Research Paper on Zhu Xi’s Moral Education Thoughts

Research Paper on Zhu Xi’s Thoughts on Moral Education

1

Zhu Xi attaches great importance to the important role of education in changing human nature. He explained the theory of human nature based on the objective idealism of "reason" monism, and put forward the view that human nature is "reason", which is the feudal moral code of "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom". He said: "Xing is just reason. It is called human nature because of its endowment in people."

Connected with thoughts on the role of education, Zhu Xi advocated that the purpose of school education is to "understand human ethics." He said: "The ancient sage kings set up a school to teach the people of the world... They must all have to get rid of the deviation of their temperament and the obstruction of material desires, restore their nature, and fulfill their ethics." According to Zhu Xi, in order to overcome the "bias of temperament", remove the "obscuration of material desires", and restore the good nature, one must "complete human ethics". Therefore, he emphasized that "father and son are related, monarch and ministers are righteous, husband and wife are distinguished, elders and young are orderly, friends have trust, this person has great ethics. Xiang, Xu, Xue, and school are all to understand this." In the "Revelation of Bailudong Academy", the above-mentioned five ethics are also clearly listed as the "purpose of teaching" and placed first, pointing out that "scholars only study this."

Starting from the idea that the purpose of education is to "enlighten human ethics", Zhu Xi severely criticized the school education at that time for the purpose of imperial examinations.

He believes: "The purpose of the ancient sages to teach people was not to make them explain the principles clearly in order to cultivate themselves, and then recommend them to others. They did not just want to record their affairs and write poems to gain fame and fortune. "However, the school education at that time went in the opposite direction. Scholars "seeked nothing more than memorization, exegesis, and writing in order to gain fame and gain", which completely violated the "predecessor's principles" The original intention of learning is to understand human ethics. He sharply pointed out: The name of such a school "may not be different from the time of the former king, but the reason why its teachers teach and the reason why its disciples learn is to forget the roots and focus on the bottom, to focus on benefits and abandon the meaning, and there is no intention to restore the ancestors. Although the name of the school exists, but it is not promoted, the effect will be that the customs will deteriorate and the talents will decline." Therefore, he demanded reform of the imperial examination and rectification of schools. In view of the fact that school education at that time neglected ethics and moral education, inducing students to "take advantage of benefits instead of righteousness" and strive for fame and wealth, and in order to change the situation of "declining customs and declining talents", Zhu Xi reiterated and emphasized "Mingren Human Relations" The idea had certain positive significance at that time. Zhu Xi's educational thoughts are a crucial component in his complete theoretical system, and they are implemented throughout his entire academic activities. In 1173, Zhu Xi wrote "Reconstruction of Youxi Temple Academic Records" and inscribed the "Minglun Hall" plaque for Youxi Academy, which also reflects his educational thoughts. After Zhu Xi ascended the throne at the age of 19, in addition to serving as a local official for 7 years (some say 9 years), he served as a lecturer at the court for 46 days. He devoted more than 40 years to lecturing, preaching, and writing books. Zhu Xi devoted his life to education and enlightened the people, and he was full of talents all over the world. According to the "Jian'an Genealogy of the Zhu Family in Ziyang", there are 321 people from Zhu Zi's family who can be examined, including Cai Yuanding, Zhen Dexiu, Peng Guinian, etc. They not only have their names and surnames, but also have resumes. Ming Renlun's educational thoughts are best supported by himself. At the same time, his criticism of the school education and imperial examination system at that time was also in line with the current situation. Zhu Xi proposed that education should be divided into two stages: primary school between the ages of 8 and 15, and university after the age of 15. "A young scholar learns what he does; a great scholar learns what he learned in primary school." Zhu Xi advocated that for primary schools, the main thing is to "teach them things", such as "rituals, music, archery, number of books, and things of filial piety and loyalty to younger brothers." As for discovering and exploring the principles of things, it is the task of university education. "The university is about exhausting its principles", "The primary school is about doing things in person and dealing with them directly, and the university is about studying the principles in detail based on the above. The reason why things are like this is how the things are done" ("Zhuzi Yulei" Vol. seven). Therefore, if one can receive a good education in primary school, "the child will be able to cultivate himself so that his mind will improve without even realizing it. As he grows older and has more experience, he will be able to understand everything and be able to do anything" (ibid.). Zhu Xi's educational ideas are inseparable from his educational teleology. Its teleology of education is based on Confucian ethics and moral theory, and believes that the purpose of education is to understand human relations. It is said that "the learning of the ancient kings was based on understanding human relations."

