Experiencing “Gewu Zhizhi”

Abstract

It was a cloudy winter day in 1506 (the first year of the Zhengde Emperor of the Ming dynasty ), and a piercing wind was hovering in the bitterly cold air.

1.1 An Amazing Child

It was a cloudy winter day in 1506 (the first year of the Zhengde Emperor ¹ of the Ming dynasty ), and a piercing wind was hovering in the bitterly cold air. Outside the Wu Men (Meridian Gate) of the Forbidden City , a group of lieutenants of the Jinyiwei Guard ² was escorting a young 30-year-old officer. They tore off his robe and threw him onto the ground with his face down, and prepared to torture him with “Tingzhang .”³ The so-called “Tingzhang ” was invented by Emperor Zhu Yuan-zhang of the Ming dynasty , aimed at punishing the “misbehaving” civil and military officials. As the lieutenants were about to raise the sticks and start beating, the supervising eunuch ordered, “Pull off his trousers!” The moment the word “start” was spat out of the eunuch’s mouth, the convicted official’s trousers were torn off and the lieutenants began to execute the punishment. Everything left was blood and mangled flesh.

As a “regulation of clan ” of the Ming dynasty , “Tingzhang” had always been a “special treatment” designed for “misbehaving” officials. But this time, something was different. On previous occasions, whoever was being punished could wear thick clothes filled with thick cotton, some even covered their body with blankets and rugs during the flogging. Even so, the flogged officials would sometimes be beaten to death. It was the supervising eunuch who proposed the “fundamental change” of caning on the naked body. This change added nothing but physical pains and degrading treatment to the person being punished on top of the already shameful and humiliating character of the punishment in public. Afterward in the Ming dynasty, owing to the cruel change, dying under the wooden sticks became quite common. Nevertheless, this young official was so lucky that he managed to survive the severe 40 lashes and narrowly escape death though he was badly injured. Then he was put into Jinyiwei Guard jail where people could hardly escape from death. Lucky enough, this young official remained alive and was banished. Although he was being hunted down by the Jinyiwei Guard on his way of banishing, again he miraculously survived. This young official later became one of the most legendary characters in Chinese history and one of the greatest contributors to the development of Chinese culture after Confucius ⁴ and Mencius .⁵

This young official, the first person who was flogged in public with his pants off, is our main hero in this book, named Wang Yang-ming .

It is well known that names of ancient Chinese people were quite complicated. Normally there used to be a last name, a first name, a courtesy name and an alternative name for a person. Master Wang Yang-ming’s last name was Wang, his first name Shou-ren ,⁶ courtesy name Bo’an , and alternative name Yang-ming . Back in ancient times, it was impolite to call others by their first name directly. So, everybody called him Master Yang-ming to show their respect. Until today we still follow the usual practice by calling him Wang Yang-ming or Master Yang-ming.

Wang Yang-ming may not be well known to today’s people, but yet 100 years ago. he was a household name . Master Yang-ming lived in the mid-Ming dynasty , which was 400–500 years ago from now. However, anyone who talks about Ming history would never miss him as he was such an important figure that without introducing him, you would never get a complete history of the Ming dynasty .

“Legendary” and “unique” are the two best words to describe and summarize the whole life of Master Yang-ming. “Legendary” refers to his fabled and unusual life and unbelievable experience with a lot of fantastic stories, while “unique” points out the fact that Master Yang-ming was a special person with his unique style recorded in the long history of China, like a solitary peak standing out among other ridges. Here are some fantastic stories from his daily life:

• (1) When he was 12, he made a wild statement that, instead of devoting his life to becoming a Zhuangyuan ,⁷ he would rather “learn to be a sage .”

• (2) When he was 15, he went to the country border for military observation and practiced riding horses and shooting arrows. After coming back, he was bent on presenting the Emperor with his opinions on frontier defense.

• (3) When he was 17, he got married but disappeared on his wedding day.

• (4) After succeeding in the Imperial Examinations and being entitled Jinshi ,⁸ he upheld justice and spoke frankly to the authorities. As a result, he was put into Jinyiwei Guard’s jail and almost beaten to death. After being released,

• (5) He was hunted down relentlessly.

• (6) He was banished to an extremely remote and deserted area. Faced with the threats of death, Wang finally figured out the way to be a sage .

• (7) Despite his frail, unhealthy condition, he commanded in the mountain and won every battle effortlessly.

• (8) He accidentally discovered a military coup d’état within the imperial family of Ming and promptly decided to confront the well-equipped troop of 100,000 soldiers with a motley crew of 10,000 men he gathered in haste. Within 10 days, he suppressed the riot and caught the enemy leader alive.

