本体上着工夫——从朱子到明末工夫论的一项转进

A Turning of Teachings on Gongfu in the Late Ming Dynasty

朱子的工夫论认为,本体本自完满,又无捉摸处,本体上着工夫既无必要也不可能,工夫只能着于本体之发用。阳明的工夫论也遵循本体上着不得工夫这一原则,但因为与朱子对本体的理解不同,阳明更进一步认为心体上着不得工夫。阳明后学邹守益、王畿、罗洪先等在良知本体论的基础上发展出多种路径的工夫论,然而,他们共同遵从本体上着不得工夫这一前提。其中,未发戒惧工夫是这一原则的临界点,在明晚期有所突破。针对当时学界工夫离于本体和只谈本体不谈工夫的两种情况,学者如刘宗周、孙奇逢等不同于前人所谓“合于本体做工夫”,提出工夫应着于本体而非本体之发用上,而并从理论和实践两方面解决本体与工夫相即一体的问题。

The paper is discussing the problem whether people could practice their Gongfu(selfcultivation exercises)on Benti(the original substance).There are basically two kinds of opinion.From Zhu Xi in Song Dynasty to Wang Yangming and his followers in the middle of Ming Dynasty,it was generally admitted that people were not able to and also were no necessarily to do their cultivation practice on Benti,which is unsayable,imperceptible,inconceivable,complete and absolute.Because Benti is unsayable,imperceptible and inconceivable,it is impossible for people to do cultivation exercises on Benti.And because Benti is complete and absolute,it is not possible for people to add it more or minus it less.What people could do is only to develop that Benti did not manifest in the real world.Though Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming had different understandings on Benti,which is,the former thought Benti was Xing(similar to nature)while the latter thought Benti as Xin(similar to heart-and-mind),they both obeyed the rule that Benti could not be practiced.But as we know,the object of Gongfu including Gongfu itself emitted by Benti.If people could not practice their cultivation on Benti,the result is probably to separate Benti and Gongfu and then affect that their theory and practice could not be perfect penetration without obstruction.The core problem is,therefore,that moral introspection turned out not to be selfcultivation on Benti.To resolve the problem,some followers of Wang Yangming had raised that people should he-yu-Benti-zuo-Gongfu(do cultivation exercises with Benti).Actually,there were still many scholars insolate Benti and Gongfu during the process of self-cultivation.In the late Ming,a lot of scholars,like Liu Zongzhou and Sun Qifeng,further asserted that cultivation practice must be exercised on Benti through constructing new philosophical systems and reinterpreting conceptions of Benti and what Benti emits,which evolved into a new trend of Gongfu teachings in the late Ming Dynasty.