There are 3,000 disciples under Confucius, who praise Yan Hui for his studiousness. Poems (The Book of Songs), books (The Book of History), Six Arts (Shooting Books by Rites and Music), etc., were all mastered by 3,000 disciples, and Confucius only praised Yan Hui for being studious. What are you studying? Is to achieve the way of being a saint through learning.
Can the realm of saints be achieved through learning? Yes, what's the learning method?
After the formation of the human body, foreign objects come into contact with people, and people's hearts are touched, resulting in seven emotions, called joy, anger, sadness, fear, love, evil and desire. After the seven emotions are produced (if they are not restrained), they will become more and more intense and need to be carved. Therefore, vigilant people will restrain their feelings, make them conform to the mean, and cultivate their morality. This is the so-called "temperament". A dull person does not know how to restrain, but indulges his feelings to the extreme, so that his mind is imprisoned and disappears. This is called "love". The method of learning is to cultivate the mind. If you are honest at heart, you can be called a saint.
Cheng Hao's general program in this article is: "The so-called fixed, dynamic and static, no welcoming guests, no inside and outside." (Quality Book) Cheng Hao said that "sex" is constant regardless of motion or static, and there is no internal or external distinction. This "no one will meet" is a quotation of Zhuangzi. He said, "A saint is a mirror, but he won't meet, but he shouldn't hide it, so he can win without hurting" ("Zhuangzi * Ying Di"). They all think that the heart of a "saint" is like a mirror, and what kind of shadow will appear when there is something, so there is no need to send it, there is no need to pick it up when it comes, and it should not be when it doesn't come. Cheng Hao's "winning things without hurting" is not Zhuangzi's health preservation, but winning things without being hurt by them. This shows that "the movement is fixed, the static is fixed, there is no welcome, and there is no inside and outside". Compared with not looking in the mirror, the role of "heart" is unchanged, but things are changing.
Cheng Hao pointed out that Zhang Zai's mistake lies in "taking foreign things as foreign countries, self-pulling and self-following" (quality book), that is to say, "sex has both inside and outside". Cheng Hao thinks this is contradictory, that is, "If you follow your own nature, what is inside when you are outside?" (ditto) "take yourself and follow it" means that sex is outside things, and it should be said that sex is outside things, but the premise is "inside and outside". Another meaning of this sentence is that Zhang Zai's view, which mechanically rejects the temptation of foreign objects, is not clear that there is no internal or external essence. Under such a premise, it is meaningless to talk about "determination". From this point of view, Zhang Zai's mistake lies in "ignorance, nothing inside and nothing outside". (same as above)
How to explain this problem? Cheng Hao said: "The husband is always in heaven and earth, and he is careless with his heart all over the world; A saint is always ruthless because he has feelings for everything. " (ditto) In fact, the central content of this sentence is what he called "the same body and the same thing" (Volume II of Cheng's suicide note). Here, the spiritual realm of "saints" is the same as that of heaven and earth. Heaven and earth were originally unintentional, because people have a heart, and heaven and earth also have a heart; Heaven and earth are ruthless, because people have feelings. "Everything is available" and "everything is suitable" refer to "knowing this truth, keeping it with sincerity, no need to prevent inspection, no need to put all your eggs in one basket" (ibid.), and "sincerity" refers to not being false, which is what Buddhists say "don't be false"; "Respect" means that the heart does not leave, which is what Taoism calls "the Lord". "Honesty and respect for existence" do not need to defend themselves, do not need to be afraid of wrong behavior, and do not need to be "pitiful" for fear that this truth is wrong. This is the truth of paying attention to "nothing is the same as me". In other words, everything can only exist within the heavens and the earth, but not outside. Heaven and earth have no heart of their own. Everything is centered on the heart, which is the heart of heaven and earth. There is no objective distinction between heaven and earth. This provides a theoretical basis for Cheng Hao's theory that there is no internal or external nature. From heaven and earth to the spiritual realm of saints, there is no internal and external nature. It can also be said that the feelings of all sentient beings are the feelings of saints.
Therefore, Cheng Hao said: "Therefore, the study of a gentleman is nothing more than a grand duke, and things come from it." What is said here is that "saints" are like heaven and earth. No matter what happens, what they do is in line with the laws between heaven and earth, and they can adapt to the changes of heaven and earth. This is the highest realm pursued by Confucianism, the ultimate goal of Confucianism, and it is to make society "one world" and make people taller. Some people say that the Confucian theory of "great harmony" is a yearning for the ancient Yao and Shun society. I think this is a social ideal of Confucianism, not just dating back to ancient times. People in this "Great Harmony World" must also have high moral standards. Only when they reach this spiritual realm can they reach the "Great Harmony World".
Cheng Hao quoted Yi Chuan * Xian Guaci: "Zhen Ji, regret your death. You come and go, and friends follow your thoughts. " To prove his point. "Yi Ci" says: "Salty, feeling also." "Cheng's Family Biography" says: "Of the four, I am careful, so I am the master of love. As for the way of feelings, sincere and formal will regret, and informal will regret. Chastity, emptiness without me. Feel things with self-interest, people who think will be moved, and people who can't feel will be moved. How can it be omnipotent? " Cheng Yi's solution is "94" in divination. The meaning here is that the thought is bound to be felt by it, while the unexpected has no feeling, which is of great universal significance. This "heart" is what the general "I" thinks and feels. "Empty without me" means "heaven and earth are unintentional", "heaven and earth are heartless" and "I" is a universal "I". I quote Cheng Yi here to better illustrate Hao Cheng's point of view.
