Gen Ideological Study

Wang Gen, as well as Taizhou School, which was found by him, was estimated to be unthinking, arrogant, religion-destroying and heresy- delivering, just because of the strong criticism raised by Donglin Scholars living in the later Ming Dynasty and the Confucians living in the beginning of Qing Dynasty. When it comes to the 20th century, the ideologists tried to reappraise the worth of traditional Confucianism, thus Wang Gen's theory was recollected and re-understood in some different research fields of view.Most of the former researchers have paid a lot of attention on the new factors and styles of Wang Gen's theory that are quite different with traditional Confucianism. They ascribe them to be the natural anthroposophy or point out the civilian feature of his academy, or compare them with the western philosophy and ascribe them to be the enlightenment thought. Most of these researchers have the tendency of simplism in describing Wang Gen's theory since that they are ignorant of the background of Chinese philosophy and the history of Confucianism. They don't find out the internal connection between Wang Gen's theory with the traditional theory of the principle even the traditional Confucianism and give too much emphasis on the sunder between them. They insist on his character of deviationism but don't realize that he doesn't leave the area of morality .And they couldn't precisely hold the theoretical creation of Wang Gen because that they put the criticism about the whole Taizhou School to the study of Wang Gen's theory. Therefore, starting from the background of the development of Confucianism and combining the historical circumstance of Wang Gen, this paper commits to combining Wang Gen's historical background and experiences, studying how Wang Gen transfers the discourse proposition that belong to Social rank to the ordinary people level through the comment of the traditional proposition in the system of theory of the principle, which reflects how the Confucian values change in the process of civilian .That is the most important point of this paper.The introduction of this paper presents the time problems he need face and solve through the exploration of Wang Gen's times and academy. At the middle and later period of Ming Dynasty, the whole society displays an apparent change indication. The changes of economic life just like the development of the industry and commerce and the raising of the businessmen's status cause the waking of non-governmental social subject and the shock to the traditional value and the structure that social rank monopolize the power of discourse. Wang Yangming takes place the principle by conscience to emphasize the importance of subjectivity and individuality. This provides the ordinary people internal value and divine personality out of the dense fog of the Cheng-zhu theory which claims that reading and understanding the classic work was the only way to be a saint in the middle period of Ming Dynasty. But the central problem that he pays attention is to rescue the dying theory of the principle, is to establish the social rank's moral ego of scholars and complete their personality. His theory doesn't focus on the wake and independence of common people's personality, therefore, the theory couldn't be carried out in the society. His theory is developed in some different angles of view after he died, however, Wang Gen is the only one who responds the requirement of that time, he inherits Yangming's theory that approves the worldly life and turns the eyes to the ordinary people and raises a system of academy of common people what can be called learning through common people's daily using.The study of Wang Gen is not only the response to his own time, but also has its own characteristics, which is offered by his special growth experience. So the first part of this article will discuss his study courses first. Wang Gen was born in a family which sold the salt. He had only four years school education in his childhood because of his poor family. Low status and lacking studies entrusted Wang Gen with rich experience in his study course, which is different from other scholars of his time. Experienced with a business man, studyingto be a doctor and to be a Confucian scholar etc, he opened his academic door by a strange dream of "everything has a same substance" when he was 29 years old. Then he learned by himself for ten years until he 38, at that time Wang Yangming became his teacher. So Wang Gen studied with Wang Yangming for nine years and he began to give free lecture and established Taizhou School. Before becoming the student of Wang Yangming, Wang Gen had initially formed him to respect person's dignity and the expense practice of common people daily by creative annotating Confucianism basic classics. This identically thinks promoted by the learning of Yangming, and had obtained the system explaining which had formed the scientific theory or principle pattern. That is the learning through common people's daily using. In the process of his studying and teaching, Wang Gen mainly annotated conscience by explaining what common people's daily earthly life was. After that he elaborated how to achieve it and how to become sage under the field vision of philosophy. The ideal to become a sage, the exploration on this ideal and the care of earthly life were the pursuit that cost Wang Gen's whole life.Since we have known the learning courses of Wang Gen, then we will comprehensively inquire into his learning system. This paper focuses on his new annotation of traditional Confucian that is based on his common people's daily earthly life. Wang Gen starts the new turning of traditional Confucian by the learning through common people's daily using.The second part of this article we will interpret in his viewpoint of common people daily expense again by inheriting the learning of Wang Yangming's. He develops conscience—ontology of heart and nature, which is shown that he develops the innocent conscience and existing character and paid attention to human daily using. So, when he refers to