Zheng Xuan in the Eastern Han Dynasty first annotated "Shi Shi", but since Song Confucianism separated "Da Xue" from the Book of Rites and became a part of the Four Books, the meaning of "Shi Shi" has gradually become a hot topic of debate among later Confucian scholars, even today. At present, the popular explanation of "learning while learning" is based on some viewpoints of Zhu Theory in the Southern Song Dynasty, which holds that "learning while learning" means acquiring knowledge and truth.
The fifth edition of Modern Chinese Dictionary published in 2005 interprets "knowing knowledge by studying things" as "reasoning about the principles and laws of things and summarizing them as rational knowledge". "Knowing knowledge from things" contains the spirit of seeking truth from facts, but its connotation is far richer than "seeking truth from facts". The difference between the current popular viewpoint and Zhu's viewpoint lies in the explanation of "knowing". Zhu's so-called "knowledge" is intellectual-including wisdom and knowledge-while the "knowledge" in modern popular views only refers to knowledge. The variation of this concept may be due to the influence of the materialistic view popular in today's society.
Although Zhu is a great scholar in the history of Confucianism, his view of "learning from others" has become the mainstream of later generations, not because of the universal recognition of later Confucian scholars. In fact, Zhu's theory was dismissed as "pseudo-learning" because of the political party struggle in the Southern Song Dynasty, and many Confucian scholars in later generations also criticized Zhu's theoretical viewpoint of "learning knowledge by grasping things" more forcefully. However, Zhu's Notes to the Four Books was formally adopted as the standard of the imperial examination in the mid-Yuan Dynasty, and since Zhu's theory was regarded as the only official ideological authority in the four books, Zhu's theory has become the official dogmatic view in the imperial examination in the Ming and Qing Dynasties for more than 500 years. Therefore, Zhu's view of "understanding knowledge by studying things" became a popular view in later society under the authority of hundreds of years of official dogma. Therefore, in the Westernization School in the late Qing Dynasty, physics, chemistry and other disciplines were called "Gezhi", which is the abbreviation of "Wu Ge Zhi Zhi". The true meaning of "learning from things" has been an eternal mystery in the history of Confucianism. From Zheng Xuan in the Eastern Han Dynasty, who first annotated Daxue, to modern Confucian scholars, there has been a debate for more than 1000 years, and there is no conclusion yet. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Liu said, "Seventy-two lawsuits in ancient and modern times! 』; Liu has been in existence for more than 300 years, and there are different opinions. Scholars in China have disputed the concept of "knowing people by things". The following is a brief explanation of the main explanations of the original text by Confucianism for more than 1000 years, and a brief description of the main points in bold type:
Eastern Han Dynasty
Zheng Xuan: Things happen because people know their habits and preferences. : "Ge, come also. Things, or things. If he knows what is good, he will get something good. If he knows the depth of evil, he will go to evil. People like what they say. This is probably the most important. 』
the Tang Dynasty
Kong: Things happen with people's habits and preferences. If you can learn from what you say, you will get what you know. Ge, come too. What you already know can exist in the coming things; Knowing good leads to good, and knowing evil leads to evil. Good words are rewarded with good deeds, and evil with evil. When you say good and evil, you are good to people. He who knows good and evil knows good and evil in times of trouble. Good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil. Knowing is good and not evil. 』
Li Ao: Everything is here, I feel it, but I know it in my heart. : "Things are things, and everything is also. Gezhe, come and go. When it comes to things, their hearts are clear, they should not care about things, and they know it. 』[9]
Northern Song Dynasty
Sima Guang: Only by resisting the temptation of foreign things can we know that virtue is supreme. : "human feelings do not distinguish between good and evil, and they are ashamed of being right. However, there are a few good people and many evil people. What? Everything is lured, things are forced, and I don't know; Wealth makes its wisdom flow, but poverty leads to its loss. " "Square, you are still awkward and royal. You can conquer foreign objects and then you can know. Is Zheng's style based on style, or is it not as good as the ancients' intentions? 』
Hao Cheng: The study of things is poor, and the intellectuality is not bound by external things. : "Ge, Zhi also. When things are poor, physics is exhausted. " "When things come and know each other, if you don't serve their knowledge, you will be sincere. Autonomy, mindfulness, the beginning of learning. 』