Next, Hao Cheng analyzed the reasons why people are tired of "foreign things". He said: "People's feelings are different, so they can't adapt to the Tao. The great bitterness lies in selfishness and wisdom. " He believes that the reason why people are "disgusted with foreign things" lies in "selfish use of wisdom", and selfish people's desires blind people's sincerity, making "promising" and "sensible" impossible to achieve. "Selfishness can't be chased by action, and wisdom can't be chased by perception" (ibid.). The "human heart" is originally "action" and "consciousness", which can completely react spontaneously, but it pollutes people's desires because of the relocation of foreign objects. Therefore, when people seek their own interests, they think they are smart and "use their wisdom" to obtain benefits. As a result, this "awareness" is covered up, so they can't adapt to the Tao. Cheng Hao criticized Zhang Zai for "wanting nowhere, but wanting nowhere", that is to say, according to the Book of Rites, Zhang Zai said: "Life is quiet and nature is natural. Feeling things and moving, sexual desire. Things are known, and then likes and dislikes. If likes and dislikes are not confined to the inside, knowledge will be lured to the outside, and justice will be destroyed if we can't run counter to it. Things are touching, but people's likes and dislikes are endless, so they are things and things are people. Those who make things and people destroy the sky, and the poor want it. " And my own personal experience, the mistake of saying that "nature is hard to determine, and I hate foreign things alone" lies in knowing the role that foreign things bring to "people's hearts" and deliberately resisting or rejecting them.
Cheng Hao cited Yi Zhuan Ci and Mencius' words to illustrate this problem. "Yi Chuan" said: "If you can't get it back, you can't get it. You can go to court and not see your people. " "Cheng Family Biography" explained: "The reason why people can't stop is because they have to go ahead and stop, and they can't get it. Therefore, the way to find the root should be rooted behind it. What you see is the front and the back is the back, which you can't see. If you stop where you can't see, you have no desire to disturb your heart and stop there. If you don't get your body, you can't see your body, which means there is no me. Without me, you can't think about it. " That is to say, people only care about the back and ignore the body, only care about the part and ignore the whole, so that they are forced to run away from home and go to court without seeing the person. This is all because of "human desire", without which it would not be like this. This has something to do with Zhuangzi's saying that "feeling before responding, forcing before moving, and starting as a last resort". . It's a truth to know the past and follow the natural principles (Zhuangzi * Deliberately).
Mencius once said that "whatever is evil by the wise, chisel it" (Mencius * Li Lou). Jiao Xun said in Mencius' Justice: "The wicked want to use wisdom and make mistakes, but because of the nature of things, they change their ways to cultivate wisdom. According to this wisdom, human nature is also private. Confucius said: similar in sex, far in learning, wise and foolish. It is also flexible. Fools can turn good, and wise men can turn evil. This is a habit, so stay away. Why do smart people go bad and chisel for them? I know what it is, but I know the pain of it. " This provides a powerful theoretical basis for Cheng Hao's criticism of "using wisdom". Neo-Confucianists in Song and Ming Dynasties believed that the debate between righteousness and benefit was the debate between man and beast, which emphasized righteousness over benefit.
Cheng Hao came up with a wonderful way to solve this problem, that is "two forgetfulness". He said, "Not outside but inside, not inside and outside." (Quality Book) The reason why he talks about this "two forgetfulness" is because: "Two forgetfulness is nothing. If you don't decide anything, you'll be clear. Why are you tired when you're clear? The joy of saints is to rejoice in things; The wrath of a saint is angry with things. It is the emotion of a saint, not tied to the heart but to things. " (ditto) That is to say, in the process of touching things again, don't make your own small calculations and don't mix your own selfish thoughts. Instead, let your inner good knowledge spontaneously reflect things, judge things according to their true colors and correct them, and forget about the inside and outside, that is, "there is no distinction between inside and outside."
This "two forgetfulness" comes from "Master Zhuangzi", and the original text is as follows: "It is better to forget two things than to be arrogant and impetuous." Nothing will happen. This shows that Cheng Hao's "quality" theory comes from Zhuangzi, that is, careless, careless, heartless, neither good nor evil, careless is impermanent to all things, asexual to all things, careless is detached from the outside world, that is, absolutely indifferent.
Cheng Hao's theory of "quality" had a great influence on the formation and development of Lu Wang's theory of "to conscience". In the preface to Lu Jiuyuan's Collection, it is said: "The second sons of Buddha in Song, Zhou and Cheng began to pursue the Tao of Confucius and Mencius, but their infinity and Tai Chi are defined as righteousness and righteousness, righteousness and quietness, movement and quietness, and there is no internal or external, and there is no theory of welcoming. The purpose of some improvement. " It can be seen that its great influence is also a powerful proof that Cheng Hao initiated Wang Lu's theory of mind.