Research On The Transformation Of Benevolence Thought During The Ming And Qing Dynastie

Since Confucius founded benevolence,benevolence has become one of the core ideas of Confucianism and has been developing continuously in the historical process.Han Dynasty Confucianism,through Lu Jia,Jia Yi,Dong Zhongshu’s efforts to transform primitive benevolence,produced political benevolence to adapt to autocratic rule;Confucianism during Wei and Jin Dynasty absorbed Taoist ontology to form metaphysical benevolence;In response to the challenges of Buddhism and Taoism in the field of culture and thought,Tang Dynasty’s Han Yu insisted on original benevolence,and Li ao found another way to promote the turn of benevolence.During the period of Song and Ming Dynasty,in the process of rejecting and integrating Buddhism and Taoism,the new benevolence,namely,ontological benevolence came into being.The ontological benevolence in Song and Ming dynasties reinterpreted the proposition of"humanity and heaven"from Confucius and Mencius,unifying the benevolence of humanity and the benevolence of nature,and also making the benevolence of Confucius and Mencius ontological and the unity of nature and human with justice(天理).Benevolence was natural law(天道),destiny(天命),justice,and became the universe noumenon.As a result,the goal of personality has also risen from"real gentleman"to"saint",and the way of seeking benevolence had also undergone fundamental changes.Then,understanding justice,restoring human nature and comprehending metaphysical benevolence became the only choice in order to enhance the realm of human life,and all could only be done in the noumenon world of benevolence,which had to transcend all experiential emotions,desires and other human empirical behaviors.In moral cultivation of Ontology benevolence,the tension of justice-desire,humanity-emotion and public-private relations has been formed.with the development of politics,economy and society,these contradictions are becoming more and more serious.During the Ming and Qing dynasties,the thought of benevolence changed obviously,the internal reason was the inherent contradiction in ontology benevolence,and the external reason was political change and economic development.In the Ming and Qing dynasties,the transformation of benevolence was first manifested in the deconstructing of benevolence noumenon,that is,the transformation of benevolence from "the universe noumenon" to "the way of living and raising".Based on the theory of the source of life and growth and moral ontology,Song Confucianism constructed the ontology of benevolence,mainly in order to establish ideal personality and improve the realm of human life,but ignored the secular life of human beings and the realistic survival of individuals,which led to its moral cultivation overriding its "the source of life and growth" and the tension of the relationship between justice and desire.In view of the tension,the ideal personality fell from the realm of life to the world of experience in the Ming and Qing dynasties,through the deconstructing of metaphysical heart and humanity,the benevolence could be carried out in the concrete humanity and the hearts of the people,so it was always related to human emotion and desire,and seeking benevolence and becoming benevolent were only in the experiential world and secular life.In view of Neo-Confucianism’s benevolence of "the source of life and growth",which was shielded by moral cultivation theory,during the Ming and Qing dynasties,the benevolence was taken into account in the reality of human life and individual life,and the realization of ideal personality was based on the concrete life of the individual.while the real existence of the individual life was their desires,the satisfaction of desires was to be benevolent and reasonable.In this way,the contradiction between justice and desire was eliminated.Secondly,it is the deconstruction of the theory of"benevolence-noumenon and emotion-use",that is,benevolence changed from""to"emotion".The essence of"benevolence love"in ontology benevolence was to take benevolence as noumenon and separate emotion from it.In ontology,emotion was to show benevolence noumenon,so it could be kept,but in their moral cultivation theory,"renaturation"(复性)was the requirement of becoming saints,which had to restrain the empirical emotion,and the contradiction of between humanity and emotion came into being.In view of the contradiction,during the Ming and Qing dynasties,the position of emotion was improved greatly,and benevolence gained the significance of experience and emotion.Correspondingly,ideologists deconstructed the theory of benevolence noumenon,and made benevolence regain the quality of emotion,which eliminated the tension between them.The third was to transform the theory of "the unity of all things",so that the metaphysical benevolence came down from the noumenon and the realm of life,covered the social practice and realistic life,and formed the harmonious relationship between the "public" of the unity and the "private" of the individual.Song Confucianism interpreted benevolence from two aspects: one was "unity of all things" and the other "public".Benevolence was interpreted as "the unity of all things" in order to eliminate the privacy of "separation and alienation",that is,individual existence,in benevolence noumenon and realm of life,and the "public" was interpreted as benevolence in ethical practices,in order to eliminate the private of individual,thus forming the tension between "public" and "private".In the Ming and Qing dynasties,through the deconstruction of the theory of "the unity of all things",it was emphasized that the benevolence of "the unity of all things" came into the social reality rather than ethical practices,involving the relationship between "public" and "private",and based on this recognition of the significance of the "private" existence,it was held that the existence of "public" was the embodiment of the community of "private" or the universality of the individual,so that the tension between "public" and "private" could be eliminated.The fourth is the deconstruction of the sage’s personality.Song Ming benevolence advocated "learning to be a saint",through cultivation efforts,without feelings,selfless,or no desire,so that the saint gained transcendence meaning.During the Ming and Qing dynasties,it was advocated that the sage had feelings,personal interests and desires,which was the unity of the inside and the outside,the subjective and the objective,moral cultivation and governing affairs,and reversed the trend of "introverted" in Song Ming benevolence.In a sense,the Ming and Qing dynasties denied the theory of ruthless,no desire,selfless moral cultivation,and denied the sage personality constructed by Song Ming benevolence.In other word,the Ming and Qing dynasties changed from "learning as a saint" to "ambition as a hero".It also foreshadowed the disillusionment of Confucian personality ideal and the exit of sage personality in 2000 years.Finally,the characteristics of the transformation of benevolence thought during the Ming and Qing Dynasties,its influence on the modern benevolence thought,and the modern significance of its research are briefly discussed.In a word,from the two dimensions of individual personality ideal and political ideal,the transformation of benevolence thought in Ming and Qing dynasties is essentially that benevolence moved down from the upper Noumenon to the physical phenomenon;benevolence moved down from abstract principle to perceptual experience;benevolence shifted from the realm of life to life itself;the value orientation of benevolence extended from self-study to the study of meritorious service;the practical scope of benevolence extended from the field of inner mind to the external social field,and so on,and having completed the transformation of Song Ming’s ontology benevolence thought.