The Study On Dong Zhu’s Philosophical Thought

Dong Zhu,from Dexing Country,Jiangxi Province,is one of Zhu Xi’s famous disciples.He is the key disciple who put forward the transition of Zhu Xi’ s Neo-Confucianism to Xin’an Neo-Confucianism.Dong Zhu joined Zhu Xi’s group as early as the second year of Chunxi(1175AD).Since then,the published many books focusing on The Four Books and Five Classics,The Nature of mind and Righteousness.However,all these books were lost.Nowadays,the discussions for Dong Zhu’s academic ideology are base on Zhu Xi’s Letters and Q&A,such as Zhuzi Anthologies and Zhuzi Language Category.This thesis differentiates his philosophical thoughts according to these references,mainly including “Cosmology”,”Nature of Mind”,“Time Theory”and “Image-number Theory”.In Cosmology,Dong Zhu inherited Zhu Xi’s“Tao should be viewed with rationality and Qi”.He believed that the universe is endless as a whole in dynamic state.This dynamic state indicated an ideology that “Yin and Yang,as two part of circle,are changing all the time without beginning and end.”In the theory of Nature of Mind,Dong Zhu completely inherited Zhu Xi’s view.He thought that both“Nature”and“Qi” must be recognized,and he made logically distinction between“Nature” and “Qi”.That is,“Nature and Qi are not mixed essentially”,and in fact,the two are inseparable from each other.In the thought of “heart”,Dong Zhu believed that the “heart” should be “pure without contamination”.He thought that this“pure heart” is fundamental for depositor,and the“pure heart”can be divided into “Tao heart” and “human heart”.The two hearts are different and opposite from each other.To avoid “human heart” lose in things,he advocated that “Tao heart” dominated “human heart”.In the Time Theory,Dong Zhu absorbed Zhu Xi’s ideology that “self-restraint requires respect,and the accumulation of knowledge is learning the truth from nature”.Then,he established his own Time Theory that “Respect”bridges the “Movement” and the “Quiet”,but the “Quiet”is fundament.In the Image-number Theory,Dong Zhu’s presented his personal features.He took the number five as the “body” and number Four as the “use”.He believed that the number five is the ancestor of other numbers.This view is similar as Lu Xiangshan.