Hu Hong's Neo-Confucianism Achievements

Although Hu Hong's Neo-Confucianism is basically the inheritance of Cheng's theory, the main categories he discussed have not yet appeared, such as reason, mind and nature, but his application and exertion of these categories have shown a lot of originality.

(A) the ontology of sex

Cheng's philosophy takes "reason" as the universe ontology, and Hu Hong's philosophy takes "nature" as its main feature.

Hu Hong's theory of sex not only refers to human nature, but also says: "Destiny is called sex, and it is one. The great foundation of the world, Wang, Wang and Liu gentlemen have sent letters to each other one after another. They must say that they are sexless. Why? He said: "He who has a heart knows the world and slaughters everything, following nature. "("Song Yuan Gong An "Volume 42" Wu Feng Gong An ") and said," Great! There are many reasons, and heaven and earth stand here. The words of virtue are sex, and class refers to truth! Those who have not seen the destiny. " He believes that sex is the destiny, the foundation of the world, and everything comes from sex. Therefore, this "sex" not only refers to human nature.

On the relationship between sex and heart, Hu Hong regards sex as the body and heart as the function, and thinks that sex is the noumenon and source of heart, and heart is the expression and function of sex. The relationship between the two shows that "undeveloped" is nature and "developed" is the heart. He said: "What is undeveloped is nature, and what has been developed is heart" (Volume II of Five Peaks). The heart germinates from sex. A body without sex will not be used for sex. He added: "The sage pointed out that his body was called nature and he used his heart. Sex can't help but move, but the heart moves. " (Song Yuan Gong An (Volume 42) Wu Feng Gong An) In order to explain more clearly the use of sex, body and mind, Hu Hong also compared the relationship between mind and nature to water and flow. He said, "Sex is like water! Then the heart is still underwater, the feelings are still underwater, and the water waves are still wanting. " In other words, the ontological position of sex is like water, and the relationship between sex and heart and emotion is the relationship between water and flow. If water is sexual, then the will activities such as heart, emotion and desire are determined by water itself, just like the downward movement of water, waves and ripples of water. It can be seen that in the relationship between sex and mind, Hu Hong advocates the combination of sex, body and mind, that is, the attribute and function of taking sex as the ontology and mind as the ontology. However, Hu Hong also said: "Those who have the heart know heaven and earth, and those who kill people become their nature."

This seems to be a statement based on the heart, but if you look closely, the back of this sentence is "the nature of destiny, the nature of nature, the foundation of the world", and then it says: "Six gentlemen are also, so they can establish the foundation of the world." (Book of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Volume 44, Book of Five Peaks) It is not difficult to see that this is to illustrate noumenon and originality with Mencius' cognitive procedure of "one heart", "knowledge" and "knowing heaven". Its significance is very obvious. The reason why the mind can know heaven and earth and kill everything is because it can know heaven intellectually with all its heart. This does not mean that "heart" is the ontology of all things in the world. The relationship between "heaven" and "sex" can be explained by the assertion that "destiny is called sex, and sex is the foundation of the world", that is to say, he regards destiny and sex as the same category.

On the relationship between sex and reason, Hu Hong basically followed Cheng's point of view. Cheng Yi said: "Reason, sex and life are all the same. Poverty leads to longevity, energy leads to longevity, and energy leads to destiny. " (suicide note volume 2 1) Hu Hong also said: "Sex, destiny also"; "Liv, destiny also" ("Know Words" Volume 4). Different from Cheng Er, Hu Hong does not take reason as the ontology, but takes sex as the ontology. In his view, "reason" mainly refers to "the reason of things" (that is, the regularity of things), as he said: "the life and death of things, reason also; If you are reasonable, the chastity of all things is also a knife ("Knowing Words" 1). If you look at the reason of everything, you will get the illusion of my heart "(ibid.), and said:" Different things, different life and death, will be poor and then can be consistent. Knowing life and then knowing death. " Second, it refers to the principles of justice and rationality. He said: "People who work for the world must be based on justice and rationality. If you are reasonable, the world will be great; Righteousness is also very useful to the world. The reason must be unclear, the righteousness must be refined, and the discipline is correct after the Qing Dynasty, and the righteousness can be balanced. If the discipline is positive and the sky is flat, then everything will be ruled, and the eyes of the people will also be. " He also said: "It is easy to convince people with reason, but difficult to convince people with power. Both reason and righteousness are in the body, and the right is false. " The "great book in the world" mentioned here refers to the "great book" that governs the world, not the great book as the ontology. In Hu Hong's view, the essence of ontology is nature, not "reason".

