Intuitive Knowing and Intuitive Awareness, Awareness of Inherent Nature and Awareness of the Mind: On the Distinction between Confucianism and Buddhism in Wang Yangming’s Thought

Liu Yuedi

Abstract: Wang Yangming’s doctrine of intuitive knowing is essentially a “learning of awareness.” Intuitive knowing is in fact a kind of intuitive awareness, but not in the ordinary sense, for only the intuitive awareness in which moral reasoning is potentially contained counts as intuitive knowing. The present paper holds that Wang Yangming’s thought is deeply immersed in the Chinese-style “original awareness of Buddha-nature,” and thus ultimately forms an intellectual structure of “principle—knowledge—mind—awareness—inherent nature.” Under the infl uence of Buddhism, such intuitive awareness is derived from the awareness of inherent nature; as an inheritance of Confucianism, such intuitive knowing is developed from the awareness of the mind. Intuitive knowing, as the human “emotional—rational structure,” naturally embodies the whole structure of “knowledge—emotion—intention,” that is, it includes rational ideas and the will as well as perceptual emotion. Intuitive knowing is a result of an inner accumulation of rationality, but it manifests itself in the external form of moral intuition. The “conception of the fetal sage” in Wang Yangming’s sense is nothing but the procedure and result of such rational condensation.

Keywords: emotional—rational structure, intuitive knowing, intuitive awareness, awareness of inherent nature, awareness of the mind, original awareness of Buddha-nature, original awareness of inherent nature

The connection of Confucianism with Buddhism in Wang Yangming’s 王阳明 (Wang Shouren 王守仁, 1472—1529) thought, especially the profound influence of Chan (Zen) Buddhism on his thought, has long been stressed by scholars. Further, it has been widely acknowledged that “when Wang Yangming advocated his doctrine of intuitive knowing, he discussed a Chan reality by borrowing a name from Confucianism.”1Lu Longqi 陆陇其, “On Learning I” [学术辨上], in vol. 2 of Collected Works of Sanyu Hall [三鱼堂文集] (Hangzhou: Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House, 2018), 24.However, when Chan Wing-tsit 陈荣捷 (1901—1994) translated his English paper “How Buddhistic Is Wang Yang-ming?”2Chan Wing-tsit, “How Buddhistic Is Wang Yang-ming?,” Philosophy East and West, no. 3 (1962): 203—215.into Chinese as [王阳明之禅的历史], literally, “The History of Wang Yangming’s Chan Buddhism,”3Chan Wing-tsit 陈荣捷, Wang Yangming and Zen [王阳明与禅] (Taipei: Student Book, 1984), 80.he obviously placed a greater emphasis on Chan.

The difference between the Chan Buddhist theory of mind and Wang Yangming’s Learning of the Mind is crucial. However, I intend to step backward and make a direct comment on the influence of Buddhist awareness of inherent nature (xingjue性觉) on Wang Yangming’s doctrine of intuitive knowing (liangzhi良知), and then conduct the reverse study of the influence in the relationship between Buddhism and Confucianism. Wang Yangming’s intuitive knowing is more like a kind of “intuitive awareness” (liangjue良觉) and the “extension of intuitive knowing” (zhi liangzhi致良知) is also the result of the further “unity of knowledge and practice” (zhi xing heyi知行合一) on the basis of such awareness. This is why Wang Yangming started from the role of the mind in attacking Chan Buddhism and defending himself. The more important advance of Confucianism is that “Wang Yangming insisted that thought must be seen in all actions, and that knowledge and practice should be united. This is not only a step forward from Chan Buddhism, but also a step forward from the Song dynasty Learning of Principle. This is the immortality of Wang Yangming.”4Ibid.This statement can be said to touch the essence of Wang Yangming’s thought.

Intuitive Knowing Is Not Knowledge: An Analytic Philosophy-Style Proof [Refer to page 93 for Chinese. Similarly hereinafter]

To investigate intuitive knowing, we must fi rst face the question: Is intuitive knowing a kind of knowledge? If intuitive knowing is knowledge, what kind of knowledge is it? If intuitive knowing is not knowledge, how do we prove it? From the perspective of analytic philosophy, Fung Yiu-ming 冯耀明 has methodologically devoted himself to “the use of normal discourse in conceptual analysis, linguistic analysis, and logical analysis,”5Fung Yiu-ming 冯耀明, Methodological Issues in Chinese Philosophy [中国哲学的方法论问题] (Taipei: Yunchen Cultural Industrial, 1989), 22.and clearly denies that intuitive knowing is knowledge. He concludes, “Wang Yangming’s intuitive knowing does not refer to a particular kind of knowledge, nor does his ‘extending knowledge’ (zhizhi致知) or ‘extension of intuitive knowing’ refer to any kind of epistemological activity.”6Fung, Methodological Issues in Chinese Philosophy, 46.Although this negation has a strong sense of interpretation using Western thought, it tends to clarify the essence of intuitive knowing, so we will proceed from this to investigate the attributes of intuitive knowing.

