenomenon. I think that Zhang Zai's "too virtual" actually has a meaning, and this meaning is different from "qi", which is the basis for the existence of "qi". But it is a pure, "true" thing, pure, empty, and virtual, but it cannot be said that "too vain" and qi are another thing, and qi actually goes to the "too vain" in the end, but qi is a thing that can be consistent. You have different perspectives, so your understanding is also different.
I agree that Zhang Zai's academic ideology did predate the second course, especially the formation of the small course of thought. Professor Chang Xin said that later Ercheng disciples were a bit like the "unscrupulous" criticism of Ercheng, zhang Zai and Ercheng's views were different, that is to say, and "abandoning what they have learned and learning" is a bit too much, how is it possible? You are right to say that this is the orthodoxy of the theory of contention, which can also be called "the system of contention", and you are right in this question, in fact, there was such a trend at that time, such as Lu Xiangshan and Zhu Xi did not buy each other, which was related to their different understandings of the problem of Taoism.
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Xu Ning: Today's academic dialogue of the four guests represents the first-class level of Zhang Zai's research in China, and truly achieves the goal of speaking with benevolence, listening with learning, and arguing with a public heart. Zhang Zai said that "for the sake of the saints to continue to learn", we are also "for the Hengqu to continue the study of Guan", to tell the story of Hengqu well, carry forward the spirit of Guanxue, and strengthen cultural self-confidence. This concludes today's polemic. Thank you again to the four guests for their wonderful arguments, thank you all!
(Text: Wang Wenqi, Sun Deren)
Guangming Daily (2020.09.12. 11th edition)