Compared with people, their materials are different, and the ancient sages know different talents, so they emphasize learning and expand.
-Dai Zhen
brief introduction
Dai Zhen (AD 1723 ~ 1777) was born in Xiuning, Anhui Province (now Tunxi City, Anhui Province). A famous linguist, natural scientist, philosopher and thinker in Qing Dynasty. In the twenty-seventh and thirty-eighth years of Qianlong, he was called the editor of Sikuquanshu. Ganlong will try for the sixth time in forty years. Because of his remarkable academic achievements, he was specially appointed to take the court examination and was awarded the same background as a scholar. Dai Zhen has a wide range of knowledge and is proficient in phonology, writing, calendar calculation and geography. He further expounded the principle of justice and criticized the theory of "killing human desires and preserving justice" in Neo-Confucianism. His thought of taking the individual as the truth and criticizing Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism had a far-reaching influence on the academic trend of thought since the late Qing Dynasty. Liang Qichao called him "the first scholar in pre-Qin", and Liang Qichao and Hu Shi called him the pioneer of modern scientific circles in China.
Character annotation
Dai Zhen was born in a small businessman's family and once worked as a street vendor with his father. When he was young, he studied under Jiang Yong, a great scholar. In middle age, he was a representative scholar of Broadcom Primary School (writing, phonology and exegesis), Confucian classics, history, astronomy, calendar and geography. In his later years, he was recommended to Siku Library to edit and sort out all kinds of astronomy, algorithms, ancient books and write abstracts. He was born a scholar and was awarded imperial academy Jishi Shu. After five years in the museum, he died of overwork. His philosophical works include Good Nature, Private Notes of Mencius, Interpretation of Mencius' Word Meaning, Answer to Peng Jinshi, etc. Both Yan and Dai Zhixue criticized Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties. Yan Yuan emphasized "action" and advocated "practical learning", while Dai Zhen emphasized "knowledge" and investigated "Tao" and "reason", which showed the spirit of attaching importance to knowing and doing in the process of criticizing and reflecting on the abuses of Neo-Confucianism in Qing Dynasty.
Main idea
Dai Zhen insists on the cosmology of "gasification is the Tao". He said: "Tao is still good; Gasification is popular and endless, so it is called. " He believes that the eternal movement of Yin-Yang and Five Elements is the true meaning of Tao. This is reflected in his works:
One yin and one yang are popular, and the husband is the Tao. There is a difference between "signified" and "signified" in ancient Chinese: whatever "signified" is "signified", such as "the nature of destiny, the nature of Taoism and the cultivation of Taoism are teaching" in The Doctrine of the Mean, that is, sex, Taoism and teaching. "If sex is destiny, Tao is also temperament, and teaching is also temperament. In the Book of Changes, "one yin and one yang is the way", which is the word of heaven. If we say "Tao is also called Yin and Yang". Anyone who says "speak it out" can tell the truth from the names mentioned below ... "Metaphysics refers to the Tao, and Metaphysics refers to the device." In Yi, it is not for Tao, but for Tao, which distinguishes metaphysics from Xiaer. Form, that is, the quality of formation; Metaphysics is still before form, and metaphysics is still after form. The unformed nature of yin and yang means that it is also true in metaphysics, but it is not clear in physics.
Dai Zhen believes that human nature comes from nature and human nature comes from heaven; There is nothing wrong with heaven, and there is nothing wrong with human nature. The value of human life is the same as the meaning of cosmic life: based on inherent virtue, it belongs to necessity, thus conforming to its nature. Dai Zhen called this "the acme of nature".