The connotations of “knowledge” should diff er between the ancients and the moderns. After a series of linguistic analyses, especially an analysis of the fundamental differences in the direction of intuitive knowing advocated by Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130—1200) and Wang Yangming, Fung Yiu-ming believes that “knowledge attained” (zhizhi知至) belongs to knowledge, and “extending knowledge” belongs to practice, so that knowledge and practice can be united, and thus comes the fi ve conclusions on what intuitive knowing is:

1. Intuitive knowing is the original clarity and awareness [of Heavenly Principle], that is, the mind and spirit being in a state of clear awareness.

2. Intuitive knowing cannot be divided into prior or posterior, but is rather the clear comprehension or awareness (mingjue明觉) of the present.

3. Extending knowledge and the extension of intuitive knowing refer to the endeavor of restraining one’s self while alone or in solitude, accumulating deeds of righteousness, investigating principles to the utmost, maintaining respect, fulfilling human nature, preserving the mind, caution, and apprehension, as the moral practice of the selfconsciousness of mind as substance.

4. The mind is principle. Intuitive knowingrefers to the mind of the Way (dao道), that is, the mind being in a state of pure intelligence and clear awareness, the self-consciousness of deciding one’s moral direction through the tranquility and joy of the mind, and the manifestation of the pure intelligence and clear spiritual awareness of Heavenly Principle (the original essence of human nature) (Thus, “intuitive knowing is Heavenly Principle” and “to know good and evil is intuitive knowing”).

5. The unity of true knowledge and practice. Moral self-refl ection and self-consciousness go along with moral practice. Without the moral practice of self-implementation and selfrefl ection, the spiritual realm of full moral awareness cannot be attained in practice.7Fung, Methodological Issues in Chinese Philosophy, 44—45.

In short, the logical order of these fi ve points is as follows: First, it affirms that intuitive knowing is awareness of the mind and spirit; second, it determines that intuitive knowing is immediate rather than cumulative; third, it confi rms that intuitive knowing is a practical endeavor; fourth, that which realizes intuitive knowing is the mind ofdao; and finally, it ascertains that intuitive knowing is the unity of knowledge and practice. Obviously, after this procedural linguistic analysis, Wang Yangming’s doctrine on intuitive knowing can be explained as follows: First, it determines thatintuitive knowing is the clarity and awareness of Heavenly Principle, which ascertains the basic nature of intuitive knowing; second, it denies the difference between intuitive knowing before andintuitive knowingafter, in order to distinguish it from Zhu Xi’s way of investigating things; third, it attributesintuitive knowing to endeavor and distinguishes this kind of moral practice from rational understanding; fourth, it returns to Wang Yangming’s principle that the mind is principle, and recognizes that the mind ofdaois also perceptive and aware; and fifth, it “moves” intuitive knowing, that is, “actuating” it, so as to bring it into the practice of the unity of knowledge and practice.

Obviously, this decisive language analysis shares assumptions that Western philosophy has always held, that is, the separation of rationality and sensibility, and the separation of moral cognition and moral perception. Therefore, there will be a tendency to attribute Wang Yangming’s intuitive knowing only to intuition without rational function, thus ignoring that there is a “hot reason” lurking in moral perception. According to the methodology of analytic philosophy, moral reason exists only as a kind of “cold reason,” and it is impossible to blend this with sensibility. However, Wang Yangming’s brilliance lies in the fact that his intuitive knowing forms a dynamic balance between rationality and sensibility. However, it is necessary to continue to determine how the apparently rational intuitive knowing and the actually perceptual clear intelligence are inseparable from one another from the perspective of historical accumulation.

Intuitive Knowing Is Not Merely Knowledge: An Approach from Historical Ontology [95]

Intuitive knowing is not knowledge. This judgment is indeed very categorical. However, if we say that intuitive knowing is not only knowledge, we need a kind of historicist proof, rather than intuition to prove the authenticity of this intuition. This involves a more important question—where does intuitive knowing come from? Or, to change the way we ask the question: Is intuitive knowing innate? This is related to the distinction between the transcendental and the empirical, that is, whether intuitive knowing is innate or acquired.

According to Li Zehou 李泽厚 (1930—2021), the source of intuitive knowing must be investigated from the perspective of historicism, in conformity with the basic principle of his so-called “anthropological historical ontology.” In his later years, Li Zehou added the dimension of “emotional ontology” to his philosophy and defined his philosophy as an anthropological historical ontology with emotional ontology as the core. The fusion of ontology of history and ontology of emotion reveals how we ought to treat Wang Yangming’s thought. The former is based on history and the latter is based on emotion.

