So he said that Western philosophy has always had a scientific tradition and an epistemological tradition. It must be a dichotomy between subject and object, where the subject perceives the object and sees the object as the object, including recognizing oneself as an object. For example, in psychology and physiology, they both see themselves as objective objects of study, as an objective existence. The existence of objectivity inevitably involves an object and an acquaintance, and the acquaintance and object form the subject and object. This is a characteristic of Western philosophy.
So Mou Zongsan believes that Chinese philosophy is centered around people, and this life does not refer to the body, but rather to people. China places great emphasis on the study of people. You see, Confucius studied how people can become individuals and how society can become a good society, which is the focus of Chinese philosophy. Confucianism is so concerned about it, and Taoism is also so concerned about it. It seems that Taoism is a little further away from this, but Taoism is still a little further away. It still focuses on how to build a reasonable person and a reasonable society. So, from the beginning, Chinese philosophy had a humanistic atmosphere rather than a scientific spirit.
Therefore, Chinese philosophy centers on "life" and places special emphasis on the establishment of human subjectivity and inner morality; China does not have a Western philosophy centered on epistemology and logic. ——The Characteristics of Chinese Philosophy
Why is there a question of legitimacy regarding the legitimacy of Chinese philosophy that was discussed recently?
Because philosophy originally came from the West, it had a progress. According to this progress, it was found that China did not have such a path or form of learning. Therefore, he proposed that China did not have philosophy at all. However, Mr. Mou Zongsan believed that philosophy is a common law. It's like we all have to climb Mount Xiang, which is a common method, but when it comes to climbing, we can adopt different ways of climbing, and we can also climb at different stages. You can climb from the front, he can climb from the back, he can climb from the left, he can climb from the right, and he can also descend directly from the sky by helicopter, all of which are acceptable.
So philosophy is a common law, and since it is a common law, we have philosophy. Why is it called Chinese philosophy?
It is because our path is different from theirs, and he solves this problem in this way. Therefore, China does not have the Western philosophy of epistemology and logic. Therefore, Chinese learning is the study of life. Unlike ancient Greek culture, which first grasps the external world and nature, Chinese culture first grasps people. The problem it needs to solve is how to settle and regulate our lives, which is the focus of Chinese philosophy.
Therefore, there is a point in this learning that gives rise to the concept of "inner sage and outer king", which is the study of human beings. It focuses on people, life, and society, but not on what the world is like or what is in the universe,
Mou Zongsan's ideological system is indeed very vast. So if everyone just understands it, obviously they cannot grasp all of his ideas. So the issue we discussed earlier, such as some of his works, is actually using this kind of writing style to showcase his academic journey. From the way he works, we can see that his academic journey starts with Western learning, then enters middle school, and finally integrates Chinese and Western cultures, creating a new philosophical system with the characteristics of integrating Chinese and Western cultures.
This is the first question. The second question is that we have introduced him to the classification of Chinese philosophy in different periods, including the classification of pre Qin Confucianism, the classification of Wei Jin metaphysics, the classification of Buddhism, and even the classification of Neo Confucianism in the Song and Ming dynasties.
Regarding Mr. Mou Zongsan's Neo Confucianism during the Song and Ming dynasties, he probably had several books, including the three major volumes "Heart Body and Nature Body" and one book "From Lu Xiangshan to Liu Laoshan". Therefore, these four books can be said to express his understanding of Neo Confucianism during the Song and Ming dynasties. What is his unique aspect of this understanding?
The uniqueness lies in the fact that he is different from what ordinary people understand. For example, when it comes to Song and Ming Neo Confucianism, one of the things that everyone must talk about is Cheng Zhu. Cheng Zhu Neo Confucianism has always been said this way throughout history. You see, the ones who do well in Song and Ming Neo Confucianism now are basically those who study Cheng Zhu. Chen Lai is the dean of Tsinghua University, and he is Zhu Zi. There is a teacher named Yang Guolu at East China Normal University, who is also a Lu Wang and later also studied Neo Confucianism. So these thinkers or philosophers, when studying the Neo Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties, all regard Cheng Zhu as a key point.
Mr. Mou Zongsan, of course, also took this as a key point, but his conclusion was shocking. He believed that Cheng Zhu was not the orthodox school of Neo Confucianism in the Song and Ming dynasties. This conclusion is quite shocking and not orthodox. Of course, after seeing his viewpoint, you can agree or disagree, but you have to explain a truth. So, Mr. Mou Zongsan has explained a truth. What is the truth he is talking about?
