How did Wang Yangming become popular in Japan?

I am "not my true character", so this is the right question.

In 1905, Togo Heihachiro, known as Japan's "Military God", was a rare genius general in Japanese military history. He led the Japanese fleet with inferior equipment to completely annihilate the Russian Pacific Fleet and the Baltic Fleet in the Russo-Japanese War. The fleet has become a household name in Japan.

Due to his outstanding performance in the war, the Emperor of Japan appointed him as the Minister of Naval Command, recalled him to Japan, and held a celebration banquet for him.

At this banquet, facing the praises of everyone in the audience, Togo Heihachiro remained silent. He just took out his waist badge and showed it to everyone. There were only seven characters on it: Life. Bow down and worship Yangming.

Low visibility in China?

"Yangming" refers to the Confucianism developed by Shouren, the great Confucian king of the Ming Dynasty. Because Wang Shouren once built a house in his hometown of Yangming Cave, he was known as Mr. Yangming in the world, so he called his theory Yangming Studies. Wang Shouren inherited the theory of "mind is reason" from Lu Jiuyuan of the Song Dynasty, and advocated the "unity of knowledge and action" and "developing conscience", which was inherited and carried forward by his students. It was spread to the people in the form of lectures and formed the ideological and academic field of the middle and late Ming Dynasty. The famous school - Yangming School.

Wang Shouren, courtesy name Bo'an and nickname Yangming, was born in Yuyao, Zhejiang. A famous thinker and military strategist in the Ming Dynasty, he was a master of spiritual science. His father, Wang Hua, was the number one scholar in Chenghua and served as Minister of the Ministry of Personnel in Nanjing. Looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, there were only three civil servants who were granted the title of earl for their military merits: Wang Ji during the Zhengtong period, who was granted the title of Jingyuan Bo by Pingluchuan; Shou Yue during the Chenghua period, who was granted the title of Wei Ning Bo by his attack on Haizi, Weining; Wang Shouren, who was granted the title of Count for Zhengde. At that time, during the rebellion of Zhu Chenhao, king of Pingning, he was granted the title of Xin Bo.

For hundreds of years, from Zeng Guofan, a famous resurgence minister in the Qing Dynasty, to Liang Qichao, a major figure in the reformists, Hu Shi, a master of Chinese studies, and Tao Xingzhi and Guo Moruo in modern times, they all have highly respected Wang Yangming.

Liang Qichao is the author of "Wang Yangming's Teaching on the Unity of Knowledge and Action". In his view, only the "heart" is real. He said: "The environment is created by the mind, and all physical environments are imaginary. "Only the realm created by the heart is real." "Free Book Weixin" also says: "All realms in the world are created by the human heart." "Xin Min Shuo: On Shang Wu": "The thinker is the mother of facts. ” is another way of saying Wang Yangming’s “There is nothing outside the heart” and “There is nothing outside the heart”. The famous educationist Tao Xingzhi resolutely changed his name to Tao Xingzhi because of the influence of the theory of "unity of knowledge and action". Guo Moruo is the author of "Wang Yangming, the Great Spiritual Life" and "In Praise of Wang Yangming" and other articles.

Although Wang Yangming’s thought had a profound influence in the Ming and Qing dynasties of our country, his reputation is not significant, mainly because of:

First, it is opposed to orthodox Confucianism (Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism) . Compared with Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, which "preserves the principles of nature and destroys human desires", Wang Yangming's "the principles of heaven are human desires, and my heart is the principles of heaven" can be said to be very deviant.

Wang Shouren lived in an era when the Ming Empire was turning from prosperity to decline. Social conflicts began to intensify and feudal rule was hard to return to. The dominant thought at that time was Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, which believed that the origin of the universe was the "reason" that originally existed. Reason was not only the master of all things, but also the source of social moral norms. Human ethics is always the embodiment of "reason". People should improve their own morality and make their ethical behavior close to the "natural principles". In other words, they must comply with the feudal hierarchy and ethics. However, before that, it is necessary to "eliminate the principles of nature and eliminate human desires", and the methods are to "investigate things to gain knowledge" and "restrain oneself and restore rituals".

