Chen Xianzhang - Chin Kensho

A Chinese thinker in the mid-Ming dynasty. His pen name was Gongfu, his pen name was Shizhai, and he was also known as Baisha Sensei. His posthumous name was Wen Gong. He was from Baishali, Xinhui County, Guangdong Province. He passed the Zhengzhong annual township examination, but never passed it again. At the age of 27, he studied under the Neo-Confucian scholar Wu Youbi (Kangzhai), but left after six months and became a reader. He was often recommended and given the position of Hanlin Academy examiner, but he returned to his hometown and was never appointed to a position again. Chen Xianzhang's learning was based on tranquility, and he advocated the cultivation of a clear mind through sitting in silence. In tranquility, he found perfection, and from there he grasped the principles that permeate the universe, and came to believe that these principles were none other than his own heart. If one can understand this, he teaches that "heaven and earth stand because of me, all phenomena are born from me, and the universe is in me." This is a study that does not pursue external norms, but trusts the inherent abilities of the human mind and seeks to establish human subjectivity in the state of the mind, which is called Shingaku. Together with Wang Yangming (Shujin), he was a pioneer of Shingaku. He has written the "Complete Works of Baishazi."

[Hiroyuki Sugiyama February 17, 2016]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、明(みん)代中期の思想家。字(あざな)は公甫(こうほ)、号は石斎、白沙(はくさ)先生とも称される。追諡(ついし)は文恭。広東(カントン)省新会県白沙里の人。正統年間郷試に合格したが、以後は及第していない。27歳で朱子学者呉与弼(ごよひつ)（康斎）に学んだが、半年で去り読書生活に入った。しばしば推挙され翰林(かんりん)院検討の官を授けられたが故郷に帰り、以後任官することはなかった。陳献章の学は静を根本に据え、静坐(せいざ)によって心を明澄にする修養を説いた。静中に端倪(たんげい)（いとぐち）を得、そこから天地宇宙に充満する理を体得し、この理こそわが心にほかならないと確信するに至る。ここを体得すれば、「天地は我によって立ち、すべての現象は我から生まれ、宇宙は我にある」と説く。このように外的に規範を追求するのではなく、人間の心が本来具有している能力を信頼し、心のあり方に人間の主体性の確立を求める学問を心学とよぶが、王陽明（守仁(しゅじん)）とともに心学の先駆をなした。著に『白沙子全集』がある。

［杉山寛行　2016年2月17日］

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