Li Zehou believed that Wang Yangming’s mind ofdaomust be refl ected through the knowledge, thought, and awareness of the human mind, and thatintuitive knowing means to follow and respond to spontaneity. However,

Due to the emphasis on the inseparability of the mind ofdaoand the human mind, intuitive knowing and numinous clarity, the two are often mixed together, integrated, or even increasingly equivalent. Although the mind, intuitive knowing, and numinous clarity are abstracted and elevated to the transcendental level beyond any physical material in Wang Yangming’s thought, they are different from principle after all, and they are always related to bodies and matter. Therefore, rationality and sensibility often become one thing, so closely intertwined so that they cannot be distinguished. Therefore, the dominance of rationality gradually turns into a dominance of sensibility.8Li Zehou 李泽厚, A Critical History of Ancient Chinese Thought [中国古代思想史论] (Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1985), 245.

In fact, in Wang Yangming’s view, sensibility and rationality constitute an internal mosaic structure, that is, an “ emotional—rational structure.” Li Zehou even believed that his thought of emotion as original substance, as an emotional—rational structure, is centered on this structure integrating rationality and sensibility. From this perspective, we can reach the conclusion that Wang Yangming’s thought is transformed from a “dominance of rationality” to a “dominance of sensibility.”

Li Zehou defi ned the attributes of intuitive knowing in this way: Intuitive knowing is both a kind of “good will” and a “moral consciousness,” but it is also colored with a “perceptual emotional tone.”9Ibid., 247.On the one hand, he always emphasized the power of moral will.

The most important thing in Wang Yangming’s thought is to emphasize this free will, that is, practice and action. Practice means that morality is a question of whether one acts or not, not a question of whether one knows or not. Wang can be said to have inherited Mencius’s accumulation of righteousness deeds, maintaining the will and cultivatingqi气 (material force), plus something of Chan Buddhism.

On the other hand, we can see how Wang Yangming turns his ideas into intuition.

The mind to judge right from wrong should be turned into the mind to judge good from evil. Only through long-term exercise can we succeed in acquiring the intuition to enjoy the good and detest the bad, like our faculties of taste, smell, and sight. This is what he meant when he said that wherever thought is produced, there is intuitive knowing.10Li Zehou and Liu Yuedi 刘悦笛, “A Conversation on Ethics: Dialog in 2018 between Li Zehou and Liu Yuedi” [伦理学杂谈——李泽厚、刘悦笛2018年对谈录], Hunan Normal University Journal of Social Sciences [湖南师范大学社会科学学报], no. 5 (2018): 1—17.

In this way, Wang Yangming’s intuitive knowing is positioned between moral reason and perceptual emotion.

In my private dialogue with Li Zehou, he always wondered: Is intuitive knowing innate? What is the source of intuitive knowing? Where does the transcendental nature of intuitive knowing and the intuitive knowing of the transcendental come from? In fact, the answer to the origin of morality lies in history, because intuitive knowing is also accumulated through history. This is related to the two ways of thinking, from the empirical to the transcendental and from the transcendental to the empirical. The theory of intuitive knowing belongs to the latter, while anthropological historical ontology belongs to the former. According to Li Zehou’s distinction,

In fact, “from the empirical to the transcendental” means that external ethical norms (the empirical) enter the individual psyche and become an apparently transcendental emotion and will (the transcendental). Here we refer to the fundamental question of the origin of morality; while “from the empirical to the transcendental” means that individual moral behavior and psyche (the empirical) seem to be a description of daily experience derived from intuitive knowing and intuitive capacity (the transcendental) of “knowing without thinking” and “being able without learning.” The two are completely diff erent levels of questions.11Li Zehou, New Thought on Ethics [伦理学新说] (Beijing: People’s Literature Publishing House, 2021), 608—609.

This means that the road from the transcendental to the empirical gives rise to a transcendental illusion, andintuitive knowing is also sublimated from experience to a transcendent object in history. This is similar to the relationship between inherent nature and emotion. Emotion is not produced by inherent nature, rather inherent nature is produced by emotion. It should be the case that inherent nature is sublimated from actual emotion (bottom-up), rather than giving ways to human emotion (top-down).12See Liu Yuedi, “‘Inherent Nature Is Produced by Emotion’ and Not ‘Emotion Is Produced by Inherent Nature’: The Fundamental Reverse of the Confucian ‘Emotion-Oriented Philosophy’” [“性生于情”而非“情生于性”——儒家“情本哲学”的根本翻转], Exploration and Free Views [探索与争鸣], no. 11 (2021): 90—98.

In short, intuitive knowing is not formed by the transcendental and then transformed into the empirical, but rather transformed from the empirical into the transcendental. But how does this transformation happen? This requires history as an intermediary so that rationality can be accumulated. As far as individuals are concerned, they should have the long-term moral experience to accumulate rationality. The apparently intuitive aspect of intuitive knowingis thus developed. Its internal provisions are determined by moral reason, but this reasoning potentially exists in moral intuition, which forms an internal tension between rationality and sensibility.

