Discussing About Li Zhi's Family View

Li Zhi was a remarkable thinker in late Ming Dynasty. In his life full of ups and downs, he left a lot of spiritual wealth which is worthy of discussing. His thoughts, such as union of three religions, "Tongxin Shuo", affirming status and function of women, etc, are very important in history. This article expounds Li Zhi's thoughts by the research of his family view, and reflects some views about family in ancient China.This article is divided into three respects: First, Li Zhi's Buddhist thought and family complex; second, Li Zhi's viewpoints of family moral and responsibility ; third, woman status and function in family by Li Zhi's judgement. By discussing Li Zhi's family view, a lot of thought from Li Zhi could be reflected. We could find that on one side, he rebelled from tradition; on the other, he stuck to the key principle of tradition.Li Zhi was a quite controversial person .He had a deep family complex, but he became a monk later; he looked on family as burdensome, but he could not forget his family .He had put forward a lot of views on pursuing individual freedom and searching the truth through becoming a monk. . Some of his thoughts had deep cultural background, some were identical with the social atmosphere in late Ming Dynasty, others were due to the individual character of Li Zhi's. Certainly, the thought of Li Zhi's being a monk and family complex, could be esteemed as pursuing personal ideal and individualized life, realizing value and contradicting family relationship.Li Zhi's viewpoints on family moral and responsibility, are key points of realizing his thinking. Both Confucianism and Buddhism, had deep effect on Li...