On the relationship between "sex" and "thing", Hu Hong thinks that sex is noumenon and origin, and things are born of sex. He said: "sex is also the principle of heaven and earth, and ... the mystery of ghosts and gods affirms that" sex "is the basis for the existence and change of everything in heaven and earth. He also used words such as "metaphysics" and "metaphysics" to illustrate the relationship between sex and things. Hu Hong said: "The metaphysics above is called sex, and the metaphysics below is called things." In this way, he reversed the relationship between "sex" and "things", not only separating metaphysical sex from things, but also thinking that "sex" is the source and master of "things" and "things" are dominated by sex. Therefore, he asserted that "non-nature means nothing, non-qi means invisibility, and nature is the root of qi", and that "the popularity of qi is dominated by sex" (volume 3 of Zhi Yan, Things). Although non-qi is invisible, it still takes "sex as the foundation of qi" and "the popularity of qi is mainly based on sex" (ibid.). In other words, not only things are derivatives of sex, but even Qi, which is the root of all things, is also a derivative of sex. Although these statements absorbed some thoughts of Zhang Zaiqi's ontology, they reduced Qi to a derivative position and made it a secondary thing. It can be seen that Hu Hong neither agrees with Zhang Zai's ontology of qi nor Cheng's ontology of reason, but is unique and puts forward his ontology of sex.

In some places, Hu Hong, like Cheng Er, also talked about the categories of "Tao" and "Taiji". For example, he said, "Tao is the general name of body use, benevolence, righteousness, combination and use, and it is Tao." He also said: "The body of the Tao is in the middle, and the Tao is used in harmony, harmony in culture, and the birth of all things." (Ibid., Volume II, Communication) In this way, it seems to be an ontology based on Tao. However, the "Tao" here obviously refers to human nature. For example, the Confucian category of "benevolence and righteousness" is a broad moral category, and "neutralization" is also an ethical category. Confucianism regards "benevolence and righteousness" as the highest criterion of self-cultivation. They believe that if people's cultivation can reach the realm of "righteous words", they can make "the position of heaven and the education of all things" Hu Hong also said, "Neutralization and change have their own lives". Therefore, the "Tao" that Hu Hong talks about here is the way of saints, that is, the way of ethics and morality, and the highest criterion of self-cultivation. But he also said: "Heaven is the general name of Tao" (Literacy, Volume 5, Chinese). The "heaven" here is higher than "Tao" because heaven is the general name of Tao, which means that Tao is subordinate to "heaven" as an ethics. Hu Hong also said: "Form refers to things, while non-form refers to Tao. Things are counted and the Tao is endless. " (On Knowing People, Volume III, Fan Hua) This "Tao" really refers to noumenon. However, in connection with what he said, "the metaphysical is nature, and the metaphysical is things", he regards the two categories of "nature" and "Tao" as the same meaning.

Hu Hong also talked about the category of "Tai Chi". He said: "One yin and one yang is called Tao, and Tao is also called Tai Chi. The combination of rigidity and softness of yin and yang represents the ultimate opportunity, and the best thing is to be subtle ... The natural shape is like an image, which will remain unchanged forever. Benevolence is one of them. Everything breeds and great things are born. (ditto) This statement is basically consistent with Zhou Dunyi's exposition of Taiji, which has an ontological meaning. However, in Hu Hong's view, Tai Chi and Tao or sex belong to the same category.

In a word, "heaven" (or destiny), "nature" and "Tao" (or Taiji) in Hu Hong's Neo-Confucianism are all ontological categories, and his ontological thoughts are only expounded from different aspects. However, through comparison, the ontological meaning of "sex" has been fully expounded.

(2) There is no theory of good and evil in human nature.

Hu Hong also put forward his own independent views on human nature. Unlike other neo-Confucianists, he opposed the theory of good and evil. He said: "Those who have sex are also the gods of heaven and earth. Good is not enough, the situation is not good! " (Song and Yuan Gong An (Volume 42) Wu Feng Gong An) holds that sex is mysterious and difficult to describe, and it cannot be expressed only by good and evil. So he doesn't agree to talk about human nature with "good nature" or "evil nature". Therefore, he denied Mencius' theory of good nature in a euphemistic tone. He said: "A gentleman who heard it said: Mencius is good in nature, lamenting good words and not being an enemy of evil" (ibid.). He can't directly confront Mencius' theory of good nature, but he uses the mouth of "the first gentleman" to correct the original intention of Mencius' theory of good nature by sighing good words and not confronting evil, which shows that he is not.

