Cao Duan
Cao Duan
Cao Duan (1376-1434) was born in Mianchi, Henan Province. He was a famous scholar and Neo Confucianist in the early Ming Dynasty. His theory takes practice as its task, and takes the maintenance of human nature as its main end. It has revised and developed many important propositions of Neo Confucianism, and is regarded as "the top of Neo Confucianism in the early Ming Dynasty".
Life of the characters
In the history of ancient Chinese philosophy, Cao Duan was a great scholar who was called "the top of Neo Confucianism in the early Ming Dynasty" by historians. Cao Duan (1376-1434), a native of Mianchi, Henan Province, was named as Zhengfu and Yuechuan. He lived in "Hongwu, Yongle, Xuande" (preface to Mr. Yuechuan's Lu Cui by Meng Huali). Talent is different, "less negative quality, know how to read.". When I was 5 years old, I saw "Hetu" and "Luoshu", which are known as the source of ancient Chinese philosophy. They actually painted the land as the father of quality, but his father was asked to fall down. After the age of 15, Cao Duan once engaged in farming and studied hard in his spare time, "wearing both bricks under his seat.". At the age of 17, he had read a lot and built a library for himself. He called himself "diligent studio" and took Chen Jingji as an example. At the age of 18, he began to specialize in Confucianism and became a scholar by "learning from Ma Zicai in Yiyang and Peng zonggu in Taiyuan (the general code of Chinese Confucianism)" and "visiting the countryside school". At that time, he had already laid a solid foundation in Confucianism and "learned the five classics". In 1408, 33 year old Cao Duan took part in the Henan provincial examination and won the second place. In the second year, he took part in the capital's provincial examination and was awarded the title of "Xuezheng" (the official in charge of Academic Affairs) of Huozhou, Shanxi Province, as the first in the Deputy list (b list). From then on, Cao Duan stepped into his official career, engaged in politics and teaching, and studied psychology. The Song Dynasty was the heyday of Chinese Neo Confucianism. Zhou Dunyi and others pioneered Neo Confucianism. They regarded "reason" or "heavenly reason" as the origin of all things in the universe, so they called it Neo Confucianism. Since Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Cheng Yi, Cheng Hao, Zhu Xi and other famous scholars have emerged in large numbers, and Neo Confucianism has made great progress. From the death of Song Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, Han culture was damaged and Neo Confucianism declined. After the great social unrest at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Zhu Ming Dynasty. After more than 30 years, there was a change of "Jingnan". Ming Chengzu was in great need of social stability, unified thinking, and made Xie Jin and others compile Yongle Dadian. However, Cheng Zhu Neo Confucianism gradually disappeared and became "Jue" Learning. Cao Duan, who is located in Mianchi, the famous District of Heluo and the hometown of Neo Confucianism, "first started in Mianjian and advocated the unique learning of Ming Dynasty" (biographies of Cao Duan in Ming History). Before going into politics, Cao Duan had already accepted the Neo Confucianism of Cheng and Zhu, and thus went up to Zhou Dunyi, a Confucianist of Song Dynasty. He admired Zhou's philosophy and adopted the meaning of Zhou's Zhuo Fu. He called the library "Zhuo Chao" to encourage himself. When he arrived in Huozhou, he still used the plaque of "humble nest" to show that he did not forget his original ambition (notes of humble nest by Xue Xun).
Academic achievements
Learning from Zhu Xi and advocating "exorcism"
When Cao Duan was about 20 years old, he got the book of debating doubts. After careful study, he happily said: "Tao is in it", and resolutely took this Tao as his duty. From the orthodox standpoint of Confucianism, he rejected Buddhism and Taoism. It takes the nature of emptiness as the way of interpretation. Although he had an enlightening teacher, he had a unique way. He respected Zhu Xi and put forward the theory of "controlling Qi by reason" and advocated doing Kung Fu in mind. He inherited and developed Neo Confucianism and advocated Neo Confucianism orthodoxy. Based on this, he opposed "all vanity, wizard, geomancy, time" and other feudal superstitious activities. Under his advocacy, the government destroyed more than 100 "obscene temples" to deceive the masses. During the famine years, he also actively advocated disaster relief activities and saved a lot of hard-working people, which was valuable in feudal society.