the substance, he affirms that daily life of common people is Tao, while refers to the practice, he proves that conscience exists naturally. By this way, he combines the ontology of heart and nature with life field, and offers the ontology foundation of common people's life, so he opened up the internal meaning of theory of heart-mind and found its way. Based on these theories, Wang Gen and other scholars of Taizhou School develop Yangming's theory about the view of sage. In their opinion, the sage becomes more idiographic, individual and more common. The combination of sage and common people's daily using doesn't mean that they have no difference. Wang Gen offered another theory—common people using without knowing. It means that most of common people's daily life is spontaneous; it could become conscience-losing since it can be easily influent by human's desire. The shortage on moral theory is just based on common people's lack of consciousness. Realizing this shortage, Wang Gen assures the importance of "study" and endues with new connotation. The third part of this paper tries to explore his special way to be a sage. This paper argues that the way of Cheng-Zhu which is to get the truth is too far away from the common people. Yangming's theory is much simpler, but still has an estrangement since it is something humanistic. Wang Gen brings forward a much feasible way for common people to become sage by re-explain the investigation of things and develops a theory of "body is the hypostases". First, his theory skips the debate between Zhu Xi and Yangming, affirms the body in "my body is the hypostases" and reaches the peak of the main initiative. Meanwhile, the "body" of Wang Gen not only refers to the nonobjective and natural person that is dominated by conscience, but also refers to the genuine life being which is emphasized by the expound of how to take shelter, protect and honor the body. On one hand, it indicates that Wang Gen had inherits traditional Confucianism which insists that human is the nature and respected human being; on the other hand, it shortens the distance between the study of heart and nature and common people, so that turns the way that made the study spiritualism and noble.Besides the creational annotation of traditional ontology of Song and Ming Dnasty, in the view of common people's daily earthly life, Wang Gen gives a special explanation of ideal personality. This indicates some life attitude different with traditional theory of the principle, which is the fourth part of this paper. Wang Gen inherits traditional Confucian opinion that "everything has a same substance", and emphasizes the main initiative and spiritual of throw oneself to the politics through the view that "body is the hypostases". Therefore, he adjusts the traditional understanding of position, and points out that it was no longer the necessary condition to complete "everything has a same substance". Because of the intentionally ignorance of position, Wang Gen turns the area where the Confucians would heal the world from royal to be out of office. That offers a much feasible way for common people to become sage. Base on that, Wang Gen emphasizes the wisdom of sage in the idiographic survival circumstances, and he recovers the wisdom of in traditional Confucianism. The pragmatism in this theory makes it quite different with later scholar of Yangming School. In the pursuit of characters of sage, Wang Gen keeps cheerful condition as its goal. But compared with Yangming, he endues more sensible and earthly meaning to this condition under the view of learning through common people's daily using.After the exploration of the rich theories of Wang Gen, the fifth part of this paper sums up Wang Gen's thoughts and its historic position and evaluation. The paper gives his thoughts a historic position in two aspects: First, compared with Yangming and Wang Ji inside Yangming School, though Wang Gen has some difference with Yangming in the theory, he still doesn't get away from moral heart-mind theory in which he unfolds the civilian discourse. Different from Wang Ji's development of Yangming through a special way, Wang Gen turns Yangming's thoughts to the perceptual and lively way by promoting the valuation of the earthly world. Because of this, his thought causes different abuse. Second, seen from the turning of Confucian theory, at first Wang Gen thinks that the sage has nothing metaphysical transcending common people's daily life. He gives the sage a worldly and personal treatment, which corresponds with the thought of subjective consciousness' awake in the later period of Ming Dynasty, but he couldn't avoid the fiimsiness in later generations. Then, Wang Gen gives prominence to "body", stresses the certainty of human's dignity and value in the view of physical life. All of these provided new context for the standing of the human's dignity and value. At last, under the interpretation of Wang Gen's thoughts on "learning through common people's daily using", the Confucian whose aim was cultural cultivation changes its mission to the common people which originally belongs to the knight rank. Correspondingly, the object, subject and formalization of cultivation takes place great changes, which open the turning of civilian Confucian.Sum up stated above, making "learning through common people's daily using" as the point of penetration, under the background of the history of Confucian's development, this paper displayed Wang Gen's thoughts originality basic on the predecessor's research. From the view of the relation of Wang Gen's thoughts and the traditional Confucianism, the paper points out that Wang Gen still unfolds his academic construction in the theory of the principle which aims to become sage. We also separates his thoughts out of the puzzle-headed Taizhou School and points out that though some qualities in his thoughts cause the later abuse just like reading no book, despising authority, arrogant and sticking at nothing and so on, he still doesn't give up the stress of learning and he still follows morality and rationality closely.