Li Zehou opposed the separation between emotion and rationality, holding that:

Wang Yangming’s theory is just like this. Because although his Learning of the Mind emphasizes that the mind is not the perceptual mind, nor the emotional mind, but the transcendental mind in the moral-ontological sense, it always describes it, expresses it, and stipulates it with the expressions like “producing and reproducing without cease,” “restless,” and “compassionate” (this is also true for Mou Zongsan 牟宗三 [1909—1995]). Here, do “producing and reproducing without cease,” “restless,” and “compassionate” not indicate emotional and perceptual experience? No matter how much one emphasizes that these are metaphysical and not psychological or perceptual features, and no matter how subtly and sophisticatedly one argues, what can it be, without its emotional and psychological features, and without descriptions like restless and compassionate? Since Confucius, the characteristic and key of Confucianism is that it is built on psychological and emotional principles. Thus, Wang Yangming claims that the ancient version of theGreat Learningemphasizes “loving the people” rather than Zhu Xi’s interpretation of “renovating the people.” As a result, the so-called moral original substance actually contains characteristics, connotations, content, and factors from sensibility.13Li, A Critical History of Ancient Chinese Thought, 262.

The present author has always endorsed this basic judgment, and tried to understand it from the perspective of an emotional—rational structure.

The Doctrine of Intuitive Knowing as a Learning of Awareness: An Approach from the Mind and Inherent Nature [96]

The present paper holds that intuitive knowing exists as a kind of intuitive awareness. So how can intuitive knowing be regarded as intuitive awareness? This involves two kinds of arguments: First, knowledge is a kind of awareness, andknowledge can even be called awareness, so intuitive knowing is a kind ofintuitive awareness, which in turn is also a kind of intuitive knowing; Second, intuitive knowing is a kind of awareness, and only “good knowledge” is true awareness, so knowledge and awareness are not equal, hence, in turn, intuitive awareness is not always a kind of intuitive knowing.

That requires us to return to Wang Yangming’s comments:

The mind is the master of the body. The pure numinosity and clear awareness of the mind are the original intuitive knowing of good. When thisintuitive knowing with pure intelligence and clear awareness is aroused to action, it is called intention (yi意). Intention comes after knowledge; intention does not exist without knowledge.14Wang Shouren 王守仁, “Instructions for Practical Living II” [传习录中], vol. 2 of Complete Works of Wang Yangming [王阳明全集], eds. Wu Guang 吴光 et al. (Shanghai: Shanghai Classics Publishing House, 2011), 53.

Here, “pure numinosity and clear awareness of the mind” means that the “awareness of the mind” is not a common awareness but a “clear awareness,” or rather the “clarity of awareness” of the mind and spirit. Only such clear awareness can be called innately produced intuitive knowing, and thus form the germinating state of intuitive knowing. Neither is the “pure numinosity” a kind of common state of the mind. When it was said that “where thinking has n ot g erminated, pure numinosity remains unconcealed,”15Li Jingde 黎靖德, ed., Classifi ed Conversations of Zhu Xi [朱子语类], vol. 120 (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1986), 2596.this separates the pure numinosity of perception from rational thought, and thus such pure numinosity is no longer the moral mind of reasoning. This intuitive knowing of pure numinosity and clear awareness can be influenced by things and respond in action, which is not only affected by rationality but also by emotion. However, this moral emotion contains the potential tendency to the goodness of moral reasoning. Intentions exist only after knowledge, and this intention comes into being with stimulation, thus the “original substance of intention is knowledge itself.”16Wang, “Instructions for Practical Living I” [传习录上], vol. 1 of Complete Works of Wang Yangming, 6.As a result, there is fi nally the formation of the unique emotional—rational structure of intuitive knowing.

As for the relationship of “mind—awareness—knowledge,” Wang Yangming had a more explicit statement: “The clear awareness of the mind is called knowledge, and where knowledge is stored is called the mind, so they are originally not two separate things. Preserving the mind is extending knowledge, and extending knowledge is preserving the mind, so they are not two separate things either.”17Wang, “Supplement of Instructions for Practical Living” [传习录拾遗], in vol. 32 of Complete Works of Wang Yangming, 1288.On one hand, regarding the “clear awareness of the mind” as knowledge is an expression which is obviously influenced by Buddhism, because “clear comprehension or awareness” is often regarded as correct wisdom in Buddhism, which is a state of being awakened or enlightened. On the other hand, to say that “where knowledge is stored” is the mind, and in unifying the passage from mind to knowledge and from knowledge to mind, this is a thorough approach of the Confucian learning of mind and inherent nature. This is because, in passing from mind to knowledge, we rely on awareness, and in passing from knowledge to mind, we rely on practice. Therefore, there is the “extension of knowledge.” Extending knowledge is the action of knowing. Where thinking is initiated, there occurs knowledge and practice. Hence preserving the mind and extending knowledge are regarded as being unifi ed. This is the true meaning of Wang Yangming’s unity of knowledge and practice.