Cheng Yi: Poor study of things leads to self-awareness and understanding. : "Ge is still poor, things are still reasonable, and poverty is still reasonable." Poverty is enough, but not poverty. ""Everything in sight is just things, and everything is reasonable. As for the reason why the fire is hot and the water is cold, it is reasonable between the monarch and his son. " "lattice, even, is poor in physics." Q: Is the grid a foreign thing? Is it something sexual? "He said," Anyway, everything in front of me is nothing but things. Everything is reasonable, such as the fire is hot and the water is cold. As for the monarch, the minister and the father, they are all reasonable. " ""the case is still poor, and things are reasonable. Just because of poverty. " "Things or things. If you are poor in everything, nothing is reasonable. 』
Southern Song Dynasty
Zhu: Poor research on things leads to profound understanding. : "grid, to also. Things or things. Poverty is pushed to the principle of things, and you want it everywhere. " "The so-called knowledge in things, words to reach my knowledge, and poor in things. To cover the soul of the human heart is to know everything, and everything in the world is to be reasonable. Because reason is not poor, its knowledge is inexhaustible. Starting from "university", scholars must be everything in the world, benefiting the poor because of their known principles, so as to achieve the ultimate. As for the hard time, once it is suddenly penetrated, everything is fine and thick, and the whole use of the heart is unknown. This is called the case of things, and this is called knowing. " "So the way to know is to care about facts and things. The latter is hard to say. For example, in the case of "Wen Zu", words are poor and extreme. 』
Lu Jiuyuan: Cultivate the mind, not for things, and return to the knowledge of nature. : "Heaven and I, that is, this heart. Everyone has a heart, and the heart has a reason and the heart makes sense. " "This is what I look like today, not from the outside. Know that this is a master. If it is true, then foreign things can't be moved and heresy can't be confused. " "The heart is not moored, but self-reliance, and the heart is free from chaos. If something is taken away, if it is spiritual, just come out immediately; If you keep going, it will break down. People who are good at things are good at it. Fuxi tried his best to listen to the dharma before that. Otherwise, the so-called things are just the end. " At the beginning of learning, there must be signs of self-doubt; More importantly, there must be self-denial; The ancient man's ability to understand things is also great. 』
Li: Tong Che studied the content of things described in "The University": "Things have their origins and ends, which refer to mind, body, home, country and world. Starting from the beginning means style, sincerity, correctness, repair, order, governance and fairness. The world is driven by body and mind, from the beginning to the end. There must be a beginning from Pingzhi to Wu Ge. " "Wu Ge means that things have a background and an ending. Knowing what it is is a prophet, covering the background and ending of the matter, and knowing its hard ear. Husband and property, this is out of mind and body, home country and the world! 』
tomorrow
Wang Yangming: Revise the material environment of the cause and achieve the noumenon of self-conscience: "Those who' know' the clouds are not what later Confucianism called expanding their knowledge, which makes my heart and conscience deaf. Conscience, Mencius called it "the heart of right and wrong, everyone has it." The heart of right and wrong, knowing without worrying, learning without learning, is called conscience. It is the nature of destiny, the noumenon of my heart, and the natural conscience is also clear. " "Things are things, things are things, something will have its thing, something means something. Right is right, and wrong is right. Those who are right and wrong are also called evil. Those who return to righteousness are called good. Husband is like this. " "The heart is the master of the body, what the heart thinks, what it knows and what it uses. Ruyi is used for parent things, that is, parent things, and the case will be exhausted. My husband's justice is the conscience of my relatives, and between selfless desires, I have brought it to the extreme. If you know what you mean, you can be honest; If you are sincere, you will be free, but you can be right. If things are like gentlemen, they are right and wrong. " , "Wu Ge is the power to stop perfection. If you know perfection, you will know Wu Ge. " "Wu Ge" is like Mencius' "personality is great and temperament is gentle". Is to get rid of evil in the heart and improve righteousness in the body. But the idea is to get rid of mistakes and correct them. That is, there is no justice anywhere. It is poverty. ""Gezhe, Ye Zheng; What is right is wrong, and what is right is right. "No good or evil is the body of the heart, good or evil is the trip of the heart, knowing good or evil is the conscience, and doing good or evil is the object." , "at any time, this is a matter of conscience. 』
