Wang Shou-Jin

Japanese: 王守仁 - おうしゅじん

A Chinese thinker of the Ming Dynasty. His pen name was Bo'an. He was from Yuyao, Zhejiang Province. He was called Mr. Yangming because he built his home in his hometown of Yangmingdong. His posthumous name was Wencheng. He was the founder of Yangmingism. His family had been readers for generations, and his father Wang Hua (1446-1522, pen name Tokuki, alias Jitsuan) became the Minister of Personnel in Nanjing. Shunin's career, which has been said to have been a time of a hundred deaths and a thousand hardships, can be roughly divided into the following three periods.

[Hiroyuki Sugiyama February 17, 2016]

1st period - 37 years old

He began his education in Zhu Xi and studied under Lou Liang (1422-1491), but gradually became skeptical and fell ill. He failed the imperial examination and became obsessed with chivalry, horse riding, literature, Taoism, and Buddhism (Yangming's five obsessions). At the age of 28, he passed the Jinshi examination and began his official career, but continued to devote himself to both Taoism and Buddhism until he was 31. At the age of 35, he did not comply with the wishes of the eunuch Liu Jin (?-1510), and was given 40 staff rods and exiled to Longchang Station in Guizhou. In the remote area of Ryujo, where he could not even communicate with others, the 37-year-old Morihito realized that "the way of the sage is self-sufficient in my nature. It was a mistake to previously seek reason in things" (Ryujo's enlightenment). He broke away from the Neo-Confucian theory of "investigating things," which seeks reason in external things, and presented a new interpretation of "investigating things and attaining knowledge," which states that one should eliminate the injustice of the workings of the mind (investigating things) and exercise one's conscience (attaining knowledge).

[Hiroyuki Sugiyama February 17, 2016]

2nd period: 38-49 years old

At the age of 39, following the downfall of Liu Jin, he was appointed as the magistrate of Luling County (Jiangxi Province). The following year, he was reassigned as the chief of the Ministry of Personnel, Office of the Chief Clerk, and returned to the central government. After that, he served as the junior minister of Taibo Si in Nanjing and the minister of Honglo Si in Nanjing, and at the age of 45, he was appointed as the left administrative censor of the Censorship Office, where he demonstrated his ability in suppressing peasant revolts in various provinces, including Jiangxi and Fujian. During this period, he first advocated the idea of unity of knowledge and action, and the number of his disciples rapidly increased. He commended Lu Xiangshan (Jiuyuan) and published the Great Learning Old Edition, which drew criticism from Zhu Xi scholars. The Records of Training in Practice (currently the first volume) was also published. On the other hand, by editing Zhu Xi's Treatise on the Final Years, he attempted to show that Zhu Xi's (Zhu Xi) theories in his later years were not different from his own, and to achieve harmony. This triggered a debate with Zhu Xi scholar Luo Qinjun. At the age of 48, when Ning King Chenhao (?-1521) rebelled, he raised an army of righteous men and achieved the feat of capturing Chenhao alive. However, he was accused of plotting rebellion and fell into crisis. It was in the midst of this debate that he advocated the theory of realizing one's innate knowledge of good, and in this way he completely broke away from Zhu Xi's teachings and developed a new school of thought. At the age of 49, in the midst of this crisis, he advocated the theory of realizing one's innate knowledge of good, and completely broke away from Zhu Xi's teachings to develop a new school of thought.

[Hiroyuki Sugiyama February 17, 2016]

Third period: 50-57 years old

At the age of 50, when King Sejong ascended to the throne, he was appointed Minister of War in Nanjing and further enfeoffed as Xinjianbo. Wang Ji, Qian Dehong, Nan Daji, Dong Luoshi and others became his disciples. He wrote such works as Nuoben Saiyuan Lun and Zunjing Pavilion Ji, demonstrating his maturity in his later years. At the age of 57, as the Left Chief Censor of the Metropolitan Censorship, he died on a boat in Nan'an on his way back from putting down the Si'en-Tianzhou Rebellion in Guangxi. His works were compiled into the 38-volume Wang Wenchenggong Quanshu (1572).

