Research On Wang Longxi’s Thought Of Enlightenment

Wang Longxi,as the representative figure of the Middle Zhejiang School of the later study of Wang Yangming and Yangming’s right-hand disciple,occupies an important position in the history of the development of Yangming’s philosophy of the mind.The most distinctive feature of his thought is the emphasis on "enlightenment".This paper is divided into three parts to discuss Wang Longxi’s "enlightenment" thought,and explore its significance:The first part mainly describes explains why Wang Longxi put forward the thought of "Enlightenment".Wang Longxi knew that Wang Yangming’s thought was acquired through suffering and consideration.However,when teaching the hard-won thought to others,those with little talent "suffered from lack of enlightenment" and only learned the form but didn’t understand the connotation,while those were gifted and intelligent gradually "liked quietness and disliked exuberance,liked empty talk and unrealistic".The reason is that "enlightenment" is not acquired by learning,but by self-perception.Without personal experience and empirical evidence,the most profound words will inevitably fall into empty talk.Even if we have empirical evidence and personal experience,we cannot understand the noumenon by sticking to the form and ignoring the truth behind the practice.Wang Longxi was deeply aware that if "enlightenment" is not self-acquired,no matter how to learn,it will just follow others.Even if the rhetoric is gorgeous,it is only to mix opinions with others words.Therefore,Wang Longxi emphasizes that "The grasp of conscience depends on personal insight" and "only the enlighten could understand".Put forward "enlightenment is the most valuable thing in the learning of a gentleman".The second part of the dissertation explains why we need to "realize" and what we "realize" from the perspective of conscience ontology.Enlightenment means that one has actual experience of the ontology of conscience.Therefore,what we enlighten is the noumenon of conscience.The ontology of conscience of Wang Longxi contains two layers of meaning,one is the "non-existence" about transcend noumenon and the other is the "existence" of the moral basis.If we want to realize the "non-existence" of conscience,we should experience and practice from "existence".This starts from the two layers of connotation of conscience noumenon and runs through the relationship between "enlightenment" and "practice".In fact,there is no need to distinguish between "enlightenment" and "practice" in Wang Longxi’s thought.One can understand the nature and confirm the practice at the moment of enlightenment.However,in order to realize "enlightenment" when we have not yet realized it,we need to keep on practicing hard,need to review our conscience through the exercise of things,need to get rid of selfish desires at any time and keep the clarity of our own mind.At that time,practice is the enlightenment of insight into the noumenon,and enlightenment is also the practice of keeping conscience.The question of why to "enlightenment" is transformed into why do we need to cultivate ourselves.The third part of the dissertation answers the question of how to achieve "enlightenment",and further interprets the mutual relationship between "enlightenment" and "practice" in Wang Longxi’s thought on this basis.Generally speaking,the "enlightenment" of practicing can be divided into two aspects: avoiding falling into consciousness and the removal of selfish desires.Avoiding falling into consciousness means conscience fulfil a role without being disturbed by all kinds of thoughts,and to experience conscience in free and easy state from quiet.The removal of selfish desire is to remove the selfishness and desire in our heart,feel conscience’s natural start.It is precisely because the human mind is inevitably influenced by habits in daily life,and it is also inevitable that people will be affected by private thoughts when they deal with things,so they cannot see the manifestation of conscience noumenon.Therefore,in the practice of "enlightenment",we must first experience the empty and silence noumenon in peace.This is divided into meditation and practical practice.Meditation is just a temporary approach,and its purpose is to make people feel the original state of conscience when they do not think.The core of this method is "reducing burdens".The essence of reducing burdens is the word "reducing",which means subtracting all kinds of thoughts from the mind,transforming the idea of seeking outward into clearing the mind and clarifying the nature of conscience.When the heart is in the face of problems,it is necessary to keep the conscience to observe,so that the thoughts can be realized and clear up.To gather the heart together is holy study,and to do it well is the saint.