• (9) Not only was Yang-ming a military talent, but also a master of Confucianism , Buddhism , and Daoism . It is alleged that his “Dao Skills” also reached a very high level.

Wang Yang-ming , a legendary and unique figure, is known as a talented military strategist, as well as a renowned philosopher, an educator, and a poet. He integrated all the personalities that were considered of the highest standard in ancient Chinese culture. Thus, in ancient times, Master Yang-ming gained a great reputation and was known as “the only perfect human-being in history” and “a man with real three eternities.” What does “three eternities ” mean? It means that if a person could make contributions in the following three areas, he would live in people’s hearts forever. So, which three areas were these? “The establishment of virtues came first, followed by the achievements in his military performance, and after that was the proposal of philosophies.”⁹ In other words, the highest level a person could reach was the virtues to be imitated by his descendants; then came the achievements to be eulogized by others; and the last was a philosophy, an original ideology, to be studied and passed on. In short, “virtues,” “achievements,” and “philosophies” are the “three eternities.”

Throughout the long span of history, there appeared numerous heroes in every age. Some had virtues but failed to make achievements, some did make achievements but did not propose a philosophy, and some did propose a philosophy but might not have had virtues. It was overwhelmingly difficult to integrate the “three eternities ” within one person. Nevertheless, Wang Yang-ming made it. He was a model of virtues, a grand achiever, and a master of philosophy. In his 57-year life, he realized the integration of the “three eternities,” which won him the name of “a man with real three eternities” and “the only perfect human-being in history.”

From the perspective of “virtues,” Yang-ming made up his mind to become a “sage ” from his childhood. That was why he took sage as his benchmark for his behavior and set a good example of morality for us to follow.

From the perspective of “achievements,” he had military talent and made himself a military general. His military achievements actually saved the political destiny of the Ming dynasty .

From the perspective of “philosophy,” he is the most innovative ideologist and philosopher in Chinese history. Some of his theories such as “The Oneness of Knowing and Doing ” as well as “Realizing the Original Knowledge ” have had a profound influence on Chinese people and have changed the overall pattern of the development of Chinese intellectual history since the mid-Ming dynasty . His philosophies have been passed from generation to generation until now. Renowned educator Tao Xing-zhi believed in Wang Yang-ming’s philosophy of “The Oneness of Knowing and Doing ” throughout his life. Tao Xing-zhi had formerly been named “Tao Wen-rui .” After absorbing Wang’s philosophy of “The Oneness of Knowing and Doing,” he was so impressed that he changed his name to express his admiration of Wang Yang-ming . First he named himself “Zhi-xing (知行, knowing and doing),” later he changed it into “Xing-zhi (行知, doing and knowing).” He even invented a Chinese character as his signature which looks like the combination of the two Chinese characters “知 (knowing)” and “行 (doing).” Wang’s theories attracted a large number of researchers who later established “the study of Wang Yang-ming’s theory.” His philosophies were even introduced to countries such as Japan , making indelible contributions to the development of Japanese intellectual history and the Meiji Restoration . Zhang Tai-yan once said, “Japanese reforms used Wang Yang-ming’s philosophies as their guidance.” In the book The Philosophies of Yang-ming in Japan, Japanese scholar Takase Wu Jiro pointed out that Yang-ming’s philosophies had laid the foundation for the source of literally all the ideas of our great reformers and activists, which demonstrated the feature of the study of Wang Yang-ming’s theory in Japan .

However, such a great man, a master of literary and military arts, and a paragon integrating “the three eternities ” into one body, lived an extremely difficult life full of ups and downs.

Mencius once said, “Whenever Heaven invests a person with great responsibilities to the world, it first tries his resolve, exhausts his muscles and bones, starves his body, leaves him destitute, and disturbs his endeavors. In this way develops his patience and endurance, and conquers his weakness.” It is a perfect reflection of Yang-ming’s life. Political corruption enlightened his heart and his miserable life paved his way to become a sage . All of his experiences brought out his “legendary” and “unique” features and made him become a “real man” between Heaven and Earth with noble spirits, great achievements, a bright mind , and profound thoughts to enlighten the following generations.

Yang-ming’s era has passed away forever. But, the everlasting charm of historical figures and events remains from generation to generation due to the significance attached to them in modern times. Today, when we talk about Wang Yang-ming , we not only want to learn about his legendary experiences, but also want to feel and appreciate his extraordinary life, his generous mind , deep thoughts, and bright personality, which will of course inspire us to enhance the life realm of our own.

Now let’s review Master Yang-ming’s legendary life, starting from his miraculous birth.