"The key to doing things is to do things justice and not to seek benefits." Know the way and don't count the merits. "The key to receiving things: Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you. If you can't do something, do it to others." "And emphasized that "scholars only learn this" (Volume 74 of "Zhu Wengong's Collected Works"). Zhu Xi also said in "Visiting Virtue and Industry": "De means that you must do something good when you see it, and you must correct your mistakes after hearing them. Able to manage one's body, able to manage one's family, able to serve father and brother, able to teach children, able to control children and servants, able to govern politics and religion, able to serve senior officials, able to live in harmony with relatives, able to choose friends, able to maintain integrity, able to extend benefits, able to Being entrusted with help can save people in trouble. Can guide people to do good, can correct people's mistakes, can help people do things, can help people do things. It can resolve struggles and resolve right and wrong. Ability to promote benefits and eliminate harm, and to be able to hold official positions. "If you can really achieve the "abilities" listed above, you will become a perfect person. Although this is a clause in the article "Increase and Loss of the Lu Family's Township Agreement" written by Zhu Xi, it can also be said to be Zhu's The basic content of the concept of moral education.

III

As for the methods of moral education, in Zhu Xi’s view, the most prominent feature of youth moral education is “preconceptions”. They are susceptible to the influence of various ideas in society. Once they accept "heretical doctrines", they will encounter resistance if they are taught Confucian ethics and morals. However, "Illegal things cannot be forbidden from outside, but they can be forbidden from within." " (Volume 12 of "Xujinsilu"), therefore, as long as we understand "the way of dealing with advancement and retreat, the way of loving and respecting relatives and respecting Master Changlong's relatives and friends" and "teaching and practicing it when we are young", as long as we "preconceptions are the first ", you can avoid the "meaning that the skewers are invincible". ("Elementary School Notes·Original Preface") Zhu Xi emphasized that after the baby falls to the ground, the wet nurse's teaching is particularly important. When the baby is 6 years old, he must be taught simple things such as numbers and square names. Knowledge. 8-15 years old is the primary school stage. "At the age of 8, all children from the prince to the common people will enter the primary school, and they will be taught the rules of advance and retreat, etiquette, music, and imperial writing." ("The Great Learning") Chapter Sentences"). Zhu Xi advocates that parents must strictly discipline young people and must not let them be spoiled and spoiled. If they are arrogant and lazy when they are young, they will become vicious when they grow up. Therefore, family education must not be relaxed at all. . In order to facilitate education from an early age, Zhu Xi personally compiled a "Children's Instructions" as a teaching material.

Zhu Xi inherited Confucius's view that "when you are young, you become a natural person." He believes that as long as young people can follow certain etiquette codes and norms in their daily words and deeds, they will naturally form habits over time, and they will be able to abide by ethical principles and not violate them when they grow up. This shows that young people can cultivate good moral habits. It is the key to the development of children's moral character.

How to effectively cultivate the moral behavior habits of teenagers? Zhu Xi believes that we must start with specific daily affairs. As the saying goes, "Sages can teach people a thousand words and follow them." Do it nearby" (Volume 2 of "Zhu Ziyu Lei"). For this reason, he advocated that the best way to cultivate young people's moral behavior habits is to make social ethics concrete and organized, so that young people can abide by it, and in order to make them " "Sweep and respond, enter filial piety and give out jealousy, act indifferently or disobey" (Volume 76 of "Collected Works of Zhu Wengong"). In his "Instructions for Children" written by Zhu Xi, he described children's clothes, hats and shoes, speech and behavior, how to deal with others, and response to sweep. Daily habits and codes of conduct such as reading and writing are specified in accordance with Confucian standards, which are more detailed than today's "Code for Primary School Students". Young people are required to follow it without violating it, to perform it with sincerity, and to "become conscientious people" in the future. , and even "there is nothing wrong with entering the realm of great sages" ("Instructions for Children").

Although Zhu Xi emphasizes the "action" of young people, it does not mean that he does not pay attention to "knowledge". He believes that in order to form good moral behavior habits among teenagers, it is also necessary to instill in them social ethics and moral concepts. As he pointed out: "Learning is based on practice. If a disciple knows but does not act, sincerity is the same as not learning. However, if you want to do something but don't understand the principles, then those who practice it will not know what the consequences will be. " (Volume 59 of "Collected Works of Zhu Wengong", "Reply to Cao Yuanke") He vividly used the relationship between eyes and feet to compare the relationship between action and knowledge: "Knowledge and action are always necessary for each other, just like eyes without enough. No, you can't see anything. "(Volume 9 of "Zhu Zi Yu Lei") Action and knowledge are interdependent.