When the relationship between knowledge and practice is included, Wang Yangming said more clearly: “The genuine and sincere aspect of knowledge is practice, and the clear and discriminating aspect of practice is knowledge. The work of knowledge and practice are inseparable.”18Wang, “Instructions for Practical Living II,” 47.This is because the “knowledge” in the mind—awareness—knowledge structure is extending knowledge, that is, the extension of intuitive knowing. This extension of intuitive knowing originates from the clear awareness of the mind. In this sense, intuitive knowing is a kind of intuitive awareness. This trend became more and more intense in later scholars of Wang Yangming’s school. “Wang’s teaching of the ‘mind as principle’ was interpreted in a more and more perceptual way. Its manifestation was not moral principle (ethics) as the principle of the mind (psychology) but gradually turned into the principles of the mind (psychology) as moral principles (ethics), with logical norms increasingly becoming psychological demands.”19Li, A Critical History of Ancient Chinese Thought, 247.

In addition to the mind—awareness—knowledge relationship, Wang Yangming also discussed the complex relationship between principle—knowledge—mind—nature. First, it can be determined that knowledge is the original substance of the mind, and the core of Wang Yangming’s doctrine on the mind and inherent nature is the doctrine of intuitive knowing. In his statement, “Knowledge is the original substance of the mind, and the mind is naturally able to know,”20Wang, “Instructions for Practical Living I,” 7.the key lies in this “naturally.” Moral cognition is the result of the accumulation from rationality to sensibility, which appears as an intuition on the surface, but is pregnant with moral principle. When asked “how knowledge is the original substance of the mind,” Wang Yangming directly answered: “Knowledge is the numinous aspect of principle. In terms of its dominance [of the body], it is called the mind, and in terms of its endowment, it is called inherent nature.”21Ibid., 39.This is to start from the basic point of the learning of the mind and inherent nature and develop the two dimensions of mind and inherent nature at the same time. However, the dimension of awareness is more effective here, because the statements that “knowledge is the numinous aspect of principle” and “the numinous awareness of the mind is knowledge” are almost used in the same sense by Wang Yangming. From this point of view, knowledge as “the numinous aspect of principle” has the mind as its dominance, because the mind has the function of unity and control, while its endowment is nature, which returns to the presupposition that inherent nature is originally good. From this, the localized Buddhist idea of the original awareness of Buddha-nature was latently contained in Wang Yangming’s thought, and ultimately became the basic intellectual framework of principle—knowledge—mind—awareness—nature.

Since Wang Yangming’s principle is that the mind is principle, then by including his doctrine on intuitive knowing,

The original substance of the mind is Heavenly Principle. The clarity and awareness of Heavenly Principle is intuitive knowing. If a gentleman (junzi君子) maintains prudence and apprehension all the time, then Heavenly Principle reigns, and the original substance of clarity and awareness will not be obscured, disturbed, or depressed. If one behaves with all decorum and does as one pleases without breaking the rules, it is called true naturalness and freedom. This naturalness and freedom emerge from the constancy of Heavenly Principle, which dwells in caution and apprehension.22Wang, “Supplement of Instructions for Practical Living,” 1302.

Obviously, this is to directly equate the “clearness and awareness of Heavenly Principle” with intuitive knowing, so this intuitive knowing is “innate awareness.” The uniqueness of this passage is that Wang Yangming also included various elements of human emotions (such as caution and apprehension). So, how should we regard following both one’s emotions and one’s mind?

Wang Yangming fully considered the functions of the seven emotions of joy, anger, sadness, fear, love, hate, and desire.

Joy is the original substance of the mind. Although it is diff erent from the joy of the seven emotions, it is also within the joy of the seven emotions.23Wang, “Instructions for Practical Living,,” 79.

When the seven emotions follow the flowing operation of spontaneity, this is all the function of intuitive knowing, regardless of the distinction between good and evil, yet we cannot be attached to them. If we are attached to them, they will all become desires, and they will all obscure intuitive knowing. However, once the attachment starts, intuitive knowing will perceive it, so the obscuring will be gone and intuitive knowing will return. If we can see through this, it will be a simple and direct effort.24Wang, “Instructions for Practical Living III,” in vol. 3 of Complete Works of Wang Yangming, 126.

According to this understanding, fi rst, awareness is not only a return to the pure Buddhist mind, but also refers to removing obscurity, namely to remove the obscurity of intuitive knowing. Second, awareness is self-awareness rather than making others aware, which is the self-awareness of intuitive knowing itself. This self-awareness of intuitive knowing is both the awareness of inherent nature and the awareness of the mind. The former is inspired by Buddhism and the latter is Wang Yangming’s new path.

