Top Scholar

Chapter 325 Master-Disciple Battle
After that day, Wang Shouren fell into deep thought, locking himself in his room from morning till night, and seeing no one except when eating or going to the toilet.

Su Lu roughly understood Yangming's current state... At this time, he had not yet truly 'enlightened himself,' had not established his own theoretical system, and had not completely departed from Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

However, his inability to investigate things and gain knowledge over the years had led him to strongly question the Neo-Confucianism. He was just waiting for the moment of enlightenment when he parted ways with Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi and founded his own philosophy of mind!
If I hadn't shown up, things would probably have turned out this way...

But he himself gave Teacher Wang a wake-up call with the 'hypothetical-deductive method', making him realize that he could not figure things out by sudden enlightenment alone, and that he still had to rely on empirical investigation... The path that he had vaguely realized was obviously also problematic.

Now Teacher Wang was even more confused, unsure whether to continue on his own path or retreat to the old ways of Cheng-Zhu.
Day after day, he pondered without finding an answer. One can imagine Wang Shouren's feelings. People could often hear him howling and wailing in his room.

"Ah! Why must sincerity and upright intentions be derived from examining things?!"

"Why is it so difficult to become a sage?!"

"God, please send lightning to split my head open..."

As he continued speaking, his words became increasingly absurd, leaving the people eating outside looking at each other in disbelief.

"Could Master Yangming have been poisoned by miasma? He's starting to talk nonsense." Su Tai said worriedly, shoveling rice into his mouth while holding a large bowl.

"He's perfectly healthy. Don't worry, philosophers are all like that, they'll figure things out eventually." Su Lu picked up a piece of golden scrambled egg with her chopsticks; these were eggs they had laid themselves.

"What if he can't figure it out and never comes out?" She Yunlu asked.

Before he could finish speaking, the door to the main room was suddenly pushed open with a bang, and Wang Shouren, with his hair disheveled and barefoot, walked out.

"Oh, sir, you've come to your senses?" Everyone turned around and asked in unison.

"Yes, I've figured it out!" Wang Shouren nodded and said to Su Lu, "You almost led me back to the old ways."

"Why do you say that, sir?" Su Lu swallowed the food in his mouth and took out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth.

"Whether it's the principle Zhu Xi spoke of or the principle you demonstrated to me that day, they are all found in concrete things. What do they have to do with my sincerity and upright intentions?" Wang Shouren then waved his hands, his long hair fluttering in the mountain wind, and said:

"What I seek is the principle of becoming a sage. What does it have to do with the seven colors of sunlight or the swarms of insects in miasma? Even if I were to understand the principles of all things, how could I truly understand my own intentions?"

“Uh…” Su Lu was caught off guard and didn’t know how to answer.

"Teacher, give me some time. I need to think about this for a while..." So he stopped eating, locked himself in his room, and began to ponder deeply.

"Well, now it's Qiu-ge'er's turn again." Su Tai and his wife were completely speechless.

"Can we let the teacher suffer all the time? It's time for him to rack his brains. Let's eat." Wang Shouren sat down in Su Lu's seat with a refreshed expression, picked up his bowl and chopsticks, and began to eat the golden scrambled eggs.

"Wow, it smells so good..."

~~
Inside the room, Su Lu sat cross-legged on the bamboo bed, lost in thought.

With his current level of understanding, he naturally understands that Wang Shouren realized the major flaw in Neo-Confucianism, or rather, the Cheng-Zhu methodology—there is a serious disconnect between the investigation of things and the extension of knowledge and the rectification of the mind and the sincerity of intention!

Because Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi assumed that the principles of becoming a sage are found in all things, this statement seems reasonable at first glance and has not been questioned for thousands of years.

The Great Way is omnipresent and all-encompassing.

Therefore, Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi said that you can also discover the Great Dao by investigating things, but the reason you haven't discovered the Great Dao yet is because you haven't investigated enough...

But Wang Shouren's unorthodox question—what is the relationship between the principles of concrete things and my own sincerity and rectification of mind?—suddenly shook the very foundation of Neo-Confucianism: "investigating things to extend knowledge"...

Once the foundation is shaken, the entire edifice of Neo-Confucianism is in danger of collapsing, because the starting point of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is the investigation of things to acquire knowledge!

The seed that shook the edifice of Neo-Confucianism was the enlightenment at Longchang, which quickly grew into a towering tree called Yangming's School of Mind, leading to a great intellectual liberation in the late Ming Dynasty, or you could say a great intellectual chaos...

Su Lu could roughly understand why Wang Fuzhi and Gu Yanwu hated Yangming's philosophy of mind. They believed that the philosophy of mind destroyed the system of Neo-Confucianism and the rites and teachings, causing people to talk about their own nature in vain, no longer care about world affairs, and only know how to indulge in pleasure, which led to the collapse of the rites and music in the Ming Dynasty and its internal disintegration.

Su Lu disagreed with this statement. He argued that the West also had a Renaissance, so how could it liberate thought and lead Europe out of the ignorant Middle Ages?
How come the Ming Dynasty collapsed as soon as it liberated its thinking? Besides, Yangming's philosophy of mind is not only about "nothing exists outside the mind" and "the mind governs all things," but also about "unity of knowledge and action" and "practice in real-world situations"! Why don't we see those so-called followers of Wang Yangming's school working hard and achieving great things like Master Yangming?
The root cause was that the scholar-officials of the Ming Dynasty were sick; they had long enjoyed rights without bearing obligations, turning them into overgrown babies.

Being a "giant baby," one naturally avoids difficult tasks and hates taking responsibility. That's why they tend to oversimplify and exaggerate Wang Yangming's philosophy, engaging only in idle talk and empty discussions about morality...

