「良知了生死」：王陽明的生死觀探究 = Transcending death with Liang Zhi : a study of Wang Yangming’s philosophy about life and death

• Main Author: 劉琳娜 Liu, Linna
• Other Authors: Ngoi Guat Peng
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: Chinese
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities::Philosophy::Chinese
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/54950
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

回顾中国传统思想的脉络，学界一般认为宋明理学响应佛道的挑战而兴起，在心性本体论上大有建树。然而在对待生死问题上，宋代理学家仍然沿袭先秦儒学「论生不论死」的态度，在应对士人生命关怀的层面不能很好地与佛道抗衡。明代早期士人面对更加迫切的生存压力，虽更加关注生死，但仍然多从佛道中寻求资源。而本文认为王阳明「良知了生死」的生死观形态，是以儒学为本位、以心性体认为基础的生死观，对响应时代需求和构建新型儒学生死观有重要意义。因此论文以王阳明在龙场悟道中「唯生死一念尚觉未化」为切入点，尝试论证王阳明悟道的关键是在于对生死问题的突破，由此从较少受到关注的「生命体认」角度，结合王阳明的思想探讨他的生死观。 文章通过在时间线索上梳理王阳明一生的生死观念，将他的生死观发展概括为三个主要历程：一是以道教长生之学为追求的阶段，以阳明洞天之悟为高峰并开始转向儒学，这一阶段奠定了阳明生死观的以儒为本的基本立场；二是在生命历程中正式实现超越生死的阶段，以龙场悟道为标志，指出其龙场之悟与静坐体验有关；三是经历张许之难后提出良知学说的阶段，以良知作为其生死观的核心，实现其思想理论与生命关怀之间的关联。 此外对于「良知了生死」的解读，结合王阳明在张许之难时的诗文记录，引入良知学与佛学的比较，揭示了阳明「了生死」的根本机制在于肯定良知作为一贯彻宇宙时空的无限心，是人人心性中本来具足的，因而决定了每个生命皆可即此身中实现永恒。在工夫路径上，良知学强调善恶不二，真妄相即的义理特质，将圣境与凡境统一在当下的一心上，也赋予人当下实现生死转换的可能性。 阳明「良知了生死」的生死观虽然在义理结构上类似于禅宗，但不掩其鲜明的儒家性格。良知的道德内涵以及阳明对伦理情感的坚持构成了儒佛的根本区别，这一点在结合冥契主义理论时得到进一步的讨论。在体验的视角下，阳明的万物一体论与良知说紧密结合，其精神境界中「有我」与「无我」相即的特质也得到阐发，由此可进一步把握其超越生死的内涵。 In the context of traditional Chinese thought, it is widely accepted that Neo-Confucianism, in reacting to the challenges posed by Buddhism and Daoism, made great achievements in ontology; however, on the issue of life and death, Neo-Confucians continued the pre-Qin Confucian attitude of “focusing on life rather than death”, which failed to compete well with Buddhism in the perspective of human beings’ ultimate concern. In the early Ming era, scholars faced greater pressure than before (i.e. Sung dynasty) to survive and paid more attention to death, but most of them sought solutions from Buddhism and Daoism still. In Wang Yangming however, we see that his discourse about life and death, which could be summarized as “Transcending death with Liang Zhi (Conscience)”, is radically different from Confucians before, and had great influence in responding to Ming Confucians’ concerns about death. We propose that his efforts so had contributed to a new Confucian conception of life and death. Through close reading of texts and arranging them in chronological order, this research finds that the developing process of Wang Yangming’s concept about life and death can be summarized into three stages: Firstly, the stage of pursuing Daoism longevity, in which he made a breakthrough at the “Enlightenment in Yangming Cave” and then turned to Confucianism. This stage determined that Yangming’s later concept of life and death should be regarded as a Confucian's. Secondly, the stage of transcending death in reality, which mainly refers to the case of “Enlightenment in Long Chang”. We should notice that the enlightenment here is closely related to his meditation experience. Thirdly, the stage of proposing Liang Zhi as the core concept of his philosophy about life and death, hence his realistic concerns over life were aligned with his Philosophy of Mind, in that both had Liang Zhi as their core. In addition, to interpret the meaning of “Transcending death with Liang Zhi”, we conducted a comparative study between Wang Yangming’s philosophy and Zennism. Where ontology is concerned, Liang Zhi, as the key concept in Wang Yangmings’ philosophy, is an infinite, universal mind which is rooted in everyone’s Nature, thus determining that everyone can achieve eternity in his life through Liang Zhi. Where moral practice is concerned, Wang Yangming emphasizes that good and evil are two sides of one coin, and that ordinary human beings have the same original mind as sage, hence, if for one moment the ordinary man is enlightened, he is a sage. In the above two aspects, Wang Yangming’s theory of Liang Zhi explores the possibilities of transcending death spiritually. Importantly, we note that even though "Transcending death with Liang Zhi" shares similar mechanism with Zennism, it should be regarded as Confucian. Wang Yangming persisted in ethical feelings and took a firm Confucian stance, which is rediscussed in a comparative study between Wang Yangming’s philosophy and the Mysticism Theory. This thesis also discussed the relationship between Wang Yangming’s theory of Liang Zhi and “oneness” ideology under the view of Embodied Philosophy, which serves to provide a deeper interpretation of Wang Yangming’ s spiritual realm of transcending death.