Promoting Taiji and tracing back to Confucianism in Song Dynasty
In his academic research, he respected "Tai Chi" as the origin of things. It is "reason" and "Tao". He said: "if you want to learn the way of sages, you must stand on the Tai Chi diagram." He also said: "Tao is Tai Chi, Tai Chi is Tao. In terms of communication, Tao is said; in terms of non miscellaneous, one is said. How can a man have two Yan?" This view of world monism is materialistic. His philosophy is developing. Therefore, he objected to Zhu Xi's theory that Taiji "does not automatically move and still", and thought that Taiji will automatically move and still, and realized the dynamic effect of Taiji on things. From Zhu Xi to Zhou Dunyi, the teacher of Er Cheng, he annotated Zhou's Taiji Tu Shuo again.
Practice and attach importance to education
Cao Duan is dedicated to his studies, practises hard and pays attention to teaching by words and deeds. Therefore, while imparting knowledge, he paid attention to persuading people by virtue and combining knowledge with practice. He taught students how to be a man. Cao Duan has been in Huozhou for more than ten years. He has a good record in politics, and has a deep insight into Neo Confucianism. As a result, they were admired by scholars from all over the world and vied with each other to receive their education. "Hundreds of scholars came to learn from the wind," and "all the students accepted their education, and all the people in the county were shamed to argue.". When his parents died, he was buried in Mianchi. In the sixth year of the Lu tomb, Huozhou lived thousands of miles away, and "studied many times in the tomb" (Biography of Cao Duan in Ming History). When Cao Duan was lecturing in Huozhou, Li De, a scholar from Huozhou, said to his students, "never tired of learning and never tired of teaching, it's the great virtue of Cao Zi." As for his knowledge of the past and the present and his achievement of events, few of his postgraduates can catch up with him. As the old saying goes, "it's easy to learn from classics, but it's hard to learn from others." you have learned from others. " So he avoided lecturing in Huozhou. When Cao Duan knew about it, he was open-minded and thought Li De was noble. He asked the students to keep him to give lectures together.
Pay attention to "pre cultivation"
Cao Duan's moral cultivation method is "the study of the mind", which pays special attention to the "pre cultivation" of the mind before it develops. The main words are "sincerity" and "respect". "Sincerity" is emptiness without desire, which inherits the philosophy of Ercheng; "respect" values self-examination, self-cultivation and self-cultivation, which coincides with Lu and Wang's "mind study". This point was carried forward by Zhang Xinmin, another Confucianist in Mianchi in Ming Dynasty. Because of the two words "sincerity" and "respect", Cao Duan believed that "the happiness of Confucius and Yan is the happiness of benevolent people", and those who can cultivate themselves are naturally happy. Zhu Xi rejected Lu and Wang's theory of mind learning and Kung Fu. Cao Duan's ability to accept everything and have a broad heart is beyond Zhu Xi's ability.
Achievements
In addition to the above academic achievements, Cao Duan also made great achievements in politics. Cao Duan was the first to advocate "honesty and justice" for political leaders. Guo Sheng, the magistrate of Huozhou, asked Cao Duan for advice on how to be in power. Cao Duan said, "is the government honest? Public, then people dare not abuse; incorruptible, then officials dare not bully. ". Guo Sheng deeply obeyed his teaching. More than one hundred years after Cao Duan's death, Hong Yingming, another scholar of the Ming Dynasty, put forward the conclusion that "public life is bright and honest life is powerful" in his Caigen tan. Therefore, Cao Duan advocated the word "fair and honest" as the official motto of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Gong Lian said that even today, it still has far-reaching practical significance.