In short, Wang Yangming’s doctrine of intuitive knowing exists as a learning of awareness. It is not that knowledge is awareness, but that intuitive knowing is actually a kind of intuitive awareness, but not in the general sense, because only the intuitive awareness with moral reasoning hidden in it is intuitive knowing.

“Intuitive knowing” refers to a state of mind with moral consciousness, not cumulative and predictive knowledge. The extension of intuitive knowing is not an activity of thinking and cognition, but a moral practice of self-reflection. The so-called claims that “mind is principle” and “intuitive knowing is Heavenly Principle” mean to use the substance of the mind to perceive inherent nature, an ontological knowledge of the unity of substance and function. The so-called “unity of knowledge and practice” does not mean that knowledge and action are the same, but that moral consciousness and moral practice go hand in hand, and are inseparable.25Fung, Methodological Issues in Chinese Philosophy, 45—46.

The originality of this paper is to hold that from the perspective of the infl uence of Buddhism, this kind of intuitive awareness comes from awareness of inherent nature; from the perspective of Confucian heritage, this kind of intuitive awareness originates from the awareness of the mind.

From the Original Awareness of Buddha-Nature to the Original Awareness of Intrinsic Nature: A Root-Cause Analysis from Buddhism [98]

Where did Wang Yangming’s Buddhist thought originate? This paper tends to think that it came from the idea of Buddha consciousness. Interestingly, these ideas were precisely the product of the localization of Buddhism [in China]. This means that Wang Yangming was transformed by Buddhism, and the Buddhism that transformed him was precisely the most “Chinese” part of its intellectual elements. This is also a phenomenon of “two-way interpretation” in intellectual communication and interaction.

Now let us go back to an important debate between Confucianism and Buddhism in modern times. The correspondence between Xiong Shili 熊十力 (1885—1968) and Lü Cheng 吕澂 (1896—1989) reveals a topic of great importance to both Confucianism and Buddhism, that is, the latter, as a Buddhist scholar, criticized the original mind expounded by the former as a Neo-Confucian for its misunderstanding of the “mind” of Buddhism. On April 2, 1943, Lü Cheng replied to Xiong Shili: “Your comment is completely based on ‘the awareness of inherent nature’ (as opposed to ‘inherent nature as originally tranquil’), which has the same odor as all the fake scriptures and theories in China. How then can you assess the Buddha dharma?”26Lü Cheng 吕澂, Works of Lü Cheng [吕澂文集] (Taipei: Wenshu Press, 1988), 260.The accusation certainly hit the nail on the head. According to Lü Cheng, “The Chinese Buddhist tradition has always had two theories about ‘mind’: one is the ‘awareness of inherent nature’ and the other is the ‘tranquility of inherent nature.’ The former means that ‘inherent nature is originally enlightened,’ that is, everyone’s original mind is clear awareness.” However, as for returning to the original mind (original awareness),

Lü Cheng thinks that this mainstream thought of Chinese Buddhism is wrong. The source of the error comes fromAwakening of Faithin the Mahāyāna[大乘起信论] and other Chinese fake scriptures and theories. . . . Later, it was Chan that inherited this path and became the mainstream. On the contrary, Lü Cheng stressed that the correct position of Buddhism on the nature of mind is that “inherent nature originates from tranquility and purity,” which is also the original meaning of “purity of nature of mind” (brightness and purity).27Lin Zhenguo 林镇国, Emptiness and Method: Fourteen Topics in Cross-Cultural Buddhist Philosophical Studies [空性与方法：跨文化佛教哲学十四论] (Taipei: Chengchi University Press, 2012), 19.

Therefore, Lü Cheng could not acknowledge Xiong Shili’s basic idea of “awareness as benevolence.” But it can be seen from this that Wang Yangming, fi ve hundred years ago, actually followed this path of awareness and knowledge.

More importantly, Lü Cheng believed that this diff erence was the diff erence between Chinese Buddhism and Indian Buddhism. In his article “On the Basic Thought of the Mind and Inherent Nature in Chinese Buddhism” [试论中国佛学有关心性的基本思想] published in 1962, Lü Cheng reiterated that he wanted to

[D]istinguish the fundamental diff erences between the thoughts of Chinese Buddhism and Indian Buddhism on inherent nature and the mind. . . . Chinese Buddhism uses the meaning of original awareness to understand the purity of nature of the mind, which can be called the “awareness of inherent nature.” From the perspective of tranquility of nature, the clear and pure mind only refers to its “possible” and “normative” aspects; from the perspective of awareness of nature, it is almost equivalent to “realistic” and “actual” in general.28Lü Cheng, “On the Basic Thought of the Mind and Inherent Nature in Chinese Buddhism” [试论中国佛学有关心性的基本思想], Modern Studies of Buddhism [现代佛学], no. 5 (1962).