During the reign of Ming Xianzong , there was a Wang family living in Yuyao County , Zhejiang Province . The family moved from Langya , Shandong Province during the Western Jin dynasty and was a renowned literary family in Yuyao . The master of the family was called Wang Lun , with Tian-xu as his Courtesy name . He was also alternatively named Zhu-xuan Weng¹⁰ because he had deep affection for bamboo and grew bamboo all around his house, so he called himself “Zhu-xuan Weng .” He was a literary scholar who liked reading and playing musical instruments. He had a son named Wang Hua , an even more talented and promising young man. For quite a while, everyone in the family was anxious about Zheng (Wang Hua’s wife), who had been pregnant for 14 months and was still not about to give birth to the baby. It worried the whole family, especially the hostess, Cen , who was so looking forward to the safe birth of the baby that she lost all her appetite for food and drink. One night, however, Cen had a beautiful dream of a gorgeous fairy who wore a piece of rainbow color cloth, rode on a cloud and sent a baby into her arms accompanied by a wonderful melody of fairy music. The moment she was about to stretch out her hands to take the baby, she was woken up by a sudden cry of the baby. Meanwhile, a real cry of a baby from the next room greeted her ears. Her 14-month-pregnant daughter-in-law finally delivered a baby boy. Everybody in the family was overwhelmed by the joy. Both Wang Lun and Cen believed that this baby was nothing ordinary but sent by the fairy. Thus, in order to respond to the cloud on which the fairy rode, Wang Lun named the newborn baby “Yun (cloud).” Accompanied with the news of the baby’s birth was the spread of Cen’s dream in the neighborhood. The neighbors believed in it so much that they thought it was an auspicious sign and thus named the house where the baby was born “the House of Auspicious Cloud.”

Wang Yun, the baby born in “the House of Auspicious Cloud,” was the man we later called Wang Yang-ming . The date he was born was the 30th of the ninth month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar ,¹¹ in the eighth year of the reign of the Chenghua Emperor (October 31, 1472).

As almost every remarkable figure in Chinese history was born with a legend, Wang Yang-ming’s birth fits the pattern. It is impossible and unnecessary to verify whether there was really a “fairy who rode on a cloud playing a musical instrument” when Wang Yang-ming was born. But, one thing that can be sure is that Wang Yun was really an adorable boy. That was why his grandfather Wang Lun and his grandmother Cen treated him as the apple of their eyes and took extra care of him. Whenever Wang Lun read in the study, Wang Yun would accompany him and listen very carefully in silence. But gradually, something uneasy aroused the worry of the family. They thought that little Wang Yun was somehow different from other kids and that something was wrong with the boy since he still couldn’t speak at the age of five. The family started to worry that Wang Yun was a born deaf. Yet judging from his behavior in daily life, Wang Yun was actually a very brilliant child and was nothing like one born deaf. On account of this, Wang Lun paid even more attention to this grandson.

One day, Wang Yun was playing with other kids outside the gate when a monk passed by. The monk was tall and wore a sacred look on his face. He walked in front of Wang Yun, rubbed his head, and sighed, “What a brilliant kid! It’s such a pity that your god-granted talents are unraveled by your name!” His words happened to be caught by Wang Lun . He was startled at this and suddenly had an epiphany. Accordingly, he changed Wang Yun’s name into “Shou-ren (keep benevolence).” It was said that after changing to the name “Shou-ren,” Wang Yun started talking instantly. What did the monk mean by saying “your talents are unraveled by your name”? Let’s just talk about this. Based on his grandmother’s dream, the baby was sent by a fairy riding an auspicious cloud. There is an old saying in China that “the secret of heaven should never be disclosed.” However, the baby was named “Yun,” which “disclosed” the “secret of the heaven .” Furthermore, the word “Yun” in traditional Chinese (雲), written as the character of rain (雨) on top of the character cloud (云), is a homophone of “Yun (speaking).” If “rain” were put on top of “speaking,” how could it be possible for the child to speak? As for the new name “Shou-ren ,” changed by his grandfather, its origin can be found in The Analects of Confucius —Weiling Gong , “Confucius said that one who is intelligent needs to keep his talents by benevolence or else he would lose them even if he has got them.” It reminds people that even if a person is talented, without benevolence he would not be able to keep his talents. The name “Shou-ren ” represented his grandparents’ wish that the child should keep his talents with benevolence. Once the benevolence is kept, one is able to hold his talents so that he will become a man full of benevolence and spread out his love to the whole world.

Doubtlessly, there is no need to explore whether Wang Shou-ren did start talking after changing his name or not. The authenticity of the story itself is untraceable. It reflects, however, the fact that Wang Yang-ming was different from other children when he was young, and that he only started talking when he was 5 years old. And that’s all. No matter what happened to him, Wang Yun, now named Wang Shou-ren , could talk, which relieved the whole family. With the care of his family, Wang Yang-ming grew up healthily and happily and won Wang Lun’s special favor.