Because of this, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism was "established as a state issue" during the Yuan Dynasty, so that "scholars respected it and did not dare to doubt it." By the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang began to implement cultural despotism in order to strengthen the centralization of feudalism. He repeatedly issued edicts: "A book by Zhu Xi should not be read by scholars unless it is the Five Classics of Confucius and Mencius, and it is not taught by scholars other than the studies of Lianluo, Guan and Fujian. (Chen Ding's "Biographies of Donglin")"

In fact, the Ming Dynasty stipulated that all imperial examinations should be based on Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, and anything inconsistent with Neo-Confucianism would be strictly prohibited. Especially in the late Ming Dynasty, after Wang Yangming passed away, his disciples and grandchildren took it to the extreme, and it was normal for them to be suppressed.

Second, it is inconsistent with the ruling ideology of the feudal ruling class. During the Qing Dynasty, in order to maintain their rule, rulers needed to cultivate an ideological concept for their own use. Wang Yangming's "Xin Xue" takes "cultivating conscience" and "unity of knowledge and action" as its main categories. It also believes that a person's body does not belong to parents, saints, emperors or others. Part of the same body.

Therefore, in order to maintain its own rule, the Qing Dynasty could not allow Wang Yangming's philosophy to continue to develop.

Is it widely spread in Japan?

The time when Yangmingxue was introduced to Japan according to historical records should be more than 80 years after his death. His masterpiece "Zhuan Xilu" was introduced to Japan in 1602, but it was not published in Japan until 1650. It has a great influence on Japan and East Asia.

The Japanese shogunate at that time used Confucianism as its ruling ideology, so Yangmingism was quickly spread widely after being introduced to Japan. At the end of the shogunate period, the mainstream theoretical ideas of the Zunwangwang and expulsion of barbarians faction also came from Yangming studies.

For example, Sato Issai, Sakuma Shoyama and Yokoi Kokusu, who were famous foreign scholars in Japanese academic circles at that time, were also Yangming scholars.

They used Yangming Studies as a weapon to emancipate their minds and put forward ideas such as "Eastern morality, Western art, the essence and the essence, both external and internal should be considered". They broke Zhu Xixue's stubborn habit of sticking to Confucianism and opened up a new trend of absorbing Western science and technology. It paved the way for Japan's opening and collapse of the port in terms of thought and public opinion.

Sakuma Shoyama had many outstanding disciples throughout his life, such as Yoshida Shoin and Katsu Kaishu, who were defeated by the barbarians, as well as Kato Hiroyuki, Tsuda Shinichi, Nishimura Kuroki, etc., who were the backbones of the Meiji Enlightenment Movement.

Yoshida Shoin was a pioneering thinker and educator during the Reform Movement. Songyin recalled: "I once read Wang Yangming's "Zhuan Xilu", which was quite interesting. I soon found "Li Shi's Burning Book", which is also a Yangming school, and be careful with what you say. Xiang Jie Rizi read "Xixin Cave Notes", and Dashan Although I am not a Yomei scholar, I am often familiar with the true nature of my studies."

After that, Yoshida Shoin was founded in his hometown in the name of his uncle. Matsushita Village Private School has 80 students, more than half of whom made outstanding contributions to the Meiji Restoration, such as Ito Hirobumi, Kido Takayoshi, Takasugi Shinsaku, Yamagata Aritomo, Inoue Kaoru, Maehara Issei, Kusaka Genzui, etc.

There is also Saigo Takamori, the fallen leader of the Satsuma clan and a politician who worshiped Yangmei studies. He used Yangmei studies as a theoretical weapon and actively participated in the reform of the shogunate and the Jinwang movement; in order to return the great power to the emperor, he He personally served as the staff officer of the Governor-General's Office and attacked the shogunate. In order to reform the old system, he initiated the proposal to abolish feudalism and transform counties into counties. He is known as the number one hero in Japan's Qinwang movement.

Zhang Taiyan, a famous scholar in modern China, believed: "Japan's Restoration was also spearheaded by Wang Xue." Liang Qichao also said: "Japan's Restoration was governed by Xin Xue." These conclusions are consistent with Japanese history. .

In the end, the Japanese relied on Wang Yangming's "Xinxue" to overthrow more than 500 years of feudal shogunate rule. The "Meiji Restoration" was successfully implemented and the transition to capitalism was completed.

I have written so much, and I would like to give it a cool thumbs up if it passes by.