A Comparative Study Of The Three Scholars Under Xiong’s Sect On The Doctrine Of The Mean

The Doctrine of the Mean carrying with deep wisdom plays a vital part in Chinese academic.The interpretation of the Doctrine of the Mean can be divided into the Four Books and the Five Classics from the perspective of philosophical development.Early in the Book of History,and the Book of Changes,the ideology of “Zhong” has appeared,known as “Shang Zhong”,“Zhi Zhong” and “Zhong He”.Confucius first came up with “moderation” and regarded it as a sovereign virtue,which has a remarkable meaning of moral practice.The completion of the Doctrine of the Mean brings the wisdom of moderation up to the level of moral ontology.In the Four Books period,facing the domestic turmoil and foreign aggression,under the background of the impact of Buddhism and Taoist school,due to the development of the destiny and nature and the noumenon,intellectual history of the Doctrine of the Mean is divided into two stages,metaphysical stage and physical stage.The Doctrine of the Mean finally becomes a representative of a complex philosophical system combining with classical interpretation and ideological creation.Mou Zongsan,Tang Junyi and Xu Fuguan,are the representatives of modern Confucianism.They three interpret the Doctrine of the Mean differently,although all of them are the students of Xiong Shili.Mou Zongsan’s interpretation of the Doctrine of the Mean is based on the premise of combining all the theories of Confucianism.He talks about the“Xing” and “Tian Dao”,“Xin Ti” and “Xing Ti”,“moderation” and “Zhong He” through Confucius’,Mencius’ and Song Confucianists’ thoughts.Tang Junyi interprets the Doctrine of the Mean on the premise of tracing back to the origin of philosophy.He talks about the “Gong Fu”,“Xing Ming”,“Ben Ti”,“Cheng Dao” through the concept of “Xin”,“Ming”.“Xing”,“Tao”.Xu Fuguan’s interpretation is much full and accurate.He talks about the formation,construction,questions and the argumentation of the book through the monograph on the history of Chinese human nature ideology.Referring to the public time of the Doctrine of the Mean and the relationship between the Works of Mencius and the Doctrine of the Mean,Xu Fuguan believes that the Doctrine of the Mean directly inherited from the Analects of Confucius.Thus,the Doctrine of the Mean came earlier than the Works of Mencius,considering that.Tang Junyi thinks that the Doctrine of the Mean is not only the continuation of Mencius,but also the knot of all kinds of thoughts about “Xin Xing” in the pre-Qin period.Therefore,the Works of Mencius appeared before the Doctrine of the Mean.Mou Zongsan agrees with Tang Junyi partially.He considers that the Doctrine of the Mean and the Works of Mencius apply different direction but the same in perspective of logical development as the Analects of Confucius.Referring to the interpretation path and metaphysical wisdom,Mou Zongsan advocates “approaches to the universe”,“inner connection” and stresses that the theory can’t be separated from the moral metaphysics.He interprets the Doctrine of the Mean in the way of moral metaphysics.Tang Junyi focuses more on the analysis of concept of maxims and less on metaphysics.He interprets the Doctrine of the Mean in the way of history of philosophy.Xu Fuguan’s interpretation is based on literature research,development of intellectual history and discussion of basic issues.He intends to separate from metaphysics and results in the subjective state form of the metaphysical entity since it is difficult to remove all of the metaphysical meaning.Referring to the explaining the key point and connotation of argumentation,Mou Zongsan emphasizes “Zhong” and “Cheng” which is transcendent metaphysical ontology.He holds that “Tian” flows downwards in “Tian Ming Zhi Wei Xing”.His theory claims that the Doctrine of the Mean focus on metaphysical ontology.Tang Junyi see not only the close relationship between “Xing” and “Tian Dao” but also the cultivation Gong Fu.His theory talks about ontology,Gong Fu,metaphysics and realm on the perspective of “Cheng”.Xu Fuguan’s interpretation is a little bit similar to Tang Junyi’s.He is more inclined to focus on the theory of “Gong Fu” for his interpretation emphasizes more on inner cultivation less on metaphysics.Regardless of the divergence,their respective interpretation of the Doctrine of the Mean are a precious crystallization of wisdom on the way to search exits for Chinese culture.Their contribution fosters the development of Chinese philosophy whose eternal value beyond time and space.