His entire Song Ming Neo Confucianism was seen as a philosophy of the mind, and when Zhu Xi and Cheng Yi discussed Neo Confucianism, he regarded it as detached from the human heart. Zhu Xi's performance is particularly evident in this regard. He is somewhat close to Western philosophy, which means that there is an objective principle and the existence of Logos. He is strong in regulation, so he talks about the concept of 'if mountains, rivers, and the earth sink, there is still a principle'. In Zhu Xi's place, he talks about the principle of heaven and nature, but he does not believe that the principle of the heart is the principle.
Zhu Xi did not believe that the heart is reason. He could argue that nature is reason, but he did not argue that the heart is reason. In Mr. Zong San's view, there is a problem with this principle, which is that it has two layers with the mind. Principle is the metaphysical level of the ontology, while the mind is the level of the form and the lower qi. So he divided this into two layers, one is the mind and the other is the essence. According to Mr. Mou Zongsan's viewpoint, the problem arises that the essence can exist, but it is inactive. In other words, without these activities, the essence can still exist. So in this way, it appears that the entity he referred to is only existent and inactive.
So according to Mr. Mou Zongsan's viewpoint, Cheng Zhu has this characteristic. He established another school, from Hu Wufeng (Hu Hong) to Liu Laoshan. In the history of Neo Confucianism, Hu Hong belonged to the Hunan School. So Hu Hong to Liu Laoshan is Liu Zongzhou, who was Huang Zongxi's teacher and the last great Confucian scholar. Some people call him that. So, Liu Laoshan and Hu Wufeng are different from Cheng Zhu. Their lineage returned from the Doctrine of the Mean to the Analects and Mencius. What does this mean?
Because in Hu Hong's philosophy, there is such a thing that he talks about "being wholeheartedly devoted to one's own nature". A person should give their heart and become their own nature. According to Mr. Mou Zongsan's understanding, he combines the body of the heart, the body of the nature, and even the body of the Tao together. His approach is different from that of Zhu Xi. Zhu Xi's approach is that the body of the heart and the body of the nature cannot be confused. The heart is from the perspective of the downward qi, while the body of the nature is from the perspective of the metaphysical heavenly principle, because they are separate.
But he said that the views of Hu Hong and Liu Laoshan are different. They believe that the heart and nature can be discussed together, and that one can cultivate one's nature through wholehearted effort. This is precisely from Mencius, who said, "With wholehearted effort, one can understand heaven," from the Doctrine of the Mean, which states that "the mandate of heaven is called nature, and the will of nature is called the way, and the cultivation of the way is only for the general," and from the Yi Zhuan, which states, "The dry way changes, and each person's life is corrected." This comes from this place. That is to say, there are two layers of mind and nature in Cheng Zhu's view. According to Mou Zongsan, there are two layers of mind and nature.
So the hearts of Hu Wufeng and Liu Laoshan are not two layers anymore, they are on the same layer. That is to say, to cultivate one's nature, one must cultivate one's heart. In this regard, the two of them are different.
And there are also some who go from Lu Xiangshan to Wang Yangming, so they believe in the relationship between heart and reason. He walked further or more tired than Hu Wufeng and Liu Laoshan, and he believed that heart is reason, and reason is heart. So it's not quite the same as what Hu Wufeng said about 'wholeheartedly becoming trustworthy'. So it's even more different from Zhu Xi's dual nature of mind.
From a philosophical perspective, this is also different in terms of cultivation theory. In terms of cultivation theory, Cheng Zhu's Neo Confucianism emphasizes a kind of analysis based on Mr. Mou Zongsan's perspective. He said that from the perspective of university, this is what is called "investigating things to gain knowledge". So, according to Mou Zongsan's understanding, this kind of "investigating things to gain knowledge" is a form of epistemology, not a practical skill.
This is different, he said. Lu Wang, Hu Liu, and others are all practitioners, while Cheng Zhu is an epistemologist. He may be a bit puzzled by his words, but you must read his books. Whether you can understand them or not is one thing. According to Mr. Mou Zongsan's own statement, these books, including "Heart Body and Sexual Body" and "From Lu Xiangshan to Liu Laoshan," were all written by him after the age of 50.
He said I shouldn't read books before the age of 50, as I haven't figured them out myself. These books were all written by me after the age of 50, and I wanted to understand them. However, if he understands them, everyone may not understand them. So, many people who read his books are basically confused, partly because I myself haven't figured it out, and partly because his theory has a considerable depth. He can be considered one of the top philosophers in the world today, so his ideas are difficult to say, and it's hard to understand just by looking at it.