Wang Gen: Standardize and reflect on your own behavior and understand the essence of virtue. : "The grid is like the grid of the format, which is the last moment. My body is a moment and the country in the world is a square. If you have a moment, you will know the mistake of the square, and the mistake of this moment will also be known. So only the positive moments are removed, not in the square. Moment is positive, square and square is qualified. Therefore, it is called the situation of things. My body is up, down, front, back, left and right, and my moment is a case. 〕 〕 〕 〕 〕 〕 〕 〕 〕; Sincerity, self-cultivation and foundation; All along, it's because you love and treat people with courtesy. If you don't kiss, treat or answer, it means you have something to do, and then you are against yourself. Learning to be self-defeating is kung fu. How about the other way around? Be yourself. Be kind to others, respect others and be kind to yourself. Its body is right and the world belongs to it, and its body is right and things are right, so it is safe. 』
Qu Ruji: If you stop at the right trip, you can reach the best knowledge. There are three couplings in shooting. Where two people are coupled, the upper coupling ends in the upper coupling, the middle coupling ends in the middle coupling and the lower coupling ends in the lower coupling. Draw the ground and decide where the three couplings should stop. So is the name of the thing. So the words and things in "The University" should be stopped. Grid, to also. As for those things, as for what should be stopped. 』
Yan Yi Xu Zhi: Practice idealism and change consciousness to observe wisdom [20]. "If you are right in your heart, turn eight senses into mirror wisdom, if you are sincere, turn seven senses into equal wisdom, if you know, turn six senses into wonderful wisdom, if you look at things, you will be idealistic and know all the countries in the world." 』[2 1]
Hanshan Deqing: Feel everything from the outside and express it from the heart into true knowledge. "Things are foreign things, and those who have always been enemies with me are what they see, feel, see, say and do. Knowledge is true knowledge and the light of self-wisdom. " "The case is the case of" Three Temples of Fishing Songs "; Say I feel sincere, and then pay me back. The so-called sincere penetration of the stone, feeling dolphin fish; Ge Ye. " "With delusion with false knowledge. Therefore, things are in harmony with me. Those who agree with me have now become a wonderful place in my heart! Materialize into knowledge and be one with me. This is a matter of feeling, so what's the problem? 』[22]
Ching Dynasty
Sun Qifeng: "The principle of my nature is rooted in the sky and in my heart. It is a pure body, developed for the purpose of clarity, and developed for the purpose of unity, then conscience is also. That is, the hair of conscience, and know the truth of my nature, because I use my conscience to recover myself; It is the prince's conscience, which is in line with my nature, but it is not wrong. The principle of my nature is rooted in the sky and embodied in my heart. It is the principle of everything, that is, the existence of my nature. The principle of my nature is based on the principle of everything. It is Zhu's theory that everything is poor, my nature is pure and suitable for my nature, and it can't be wrong. Beggars get the essence of my nature, and Zhu gets all of my nature. If you don't, it will flood without this; If it is incomplete, it is missing and should not be. However, the so-called important person, that is, so it dominates the whole, is not outside the overall reason, but there is no so-called importance. The so-called wholeness, that is, unity depends on its importance, not on principles, but on the so-called wholeness, that is, what I call belonging to one. 』
Yan yuan: personally practice and verify, let the intellectuality understand things. "Gewuge, Wang Men Xun Zheng, Zhu Men Xun Zhi, since Han Confucianism, seem to be unstable. Yuan said that this is like the case of "a beast with hands" in history books, and the case of "killing it with hands", that is, the teaching of Confucius' six arts. " "The Duke of Zhou taught people with six arts, but he only taught people daily life, so he called it" teaching ". Liu de, cover three things, see six lines, practical things are six arts, Confucius "learn when" that is; The so-called "things" are also. 』
The original text of the above viewpoints is only an excerpt from important scholars, and there are many different viewpoints in actual history. Today's understanding of things refers to exploring the meaning of things to gain knowledge, rather than the law of emphasizing theory over experiment in history.