Without good thoughts and without evil thoughts, it is just a body. Having good thoughts and bad thoughts means that the mind is shaken. Knowing what is good and what is evil means having a conscience. Eliminating evil thoughts for the sake of good thoughts is to study things and gain knowledge.

This sentence comes from: Wang Yangming's "Xinxue"

Xinxue, as a school of Confucianism, can be traced back to Mencius. It was started by Cheng Hao in the Northern Song Dynasty and Lu Jiuyuan in the Southern Song Dynasty. Then it opened up its door and competed with Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism. In the Ming Dynasty, Wang Shouren (known as Yangming, who will be referred to as Wang Yangming below) first proposed the word "Xin Xue" and proposed that the purpose of Xin Xue is "to achieve conscience". At this point, Xin Xue began to have a clear and independent identity. academic context.

The six most famous people in Central Studies, according to Huang Zongxi's "Ming Confucianism Case": "The famous Wang scholars in Nanzhong, during the reign of Yangming, were Wang Xinqi, Huang Wuyue, Zhu Dezhi, Qi Nanxuan, Zhou Daotong and Feng Jiangnan wrote ""Xin Xue" teaches that conscience is the essence of the heart, and that there is no good or evil in the heart, which is the heart without selfishness and material desires. There is no good and no evil, which is also the state we pursue. It is "undeveloped" and cannot be divided into good and evil, so there is no good and no evil.

When people have thoughts and add this thought to things, this thought will have likes and dislikes, and the difference between good and evil. It can be said to be "already developed", and things will have neutrality. If they are in harmony or not, that means they are in line with the laws of nature or not in line with the laws of heaven. Those who are in the middle are good, and those who are not in the middle are evil.

Although conscience is neither good nor evil, it can freely know good and evil. This is the essence of knowledge. All knowledge and cultivation boil down to one point, which is to do good and avoid evil, that is, to use conscience as the standard and according to the Act according to your own conscience.