Since we don't talk about good and evil, what is the basis? Hu Hong said, "How many days will there be saints? People feel tired, but saints don't feel it; People regard talents as harm, but saints are not ill. People want to do good things, and saints never stop wanting ... "That is to say, mortals are affectionate, talented, and have desires, and so are saints. These things are not the difference between saints and ordinary people. Hu Hong believes that the standard to distinguish between the holy and the vulgar lies in whether the activities such as lust are moderate. He said: "the saints are in the festival, but the people are not in the festival." What is in the festival is right, and what is not in the festival is wrong. It is right to do whatever you want, but it is evil to do whatever you want. The righteous are good and the wicked are evil. Moreover, it is embarrassing for Confucian scholars to talk about good and evil! " In other words, good and evil are not inherent in human nature, but are determined by whether the ideas and requirements for lust are reasonable. In Hu Hong's view, Confucian scholars' words of good and evil are just pedantic words far from reality.

The word "Mid-Autumn Festival" comes from the Doctrine of the Mean, one of the Confucian classics: "Among the unexpressed emotions, Mid-Autumn Festival is harmony." In other words, there are two kinds of situations in which people's emotions occur: before they occur, they are said to be in the middle, and there is no distinction between good and evil; After sending it, it should be in the way of neutrality, impartiality, no fault, no exception and no surliness. This is the "mid-section", which means neutralization. Hu Hong said: "Honesty is the nature of the world, and sex is the foundation of the world's feelings. Emotion affects the movement of the world, and the virtue of the heart is wonderful. Honesty is the way to live, and neutrality is the way to live! " (ditto) Hu Hong doesn't talk about good and evil because it conflicts with his theory of human nature, so he added: "The life of a mortal embodies the heart of heaven and earth, and its morality is perfect. He can't tell good from evil, he can't tell right from wrong, there is no fault, there are no exceptions. " (Zhu: knowing the meaning of words is quoted from the eighth chapter of the History of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties, edited by Hou Wailu and others. ), in Hu Hong's view, human nature is the middle way, and there is no distinction between good and evil at all. This is his basic view.

Hu Hong also said: "Likes and dislikes also have sex" (Literacy 1). He thinks that both gentlemen and villains have likes and dislikes. The difference lies in: "the villain is complacent and hates himself, and the gentleman is complacent and hates himself with Tao." There is no distinction between good and evil. The key is to look at the likes and dislikes. It is good to use Tao, but bad to use yourself. He said: "Observing this, we can know nature and human desires". The likes and dislikes that conform to nature are called "nature" and those that do not conform to nature are called "human desires". Therefore, the saying that "likes and dislikes also have sex" is not contradictory to the saying that there is no good or evil in nature. Hu Hong's likes and dislikes include people's physical requirements and spiritual pursuits. He said, "Madam's eyes are heavy with five colors, her ears are heavy with five sounds, and her mouth is heavy with five flavors. Of course, her nature is not foreign. " (ditto) This is similar to Gao Zi's "eating color and being sexual". Whether "taking likes and dislikes as your own" or "taking likes and dislikes as your own" is what human nature needs (mainly referring to human physiological requirements). Reasonable demand is justice, otherwise it is human desire.

To sum up, Hu Hong's theory of human nature has deviated from the theory of good nature in authentic Neo-Confucianism. But his argument that there is no good or evil in nature is not thorough enough. For example, what determines that "a gentleman likes Taoism and a villain likes himself"? There is no explanation for this. Another example is lust, in which "saints are in festivals, but people are not in festivals." What is the reason? He didn't answer. This happened to be caught by Zhu, and the shrewd Zhu took "hair in the festival" as the basis of his theory of good nature. Moreover, Hu Hong's theory of human nature talks about human nature without human sociality, so he can't really reveal the problem of human nature. These are the defects of his theoretical thinking.

(3) The theory that knowing and doing is based on knowing things and following the path.

Neo-Confucianism generally talks about learning from the scriptures, and Hu Hong is no exception. His theory is also unique on this issue.