One day, Wang Lun was reading in the study and Wang Yang-ming stayed aside as usual. To Wang Lun’s surprise, his grandson could recite all the books he had read before! So Wang Lun asked, “When did you read all these books?” Wang Yang-ming answered, “Whenever grandfather read the books aloud, I tried to remember everything by heart. It’s just that I couldn’t speak then.” This astonished Wang Lun and made him firmly convinced that his grandson was an extraordinary talent sent by the fairy. Therefore, he became more proud of Wang Yang-ming’s intelligence and paid more attention to him.

At the age of 10, which was in 1481, Wang Yang-ming’s father Wang Hua was entitled Zhuangyuan (the first place) in the Imperial Examination and was appointed as an editor in the Imperial Academy . The next year, in order to fulfill his filial duties and take care of his father whenever needed, Wang Hua decided to take Wang Lun to Beijing to live with him. Wang Lun was quite delighted, of course, and decided to take Wang Yang-ming with him for the following reasons. First of all, as it was a long and exhausting trip from their hometown Yuyao to Beijing , on the one hand taking Yang-ming with him on the road, it would be much more enjoyable with the company of his intelligent grandson, and on the other hand the trip could broaden Wang Yang-ming’s horizons and enlarge his knowledge while watching the landscapes and observing the people and their lives on their way to the capital. Secondly, taking Wang Yang-ming to Beijing enabled him to live with his father so as to enjoy the pleasure of a family reunion of three generations. Last but not least, Beijing was such a prosperous city where talents were gathered that Wang Yang-ming could not only increase his experience but also receive better education.

Thus, Wang Lun took his grandson Wang Yang-ming with him and went to Beijing. They traveled northward. When they reached Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang , it was already late, so they decided to settle down at the temple where some of Wang Lun’s old friends in Zhejiang held a dinner to treat them. With the bright moon hanging in the sky, the wind gently whispering, and the river and the sky being connected by the same hue, Wang Lun and his old friends felt a strong urge to compose poems after everyone drank three cups of wine. They were bowing their heads, twirling their beards, and whispering their verses but couldn’t make their poems rhyme. At that moment, Wang Yang-ming blurted out a poem:

Tiny is Jinshan Temple looking like a fist,

Beating the Weiyang sky in the river twist.

Drunk I am leaning against the moon hanging over Miaogaotai,

Playing the jade flute that blows through the cave of sleeping dragon beast.

It is known to all that Jinshan Temple is now situated on the south bank of the Yangtze River .¹² But, in the ancient times, Jinshan was actually an island right in the middle of the river isolated from the bank. It didn’t start to move toward the bank until the mid-Qing dynasty . Compared to the grand Yangtze River , Jinshan was just “about the size of a fist.” Yet, it stood in the middle of the river so it seemed that it broke the river apart. That was why Yang-ming said, “Beating the Weiyang sky in the river twist.” “Weiyang” refers to Yangzhou ¹³ where Zhenjiang used to belong. “Miaogaotai ” was on the top of Jinshan. Drunk, he was leaning against the moon hanging over Miaogaotai , playing the jade flute that blows through the cave of a sleeping dragon beast. What an elegant scene it was! This poem of Wang Yang-ming, in spite of the simple words, has extraordinary artistic conception that shows both broadness and grandness. It was not only pertinent to the scenery in front of them, but also to their fancy imagination. No wonder the poem amazed everyone present. One of them said to Wang Yang-ming , “What a remarkable talent you are! We are ashamed of ourselves! Look, Jinshan is in the moonlight, the moon shines hazily in the sky, but the mountain house blocks the moon, and the sky is far away from the water. Could you compose another poem on the theme ‘The Mountain House Blocking the Moon’ please?” Everybody could understand that this old man doubted this intelligent 11-year-old boy’s talent and was suspicious that he had written the poem in advance. So he wanted Yang-ming to come up with a poem instantly. Beyond everyone’s expectation, Wang Yang-ming chanted the following poem right after the old man requested it:

With a closer mountain and a farther moon, the moon looks smaller,

Based on the scene we may see, the mountain is bigger;

Given a pair of eyes as big as the sky,

We may conclude that the mountain is smaller but the moon is bigger.

In our daily life, the way we judge things mostly relies on the position we stand in. The fact that “the mountain is closer” whereas “the moon is farther” makes us believe the mountain is bigger than the moon. Although it is a “common sense” we get from our life, nevertheless, it is not the truth. If a person could have a pair of eyes “as big as the sky,” we can get a panoramic view of everything in the world. It is then natural for us to tell the wrongness of this common sense and acquire the truth. This poem of Wang Yang-ming was not only a visionary one with lofty meaning, but a reflection of his passion for breaking through the limits of common sense and for seeking the truth.