This makes a strict distinction between the two kinds of Buddha-nature theories. The tranquility of nature and the awareness of nature cling to the possible normativity and the actual reality respectively. Chinese Buddhism “actualized” Indian Buddhism, that is, it transformed the two-world view of Buddhism in pursuit of another world into a one-world view rooted in the present world. This kind of localization of Buddhism was in fact caused by the transformation of foreign thought by mainstream Chinese thought, the core of which is the realism of Confucianism.

The theory of Buddha-nature accepted by Wang Yangming is precisely the theory of original awareness. It should be noted that Wang Yangming’s doctrine of the mind and inherent nature puts more emphasis on the awareness of mind than the awareness of inherent nature. This is also related to the development of Chinese Buddhism. In fact, there is also such a tendency in Buddhism, as Lü Cheng clearly stated: “The development of the theory of awareness of inherent nature on the other hand is that all dharmas related to the original nature of the mind are also conscious. This may be an extreme view against equating the nature of mind with the dharma, the same as saying that the dharma-nature is the same as the nature of the mind.”29Lü, “On the Basic Thought of the Mind and Inherent Nature in Chinese Buddhism.”Here, Lü Cheng referred to Zhanran 湛然 (711—782), master of the Tiantai School, especially the pantheistic thought of “no emotion possessing inherent nature” in hisOn Vajra[金刚錍]. Obviously, Wang Yangming himself had not been infl uenced by Zhanran, because Zhanran’s possession of Buddha-nature corresponds to nature with the absence of emotion in things outside the human body. For Wang Yangming, who did not depart from the joy of seven emotions, all things have emotion, which are integrated into the boundless great intuitive knowing.

Wang Yangming’s repeated references to “clear awareness,” “numinous clarity,” and “illumination and awareness” probably come from theŚūraṅgama Sūtra[楞严经]: “The awareness of inherent nature is necessarily clear, but this is mistaken for the awareness of clarity”; “Original awareness is clear and wondrous”; and “The fault lies in the clarity of awareness.” In the context of Buddhism, the awareness of clarity means that the consciousness of Buddha-nature is originally illuminated. When it came to Chan, this became the so-called “illuminating the mind and perceiving inherent nature,” and the original awareness of Buddha-nature was also transformed into the awareness of the inherent nature of the mind. Wang Yangming’s doctrine on intuitive knowing, based on the original goodness of human nature, not only weakens the awareness of nature but also intensifi es the awareness of the mind. The former obviously comes from the original awareness of Buddhanature, while the latter comes from the original awareness of intrinsic nature. In Wang Yangming’s view, intrinsic nature is the nature of the mind, which in turn transforms the awareness of inherent nature into awareness of the mind. At the same time, the endowed goodness of inherent nature is also transmitted to the goodness of the mind as a master, thus endowing intuitive knowing with the basic characteristics of intuitive awareness.

Therefore, Wang Yangming thought that “numinous clarity of the mind,” “clear awareness of the mind,” and “pure numinosity and clear awareness of the mind” are all concerned with this perceptual awareness of the mind. Therefore, the awareness of the mind also has the rational nature of intuitive knowing. Thus, we can conclude: “The so-called intuitive knowing is the clearness and awareness of Heavenly Principle.”30Wang, “Supplement of Instructions for Practical Living,” 1302.Then even the sentence “knowing good and evil is intuitive knowing” in Wang Yangming’s famous Four-Sentence Teaching can be interpreted as “being aware of good and evil is intuitive knowing.”

Conclusion: The ‘Emotional-Rational Structure’ in the Extension of Intuitive Knowing and ‘Rational Condensation’ in the ‘Conception of the Fetal Sage’ [100]

As we all know, in Wang Yangming’s thought, the unity of knowledge and practice can only be achieved through the extension of intuitive knowing. In fact, “a single thought” can trigger the extension of intuitive knowing: “Knowledge attained” is knowledge, “extending knowledge” is practice, and hence the unity of knowledge and practice and the extension of intuitive knowing are ultimately one. Returning to the origin “where a thought occurs,” whether knowledge and practice are originally one or one moves from extending knowledge to the extension of intuitive knowing, in Wang Yangming’s intellectual system, knowledge and practice are always consistent. The so-called claim that “extending knowledge must be practiced, and it cannot be extending knowledge if it is not practiced,”31Wang, “Instructions for Practical Living I,” 56.is truly the lofty realm consistently acknowledged by Chinese thinkers.

