Xiong Shili's Yogacara teaches me to become a Buddha, and enlightenment relies on learning and the guidance of teachers. He always regards it as the first priority, which is the manifestation of his true nature. Ultimately, in Xiong Shili's view, it is his self realization and self nature. Kung Fu is just a form of assistance, but its role in helping others is extremely important. Don't go against it, it's called Kung Fu, and it's essential.
But kung fu is a two-way process, both evolving. It may not only fail to improve, but also return to its essence. For example, some people may think about it and then do worse, while others may think about it and move forward.
So, this kung fu should be done in the direction of goodness, which is why his philosophy distinguishes between sexual habits and the cultivation of pure habits. We simplify it to the end. Buddhism always says to practice all good deeds and avoid all evil deeds, but in fact, it is about this aspect of kung fu. Because it is not like knowledge being a positive addition, cultivating skills may be a two-way differentiation. Learning knowledge and culture from us may be more beneficial for some people to do good things, while learning to do bad things may be more beneficial, which is bad.
Similarly, this effort should also be focused on cultivating it with dedication. One day, through cultivation, we will see the body, and our life meaning will be fully presented. Our quantitative intelligence will also be purified. At that time, knowledge will no longer be knowledge, but pure knowledge. If we cultivate our skills well, our spiritual intelligence will be enhanced, and our conscience will be presented. At that time, we will not be vector intelligence in all our endeavors, as we used to be rolling around in the phenomenal world.
If I come to class now, it's class, and if I finish class now, it's class. But if I cultivate my martial arts skills to the point where I succeed, I won't be teaching in class anymore. Teaching is doing the right thing for heaven, and finishing class is not finishing class either. Ending class is presenting my conscience. This is where the Song Ming Daoist's teachings can connect with modern understanding of this set of martial arts.
Nowadays, we do not discuss this place, but only discuss its manifestation and application. Classical philosophy needs to lay the foundation for it, which may also have some value for modern epistemology. Of course, some of our classmates say that I have never thought about it this way, but if you see the impact of modern science on modern society and the natural world, we will feel that putting effort into sexual intelligence is still valuable for the comprehensive achievement of human beings and the coexistence and prosperity of our lives.
First of all, welcome to my class. Today, I will talk about the second part of Xiong Shili's philosophy. The title is about Yogacara, and the subtitle is about the transformation of existence patterns from causality to embodiment.
Xiong Shili's philosophy is the New Consciousness Theory. Some students may say that the New Consciousness Theory corresponds to the traditional Consciousness Learning. What kind of system is the traditional Consciousness Learning? What changes have occurred in Xiong Shili's new theory of consciousness? Why does he insist on writing another new theory of consciousness?
This is the issue we want to discuss with everyone. How Xiong Shili achieved this theoretical system transformation. In our first class, we talked about his epistemological attitude. So, this class is about how our specific theoretical system has been transformed, on which issues has it been transformed, and how has it been transformed?
This is a characteristic of contemporary Chinese philosophy, where all philosophers discuss problems and propose their own new perspectives based on the traditional four factors. So, to discuss this issue, I plan to discuss it with everyone from five parts. First, let everyone go through it and see which issues will be discussed, with a number in mind.
The first one is a premise, and I will introduce it to you in a concise way. The "old" of the old Yogacara school is relative to Xiong Shili's new Yogacara theory. What does this old Yogacara worldview look like? How do they discuss the relationship between mind and matter, and how do they discuss psychological phenomena?
The classics of the old Yogacara school are very complex, and just the book translated and edited by Xuanzang, which became Yogacara theory, is very difficult for everyone to read. Let me make the simplest summary, which is how does Yogacara view the world, psychological phenomena, and the liberation of life?
This can lay a foundation for us to discuss the New Yogacara, otherwise we cannot talk about it. What does the old Yogacara school mean? Let's see if what he says makes sense. If he makes a lot of sense, why does Xiong Shili still talk about his things. This is the first part where I plan to discuss this issue.
So, in the second part, from the theoretical framework of Yogacara, I will separate the discussion on the four factors (cause and effect, equal and unrelated factors, dependent factors, and increased factors) and talk about causal relationships.
Buddhism regards causality as its primary principle, and some of it uses the concept of dependent origination. So, what does the causal relationship or the theory of dependent origination mean when he talks about it.
There are also changes within his system, such as the Mahayana emptiness school of primitive Buddhism and the change in the theory of cause and effect and dependent origination in Yogacara. So, what substantive significance does this change have within his system?
