Yangming Culture
Updated: 2013-07-16 17:39
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Wang Yangming (1472-1529), from Yuyao, Zhejiang province, was called Mr Yangming by scholars. The Confucian culture is not only the backbone of traditional Chinese culture but also the representative of Eastern wisdom.
The Yangming culture he initiated has been the last peak of Chinese Confucianism so it has become the precursor of modern Enlightenment Thought. Wang Yangming was more than a philosopher but also a great master in education. Focusing on the talent, practicing personally and obtaining great achievements, he was a great cultural giant.
The Yangming culture, a profound thought system, is composed with the theories of “mind being truth”, “the unity of knowledge and action” and “the idea of innate knowing”. Yangming had lived in exile in Long Chang for three years, understood the aim of “acquiring knowledge by studying the essence of things”, eliminated the gap between “mind” and “object”, put forward the theory of “mind being truth” for the first time and developed the approach to humanity at a psychological level. Using “your mind being your truth” as the starting point, he unlocked the tangled knot between “knowledge” and “action” and put forward the theory of “the unity of knowledge and action”.
The advent of Yangming’s School of Mind activated the stagnant Confucianism, made a big step forward, developed the pioneer of ideological emancipation and laid a foundation for the generation of Democratic Thought and Hundred Days’ Reform in 1898.
Long Chang Town, Xiuwen County, Guiyang city, the birthplace of the Yangming culture, is regarded as the “sacred place of Wang theory”. Xiuwen County, the provincial Yangming scenic spot, is famous for the exile of Wang Yangming, where he developed his theory. In the summer of 1996, some scholars from home and abroad visited Xiuwen County to participate in “Wang Yangming International Symposium, Guizhou, China”. Since 1999, Xiuwen County has held the “International Festival of Yangming Culture” four times. Therefore, the impact of Wang Yangming theory is not limited to Guizhou and China but is also widely known overseas. Yangming theory, the treasure of human culture, belongs to both China and the world, and has a positive impact on human civilization.