In fact, intuitive knowing originally has a complete structure of knowledge—emotion—intention, that is, it contains not only a rational idea and will, but also perceptual emotion. The author has analyzed the “emotional—rational structure” of knowledge and practice “where a thought occurs” in Wang Yangming’s thought: First, in the so-called place “where a thought occurs,” the thought is an idea; second, how to enact it depends on the will, and the combination of idea and will becomes “free will”; and third, the combination of idea and will manifests as intuition and becomes a kind of emotion.32See Liu Yuedi, “Interpreting Wang Yangming’s ‘Unity of Knowledge and Practice’ from ‘Where a Thought Occurs’: With Commentary on the Motivation Diff erences between the ‘Change of Will’ and the ‘Change of Action’” [从“一念发动处”解王阳明“知行合一”——兼论“意动”与“动行”的道德动机分殊], Nanjing Journal of Social Sciences [南京社会科学], no. 11 (2018): 41—48, 69.Intuitive knowing can be proved in the same way, but its emphasis is diff erent. Intuitive knowing is expressed as moral intuition based on emotion, but moral rationality is hidden in it. This requires a historical accumulation process of the condensation of rationality to temper and complete it.

This condensation of rationality is a process from empirical to transcendental. Intuitive knowing is the result of the internal accumulation of rationality, but it takes the form of an externalization of moral intuition. In Wang Yangming’s thought, the “conception of the fetal sage” is the regulation and result of this condensation of rationality. According to “Instructions for Practical Living” [传习录], when asked about aspiration, Wang Yangming said,

To keep Heavenly Principle in mind is to have aspirations. If you can keep this in mind for a long time, you will naturally condense it in your mind, just like the so-called Daoist “conception of the fetal sage.” This idea of Heavenly Principle will always exist. As for the spiritual cultivation of the beautiful, the great, the sagely, and the divine, you can just keep on nourishing and expanding from this thought.33Wang, “Instructions for Practical Living I,” 13.

This little-noticed but critical passage can help us reveal the origin of intuitive knowing.

Wang Yangming boldly quoted the Daoist “conception of the fetal sage.” The “sage” here has defi nitely been transformed into the sageliness of Confucianism. When it comes to the eternal existence of Heavenly Principle, Wang Yangming directly quotedMencius7B:25, stating the sublimation process of moral tempering:

A man who commands our liking is what is called a good man. He whose goodness is part of himself is what is called a real man. He whose goodness has been fi lled up is what is called a beautiful man. He whose completed goodness is brightly displayed is what is called a great man. When this great man exercises a transforming infl uence, he is what is called a sage. When the sage is beyond our knowledge, he is what is called spirit-man.34The English translation of the Mencius is based on James Legge’s version, with some alterations.

Finally, he emphasized the preservation and expansion from a single thought, so as to achieve the realm of beauty, greatness, sageliness, and divinity. This was Mencius’s original intention.

The so-called “conception of the fetal sage” means the condensation of moral rationality, like planting sagely seeds in an embryo. This “conception” is a process of preserving and nurturing, while the “fetus” is the result of giving birth and nurturing. Sageliness means moral elevation. As can be seen, Wang Yangming realized that intuitive knowing was the result of the condensation of moral rationality. Then what is the “condensation of rationality”? When explaining “accumulating righteousness” in Mencius’s works, Li Zehou once stated, “This ‘accumulating’ is not just knowing but must be cultivated through behavior and activity (‘something must happen’). Therefore, it includes both knowledge and practice.”35Li, A Critical History of Ancient Chinese Thought, 51.This means that Wang Yangming’s intuitive knowing is both latently rational and perceptual on the surface. In fact, it is a unity of emotion and rationality. The extension of intuitive knowing is a unity of knowledge and practice. This is the internal emotion—rationality structure of Wang Yangming’s thought.

In short, human morality includes two dimensions: rationality and sensibility, which form an emotional—rational structure. In fact, the relationship between morality and knowledge is not complicated. Since rationality is used in morality, it constitutes a relationship between morality and cognition, although this rationality is practical rationality in the moral sense. Although Wang Yangming’s intuitive knowing is not merely knowledge, it also has a deep accumulation of practical rationality. On the other hand, in moral practice such as intuitive knowing, it also presents emotion and intuition as sensibility, which is related to the relationship between morality and aesthetics. The wisdom of Chinese philosophy is not only dominated by ethics, but also by the basic facet of aesthetics as a “fi rst philosophy.” This is the unique Chinese pursuit of the “spiritual joys of Confucius and Yan Hui 颜回 (521—481 BCE),”36See Liu Yuedi, “On the Spiritual Joys of Confucius and Yan Hui: A Call for a Return to Master Yan,” Confucian Academy 6, no. 2 (2019): 4—18.thus forming the complete framework for the interlinkage and intermiscibility of the true, the good, and the beautiful of humanity.

Bibliography of Cited Translations

Fung Yu-lan.A Short History of Chinese Philosophy. New York: Macmillan, 1948.

Legge, James, trans.The Works of Mencius. Vol. 2 ofThe Chinese Classics. Taipei: SMC Publishing, 1991.