IV

Zhu Xi’s method of moral education can be summarized as the following points:

The first is to be determined. Zhu Xi believes that ambition is the direction of the heart and is crucial to human growth.

Therefore, he requires scholars to first establish lofty aspirations. "When I asked what should be done first in order to learn Kung Fu? He said: It's just as mentioned before, it all depends on one's own determination." When people have lofty ambitions, they have a goal to move forward. They can "just move forward without any trouble". If you are not determined, the goal will be unclear and there will be no motivation to move forward. "There will be no place to focus." He said: "The so-called ambitious person does not use his will to block others, but simply wants to imitate Yao and Shun." He also said: " Scholars must be determined to become a saint if they are talented.

One is to be respectful. Zhu Xi emphasized "respect". He said: "The word "respect" is the first meaning of the holy sect. It is from beginning to end and cannot be interrupted in an instant." He also said: "The word "respect" is the reason why the sacred learning begins and ends. It is not for this reason that a young scholar is born. It is not possible to cultivate one's original nature, to deal with the disciplines of advancement and retreat, and to teach the six arts. This is not the reason for becoming a great scholar, nor is it possible to develop one's intelligence, advance one's virtues, and achieve the goal of becoming a new citizen." It can be seen that "respecting" is an important method of moral cultivation for Zhu Xi.

One is to preserve and nourish. The so-called "cultivation" is the abbreviation of "nurturing one's nature with intention". Zhu Xi believed that everyone has innate goodness, but at the same time they are biased by temperament and obscured by material desires. Therefore, it is necessary to use the effort of "preserving and nourishing" to develop your good nature and discover your original intention. He said: "Now we have to work hard, and we must be dignified and nourished, and look at the plains of Zhaokuang." On the other hand, "keep nourishing" is to prevent the loss of the original intention. "Sages and sages have a thousand words to say, as long as people do not lose their original intention", "If the heart does not exist, there will be no master of the body." At the same time, from the perspective of the fundamental task of moral education, "cultivation" is to converge people's hearts and settle them on principles.

One is called introspection. "Province" means introspection, and "cha" means inspection. "Examination" means frequent self-reflection and inspection. Zhu Xi believes that if a person wants to improve his own moral cultivation, he should "examine himself all the time." In his opinion, "The human heart will perish if it does not exist, and there is always a time when it does not exist but does not perish. Therefore, if you take a breath and do not add the power of reflection, you will fall into death without realizing it. Things in the world are not what they are. There is nothing right or wrong about anything. Therefore, if you don’t pay careful attention to something small, you will fall into evil without knowing it.” Therefore, in order to prevent people's hearts from "falling into destruction" and doing things to avoid "falling into evil", it is essential to conduct frequent self-reflection and inspection. Zhu Xi's opinion shows that in his moral education he not only emphasized on preventing the slightest mistakes, but also on correcting mistakes later.

One thing is to practice hard. Zhu Xi attached great importance to "practicing". "How can I ask for knowledge from others? I just want to understand the principles and practice them diligently." "Therefore, when sages teach people, they must first understand the principles and practice them diligently." What he meant by "practicing" is to put the learned ethical and moral knowledge into one's own actual actions and transform it into moral behavior. Zhu Xi's insights have touched on some basic issues of moral education such as the transformation of moral knowledge into moral action, moral action accepting the guidance of moral knowledge, and testing the correctness of moral knowledge.

Zhu Xi’s above-mentioned opinions reflect some regular things in moral education, which can still be used for reference.

In short, Zhu Xi is another great educator after Confucius in the history of ancient Chinese education. His educational activities and educational thoughts greatly enriched and enriched the treasure house of ancient education in my country, and had a significant impact on the development of education in the late feudal society of my country. Therefore, carefully studying Zhu Xi's educational activities and educational thoughts is not only the focus of studying education in the Song Dynasty, but also helps to understand the development of education in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. More than 50 years after Zhu Xi's death, Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty gave his childhood study place the imperial inscription "Nanxi Academy" and hung it above the gate. During the Yuan Zhizheng period, Zhongshu Shengli Wen Ai Si inscribed plaques praising "Nishan Mountain in Central Fujian" and "Zou Lu on the Seaside", hailing Zhu Xi as the Confucius of Fujian. Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty also granted him a plaque titled "Wenshan Yuzhe". Zhu Xi has been praised numerous times throughout the ages. This shows how deeply Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism, including educational thoughts, was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and influenced the entire feudal society in the second half of the period. It still has positive significance even today.