First of all, he put forward the proposition of "knowing people by things". Hu Hong said: "If you know what is right, you don't know what is wrong" (Know Your Words, Volume 4, University). How do you know these things? He said: "If a woman is not born with knowledge, then her knowledge is based on things. ..... is to treat things in a thrifty way, never get tired of giving up, and you must be qualified personally, so that you can know how. " ("Five Peaks" Volume III "Fu Zhai Ji") It can be seen that Hu Hong's "teacher" is known by things. He believes that people's knowledge is not innate, knowledge is acquired, and it is obtained through contact and understanding of objective things. To contact and understand objective things, we must use sensory organs such as eyes and ears. He said: "People with eyes and ears have a circulating heart; : If the husband can't see it with pictures and can't smell it with his ears, then he will also use the official eyes and ears of his husband! " ("Five Peaks", Volume II, "Four Poems with Wu Yuanzhong") "Examination of the General Principles of Eyes and Ears" (ibid.). It is affirmed that the truth of things can only be understood and distinguished through the senses such as eyes and ears, and the basic role of perceptual experience in the process of cognition is affirmed.

Corresponding to the above point of view, on the issue of name and reality, Hu Hong must be real, and then be a name. He said: "there are those who are later." This is the case, hence the name. If it is true, it is not worthy of the name. If the name is chaotic, it must be the reason for its danger. " (On Knowing People, Volume V, Chinese) This is the expression of his spirit of seeking truth from facts and being pragmatic in epistemology. Starting from this idea, Hu Hong opposes the illusory view that intellectuals "stick to books and talk about benevolence and righteousness every day". He said: "If you hold a book, you will say that if you are close to it, you will abandon it. If you do, it will end in a vulgar way. " This spirit of attaching importance to practical work is commendable.

Hu Hong not only emphasized the importance of perceptual knowledge, but also noticed its limitations, so he thought that knowledge should not be just "content with eyes and ears". He said: "The husband's business is endless, and things are touching. The way to elegance must be determined to determine its foundation, but to be respected to hold its ambition, stand on the surface of things, respect things, and know what can be refined. " ("Five Peaks" Volume III "Fu Zhai Ji") "I am only content with my eyes and ears, but I am not aware of it." Although this exposition does not explain how to rise from perceptual knowledge to the height of "knowledge can be refined", it also affirms the limitations of perceptual knowledge and realizes that we should "live by our own will". Of course, the determination to determine its origin means that we must adhere to the guiding ideology of knowing things first and then knowing things, and does not involve the process and method of how to know things from "surface" to "interior" and from "rough" to "fine". However, after all, he still thinks that we can't stay on perceptual experience.

In Hu Hong's epistemology, he also put forward the idea of "following the Tao", that is, doing things according to the law. He said: "the collapse is urgent, the potential is important, and knowing the sequence is a shortcut. If you follow the path, you will be safe in danger, and chaos will be cured; Going against the road is dangerous, and chaos is dead. " ("Five Peaks" Volume II, with Wu Yuanzhong) Although Hu Hong talks about "life", he does not advocate being content with life, but emphasizes people's subjective initiative to a certain extent. He said: "Those who are deeper than the Tao are rich, but it is useless to use things." (The Book of Song and Yuan Dynasties (Volume 42), The Book of Five Peaks (Wufeng Case) also said: "Being in power is not feasible, doing nothing" (Literacy Book (Volume 1), Cultivation). Someone asked, "Man can conquer nature!" Hu Hong said, "If one person participates, the sky will win, and if one person does not participate, the sky will be invincible" (Fan Hua on Knowing People, Volume III). In other words, people depend on the sky, and the sky wins people. If you can rely on your own strength, the sky will be invincible. The key is whether to "take the right path", that is, whether to act according to law. Therefore, he added: "People's way, those who do things in heaven, ... those who get the way, are in good health, in the country and in the world; If you get lost, you won't. " (If I know you, Volume 5, Chinese) The "natural principle" or "Tao" mentioned here mainly refers to the law. It is believed that it will be beneficial to act according to the law, but not to violate the law. Hu Hong also pointed out: "Tao can be said, but not feasible." In other words, Tao, as an objective law, is independent of human will. People can know it, but they can't make and change it, which affirms the objectivity of the law of things.

Although Hu Hong's epistemology is not systematic, complete, rigorous or even wrong, his basic viewpoint is materialistic, which also shows his uniqueness from others in the Neo-Confucianism camp.