Wednesday, January 12, 2022 Sunny
Wang Yangming’s theory of mind emphasizes the role of the heart and the free, lively and spiritual experience of human life. Everything is not outside the mind, but within us. Everything exists based on human understanding.
Wang Yangming explained his theory of mind to his students and said: "When you didn't look at this flower, the flower and your heart went into silence together. When you looked at the flower, the color of the flower became clear for a moment. Then you knew that this flower, "Not outside your heart." It means that when we understand this thing, this thing has value to me. Otherwise, this thing has no value to me because it is not known by me. Perception.
In fact, the "heart" that Wang Yangming talks about is the original heart deep in the human heart, which is what Mencius calls conscience. When a person faces a problem, he does not need to ask for help from the outside world. As long as he seriously asks his own "heart", that is, his conscience, he can solve various problems well. The core of Yangming's theory of mind is "to develop conscience", which in today's vernacular is "to open up wisdom" and "find yourself".
For a person, when he is truly enlightened and understands the principle of "it is better to seek help from others than from yourself. If the Buddha does not help, everyone will help himself", he will turn inward for help when he is confused and helpless. To practice, you must first cultivate your mind, and to help others, you must first help yourself. Only with a clear mind and no worries can we reach the great state. There is no one in the empty mountain, and the water flows and the flowers bloom. The sky lasts for eternity, and the moon shines in one day. This moment is eternity. Heaven and man are originally one body, they move and act as they please, and everything is natural. This is the Yangming Mind Theory! The law of heaven is the desire of man.
His philosophy of mind is a wonder in the history of Chinese civilization and a wealth that every Chinese should be proud of. He sounded the clarion call for the liberation of human nature and led the trend of ideological liberation in the late Ming Dynasty. , his thoughts have been passed down through the ages.
The core part of Wang Yangming’s philosophy of mind is the unity of knowledge and action. That is to say, whether it is a person's knowledge or behavior, the moral laws originating from one's own heart are the essence of the heart. Knowledge and behavior are the same effort and cannot be separated. There is no question of who comes first and who comes last. In other words, if you have a conscience, you should act according to it. Failure to act does not count as knowledge. Knowledge is the beginning of action, and action is the completion of knowledge. This is his idea of ??unity of knowledge and action.
In this way, Wang Yangming highly integrated profound theoretical knowledge with practice, which made him a decisive and invincible commander on the battlefield, a fish in water in the officialdom, untouchable, unique in philosophical theory, and created a new era. He has never been a dogmatist. He advocates "practicing on things", which means to flexibly apply knowledge to everything. This kind of "unity of knowledge and action" has extremely important guiding significance for each of us.
Throughout Wang Yangming’s life, he didn’t want money or an official position. Not only did he not want to add insult to injury, he didn’t even want his own rewards. In the battle to quell King Ning’s rebellion, he single-handedly established an incredible empire. Although he had achieved great success, he willingly gave up his biggest prize, King Ning, just for the sake of ordinary beings. He was willing to retire after his success and give it to others.
His life was a bright one. He went through ups and downs and nearly died, but he was determined; he was involved in officialdom, ups and downs, but he cared about the people; he opposed violence and greed, and firmly believed in justice and conscience; He does not give up or abandon anyone and believes that everyone can become a saint.
In this world, there is a quality called integrity, and a kind of person called a righteous person. This is how Wang Yangming's heart feels like still water. Although the world is prosperous and chaotic, there is nothing in his heart. Before he died, when his disciples asked him what his last words were? He smiled calmly and said the last eight words, namely: "This heart is so bright, what else can I say."
So, is Yangming’s Psychology really helpful to our lives and work? Of course it will help, and the biggest help is to make people wiser. We people today are all too clever, and we are more calculating than anyone else, but we always like to care about everything, and in the end we make our hearts small, filled with all kinds of messy things, and we will never be pure in our lives.
That’s why Mr. Yangming clearly told the world in the "Traditional Records": Your heart is originally pure and bright, with vast energy. You are originally a saint, and a saint can travel freely between heaven and earth.
Of course, the world here is not about magical powers. If you think so, you are confused. Mr. Yangming wants you to awaken. Awakening is to find yourself, not to find some god outside. I come and worship you every day, filled with desires.
When you read "Traditional Records", you will suddenly understand: being able to respond to all things is a god, being able to have no worries is a tact, and this is magical power. Understand this, you will be able to deal with any situation in the world as it comes, you will be free and free from any constraints, and your connections and luck will get better and better.
Wang Yangming’s light, even though it has lasted for thousands of years and has been weathered by wind and rain, will eventually shine among all things in the world and the entire world. His wisdom has become a guide for countless people.