良药也需遵医嘱——阳明学普及所需注意的倾向

Potent Medicine Needs a Doctor’s Guiding Hand: A Tendency That Must Be Noted with the Popularization of Wang Yangming’s Teachings

阳明心学是治疗当今社会癌症的一剂良药,但良药也需要慎用。首先它须是真药,不能为似是而非的假药。作为空口号乃至名利手段的所谓的“阳明学”,本身就是违背阳明精神的。其次良药也有恰当的运用方式,否则不仅治不好旧病,反而有引发新病的危险。如王阳明的“知行合一”旨在克服程朱学说割裂知行的危险,但它自身却容易走向销行为知。其“心即是理”直达道德的本源,防止了程朱理学将“理”抽象化和外在化的倾向,但它自身又容易导致主观主义,过度自信。程朱理学与阳明心学应该被认作是儒学内部关于功夫修炼的两种不同的功法,它们一个是从外面去寻找道德的横向他律,通过格物致知、道问学等修身教养的功夫历程,明白普遍的理,并以此来间接地、渐进式地去发明道心,塑造自己;另一个是从个体的内心去进行道德的纵向自律,通过尊德性,直接发明自己的本心,达到顿悟。这两种功法,一种适合于普罗大众,一种更适合于利根之人。当年王阳明为程朱理学纠偏开出的药方,是有针对性的。把阳明的药说成包治百病,表面上看是在抬高阳明学,实则是对它的最大伤害。

Wang Yangming’s theory of the heart-mind is a potent medicine to heal the ills of contemporary society, but like every medicine it must be used cautiously. First, it is essential to confirm the medicine is real and not a fake. The so-called "Yangming theory" used as an empty slogan or even a means to fame and fortune is itself against the spirit of Wang Yangming. Second, potent medicine must nevertheless be used in a proper way. Otherwise, it will not only not cure old illness, but lead to new ones as well. For example, Wang Yangming’s thesis of the unity of knowledge and action seeks to overcome the dangers in Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi’s separating of knowledge and action. However, it is easy for itself to lead to reducing action for knowledge. Its notion that the heart-mind is principle directly reaches the source of morality, protecting against the tendency for the Cheng–Zhu school’s "principle" to become abstracted and externalized. Still, it can easily lead to subjectivism and excessive self-confidence. The Cheng–Zhu theory of principle and Wang Yangming’s theory of the heart-mind should be understood as two major contesting methods of Confucian internal gongfu cultivation. One looks externally to find binding standards of morality, and through the process of investigating things and extending one’s knowledge and constant inquiry and study, to understand the universal principle, and thereby indirectly and gradually develop the heart-mind of the Way and remake ourselves;the other directly illuminates one’s own original heart-mind and leads to enlightenment through honoring virtuous nature from the individual’s inner heart-mind. Of these two kinds of cultivation methods, the first is more suitable for the average people, while the other is more suitable for people with special capacities. In Wang Yangming’s time, his theory served as a prescription written to correct the problems specific to the Cheng–Zhu theory of principle. It is a mistake to treat this medicine as a cure-all, and to do so might seem to ostensibly promote Wang Yangming’s theory, but in actuality it does the greatest harm to it.