A Study Of Zhu Xi's View Of Nature

Zhu Xi is an outstanding representative of Confucians living during the Southern Song Dynasty, who generalizes the Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty. Conglomerating Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism together, he set up a system of thinking consisting of nature, society and human life. In his deep and broad system of philosophy, his views of nature occupies an important part, which include his Views of Universe, Views of Life and Views of Relation between Heaven and Humans, which respectively embodies Zhu Xi's cognitive thinking about universe, life and the relation between heaven and humans. His views of nature especially illustrate his comprehensive understanding about nature as a whole, which is an unalienable part of his philosophical system.With the development of economy and the progress of society spanning the two periods of Song Dynasty, its culture also prospered greatly and its scientific and technological development had greatly achieved in the history of science and technology of ancient China. Depending on these social conditions and beneficial factors, Zhu Xi's philosophical views of nature came into being.Traditional Confucians'thought on nature offers an important theoretical source for Zhu Xi's view of nature. In the Northern Song Dynasty, several great thinkers such as Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Shao Yong, Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi had ever illustrated their views on Natural philosophy, whose thoughts greatly enlightened Zhu Xi's view of Nature. Zhu Xi inherited traditional Confucian thought of the harmony between nature and human. Besides this, he absorbed philosophical thoughts by Zhou Dunyi's view of Tai Ji, Zhang Zai's thought of Vaporization, Shao Yong'view of the formation of the universe and the Cheng Brothers'idealism-centered thought. Confucians living Pre-Qin Dynasty concerning about nature and other five thinkers of Northern Song Dynasty's view on natural philosophy were adopted by Zhu Xi, which can be shown from his views on the exploration towards broad universe and the rational research about life and thinking about the harmonious co-existence of heaven and humans.Zhu Xi's Viewr of Universe insists that reason is the metaphysical origin of Universe and Air is the source of the physical universe. Due to the movement of air, Universe formed; similarly, the movement and change of air helps the formation of Universe's structure. That is Universe is filled with air, inside which formless heaven lies above, the earth is hung below it and air runs between. Everything between heaven and earth is formed by the movement of air. They include the sun, the moon and the stars in the heaven, and mountains, rivers, plants, grasses, woods, humans and animal and so on in the earth. Air is the physical origin of substantial existence of everything in the universe. The force caused by its movement makes the formation of universe and appears in two ways, one is motional and static, the other about Yin and Yang (the two opposite principles in nature). The movement of heavenly bodies and various phenomena between heaven and earth are the embodiment of universe's motion. Zhu Xi's View of Universe not only shows his rational thinking about the origin, the formation, the structure and the movement of the universe, but also occupies a key position among his system of natural philosophy and offers the theoretical basis for his Views of Life and the relation between heaven and human world.In his view of life, Zhu Xi regards that Idea is the origin of life in the universe and everything is generated by coagulating of air. Life is a progress lasting from beginning to end, showing that a man has life and death, so a person should try one' best to realize one'value of life. The value of human life lies in life itself, but also in its moral spirit within. So human should face life and death calmly and act as being satisfied with death without feeling guilty and treating mind and desire serenely and emphasizing the spirit of moral discipline. So, only if a man lives, one should try to perfect oneself continuously to discover, cultivate and enrich the inner kindness of life and fulfill the perfection of moral life. Zhu Xi's views of natural law develop Confucians' thought about life, make a significant exploration about the origin, the formation, the progress and the value of life, and embody his rational thinking about life and his emotional understanding of real life. Based on his View of Universe, Zhu Xi puts forward his view of life, connecting the law of heaven to the way of human world; actually grasps the ultimate truth of human life.Zhu Xi's View of Heaven and Human concerns about the mutual relationship between heaven and human, signaling the quality of correlative being of heaven and human advocated by traditional Confucians and makes further development. In the harmony between human and nature, he stresses the important function of that saying Human is the heart of heaven and earth, including their respective roles, emphasizing the subjectivity of humans. It mainly includes that Heaven and Human originates from Idea, the ultimate truth, heaven and human exists harmoniously, human acting as the master of heaven and earth and its practical applications. Zhu Xi's View of Heaven and Human centers the relationship between heaven and human, considering that nature generates everything, raises and cultivates them, fully showing the function of human beings. Humans are an inalienable part of nature, who know the truth that ultimate being between heaven and everything under it, then will have a passionate love for nature, and take actions to stimulate the thriving development of various living beings. Based on his views of Universe and Life, Zhu Xi combines the law of heaven with the way of the world, showing his understanding and exploration about the whole natural world.Zhu Xi's View of Nature shows his absorption and originality of Buddhist and Taoist thoughts. In terms of his views of Universe, Zhu Xi absorbs the formation of universe by the Buddhists and Tai Ji Saying and views of Motion and Stillness and other factors. His view of life not only absorbs Buddhists'thought on life which values life but also adopts Taoist'view of life about those reasonable factors for the formation of life. His View of Heaven and Human combines the subjective function of the mind held by the Buddhists and the whole being between heaven and human thought by Taoist' view upon nature. On the basis of these, Zhu Xi's Views of nature highlight the tendency that traditional Confucians who stress the value of morality, embody his realistic concern about the universe, human life and everything in the natural world, also show his rational thinking about the value of human life, stress more about the active and subjective role that human should act in the relation between heaven and human world.Zhu Xi instills his concerns about universe, his love for life, his care about nature into his philosophy. Though he does not clearly put forward his views of Nature, his philosophical thought embodies his concerns about nature and the value of human life. Zhu Xi'philosophy of nature greatly influenced his disciples, followers, and other Confucians in the following years. Nowadays, though science and technology have been greatly developed, the relationship between humans and natural world gradually strains. So, Zhu Xi's philosophical thought of nature appears to be instructive and valuable to modern people.