How did Li Zhen understand Confucianism, and how did Li Zhen treat Confucianism

Li Zhen opposes the deification of Confucius with the theory of "knowledge of life", and denies the traditional idea that Confucius should be the standard for understanding whether the understanding is correct or not from the perspective of cognitive ability and understanding, which has the progressive effect of emancipating the mind, but the limitations and defects of his epistemology cannot be ignored by opposing the theory of "sage life knowledge" with "everyone knows about life". And he used subjective idealism as a theory to oppose Cheng Zhu Lixue, which was based on objective idealism.

Li Zhen's attitude towards Confucianism is critical inheritance, he believes that the positive side of Confucianism should be inherited, and the negative side should be eliminated, so he is called "the heresy of Confucianism".

Li Zhen is considered a great thinker in modern times, and at that time he was imprisoned because his ideas were "heresy", so he was called the first thinker of the Ming Dynasty. Li Zhen's ideological propositions are extremely critical, inconsistent with or even opposite to tradition, which is why he is often considered deviant and finally imprisoned. He criticized Confucianism, and he belittled or even denied the status of Confucius and Mencius as sages, believing that everyone could become a sage, so there was no need to learn from sages, and there was no need to use their view of right and wrong as their own standard.

This proposition is essentially a celebration of individuality.

Li Zhen, a heretical thinker in the late Ming Dynasty. Oppose Confucianism and deny that Confucius was born a sage.

The core of Li Zhen's thought is to advocate independent thinking and oppose Confucius's dogma as the standard of right and wrong.

Permit. He was particularly disgusted with the feudal officials who used Confucius's dogma to teach others, and waged a-for-tat struggle with them. He openly said that these people "although they are called learning, they really don't know how to learn, and they often fail to learn from the beginning."

Li Zhen also criticized some so-called "scholars" at that time, who were actually hypocrites, and he despised even more those in the feudal officialdom who could only flatter and had no actual skills, believing that the imperial court was dedicated to such people who did not learn and did not know how to do it, so if the country had trouble, there would be no one to use it temporarily.

Li Zhen's thoughts, words and deeds were a huge shock wave in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, so he was ruthlessly attacked by feudal officials and feudal defenders, and finally went to prison and died in prison at the age of 76.

The formation of Li Zhen's philosophical thought has undergone a process of transformation from the theory of reason to the theory of mind. Li Zhen advocated that all things in the universe are born of heaven and earth, and rejected Cheng Zhuli's objective idealism that theory can be angry and one can give birth to two.

Li Zhen also believes that people's morality, spirituality, and other phenomena exist in people's material life, and dressing and eating, that is, human ethics physics, is the famous theory he put forward, which is an idea with simple materialism.

Li Zhen believed in Wang Yangming's theory of mind, so the center of his entire philosophical system was subjective idealism. He believes that sincerity and childlike innocence are the most fundamental concepts and the origin of all things.

The natural world is "a little bit of my wonderful and sincere mind", there is no reason, there is no matter, all the material and spiritual things in the world only exist in the "true heart". What is "sincerity"? It is the childlike heart, the original heart, the original heart of the first thought, that is, my heart that is not affected by the outside world.

They are the source that governs everything and produces all appearances, which can be called the "pure source", and all things, mountains, rivers and the earth are in one thought, but they are only the manifestations of the true heart, the factors and components of the true heart, just like the relationship between the blisters and the sea water in the sea.

This view is in line with the Luwang School's "My heart is the universe, and the universe is my heart" and Zen Buddhism's "all the laws are in my heart".

In the process of opposing political corruption and Song Ming theory, Li Zhen formed his political thoughts, mainly including:

1. Advocate the emancipation of individuality and freedom of thought. Li Zhen struggled all his life for the emancipation of individuality and freedom of thought. He despised traditional authority and dared to criticize it.

2. Shihu advocates the equality of human beings. Li Zhen believes that according to the principle of the unity of all things, there is no distinction between the superior and the inferior in society.

3. Oppose feudal etiquette. Li Zhen also attacked the Confucian classics that were regarded as golden rules by the feudal rulers, arguing that the six classics of Confucian classics, such as the Analects and Mencius, were not all the words of sages, but were formed by later generations and could not be regarded as eternal truths.

4. Oppose the empty talk of science and advocate utilitarianism.

5. The political ideal of "doing nothing". In response to the corrupt politics of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zhen put forward the idea of "doing nothing, ruling silently, and teaching without words". He believed that the frequent turmoil in human society was the result of the interference of rulers in social life.

His ideal of "rule by man" is "because of man", conforming to nature and secular people's feelings, that is, "because it is not easy to govern its customs, it is not easy to follow its nature", and does not interfere or interfere less in the social life of human beings.