[Hiroyuki Sugiyama February 17, 2016]

"Shimada Kenji's translation of "Chinese Civilization Selection 6: Wang Yangming Collection" (1975, Asahi Shimbun)" ▽ "Mizoguchi Yuzo's translation of "Denshuroku" (included in "World Masterpieces 19: Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming" edited by Araki Kengo, 1978, Chuokoron-Shinsha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

中国、明(みん)代の思想家。字(あざな)は伯安(はくあん)。浙江(せっこう)省余姚(よよう)の人。室を故郷陽明洞(ようめいどう)に築いたことから、陽明先生とよばれる。諡(おくりな)は文成(ぶんせい)。陽明学の祖。家庭は代々読書人で、父王華（1446―1522、字徳輝(とくき)、別号実庵(じつあん)）は南京吏部尚書(ナンキンりぶしょうしょ)に至る。百死千難と称される守仁の経歴は、大概次の3期に分かたれる。

［杉山寛行　2016年2月17日］

第1期　～37歳

朱子学から出発し婁諒(ろうりょう)（1422―1491）に師事するが、しだいに懐疑を生じ、病を発するに至る。会試にも失敗し、任侠(にんきょう)、騎馬、文辞、神仙、仏教に惑溺(わくでき)（陽明の五溺）する。28歳、進士(しんじ)に合格、官途につくが、道仏二教への専心は31歳まで続く。35歳、宦官(かんがん)劉瑾(りゅうきん)（？―1510）の意に添わず、廷杖(ていじょう)四十を加えられたうえ、貴州竜場駅に流謫(るたく)された。ことばも通じない僻地(へきち)竜場で、37歳の守仁は「聖人の道は、吾(わ)が性に自足している。以前、理を事物に求めたのは誤りであった」と悟る（竜場の大悟）。外物に理を求める朱子学的格物(かくぶつ)論から脱し、心の働きの不正を去り（物を格(ただ)す）、良心を発揮する（知を致す）とする、新しい格物致知(ちち)の解釈を示す。

［杉山寛行　2016年2月17日］

第2期　38～49歳

39歳、劉瑾の失脚により、廬陵(ろりょう)県（江西省吉安(きつあん)）の知県に着任。翌年、吏部験封清吏司(けんぽうせいりし)主事に改任され中央に戻る。以後、南京太僕寺(たいぼくじ)少卿(しょうけい)、南京鴻臚寺(こうろじ)卿を経て、45歳で都察院(とさついん)左僉都御史(させんとぎょし)に任じられ、江西、福建など諸省の農民反乱の鎮圧に実力を示す。この時期、初めて知行合一論を提唱し、門人も急激に増大した。陸象山(りくしょうざん)（九淵(きゅうえん)）を顕彰し、『大学古本』を刊行したため、朱子学者の非難を招く。『伝習録』（現行上巻部分）も刊行された。その一方で、『朱子晩年定論』を編集することで、朱子（朱熹(しゅき)）晩年の説が自説と異ならないことを示し、調和を図ろうとした。これがきっかけとなり、朱子学者羅欽順(らきんじゅん)との論争が始まる。48歳、寧王(ねいおう)宸濠(しんごう)（？―1521）の謀反に際して、義兵を起こし、宸濠を生擒(いけどり)にするという功績をあげた。しかし逆に叛意(はんい)ありとの讒言(ざんげん)を被り危機に陥った。論争はその渦中で開始されている。49歳、こうした危機のなか、致良知説を提唱し、朱子学を完全に脱して新たな学を展開する。

［杉山寛行　2016年2月17日］

第3期　50～57歳

50歳、世宗が即位すると、南京兵部尚書に任ぜられ、さらに新建伯に封ぜられた。王畿(おうき)、銭徳洪(せんとくこう)、南大吉(なんだいきつ)、董蘿石(とうらせき)などが入門する。『抜本塞(さい)源論』『尊経閣記』などを著し、晩年の円熟の境地を示す。57歳、都察院左都御史として、広西の思恩・田州の乱を平定した帰途、南安の舟中で没した。著作は『王文成公全書』38巻（1572）としてまとめられた。

［杉山寛行　2016年2月17日］

『島田虔次訳『中国文明選6　王陽明集』（1975・朝日新聞社）』▽『溝口雄三訳「伝習録」（荒木見悟編『世界の名著19　朱子・王陽明』所収・1978・中央公論社）』

[参照項目] | 王畿 | 格物致知 | 銭徳洪 | 知行合一 | 伝習録 | 陽明学 | 羅欽順 | 陸九淵

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