Especially the Four Elements of Yogacara as his foundation, what does it mean to talk about the four types of causal relationships? Why is Xiong Shili particularly dissatisfied with these four causal relationship theories? Because the foundation of Yogacara, or in other words, the ultimate driving force, is in the Four Elements. Xiong Shili is dissatisfied with it. He draws on the Confucian concept of the relationship between body and function to criticize causal relationships. By the way, I would like to explain the relationship between ontological phenomena from the perspective of causal relationships. Our philosophy often discusses ultimate existence and the origin of the first cause. So, what is the general relationship between origin and phenomenon? From the perspective of causality, what kind of situation would it be? If everyone can understand this question, then the meaning behind Xiong Shili's speech on physical fitness comes out.
Because there are many types of causal relationships in Buddhism, I am making a comprehensive judgment, which consists of two parts. This is a prerequisite for discussing the new Yogacara theory of Xiong Shili. The premise of the transformation in the Yogacara section is the fundamental theory of Buddhist Yogacara, as well as the basic concepts of causality and the relationship between body and function.
So, in the third part, I will start talking about Xiong Shili's transformation.
His first change came not from directly explaining how he changed, but also from his problem awareness. Xiong Shili likes Yogacara, and it's not just his problem. Yogacara was very popular throughout the early 20th century because it had rigorous reasoning, rigorous logic, and a pair of psychological phenomena that were analyzed very carefully. Everyone thought it was very good.
But Xiong Shili ultimately didn't like this, which was closely related to his personal survival situation and the revival of the nation-state in his era. For example, when he was young, he discussed his love for Yogacara and regarded it as his faith. However, in the later process of thinking, he gradually withdrew from it and felt that he could not accept it. This is directly related to his real-life situation and his thinking on real problems, which is why he withdrew from Yogacara? Why don't you like the phenomenon of 'Four Fate'?
So, the fourth part is our core today, which is Xiong Shili's proposal on problem awareness.
So, how does the structural theory change in terms of structure? So, he reinterpreted the Four Elements theory of Yogacara, the most crucial of which is to transform the causal theory of Yogacara from phenomenological causality to the traditional Confucian mode of thinking that emphasizes the unity of body and function. This is a transformation of causality in the theory of cause and effect, while other explanations such as the concept of 'waiting for an inseparable fate' and 'increasing the upper fate' are not significantly different from Yogacara. The explanation of fate is different from the old Yogacara, and even its innovation lies not in this, but in the explanation of causality.
But he is very conscious of the issues brought about by the discussion of the concept of "fate" in Buddhist Yogacara, and I speculate that it is the change in karma caused by fate. Therefore, fate is also very important.
The last part of the content is about the theoretical significance of the new interpretation of the Four Elements Theory of Yogacara.
Since Xiong Shili made a change to the Four Elements, especially the concept of karma, the old Yogacara school can no longer accommodate his ideas. He is bound to write the New Yogacara, so his book is called 'New Yogacara Theory', which he wrote for ten years. Ten years later, he published a book called "New Yogacara" in classical Chinese, laying the foundation for his own ideas. In the following decades, he continued to make revisions, but the basic ideas did not change significantly. So, the foundation of this New Yogacara lies in the explanation of the Four Elements.
So, next week I will talk to everyone about it. After his transformation ended, he used this as a basis to teach a set of metaphysics. The metaphysics of Confucianism's theory of body and function has evolved from the principle of unity between body and function to the new Confucian system of achieving enlightenment and clarity of mind. After reading the content of the previous two weeks and then looking at his later ones, you will understand why he spoke so well. That set of content is no longer related to the old Yogacara school, it is basically the kind of expression used by Confucianism, borrowing some materials from the old Yogacara school.
So, today's content is about the most core part of Xiong Shili's philosophy.
I will now start discussing this issue in detail with everyone from the first part. Because one of the biggest difficulties in discussing contemporary Chinese philosophy is that you must understand traditional philosophy and be familiar with Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. I assume that you are already very familiar with them, and I am just going to popularize them here. By the way, I would like to reiterate this point to avoid everyone forgetting it when they say that I am studying the history of Chinese philosophy. Let's remind you again.
That means you must be familiar with tradition and have a certain foundation in modern and contemporary philosophy, including Western philosophy, because to learn from someone, your intellectual level must be on the same level as theirs. Otherwise, you will always be a student and whatever he says will be true. If you think about the same problem as him, you can have a conversation with him. In fact, these philosophers propose these theoretical systems, which may seem complicated to you, but once you think about the problem he is thinking about, it becomes easy to solve and understand when you deeply resonate with him.