However, Wang Yang-ming was then only 11 years old and hadn’t received any formal education. The following year, when he was 12, his father Wang Hua hired a teacher to let Yang-ming receive systematic training on Confucian classics . During those years of schooling, the independent and bold traits in Wang Yang-ming’s personality were gradually displayed. Unlike other students who followed the teacher and the rules obediently, Wang Yang-ming would do something beyond others’ expectation. Sometimes he could be very naughty as he played with other students and played jokes on them. Thus, he was regarded as a “misbehaving” student. But other times, he sat alone and absorbed himself in his thoughts. His father Wang Hua was always worried about the fact that his son would become a person who only knew about boasting and grandstanding so he became stricter with him and often punished him for his wild behavior. However, every time he wanted to punish Yang-ming, the grandfather would stand up for his grandson. Grandfather was convinced that the child was just different and this smart and visionary child would definitely be a great person eventually.

At school, Wang Yang-ming once asked his teacher earnestly, “What is the first priority of life?” The teacher answered seriously, “The first priority of life is to study hard, and to be a Zhuangyuan like your father in the future.” Wang Yang-ming thought about it for a while and said, “I don’t think that being a Zhuangyuan is the most important thing.” The teacher then asked, “Well then, what do you think is the most important thing in one’s life?” Wang Yang-ming thought it over and answered with a serious look, “Studying hard and being a sage should be the top priority of life.” His father Wang Hua happened to pass by and overhear it. He responded with a smile, “Look at yourself! How much do you know about being a sage?”

It’s hilarious to hear “to be a sage ” coming out from a 12-year-old child’s mouth. The so-called “sage” is the most valued personality trait one could hold in traditional Chinese culture. Figures like Emperor Yao ,¹⁴ Emperor Shun,¹⁵ Yu the Great¹⁶ of the Xia dynasty , Tang of Shang ,¹⁷ King Wen of Zhou ,¹⁸ King Wu of Zhou ,¹⁹ Duke of Zhou ,²⁰ Confucius , and Mencius can be called “sage.” These people are more than models of personalities; they are performers of cultural ideology and practitioners of bringing blessings to the people. Confucius once said that a sage should be able to “bring blessings to the people and serve the people.” Although 12-year-old Wang Yang-ming might not really have understood what a “sage” really was, “to be a sage ” was the beginning of his wild ambition. At the time, he hadn’t entered the real society, but his question “what’s the first priority of life” itself clearly showed that young Wang Yang-ming had already stepped on his way to find the goal and meaning of life. In his later life, the question would reveal itself from time to time. He would again adopt his own way to answer the question with his own life experience.

It is obvious that from the above narratives we can conclude Wang Yang-ming was truly an “amazing child.” Normally, a fetus stays in its mother’s womb for 10 months²¹ before birth but he stayed there for 14 months. Usually children start talking when they are 1–2 years old but he couldn’t speak until 5. Most children are not as observant as he was, and his poem “With a closer mountain and a farther moon, the moon looks smaller …” composed at the age of 11 was the best evidence showing his keen observation. Also, ordinary children are obedient but he was more of an individual thinker than a “good” child. Unlike others he was ready to stand out by asking thought-provoking questions like “What’s the first priority of life?” The questions might sound childish but exhibited the beginning of his independent thinking.

Except for the events mentioned above, his childhood was nothing different from other children. He was naughty and a little bit troublesome, like any other little boy of his age. It was recorded that Wang Yang-ming was full of mischief. To be exact, he was fond of making jokes and playing tricks on others. According to the literature, he was “bold and unrestricted,” which means that he refused to be restricted by regulations and often surprised others. In his daily life, he was taught by his strict father and loved by his indulgent grandparents. Comparably speaking, he grew up in a favorable environment. He was born in a scholarly family. His grandfather, a country gentleman, was fond of reading. His father was a Zhuangyuan . In such family surroundings, he was greatly exposed to poetry and literature, without playing poker or mahjong. In a word, Wang Yang-ming did grow up under the influence of literature. He lived with his grandfather after birth. They played together and studied together. What a loving and moving scene it was! A good family environment would have a profound impact on the growth of a child. As the sayings go, “One takes on the attributes of one’s associates (If you live with a lame person you will learn to limp)” and “Fleabane living in hemp is straight with no holding,” both of which emphasize the important impact of environment on a person’s development. Within a family, parents are always the first teachers of a child. As Wang Yang-ming grew up, the tolerance and love he received from his grandfather was a perfect buffer against the strictness of his father, enabling him to have a natural and healthy development. The environment he grew up in had an inestimable influence on his later achievements. After growing up and becoming an adult, he published his views on how to educate children:

Most children like playing and hate restriction. Like a sprout, if it grows comfortably it would grow up healthily, but if it is blocked in its growth, it would perish. Education is a similar process which requires encouragement. Children need to develop interest in order to improve. It’s like being nourished by spring rain and gentle wind, in which all trees would grow naturally and healthily. If their interests are neglected, it’s like growing in frosty weather that would only lead to their withering.

