How to achieve the "unity of knowledge and action"?
His Yangming mind, his unity of knowledge and action, and his conscience are too worthy of our lifetime to learn, study, and practice! The more I read this book, the more excited I became, it was like encountering a charging station in life, and every time I read a chapter, I was full of thoughts and gains!
Wang Yangming once enlightened the Tao and created Yangming Mind. In his later years, he summarized the main ideas of Xinxue into the following four sentences, which are the famous "Four Sentences Teaching".
There is no goodness and no disgusting body
This sentence is the worldview of Yang Ming Xinxue, telling us how to see the world, what is the world?
Wang Yangming said: "Heaven and earth are one, and there is no distinction between good and evil. If there is no good and no evil in the heart, there will be no good and no evil in all things. ”
Is green grass good or evil? Some people say that green grass is life, and nature is good, but what if it grows in crops? Is hitting someone good or evil? Some people say that hurting others is naturally evil, but what if he hits someone who has done evil?
The reason why we have likes and dislikes for external objects is because we label them. There is no good or evil in the world, and there is no difference between people and flowers, trees, tiles, and stone slabs.
If you think that there is good and evil in all things in the world, it is only your hearts that distinguish good and evil for them. If there is no good and no evil in the heart, there is no good and no evil in all things. In this way, I have the final say in my heart about what the world is like.
But without this world, my heart is not called my heart. Think about it, everything in the world does not exist, what is the use of your heart? When your body is gone, what's the use of your heart? That's why I say that the world and my heart are interconnected and interdependent.
The book says: "Man is the measure of all things, and this measure is conscience, without conscience you cannot become a human heart, and you are not a human being." ”
And conscience here is not what we usually refer to today as "conscience."
There are good and evil moves
This sentence is Yang Ming's outlook on life, telling us what kind of person we should become.
Wang Yangming said that everyone has a supreme "essence of the heart" in their hearts, that is to say, everyone has a saint in their hearts, but most people bury this saint.
How did this saint get buried? Wang Yangming said that although there is no good and no evil in all things, there is good and evil in our thoughts. Since the essence of the mind is supremely good, where does the evil mind come from?
Wang Yangming said that this was "dyed by habits". Everyone has selfish desires, and the more a person sees and hears, the more selfish desires he will be contaminated, and his heart will gradually lick up polite and hypocritical truths, so the essence of the supreme good will be obscured.
Therefore, as soon as the consciousness of evil is wiped away, the saint will appear.
The more man and the tree, seek to rise to the heights and the light, the more his roots go downward, to the depths, to the darkness."
So not all worldly achievements are perfect. Although the stronger the desire, the heavier the scheming, and the greater the guts, the more you tend to get. Is that good or evil after all?
Are you starting to think about good and evil?That's when your mind moves. Any one of us will eventually go anywhere and in any position we want to go. Of course, it is necessary to admit that the jungle exists, that good and evil are inherently divided, and that human nature is unpredictable.
Everyone can be holy" subverts the Confucian doctrine of a high sage for thousands of years.
What we need to abide by is no longer a rigid code of conduct, but the ultimate goodness, that is, conscience.
Because in times of any affliction there is hope. Treat other people with their own nature, because everyone is born independent, and protecting oneself is the true nature.
Conscience has been mentioned so many times, what exactly is conscience?
Knowing good and knowing evil is conscience
This is the value of Yang Ming Xinxue that tells us what kind of concept we should uphold to be a person.
Wang Yangming said: "My lecture in my life is just three words to conscience. ”
Wang Yangming said: "Conscience is our innate ability to know right from wrong, good and evil, and everyone has it. ”
It does not mean that people are born to know right and wrong, but that everyone, as a part of everything in the world, has an instinct in their hearts to try to make the world a better place, which includes an innate sense of shame and a constantly learned view of right and wrong.
Children naturally love to be close to nature and small animals, which is an innate nature.
Even if some people grow up to be full of evil, it is not because they have no conscience, but because their selfish desires have clouded their nature.
A true gentleman will regard all things in heaven and earth as a whole, people under the whole world as a family, and all Chinese as one person. Their ability to treat everything in heaven and earth as a whole is not intentional, but because of their inner conscience. Their conscience and all things in heaven and earth are one. ”
Everyone knows exactly whether their actions are good or evil, and the book says, "Believe in your instincts, instincts, and the first sense is your conscience." ”
Conscience is the Word. Conscience is in the heart of a person, whether it is a sage or an ordinary person. If there is no materialistic desire to be blinded and only rely on conscience to play a role, then there is the Tao everywhere and at all times. However, most ordinary people are blinded by materialistic desires and cannot follow their conscience. ”
Doing evil for good is a thing
This is the prescription of Yang Ming Xinxue**, he tells us what to do.
1. Determination. Wang Yangming aspired to be a sage when he was 12 years old, and his life has remained unchanged since then. He said that if you don't have a will, there is nothing you can do in the world.
Determination is the initial theme of life, and now many people live to old age, and their lives are muddled and inactive, and they can't understand this life after all.
If you are determined to be early, have a clear goal, and your life will be much smoother, because you have a goal in mind, you will not be overly entangled and consumed by small things or unimportant people.
After making up your mind, not everything is fine, but also towards the ambition in your heart to start slowly practice, practice is by no means for others to see, is to stand in your own heart, do in action.
2. Be cautious. There are two aspects, one is to constantly see what is invisible to others in your heart, and the other is to honestly practice the answers given to you by your conscience even if you are alone.
Even if a person pays attention to his own behavior and self-discipline in his speech, this is self-discipline.
3. Practice on things. To put it simply, in addition to constantly wiping the conscience in the heart, we must also continue to hone in things and practice the heart from the changes in human affairs.
In terms of human affairs, conscience is tempered not by "things" but by "heart".
If you are rich, you will rejoice, but you should not be overjoyed; When you are poor and poor, you will naturally mourn, but you should not mourn and die; In the event of life and death, you will be afraid, but the six gods who cannot be frightened have no owner, and they will lose their souls.
In life, excessive sadness, excessive joy, excessive giving, excessive complaining, and excessive liking are all manifestations of uneasiness.
Write to the end
What I learned a lot from this book is that we actually understand the principles of life and the theory of success, and the reason why we can't do it is that we don't have the ruthlessness to realize, implement, persist, and integrate knowledge and action.
The unity of knowledge and action is a kind of wisdom, and perseverance is a state. Don't think too much, it doesn't matter if you don't have a clue, act first, even if it falls gorgeously, it is better than wandering meaninglessly.
Wang Yangming, as "the first perfect person in the ages", he used the wisdom of his life to tell us: "The world is our own, and it has nothing to do with others".
Starting from this, this book has sorted out a clear and easy-to-understand complete system for ordinary people to get started, understand and master Yangming Psychology.