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Wang Shouren affirmed that "the teachings of the sages are nothing but the teaching of mind" (Wang Wencheng gong quanshu: Xiangshan wenji xu [Preface to the Collected Writings of Xiangshan in Complete Works of Wang Wencheng]). He believed that Lu Jiuyuan, in proposing the formulation that the mind equals principle, continued the legacy of the teaching of the mind that had begun in China with the teaching of Yao, Shun, and Yu (the three mythological emperors) and which was exemplified in the saying "The human mind is always in peril; the mind of the natural Way is always hidden; emphasize essentiality, emphasize unity; maintain equinanimously the Middle Internal Path." He thought that this was the correct orthodoxy (zheng tong) passed on by Kong (Confucius), Meng (Mencius), Zhou (Dunyi), and Cheng (Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi). In Mencius's time, Mo Zi advocated reciprocal and mutual compassion (jianai) and benevolence and principledness (ren yi) and asked of people only that in their external actions they attain the goals of sacrificing themselves (literally, wearing their heads thin and tattering their heels) to benefit others. At the same time Gao Zi advocated maintaining benevolence internally and maintaining principledness externally-thus severing the internal from the external. Wang Shouren believed that the popularity of these ideas "greatly devastated the teaching of the mind," and therefore they were criticized by Mencius. When Mencius criticized them, he affirmed that "Benevolence, principledness, propriety (li), and wisdom (zhi) are all not added onto me from the outside (wai li'). I have these qualities already; it is just that I have not given thought to them" ("Gao zi," part 1, of the book Mencius). He also advocated: "There is no other principle of learning save seeking the liberating and opening of the mind (fang xin)" (ibid.). Wang Shouren felt that this meant that Mencius had already proposed the idea that "the mind equals principle"; that Mencius taught that the principles of benevolence, principledness, propriety, and wisdom were nothing but the mind as it already was; that he advocated that the method of learning should not be restricted to seeking an exhaustive understanding of principles from without but should instead be "an inward search in the mind." Wang then believed that when Lu Jiuyuan advocated the idea of "the mind equals principle" he was precisely and directly following through with this fundamental idea of Mencius! When some people thought that Lu Jiuyuan's ideas were different from those of Zhu Xi and "derogated Lu as Chan" i.e., as a form of Buddhist dhyana, or meditation theory, Wang believed, they were entirely ignorant of the actual circumstances of Lu Jiuyuan's writing and merely followed the rumors and joined in a misguided chorus of fools: "like short people watching a play performed on a high stage; they couldn't understand why people were crying or laughing," but were merely following along with whatever they observed as the responses of the audience in the front rows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