The quotation means that most children love playing and hate being restricted as far as the natural disposition of children is concerned. They are like new sprouts that would grow exuberantly and freely in a comfortable and growth-promoting environment. But in contrast, if they grow with a stone pressing upon them, they would never grow comfortably and freely, let alone developing into a large tree. Thus, parents need to make sure that they take their children’s dispositions into account when they try to educate their children. With good guidance, parents can intrigue their children’s interest in knowledge and make them willing to learn. If they feel interested in learning by themselves, they will grow healthily and naturally like trees nourished by sunshine and rainfall. On the other hand, if children are over-restricted, their dispositions will be twisted like trees suffering from frosty weather, and will surely be doomed to “wither.”

These words best conclude Wang Yang-ming’s personal experience. They have had a thought-provoking influence on education today. It is more often than not that parents want their children to have a bright future and tend to push their own will on their children instead of letting them have their own thought. They deprive their children of their time for playing, and force them to play the piano today, to practice drawing tomorrow, to take part in math competition the day after tomorrow, and so on. In the end, their children would not have any interest in anything. On account of this, it would be better to let children have chances to show their dispositions rather than strictly arranging their activities. To cultivate a child’s interest in learning, parents should start from themselves and create a studious environment for the child. It is rather difficult for a child to be interested in learning if he/she grows up in a family where grown-ups are playing poker or mahjong all the time.

In this respect, Wang Yang-ming was lucky. He was not only born into a literary family with a studious atmosphere, but also lived in an environment where his dispositions were freely developed and where he was led on a right path to success. All those “amazing” stories about his childhood couldn’t totally prove that he was a gifted person. All his talents actually were the reflection of his education received in an excellent family atmosphere.

However, at the age of 15, Wang Yang-ming left home abruptly. Why did he leave and what on earth would he do next?

(Translated by Cai Liang; Proofread by Wang Xiao-lu)

1.2 An Extraordinary Youth

In the first part of this chapter, we have learned about some “extraordinary” anecdotes surrounding the young Wang Yang-ming , one of which was his great ambition to be a “sage ” through his study even at the early age of 12. An ambition is something that one longs for and chases after, and interestingly, in practice people tend to become what they expect to be. In this sense, an ambition always counts for much, with which one’s life turns out to be marked by significant events.

Though Wang Yang-ming’s big idea “Studying hard and being a sage should be the top priority of life” was then teased by his father Wang Hua, yet it stopped being a tease and his open-minded father did not go far in deriding his whimsical desires. For Yang-ming , his intention to be a “sage” became even stronger with his father’s negative poke. Then what is a “sage ”? Not yet clearly defined in his mind , he vaguely pictured that a sage could, at least, protect his country and people from being attacked by outsiders, and meanwhile lead his people to live peacefully and in contentment. Thereafter, this vision guided him to study the art of war and practice martial arts while he was keeping a sharp eye on the border of the Ming dynasty of his age.

One day in the fall when Yang-ming was 15, he, accompanied by two young houseboys, was nowhere to be found. Thinking that he was only being naughty to kill his time somewhere for a couple of days, his father did not show much concern about it at first. However, days had passed without any trace of him before his family got worried and started to look for him everywhere. The search went on for over a month before he eventually came back, thin and swarthy, like a swordsman with a sword by the waist. Where did the 15-year-old go? It turned out that he went to the northern frontier to investigate the well-known Juyong Three Passes .