Five

The implementation of educational ideas must be based on good educational methods. Zhu Xi advocated that the method of learning should be "step by step". Some people are impatient in reading and rush forward as soon as they open the book. Zhu Xi criticized them for being like hungry men who walked into a restaurant and saw a table full of large plates and small dishes. They were hungry and devoured the food without knowing its taste. How to study? Zhu Xi's method is: "Ask for the precepts in each word, and seek the purpose in every sentence. If you don't get the previous one, you don't dare to ask for the second one. If you don't understand this, you don't dare to forget the other. If you do this step by step, your will will be clear and clear. Yi Linglu is in trouble." That is to say, we must understand their meanings word by word and their principles sentence by sentence. If you don’t understand the front part, don’t rush to read the back part. This way there will be no omission errors. He also said: "The problem for scholars when reading books is that they only have to move forward and refuse to step back. The more they read, the more confused they are before they read. It is not as if they are regressing, but they can read carefully." That is to say, reading should be solid, starting from the simple to the basic. Deep, step-by-step, and sometimes review frequently, to gain solid knowledge through temporary advances and retreats.

Zhu Xi said: "The most important thing in reading is to follow the rules and become perfect." That is to say, there must be a sequence of reading, read one book thoroughly, and then read the next book. He believes that some people have little success in studying because they don't put enough effort into the words "mature" and "fine". He emphasized that reading must be patient and "reflecting", that is, chewing it over and over again to deeply understand its meaning. Except, it also needs to be carefully observed. Zhu Xi advocated that "if you read and understand the truth, you should apply it to your body." What is "body on body"? It means to understand it with your heart and put it into practice.

Zhu Xi emphasized that reading should be done diligently. This contains two meanings: one refers to the need to seize the time, "forgetting to eat when hungry, forgetting to drink when thirsty, before you get it"; the other refers to the need to cheer up mentally, "like a boat on the water, don't slow down even a single penny." ".

Zhu Xi believes that as long as they are valuable books, they can give people thoughts and wisdom. For today's readers, creative reading should be promoted. Emerson said: “When the mind is stimulated by labor and creation, no matter what book it is read, every page will become gleaming and full of meaning, and every sentence will double its meaning. ... We feel that the author’s knowledge is as great as heaven and earth. Generally broad and boundless. "

I believe that people who work very hard will not be able to read many books in their lifetime, but they must read them thoroughly, and those truly valuable works should be read repeatedly. Just like devout believers in the West spend their entire lives reading the Bible, each of us also needs to read a few good books that are often read and kept fresh. “I don’t get tired of reading old books a hundred times; if I read them carefully and think deeply, I will know myself” (Su Shi). New discoveries are constantly made in reading again and again. "Discovery" is a rare reading experience. You can "discover" joy, lightness, fun, laughter, and laughter through light reading; you can also "discover" the inner meaning of life through heavy reading. Shock, a stirring storm of the soul.

Zhu Xi advocated: "In order to learn, don't start with exhaustive principles. The key to exhaustive principles must lie in reading. The method of reading must not be based on order and refinement, but the foundation of refinement is It also depends on being respectful and holding on to ambition. "The so-called "poor theory" means to conduct thorough logical inquiry, to pursue the thoroughness of theory, to strive for clarity of thought, and not to be satisfied with a half-knowledge. Zhu Xi used a very vivid metaphor to say: "Reading is like eating. If you chew it slowly, the taste will be long; if you chew it and swallow it, you will not know the taste." "Don't want to be complicated"... These are all lessons from experience on how to read. "When reading, you must put your mind on the book, word by word, sentence by sentence, and then you can discuss it easily. All scholars must clean up their mind, make it pure and pure, and use it every day without wandering or wandering, before they can start to read the words. "Exquisite review". Reading requires concentration, concentration, lofty ambitions, and tenacious perseverance. To sum up, Zhu Xi advocated the method of "step by step, read carefully, think carefully, be humble, observe personally, work hard, and be respectful and determined" in teaching. Zhu Xi's discussion of reading methods undoubtedly has positive guiding significance for today's students. ;