Illustration of Wang Yangming's Philosophy of Mind: the Wisdom of Uniting Knowledge and Action

All things are beautiful because of their individuality and authenticity; all living beings are eternal because of their individuality and authenticity. Wang Yangming once said to his student Huang Honggang that when there is nothing to do, he is the only one who knows, and when there is something to do, he is the only one who knows. If people only study where people pay attention, that would be hypocrisy. Therefore, when a person survives in this society, he should not always expect that he can hide things from others, but should show his truth to others, as long as it does not go against his will.

Many people cannot live the life they want, so they hope to be someone else, imagine themselves as characters in imitation, and live a life of imitation. In fact, everyone has their own true colors. If you blindly imitate others and distort your true colors, you will eventually lose yourself. People need to abandon the intelligence and dexterity that they are proud of, and abandon the selfish greed. If everyone can do this, there will be no thieves who commit crimes, and there will be no great evil as we think. Mr. Nan Huaijin, a famous master of Chinese studies, once said that if the concept of abandoning sage and abandoning wisdom is summarized into the ideal of life, it means "seeing simplicity, embracing simplicity, and having less selfishness and few desires." "View" refers to the place of view, and concepts and thoughts are called views; "Su" means pure and clean; "Pu" refers to uncarved, fine-textured logs. Seeing simplicity and embracing simplicity is the extraordinary life sentiment of the saint. The quality is deep and the brilliance is restrained. Everything is natural and there is no deliberate artificiality. Confucius also said in "The Analects" that "prime" is like a piece of white paper, not stained by any color. People's thoughts and ideas should be kept pure and unadulterated at all times, that is, not thinking about good or evil. Be open-minded and open-minded, and should always embrace the original and natural simplicity, and treat people and handle affairs with this attitude. If an individual has this kind of cultivation, his life will be the greatest happiness; if everyone holds this attitude towards life, the world will naturally be peaceful and harmonious. The best things are in people themselves, but "when the waves wash away all the sand, you will see the real gold when the sand is gone." Most people only realize the value of their true nature after the flashiness. Jade cannot be used without carving, but sometimes, people should become a "log" that refuses to be carved, retaining the simplicity, kindness, and simplicity in human nature, and not letting external carvings destroy the nature of nature. If a person can show his true colors, radiate his true personality, and live his life, then he is the most beautiful.

No matter who you treat, you need to treat them sincerely in order to gain the trust of others. Instead of testing the other party through some seemingly clever tricks. Because on the one hand, there is a risk of being discovered. If such an approach is taken advantage of by others and takes the opportunity to show off, it will only put oneself into a passive and confusing situation; on the other hand, when oneself has lost sincerity, it is impossible to ask others to be sincere.

The heart of a child is the most genuine and unpretentious. The purpose of cultivating our original heart is to maintain such a pure and natural heart. There are times when the intellect is in trouble, and there are times when the gods cannot consider things. As the saying goes, it is difficult to be confused: it is difficult to be smart, it is difficult to be confused, and it is even more difficult to turn from being smart to being confused. Only by getting rid of small cleverness can you show great wisdom. Only by getting rid of pretentious good deeds can you truly return to your natural goodness. If a person loses his way on the road of ingenuity, he will only go further and further away, just like chasing his own shadow. The faster he runs, the faster his shadow runs, and he will never catch up. Therefore, if a person wants to have a happy and joyful life, he must get rid of his cleverness and face every detail in life with a "rarely confused" mentality and true great wisdom.

"Sincerity is only based on natural principles. Although it is based on natural principles, it does not have any intention." --Wang Yangming Wang Yangming believes that there is no distinction between good and evil in the world, and there is no theory of eliminating evil for good. If we really want to create good and evil, they also exist in the human heart. Following nature and developing is good, and being disturbed by external things and mixed with selfish desires is evil. The so-called good and evil are only produced according to nature under the influence of the surrounding environment. What distinguishes good and evil is not nature but habit. Nature is an inner thing. You may not feel its existence at ordinary times, but it controls you secretly. It determines most of your habits, your personality, and even your life. People are originally born simple and natural. Due to the influence of acquired education and environment, the perfect and natural human nature has been engraved with many patterns and carvings, and the original simplicity has been destroyed. In fact, people should not deliberately carve out the edges and corners of their nature, but should maintain the simplest things in life.

People who can honestly reveal their inner feelings without being perfunctory, pretentious, or evasive are often the most able to touch people's hearts and win the understanding of others. However, it is difficult to maintain this state of mind forever. Just like young people who have just left school, full of hope and ambition. But after living in the world for a long time, I have suffered too many setbacks, experienced hardships, or my heart has become contaminated and has become impurities; or someone who was originally very straightforward has become afraid to speak; or someone who was originally very frank has become oblique; or someone who was originally ambitious has finally become a coward. In fact, society and the environment are not enough to influence people. As long as each of us has our own independent thoughts and independent cultivation, then in any complex world, any complex era, and any complex environment, we can always maintain the state of mind when we first started. This is what Wang Yangming calls "original intention." Just as the complementarity of movement and stillness is a form of life, the true heart is also a form of life. Wang Yangming often said: "True, I am good at it." Buddhism says that there are only two people in the world, one is called fame and the other is called benefit. According to this, we might as well say that there are only two things in the world, one is true and the other is false. Seeking truth must be pragmatic, and seeking falsehood must be pragmatic. The difference between reality and reality reflects not only the attitude towards people, but also the understanding of oneself. It is easy to fool others, but difficult to fool yourself.