Here are a few words on the background. The Ming dynasty had replaced the Yuan dynasty , though its northern border was frequently harassed by the restless Mongolian tribes under the leadership of the “Little Prince” Dayan Khan . Gradually, they grew strong enough to provoke Ming’s troops in the northern boundary and quite a few Ming high-ranking military officers fought to death at their hands in Ganzhou . It happened when Yang-ming was 15 and it shamed him deeply. As for him, to be a sage meant, first of all, to be in a position with the power of defending his country. Then examining the terrain of the border should be a first move. His action following his thought, he made a field trip to Juyong Three Passes , actually referring to the three passes: Juyong Pass , Zijing Pass , and Daoma Pass , which used to be barriers and strategic forts against infringement from the northern minority invaders. Ascending Juyong Pass which had been renovated in 1368, and overlooking the rolling Great Wall and the massive green mountain ranges all around, Wang Yang-ming spontaneously had a strong sense of macho and heroic spirit, thinking if he were assigned to guard the frontier, he would definitely block the enemies out to ensure the people’s safety. Legend has it that he was then “having a strong passion for governing or ruling a country.” That means, militarily, he would safeguard the boundary to guarantee his people’s safety; politically, he would maintain a sound and stable environment for individuals from all walks of life to enjoy peace and prosperity.

As a 15-year-old boy, Yang-ming did amaze us with his extraordinary aspiration. Unlike Chen Zi-ang , who ascended the Great Wall , sighing his verse, “The sky and earth forever last, Here and now I alone shed tears.” to express his frustration since his talents were not being recognized. Conversely, Yang-ming, standing on the top of the Juyong Pass of the Great Wall , was occupied with an idea of how he could put his thoughts into practice and do something for his country. In the following month, he engaged himself with going inside the Pass to investigate all the necessary details: such as the details about the Mongolian minorities , including their ethnicity, history, customs, and traditions; about how their ancestors had been defending the minorities in history; about how they could make an effective counterattack when abruptly invaded. His practice was not confined to the above activities; furthermore, he went in person to inspect the geographic landforms, geographic situation of mountains and rivers, and road transports as well as the military defense systems around Juyong Three Passes . He did not satisfy himself with oral interviews, but rather went alone outside the Passes to get to know the minorities, and to learn their horseback archery, and their arts of chasing and shooting. With his perseverance and strenuous training, he quickly mastered the skills of defending and even won respect among the young ethnic minorities, who were greatly impressed by his performance within such a short time. After 1 month or so, he went back to Beijing .

Back in Beijing , he was still occupied with his “ambition of ruling a country or a government.” The following year, at the age of 16, he experienced a refugee riot led by Liu Tong (alternative name Liu Qian-jin) and Shi Long (alternative name Shi He-shang) at the intersection of three provinces: Huguang ,²² Henan , and Shanxi , due to year-to-year famine. These rebellions established a kingdom called “Han ” beginning with a reign called “De Sheng ” and gathered rioters under the yellow flag as their banner, whose momentum really frightened the imperial family in Beijing and its troops. At this, Yang-ming hit upon an idea, “Isn’t it a good chance for me to realize my ambition?” Locking himself in his study, Yang-ming wrote a voluminous memo to the Emperor, expressing his military thoughts and strategies for defeating the enemies based on his inspection of Juyong Pass . He even requested the Emperor to authorize him the right to lead the troops to conquer the rebellions. Finishing his memorial and handing it to his father in the hope of submitting it to the Emperor, he again got a sharp rebuke from his father.

Studying the art of war , inspecting the frontier, and practicing horseback archery are what Yang-ming had assumed was the way to become a sage, and by which he was naïve as to imagine contributing his wisdom to his country through submitting his military tactics to the Emperor of his age. To his surprise, he was severely scolded even by his father, which, like cold water, drew him back to the track of reading books though it could not extinguish the flame of his great passion.

At that time in the Ming dynasty , many scholars worshiped Zhu Xi ²³ as the greatest sage after Confucius and Mencius . Hence, Zhu Xi’s thoughts became popular and his books were a must read. Then Yang-ming envisioned again, “I can be a sage as long as I can have a good command of his books, who knows?” Embraced by such a surmise, he turned to a comprehensive study of the great thinker.

Of Zhu Xi’s thoughts, the most noted and popular one was his concept “Gewu Zhizhi ” (achieving knowledge by investigating the world). So, how to interpret the idea? Different scholars had differing views. As for Zhu Xi , he referred to the Chinese character “ge” literally as “wrestling,” while indicating another Chinese character “wu” as an “object.” When wrestling, one has to have face-to-face combat with an “object.” And this face-to-face combat leads us to a comprehensive understanding of the rival (the object itself) and results in fully mastering the details of the enemy (essence of the object)—that is, “zhizhi” in Chinese, which literally means “achieving sagehood or knowledge,” or putting it another way, “expanding knowledge by face-to-face study or investigation of the object in practice.” So Zhu Xi’s philosophy “Gewu Zhizhi ” conveys the idea that to understand a certain object in one’s daily life, what one needs to do is to study and investigate it until he becomes wholly omnipotent by accumulating knowledge and experience of it. But in a complicated world, how can one study and understand everything? Zhu Xi held the belief that, though individually things are different, in essence they have a universal law by nature, which he categorized as the most general and dominant truth and termed it “universal law,” and that each individual object has its particular internal “law” that distinguishes it from others, which he termed as “specific law .” To put it simply, Zhu Xi thought that each object has a unique trait by which to label itself, and it is this trait that is its “law.” What one needs to do is to “investigate” it with non-stop effort, day by day, one by one, until one day, he will be suddenly enlightened by the whole thing he has observed or investigated, and will approach “the universal law .” And only then can he reach the state of being a “sage ” full of knowledge.

