Wang Yang-Ming

Wang Yangming (王陽明, Japanese Ō Yōmei, 1472–1529) was a Ming Chinese idealist Neo-Confucian scholar–official. After Zhu Xi, he is commonly considered the most important Neo-Confucian thinker, with interpretations of Confucianism that denied the rationalist dualism of the orthodox philosophy of Zhu Xi. He was known as Yangming Xiansheng (Brilliant Master Yang) in literary circles.

He was the leading figure in the Neo-Confucian School of Mind, which championed an interpretation of Mencius (a Classical Confucian who became the focus of later interpretation) that unified knowledge and action.

<mention Wang's success at embodying the Confucian ideal of engaged scholarship>

Yangmingshan, a national scenic attraction on Taiwan, is named after him.

Biography

Wang Yang-Ming (1472-1529) was born Wang Shouren (守仁) in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province. His father was a member of the lesser nobility and served as a minister in the Imperial bureaucracy. Wang was a precocious child and was known to impress visitors to his parent's home with his spontaneous composition and recitation of poetry. At the age of twelve, when advised by his tutor to study the classics in order to obtain an official government position, he replied that he would rather dedicate his studies to a higher goal - becoming a sage. To this end, the teenaged Wang and a friend embarked upon what would be one of the most formative experiences of his life. Specifically, they each decide to seek sagehood through the application of Zhu Xi's famous dictum of "investigating things" (ge wu), which stipulates that everything in the world is unified by a metaphysical principle (li) that can be discerned through concerted mental effort. Wang and his friend decided to commit to this path and to "investigate" the bamboo in a local grove until they achieved insight into the ultimate principle of the Universe (the Dao of Heaven). After three exhausting days, Wang's friend gave up and returned home despondent. Wang perservered for an additional four days, and, when he finally called off his search, he developed a serious illness from his ordeal (likely a result of exposure and sleep deprivation). Though the young Wang was still highly reverent of Master Zhu's teachings, this experience caused him to begin doubting the efficacy of ge wu as a means of attaining sagehood. <ff - parallel with Martin Luther>>

In spite of (or perhaps because of) this spiritual setback, Wang proceeded along the bureaucratic path, receiving his imperial certification in 1499 and taking up a bureaucratic post soon after. He served successfully as an executive assistant in many branches of the imperial government, including the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of War - continually proving his value through his commitment to social action and Confucian values. In 1505, in addition to his govenment duties, Wang also began to accept students, "advising them to aspire to sagehood" (Chang, 4). However, the following year saw a complete reversal of his fortunes, when his adherence to the ideal of engaged scholarship caused him to intervene in a case against a powerful and corrupt court eunuch named Liu Chin. Unfortunately, Wang's intercession was ineffectual and the eunuch used his considerable influence to have Wang Yang-ming arrested, publicly flogged, and banished to the border of the country (modern Guizhou).

In 1508, after several years in exile, Wang awoke with a shout in the middle of the night, startled to wakefulness by an astonishing revelation. "It suddenly occured to him that he had been going about the investigation of things completely wrongly.... For the first time, Yang-ming came to the realization that 'My own nature is, of course, sufficient for me to attain sagehood. And I have been mistaken in searching for the li in external things and affairs'" (Berthrong, 124). More specifically, this revelation grounded the li (and, resultantly, the ultimate cause and nature of reality) inside the human heart-and-min xin. This single, revolutionary concept was the seed that eventually flowered into his entire religio-philosophical system.

With the death of the eunuch that had orchestrated his exile, Wang Yang-ming returned to full-fledged government service in late 1510. Over the next twelve years, he was instrumental member of the Imperial bureaucracy, eventually becoming the governor of multiple districts, where he "established schools, rehabilitated rebels, and reconstructed the economy" (Chan, 654). Wang also defended his districts in a military capacity, successfully quelling a rebellion and earning himself a reputation as a master general and strategist. For these accomplishments, he was named the Earl of Xinjian. During this period, he also taught numerous students, and wrote and published numerous texts, including a commentary on the Great Learning and an edited volume of Zhu Xi's sayings. However, Wang's fortunes changed again in 1521, when courtly intrigues caused him to be discredited and ostracized, leading to a six year period of "virtual retirement" (Chan, 654). Additionally, his father passed away in 1522, so he returned home for the Confucian-mandated, three-year period of ritual mourning.

When his mourning was complete (in 1524), "Wang Yang-ming gathered more than one hundred disciples on the heavenly fountain bridge and engaged in philosophical debate. Excursions were made to nearby mountains and streams in order to achieve harmony with Great Nature" (Chang, 9). A year later, Wang returned to government service, helping suppress a bandit uprising in Guangsi. Following his eventual military victory, he returned home and died in the winter of 1529.

As was the case with Zhu Xi, the vicissitudes of Wang's public fate did not end with his death. Indeed, in the years following his passing, he was publicly reviled, was "accused of spreading false doctrines" and had "his hereditary privileges ... revoked" (Chan, 654). However, with the passage of time, public opinion changed and he was fully reinstated, being posthumously ennobled as the Marquis of Xinjian and earning the title Wen Cheng ("completion of culture") in 1567. This newly-rediscovered reverence hit its apex in 1584, when the Imperial house decreed that "he be offered sacrifice in the Confucian temple," which was "the highest honor for a scholar" (Chan, 654).

Philosophy

Wang Yangming developed the idea of innate knowing, arguing that every person knows from birth the difference between good and evil. Such knowledge is intuitive and not rational.

He held that objects do not exist entirely apart from the mind because the mind shapes them. He believed that it is not the world that shapes the mind, but the mind that gives reason to the world. Therefore, the mind alone is the source of all reason. He understood this to be an inner light, an innate moral goodness and understanding of what is good. This is similar to the thinking of the Greek philosopher Socrates, who argued that knowledge is virtue.

Philosophical Background

Their rival school, the School of Li (principle) treated gaining knowledge as a kind of preparation or cultivation that, when completed, could guide action.

Ethics and Praxis

In order to eliminate selfish desires that cloud the mind’s understanding of goodness, one can practise his type of meditation often called "tranquil repose" or "sitting still" (靜坐 py jìngzùo). This is similar to the practice of Chan (Zen) meditation in Buddhism.

Wang Yangming's Impact

These revolutionizing ideas of Wang Yangming would later inspire prominent Japanese thinkers like Motoori Norinaga, who argued that because of the Shinto deities, Japanese people alone had the intuitive ability to distinguish good and evil without complex rationalization. His school of thought (Ōyōmei-gaku in Japanese) also greatly influenced the samurai ethic of that time in Japan.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Antonio S. Cua (1982). The Unity of Knowledge and Action: A Study in Wang Yang-ming's Moral Psychology. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0824807863. 

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