When Wang Yangming was born, his name was Wang Yun. At the age of five, he couldn't speak. Later, at the request of a monk who thought he could talk, he changed his name to Wang Shouren. When he was studying in the capital at the age of twelve, Wang Yangming asked his familiar teacher, "What is the first thing?". The teacher said, "Only reading can get the first place in the imperial examination", but he said, "The first thing is probably not reading, but learning to be a saint." In fact, he didn't follow the rules since he was a child, and all the records said that he was less "heroic and uninhibited". In the twelfth year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty (1499), Wang Yangming was admitted to the Jinshi examination and was given charge of the Ministry of Military Affairs. At that time, the whole court knew that he was a learned man.
3. In the year of Zheng Deyuan in Ming Dynasty (1506), Wang Yangming was sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment for opposing eunuch Liu Jin, and was demoted to Longchang, Guizhou as a post-official. On the way, Liu Jin sent someone to kill him, and he wisely saved the day. Wang Yangming lives in a quiet and difficult environment, and these years' experience makes him reflect day and night. One night, he suddenly had a new understanding of the central idea of "university", thinking that people's hearts naturally contain the rules of world operation (mind is reason), and realized that everyone has the bright quality of a saint, and this bright quality is conscience. It is wrong to look for conscience from foreign things.
4. In the twelfth year of Zheng De (15 17), the Ministry of War recommended Wang Yangming, the governor of Jiangxi Province, to suppress the rebellion. Wang Yangming sent envoys to woo, and was about to go to Fujian to suppress bandits. Just arrived in Fengcheng, Ning Wang Zhu suddenly sent his troops to rebel. Wang Yangming actively prepared for the war, issued a campaign against Wang Ning's crimes. First, he used double agents to stop Wang Ning from attacking Nanjing, and took the opportunity to prepare for defending Nanjing. Wang Ning had no choice but to lead 60,000 people to capture Jiujiang and Nankang and cross the river to attack Anqing. Wang Yangming mobilized 80,000 troops (300,000 in foreign countries) to attack Nanchang, and then attacked the Wang Ning army that rescued Nanchang. Wang Ning escaped and was caught on the road. It took Wang Yangming 35 days to completely quell the rebellion in Wang Ning, and he was called "the God of Daming Army".
Wang Yangming has repeatedly made outstanding achievements, but later he was taboo because of his high achievements. He resigned from his post and returned to his hometown to give lectures. He founded academies in Shaoxing and Yuyao to recruit disciples. He opposed Zhu's pursuit of "reason" through things and advocated looking for "reason" from his own heart. He believes that "reason" lies in people's hearts, and physical chemistry breeds everything in the universe, so people hold their delicate characteristics, so people hold their essence, and knowing "initial heart" means understanding "heaven". In Wang Yangming's view, conscience is the heart of right and wrong, and the heart of likes and dislikes is the only criterion for judging right and wrong. Everyone has a conscience, from saints to fools, everyone has a conscience, and everyone has his own criteria for judging right and wrong.
6. After the Battle of Guangdong and Guangxi, Wang Yangming suffered from lung disease. On his way home, he passed Lingyuan Temple in Dayu, Jiangxi, and walked around the temple. He entered the room where a founder of the temple died, only to find that the dead old monk looked exactly like himself, and found a signature in the book "Wang Shouren in 57 years, asking you to know the future, opening the door is a closed door". 1529 65438+1On October 9th, Wang Yangming died in Anzhou, Jiangxi. On his deathbed, the students around him asked him what his last words were, and he said, "This heart is bright, what can I say!" " .