The Studying Of Chen Jiuchuan's Thought

Chen Mingshui was one of the important disciples of Wang Yangming, and the representative of Yang-Ming School in Jiangyou. Chen,Zou Dongkuo and Ouyang Nanye were revisionists of the School. In his early years, Chen interested in Zhu Zi' s theory, but after learning from Yangming, he changed his mind. But about the Innate knowledge of understanding, Chen had several further changes. In his old age, he visited Wang Longxi, this visiting made him brake out from the cocoon of Innate knowledge and return to the right road. Mingshui regarded Innate knowledge as both of quietness and feelings, opposing to Nie Shuangjiang and Luo Nianan. The later two believed: "There is a stable Substance in Mind," while Chen insisted, "There is No Stable Substance in Mind". Beside this, Chen also had a positive identification for those typical ideas of Yangming, such as readily available conscience, the State of Having Neither the Good nor Evil, and so on. He also insisted that "Awakening Oneself by discreet on One's Own" and "Investigation of things and Extention of knowledge", which was opposed to Shuangjiang's "There is No Effort in Investigating Things" and Wang Xin Zhai's "Huainan Investigation of things." Chen maintained a high degree of consistence to Yangming, dared not to change a word. He is a true disciple of Yangming. His innovation is "Awakening Oneself by discreet on One's Own". It is notable that Chen's theory goes not as further as Wang Longxi's and Luo's. Comparing with Doukuo and Nanye, Longxi had more influence than Chen in the Yang-Ming School; Comparing with Shuangjiang,Nianan, Chen could not tolerate Nie and Luo's wayward theories, just as he opposed to Xinzhai's theory.This dissertation attempts to describe a real Chen Mingshui by comparing Chen to Yangming in the one hand and to others of Yang-Ming School in the other, and by studying of Chen's thoughts, it tries to find the inherent logic of later Yang-Ming School.