Good Confucianism book (pdf) - Department of Physics

Neo-Confucianism 173of the mind/heart is based on the incorrect understanding that knowledgeand action are separate.In another example, Wang says that as soon as we see flowers, weappreciate them. The knowledge of beauty and the action of appreciationare woven together; the knowledge of how to do calligraphy cannot beseparated from the practice of calligraphy. So, Wang says, “ Knowledge isthe beginning of action and action is the completion of knowledge ” ; 18 theyare mutually interdependent.All human beings possess an original mind/heart. As Mencius said, thefour sprouts or beginnings are the external manifestations of this originalmind/heart. This original mind/heart is what Wang calls “ intuitiveknowledge. ”Our innate faculty of knowing, our moral consciousness or intuitiveknowledge is the same for sages and for ordinary people. Because of ourintuitive knowledge, we can see whether we are on the right or wrongcourse; intuitive knowledge acts like a compass. It is intuitive knowledgethat promotes the good in us and it contains an emotional dimension. Atruly good heart feels the emotion of sympathy for the child at the well.Intuitive knowledge is innate, as can be seen in the natural love childrenhave for their parents. If we know about filial piety only in theory, but donot practice it, it is because knowledge and action have been separated byselfishness and we have looked for principle outside ourselves, not followingour intuitive knowledge.Like Lu Jiuyuan, Wang Yangming argued that the universe has neverseparated itself from people; it is people who have separated themselvesfrom the universe through selfishness, ignorance, or incorrect thinking. Weare already one with the universe because our mind/heart is the universe ’ smind/heart. If we have this sense of the universe, then everyone in theworld is one family, as Zhang Zai said; however, if we are imprisoned byseeing principle as outside of the self, then we can see only difference andseparation.Zhu Xi and earlier Neo - Confucians were right to talk about principleand the Supreme Ultimate; they were right to say, as the “ WesternInscription ” does, that we are intimately connected to all people and allthe things of the universe. Where they went wrong was to use an intellectualmethod to find principle. This will always lead to our understandingprinciple as something separate from us.Wang Yangming was criticized for being a Chan (Zen) Buddhist and nota Confucian. The Chan idea that the mind naturally and intuitively knowswithout any dependence on anything outside of the mind certainly influencedWang ’ s thinking. Wang ’ s followers debated the nature of intuitiveknowledge: some argued it needed training to be found, others said it wassimply natural. Some followers said they could do anything at all, as long