In the eyes of heaven and earth, there is no clear distinction between right and wrong. Heaven and earth just watch everything in the world with cold eyes. They do not intervene and let things take their own course. All things in heaven and earth are born naturally and exist naturally. Heaven and earth have no mind but are equal in producing all things, and all things cannot be independent and return to heaven and earth. Therefore, there is an old saying: "Heaven and earth are not benevolent, and regard all things as stupid dogs." That is to say, heaven and earth do not specifically set up a heart of benevolence for all things to grow all things, but they are born naturally, exist naturally, and perish naturally. From the standpoint of heaven and earth, all things are equal and human beings are nothing more than natural, accidental, temporary existences that will eventually return to destruction. Life is just a cup of water. The gorgeousness of the cup can certainly show a person's poverty or wealth, but the cup is just a container. The water in the cup is clear, transparent, colorless and tasteless, and it is the same to everyone. However, when drinking life, everyone has the right to add salt, sugar, or anything else, as long as they like. This is everyone's right to live, and it is all up to them. However, driven by desire, people may keep adding various things to the cup, but they must stop in moderation, because the cup has a limited capacity, and no matter what you add, you must eventually drink it, no matter how it tastes. If the contents of the cup are sweet and delicious, you'd better sip and savor it slowly, because everyone has only one cup of water, and after drinking it, the cup will be empty. Life is so simple, glory is glory, withering is withering. In the face of the power of nature, human wishes and hopes are so small. No matter how much you complain about heaven and others, the sky will still let you wither and prosper. It is impartial, neither sad nor happy. Some people say that a saint can be like the sky, without joy, anger, sorrow, or joy, and treat all things equally. In fact, even saints sometimes have selfish desires, self-interest, and benefit to others. There is no "benefit" at all, because all the "benefit" of all things in the world comes from it. If it returns to another place, why should it care about others. It's just that people, based on their own private knowledge, believe that the heaven and earth are good for life, or they curse the sky for being unfair. If heaven and earth had any knowledge, they would definitely laugh at the idiotic words of our idiots. Therefore, we should still remember Wang Yangming's words, act as he pleases, do not blame others, and do not indulge in fame and fortune.

"Fruitness is a matter of 'sincerity'. The so-called 'self-honesty and clarity' is called nature." --Wang Yangming "The Doctrine of the Mean" says: "Sincerity and sincerity are called nature. Self-clarification and sincerity are called teaching. Sincerity means understanding, and understanding means sincerity." It means that people are born with moral consciousness, and then have moral knowledge. This is to use their heart and mind; Because with moral understanding, moral consciousness will arise, which is to cultivate one's nature with intention. When talking about this point of view, Wang Yangming said: "Frankness is a matter of 'sincerity'. The so-called "self-honesty and clarity is called nature". Cultivation is a matter for "sincere people". The so-called "self-clarification and sincerity is called teaching". "Sincerity itself is "Ming", "Ming" is a kind of wisdom to act spontaneously and cultivate the Tao, and acting in accordance with one's own nature is to cultivate the Holy Tao. The wisdom of "Ming" will be more powerful the less it is disturbed by external objects.

A truly successful life does not lie in the size of your achievements, but in whether you live your life. Go your own way and let people have their say! Why put your life in the hands of others, why be influenced by other people's comments, why not live your life according to your own ideas! Disguising oneself and changing oneself will only lose oneself, and then there will be no meaning of existence. Wang Yangming advocates restoring the true nature of the heart, telling the world to maintain the most authentic self. Everyone is unique. There is no need to judge or even constrain oneself according to other people's vision and standards. There is no need to imitate others. You must believe in yourself and maintain your true nature. You do not need to seek such and such tricks. You should treat everything with sincerity. In fact, as long as we can maintain ourselves while abiding by the rules of the group, and do not follow what others say or follow, we can create a beautiful life of our own.

Everything in the world actually depends on whether you use your "original heart" to experience and integrate. In Wang Yangming's view, this person's original intention is truth, sincerity, sincerity, and a true gentleman. If the "truth" is extracted, he manipulates power and cheats, and hypocritically covers up, leaving only the skin; There are good and evil in people's hearts, there are those who tend to follow others' influence, and there are those who are noble and arrogant. But it's not true, so there is a saying that "in this world of mortals, the hardest thing to figure out is the human heart." Wang Yangming's entire knowledge lies in seeking "sincerity" to follow "benevolence and righteousness". To put it simply, if you don't have a sincere heart, you can't do anything kind and honest.