Explaining Ritual with Conscience:a Further Exploration of the Characteristics of Wang Yangming's Ritual Thought
Wang Yangming's ritual thought is commonly understood as"explaining ritual with mind"or"explaining ritual with emotion".According to the viewpoint of"explaining ritual with mind",Wang Yangming proposed the concept of"the mind is the principle"on the basis of Zhu Xi's idea that"ritual is the principle",thus connecting the mind and ritual.However,the implied meaning of"explaining ritual with mind"is to explain ritual with conscience.Wang Yangming failed to mention the word"conscience"in his early years.The viewpoint of"explaining ritual with emotion"helps to highlight Wang Yangming's emphasis on emotions and responds to the issue of ritual standards better.However,the conscience plays an important role in human emotions,and"explaining ritual with emotion"must ultimately be anchored in conscience.Wang Yangming regarded conscience as the body of consciousness.In the practice of ritual studies,he sought to awaken the conscience in the human heart,bridge the gap between ritual and proprie-ty,and thus"explaining ritual with conscience"was the conclusion and fundamental characteristic of Wang Yangming's ritual thought in his later years.Wang Yangming's disciples had diverse understandings of conscience benefited from his disregard for the existing laws and different prescriptions according to different defectiveness during his lectures,which led to the spread and evolution of Wang Yangming's later research of ritual thought.
Wang Yangmingexplaining ritual with mindexplaining ritual with emotionexplaining ritual with conscience
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