육구연의 心學 구조

Abstract

This study examines the essential frame of Lu Jiuyuan's Mind Learning (Xin Xue). The relative relationship or mentor-disciple one among five scholars of Northern Sung led to not only the beginning of Neo-Confucianism but its development as well. However, at the period of Southern Sung, some different theories emerged from behind former ones. These kinds of theories offered harsh criticism on the Chu Hsi Learning which was the national learning authorized by its government. One of them was Lu Jiuyuan's. Lu Jiuyuan asserted that Chu Hsi had a misunderstanding of the Mind Rules (心法) that had been transmitted since Confucius and Mencius, and tried to make a reform of Neo-Confucianism so as to remedy the blindness of scholars seeking out only richness and honors. Thus, the essential nature of Mind Learning Li Jiuyuan proposed was to switch Principle (li, 理) into Mind (xin, 心) and he found that by this switching it is possible to understand the kernel of Mencius ideas such as "Coming out of Natural mind"(本心發明) and "Exigency to establish bigger one"(先立乎其大). However, eventually he doesn't seem to jump over Chu Hsi Learning. It is because he explained the methods of meditation by examining the empiricism in Mind Learning and thus his explanation is not very different from the theory of "approach to things"(gewu, 格物) in Chu Hsi Learning. Despite above limitations of Lu Jiuyuan's assertions, this study discusses that it isn't so much simple and easy to understand the theory of "approach to things" in Lu Jiuyuan's Mind Learning because he also insisted on the "intuitive methods through the positiveself-awakening of one's mind". Moreover, he isn't passing over that this positive self-awakening relies only on one's volition. Therefore, he contends that it is possible to find the way to understand whole rules around the universe if you get self-awakening intuitively.