The Theory Of Protecting The Confucian Tradition:the Study On Geng DingXiang’s Doctrine

Geng DingXiang, whose courtesy name is Zailun, pseudonym is Chutong and also nown as Ticmtai, is a renowned scholar in Mind Dynasty in1524-1596. During Emperor Wanli Period, the standard of social conduct was seriously lowered and more and more scholars considered that the wicked thought was similar as to the conscience. Faced the social reality, he believed that the scholar needed to defend the Confucian tradition. On one hand he inherited Wang YangMing’s and Wang Gen’s ideology, on the other he corrected the problems of heart-mind’s theory. When he was a Nanjing’s educrat, he trained lots of students, and whom finally became famous scholars in the later period of Ming dynasty. It is known for everyone that the dispute between Geng DingXiang and Li Zhi. Generally Speaking, Geng DingXiang is a turning point in the phylogeny of Wang YangMing’s theory.Defending the Confucian tradition is the fundamental key of Geng DingXiang’s theory. The main idea of his theory was to defend the Confucian tradition and criticize the theory which deviates from the Confucianism. It is very important that Geng DingXiang do not have a prejudice. In other words, both the LiXue and the XinXue are affirmed by him.There are two parts in Geng’s theory system, one is the Inwardness theory and the other is the Attainment theory. Based on those, he assimilated and criticized the Buddhistic ideology. The core of the Inwardness theory is "Zhenji BuRongYF’."Zhenji" includes Nature, Benevolence and Conscience, which is Geng’s metaphysics."BuRongYi" means that the mind is motivated. In Geng’s theory,"Zhenji BuRongYi" is explained as the moral principle externalization by the mind. Geng DingXiang points out that "Zhenji BuRongYi" should be closely related to the "WangWiiYiTi". He also believes that occupying the magistrate is the effective way of achieving themselves for the scholar-bureaucrats.In Attainment theory, Geng DingXiang’s thought is "XueYouSanGuan". which: contained three steps of studying:"JiXinJiDao","JiShiJiXin"an.d"ShenShu"."JiXinJiDao" emphasizes that the mind coincides with principle, which should let someone reflect on themselves."JiShiJiXin" means that the conscience would give expression to the daily life, so the scholar needs to discover the conscience in the everyday concern."ShenShu" is the most important part of Geng’s Attainment theory, which means that the suitable method could help people to finish the moral cultivation. In Geng’s view, Confucius’s doctrine is the suitable method for the scholar-bureaucrats. Based on his view, although he had taken in the Buddhistic ideology to explain the Confucianism, on the other, he also distinguish between the Buddhism and Confucianism.It is an important part of Geng DingXiang’s thought that the discussion between him and Li Zhi, which includes two parts:one is about to the philosophy, the other is about to the history. Li Zhi’s proposition is "TongXinShuo", which appealed to the pure baby’s mind. In fact, Li Zhi wants to emphasize people’s appetite and appetency, what leads to the conflict with Geng DingXiang. Firstly, Li Zhi considers that the scholar should not look upon Confucius’s thought as the standard of judging everything. However, Geng Dingxiang believes that Confucius’s ideology means the truth, which could be easily observed by everyone. Secondly, Li thought that he also has the thought of "BuRongYi", and his viewpoint aims to become a moral person, which different from the Geng’s thought. In Li Zhi’s opinion, the thought of "BuRongYi" in Geng’s ideology aims to the daily life, which is wrong. However, Geng points out that if a people want to be a moral person, he must start from small details. In other words, they are not conflictual. Thirdly, Li considers that the human nature is appetency, but Geng thinks that the nature is the moral principle, which limits the appetite.In the historical view, Li Zhi emphasizes that the scholar should be able to appraise the history by his own standard. In other words, he opposites the moral principle would be the standard for appraising the history, which was agreed by Geng DingXiang.There are different attitudes for treating the Feng Dao, who is a magistrate. Li Zhi thought his behavior is reasonable to some extent. However, Geng DingXiang pointed out that Feng’s behavior is totally wrong, because it violates the moral principle.