What the Ming Dynasty needed was a complete overhaul of its scholar-officials, a thorough cleansing of these selfish, short-sighted parasites through blood and fire! It couldn't rely on some magical theory to revitalize the nation.

Moreover, the impact of the School of Mind on the old order was unparalleled, and it was actually a very valuable force. Therefore, Su Lu never thought of suppressing it, but hoped to do his best to help his teacher reform it, reduce its negative influence, and even give birth to some progressive new forces...

At present, Su Lu has already dispelled Wang Shouren's Zen concept of "nothing exists outside the mind", so Teacher Wang should no longer have the idea of ​​"the mind can control all things".

The next step is to prevent him from separating 'mind' from 'reason' and completely succumbing to subjective idealism...

This is a war without gunfire, against the greatest mind of the past thousand years. Even with his advantages, Su Lu still has to exert himself to the utmost, carefully considering every word he utters.

Whether this event can influence the thinking of the Chinese people for the next hundred years depends on this one!

~~
Three days later, Su Lu, also disheveled, broke through the barrier and emerged!

"What, you've come to your senses too?" Wang Shouren was discussing the brick house construction with Su Tai when he saw Su Lu looking so calm and collected, so he asked with a smile.

“Yes!” Su Lu said loudly.
"The teacher felt that Cheng-Zhu's approach was not right—'investigating things to acquire knowledge' seeks physical principles, while 'rectifying the mind and making the will sincere' rectifyes the mind. There might be a serious disconnect between the two, or even that they are unrelated?"

“That’s right.” Wang Shouren nodded and asked, “What’s your answer after much thought?”

"I dare to say that the teacher is both right and wrong," Su Lu said in a deep voice.

“Where is it correct?” Wang Shouren asked.

"The investigation of things to acquire knowledge deals with the physical world, while sincerity of heart and rectification of will deals with the human heart and thought; the two are indeed worlds apart," Su Lu replied eloquently.

“From a student’s perspective, objects are the objects, and the mind is the subject. ‘Physics’ refers to the laws governing the objects, while ‘mind’ refers to the standards of the subject. The two have completely different origins and uses, and cannot be confused.”

As he spoke, he casually plucked a long lemongrass leaf and gave an example: "For instance, the 'physics' of this leaf is its growth pattern of spring growth and autumn shedding, and its property of withering when it encounters frost. We can only figure it out by observing, recording, and trying to plant it. This is what 'investigating things to acquire knowledge' requires, and it is 'human cognition of things'."

He paused for a moment, then continued, “And ‘intention’ is when you see lemongrass leaves and think, ‘With this, I won’t be bitten by mosquitoes,’ or the moral desire to ‘free the people from malaria’—this is what ‘rectifying the mind and making the will’ means, and it is ‘the demands people place on themselves’.”

"Well said!" Wang Shouren praised, "Human perception of things and human self-discipline are precisely the difference between investigating things and rectifying the mind!"

"Therefore, physics is hidden in things, and you can only find it by 'investigating' them; intention resides in the heart, and you can only understand it by 'introspection'—Cheng and Zhu were wrong in thinking that 'after investigating physics, intention will naturally be righteous,' but even if you understand the growth pattern of leaves, if you don't have the intention to 'help the people,' you can only be a gardener at most, and you can't become a sage with a 'righteous heart'—isn't this what the teacher meant by 'the two are not the same thing'?"

Wang Shouren nodded repeatedly and then asked, "So where did I go wrong?"

"The mistake lies in going from one extreme to another, severing the connection between investigating things to acquire knowledge and cultivating sincerity and integrity," Su Lu said bluntly.
“Things and mind, subject and object are indeed two different things, but you can’t just ‘look inward’ to purify your mind. If you only rely on introspection, you can only have the idea of ​​‘helping the people’, but you can’t figure out ‘what the people lack and how to help them effectively’ by just thinking. You might even do bad things with good intentions due to ignorance!”

"Yes." Wang Shouren nodded in agreement and said, "If you want to do good deeds, you do need both conscience and knowledge."

"Where does knowledge come from? It can only be known through investigation!" Su Lu said in a deep voice.
“Just like lemongrass, if you don’t first figure out the physical principle that ‘its scent can repel mosquitoes,’ even if you want to help the mountain people avoid mosquitoes, you can only worry in vain.”

"Moreover, incorrect knowledge can only lead to incorrect perceptions. For example, people used to think that rainbows were a sign of 'licentiousness'... Zheng Xuan said it was a sign of 'excessive propriety between husband and wife' or 'a woman who has run away with another man,' and Zhu Xi even said it was 'the licentious energy of heaven and earth' of 'yin and yang interacting improperly.' When you saw a rainbow before, did you also think it was an 'ominous sign'?"

Wang Shouren nodded and said, "When I was young, I read the commentaries and that's exactly what I thought—when I saw a rainbow, I felt it was a warning from heaven and earth, and I always had a string of 'avoiding evil spirits' in my heart." As he spoke, he sighed and said, "Now I know that this is not 'rectifying one's mind,' but rather the delusions of foolish men and women."

“That’s where the mistake lies in having a distorted foundation of knowledge!” Su Lu said earnestly. “Teacher, you see, once you know that a rainbow is a natural phenomenon, when you see a rainbow, you won’t have the delusional thought of ‘avoiding evil spirits.’ Instead, you’ll think, ‘The scenery after the rain is so beautiful!’ That’s when your thoughts are right, because they are built on the foundation of ‘knowing the truth about things’!”

“That’s right, a righteous mind must be based on correct knowledge!” Wang Shouren nodded in agreement, and then asked, “Then how do we know whether knowledge is right or wrong?”

The master and apprentice then said in unison, "Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth!"

(End of this chapter)