requestId:684c3e41ef3d73.12983867.
The heart is born from virtue
——The source and location of the late Chinese “heart” concept
Author: Kuang Yan
Source: “History of Chinese Philosophy” 2020 Issue 6
Content Summary:The concept of “heart” in the pre-Qin Philosophy was not originally the first sequence of concepts, but has become a central topic in a world of thinking. Its source is inseparable from the concept of “de” in the early Zhou Dynasty. The concept of virtue matured earlier in the history of thinking, and the strategy of moral cultivation that was found in bronze inscriptions and world-class literature can be seen. The concept of inspiring the mind in literature is actually to explain how the more traditional concept of virtue can be seen. The reason why the mind has become a philosophical object of pursuit is that from the meaning of the source, its philosophical origin can be regarded as a step-by-step reflection of virtue. Compared with virtue, to nourish emotions The mind is a secondary concept. This explains why, in the pre-Qin Scriptures’ view, seeking forever virtue in their ethical career is an important problem, and all talents of the mind serve this goal, and the wisdom of the mind is always under the cover of virtue in China. This shows that the differences between China and the West in terms of spirituality, understanding and virtue actually originate from the differences in the structure between thoughts, and related information is often unable to be distinguished from the verbal meaning of different concepts.
Keywords:heart; virtue; virtue
The concept of “heart” in pre-Qin philosophy was not originally the first sequence of concepts, and it did not receive special attention among creative philosophers such as Kong Lao Mo. The author agrees that ” The attention and discussion of the ‘heart’ was only carried out in the middle and late stages of the war”[1]. In other words, “heart” as a philosophical concept of its meaning may be established after some prior concepts have sufficient thoughts, and its content as a new philosophical subject also shows a certain structural change in the concept of the war’s problems. As we all know, “At the beginning of the mid-term of the war, the Confucian and Taoist schools gradually established their respective minds and nature discussions.” “The pre-Qin mental and nature expression flourished in the middle of the war and became a major issue in the hundreds of schools of thought.” [2] “‘Shin’ was not the theme of Confucius’ thinking, nor was it concerned by Laozi and Mozi. Important questions, but they become the focus problem in Guanzi (‘Four Chapters’), Zhuangzi and Mencius. “[3] If you want to trace the focus thread of this kind of change in thinking, it can be in charge of the deepening of the scholar’s reflection on people themselves, from the meaning of “word meaning” or “model” in the heart <a In terms of the changes in Baoqing.com, some commentators pointed out: "The word "heart" is first seen in oracle bone inscriptions, and its original meaning is the heart of humans and animals. In oracle bones and gold and stone essays, we begin to focus on expressing people's thinking organs and energy.In ancient books of the Yin and Zhou dynasties, "Yi Shu" regards the mind as a human mind, while "Shang Shu" and "People" use good and evil moral character to express their hearts… The heart of "Zuo Zhuan" and "Mandarin" is not only the "heart of benevolent people", but also the "heart of emperor", that is, the virtue and meaning of the Emperor of Heaven, becoming a philosophical model with broad connotations. During the age of war, the connotation of the mental state has been revealed in many aspects. The heart is both the organ of the human heart, the organ of thinking, thinking and understanding, emotional desire, moral consciousness, static and natural mind, etc…. It has become the main model of Chinese philosophy. ”[4] From this perspective, we can see that in the modern philosophy context, the researcher's view of the pre-Qin mind has been clear enough about the depth of the conception from thinking to virtue. The existing data seems that the improvement of its meaning can only stop here. Some commentators use similar methods to summarize the mind and conception in important texts Meaning:
The word “heart” in the five dynasties has been used by Chinese people for a long time, and it seems to actually refer to the specific heart. Oracle bone inscriptions, Yu Shengwu’s “Organ Bone Inscriptions” is called “heart”, and there are words such as “Wang Xinru” and “Wang Xinru” and ask whether the king’s heart is good or not, or whether there is any difficulty (心文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文文未). What Bu Lin calls “heart, if” or “heart,” roughly refers to the state of will and emotions….Describing a certain emotional state with the heart is the same as the usage of “Shangshu·Lu Geng Chapter”. ……The meaning of the word “heart” is similar to the text before ages. …. “People” talks about the point of the heart There are so many things that cannot be guided in detail. Generally, they usually express feelings of grief, grief, joy and comfort by “happiness”, “I feel sad”, “I feel sad”, “I feel comforted by my heart”; as for “realizing my heart”, “I am upright and tolerant”, “I think others have the heart to think about it”, “My mother is suffering… no passerby. The word “heart comforting mother’s heart” expresses the heart. The essays after the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty often praise the hearts of ancestors… These “hearts” all refer to the hearts, not specific hearts. “Heart” in “Zuoshi” and “Pen” Baohao.com, “Book” has different differences,… The “heart” mentioned is also the state of energy. Even in the middle of the age… the meaning of mind still follows the theory of the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties, and is biased towards the state of mind, energy or emotion. … From the perspective of making up words, there should be some specific understanding of human sanity in the Yin and Zhou dynasties; while classical texts are positive and negative, people of the Yin and Zhou dynasties believe that the heart is the master of man, All abstract activities such as emotions, will, and energy are all influences of the mind. [5]
According to the above explanation, it seems that our understanding of the “heart” in terms of linguistic content is difficult to gain, but if it is placed in the overall picture of world philosophy, there is still a sense of concern. This kind of philosophical inconvenience comes from the existing clarity of human energy referenced by Oriental Philosophy. As the above commentator said, the pre-Qin thought of the meaning and position of the mind seemed wise.In terms of emotions, desires, virtues, etc., these contents are not just spoken by fools in ancient Greeks and do not appear in the common sense of modern philosophy. So what method does the theoretical differences between China and the West that we have experienced over the long period of time appear? For example, as the “heart” of the energy-driven body, why did Chinese predecessors never give it His wise talents are placed before other talents? Mencius said clearly that “the official thoughts of the heart”, he has never established a sufficient condition for the establishment of a certain personality subject as a human energy, but only the need conditions for the realization of the “four ends”, which is very different from the relationship between wise virtue and moral virtue. In fact, the thoughts of the pre-Qin scholars’ thoughts on the relationship between the contents of the heart are mostly unsuitable. There are currently “common knowledge” from Oriental Philosophy. If you study this deeply, it is obviously confusing. If we take this problem from the beginning to explore the concept of “mind”, we may need to explore another secret thread of its philosophical meaning from the beginning, that is, the mind becomes the central theme of a world of thought, and its source is inseparable from the concept of “de” in the early Zhou Dynasty. The assessment of the relationship between the two concepts of “living the website” can also help us position the structural position of the mind in pre-Qin philosophy from the beginning.
1. Trace the origin:The cultivation of the morality of the heart
As we have seen, the concept of “heart” in the middle and late stages of the war has become the main object of philosophical reflection. The world-class culture is not discussed, but only As for the major unearthed documents in recent years, it can also be easily discovered that the problem of the mind accounts for a very large proportion in philosophical discussions. For example, “From the literature in Guodian Chu, there are indeed a large number of words from the heart, such as the word “d