work
Cao Duan regarded advocating Neo Confucianism as his lifelong goal, and his works were abundant. His main works include: Interpretation of Taiji tushuo, Tongshu, Ximing, four books in detail, Xingli Wenji, yexingzhu, zhuocao, cunqilu, Xiaojing, xunmongyaozuan, jiaguijiliao, luzui, Ewing quotations, Confucian zongtongpu, Yuechuan Tushi And Yuechuan poetry collection. In the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Jing collected eight kinds of Cao Duan's posthumous writings and published them together as "Mr. Cao Yuechuan's posthumous works".
influence
Cao Duan's Neo Confucianism had a great influence on Ming Dynasty. Chen Jian, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, wrote Tongji, which said: "Liu Chengxin (i.e. Liu Ji) was the first martial arts in this dynasty, and Cao Jingxiu (Cao Duan) was the source of Neo Confucianism.". It can be seen that the evaluation is high. The biography of Cao Duan in the history of Ming Dynasty called him "the top of Neo Confucianism in the early Ming Dynasty". In September of the ninth year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty (1434), the most famous scholar of the Ming Dynasty died of illness at the official office of Huozhou Xuezheng at the age of 59. Zhu Sheng mourned for it for three years, and his private posthumous title was "Jingxiu". His death in Huozhou was "crying in the alley of strike", and even the children wept. Cao Duan was a poor official, unable to be buried, and had the right to bury Huozhou. In 1447, Cao Duan was moved back to caohutou village in Mianchi for burial. So far, the tomb of Cao Duan is still a county-level cultural relic protection unit.
Records of Ming history
Cao Duan, the word Zhengfu, Mianchi people, Yongle six years. At the age of five, he Tu and Luo Shu were the father of painting the land. And long, pay attention to nature. His academic affairs are practical, and his main purpose is to keep quiet. After reading Tai Chi Tu, Tong Shu and Xi Ming, the Confucians of Song Dynasty sighed: "the Tao is there." Duzhi studies. He sits on his feet and wears both bricks. He is filial to his parents. His father had a good idea of Shi Shi, and put it into the book "night candle", saying: "Buddha takes emptiness as nature, not destiny; Lao takes emptiness as Tao, not frankness." The father gladly followed. After the second bereavement, Wuwei not entrance, both buried, Lu tomb for six years. Duan first read Xie Yingfang's "discrimination of doubts" and said that there is no need to tell about all kinds of things, such as Fu Tu, wizard (x í), Feng Shui and time. Shangshu Yizai destroyed more than 100 temples to set up Li she and Li Gu Tan to make the people pray for retribution. In the famine, many people survived. For Huo Zhou to learn, to cultivate the sage. If all the students obey their teachings, all the people in the county will be shamed to fight. When Guo Sheng, the magistrate, asked about the government, he said, "is it fair and honest for all?". The public dare not slow down, and the incorruptible dare not bully the officials. " Sheng, please accept. After a difficult return, Mianchi and Huo Zhusheng mostly studied in their tombs. He changed Puzhou to Xuezheng. Huo, Pu two cities each chapter of the dispute, Huo play first please. At the same time, Li De and Duan also gave lectures in his hometown. As soon as he saw the end, he retreated and said to all the students, "never tired of learning and never tired of teaching, which is the virtue of Cao Zi. Until he knew the past and the present, he reached the event, and he did not learn anything new or similar. As the ancient saying goes, "it's easy to learn from classics, but it's difficult to learn from others.". So he went away from the banquet. Duan also held high the friendship of his deeds, and ordered all the students to extend it and explain the correct learning. " He has been in Huo for 16 years, and he died in Xuande in the ninth year, in the 59th year. In the year of mourning, Huo people went to the streets to cry, and all the children shed tears. poor
Chinese PinYin : Cao Duan
Cao Duan