This philosophy “Gewu Zhizhi ” was very popular then and Yang-ming took it for granted without any doubts. According to Yang-ming, as everything has its “specific law ” and “universal law” as well, then every plant, be it a blade of grass or a flower, should have its own “specific law” or “universal law.” One can be a “sage” so long as one “investigates” the “specific law” of an object until he or she completely “masters its universal law .” To become a sage , why not just begin with “gewu”? He then discussed with his intimate friend Qian, who shared common ground with him and also desired to be a sage, about “investigating” the bamboo in his family garden. He persuaded his friend, “Since we both want to be sages through investigation, let’s start with observing the bamboo here. You take the lead and just study and see what supreme universal law we can find.” Qian went to “study” the bamboo, face to face, for three whole days, only to be found breaking down from over “investigation.” Yang-ming concluded that it might be Qian’s physical weakness that resulted in his failure of “gewu” and decided to try the “bamboo investigation ” himself. Likewise, face to face, he began to “study” the bamboo. One day passed, yet nothing was found; 2 days passed, and still nothing about the law was discovered; 7 days passed, he was only to be found breaking down like his friend. Frustrated, he sighed to Qian, “How can we both become sages? If it is difficult even for one thing, how can we bring ourselves to investigate all the things in the world?”

The failure of the “bamboo investigation ” happened when Yang-ming was 16 (he lived in Beijing then), which, by the way, had a great impact on the rest of his life. We can find the following two pieces of evidence. One is that though he followed Zhu Xi’s conception of “Gewu Zhizhi ” and put it into practice, he only found it unworkable. While continuing his pursuit to be a sage , he began to doubt Zhu Xi’s theory, feeling that it is an unsuitable approach to the realm of sages, and as a result, this incident carried seeds for his later work “The Philosophy of Mind .” The other is the impact of the incident on his later health. Historical records show that when he grew up Yang-ming was frequently troubled with coughing up blood, which seemed rooted in the incident of “the 7-day bamboo investigation .”

You can imagine how frustrated and depressed the 16-year-old youth was! His aspiration to be a sage guided him to try a series of hands-on practices—going outside of the pass, drilling in horseback archery, submitting a memorial to the Emperor—in all of which he found disapproval from his father. His aspiration to be a sage led him to “observe laws through investigation” under the influence of Zhu Xi , but only ended up breaking down from over-investigation. He was then so confused and helpless that his grandfather and father, both worrying about his going off on wild fancy and becoming a parents’ anxiety and social burden, considered finding him a wife to change the situation. So the next year in 1488 when Yang-ming was 17, his father made him marry Miss Zhu , the daughter of Zhu Rang (Courtesy name Yanghe), a top official in charge of provincial civil affairs at Buzheng Si in Jiangxi Province .

In ancient China, tradition has it that the bridegroom-to-be needs to provide a wedding dowry for the bride-to-be’s family in person before the wedding ceremony. Yang-ming’s father-in-law, a native from Yuyao like Yang-ming, lived in Nanchang then since he was in charge of provincial civil affairs there. In order to deliver the dowry personally and marry Miss Zhu , Yang-ming went to Nanchang from Shaoxing in July (his family had then moved to Shaoxing from Yuyao ). Attracted by Yang-ming as such a handsome and charming youth, the would-be father-in-law was only too happy beyond words to set the wedding date within days. However, the very wedding day surprised all the people unexpectedly in that the groom was nowhere to be found.

At the wedding party, all the guests had gathered and when it was the auspicious time for the ceremony the groom was found to be missing. How could a wedding be held without the groom? Mr. Zhu Rang , cool as it was in fall, sweated all over with anxiety and was at his wits’ end as to a solution. He had no alternative but to send servants to look for him everywhere, wondering why Yang-ming chose the critical moment to vanish as there was not any trace of his disappearance. Was there any possibility that the young man was not satisfied with his daughter and chose purposefully to escape the marriage? But it could not be the reason, for his daughter was so beautiful and charming. Then could it be that he ignored him as he was too much occupied with official business? It could not be possible either as Yang-ming had already expressed his understanding earlier. Then could it be that something unexpectedly bad happened to him when he was hanging around, since he was totally new here. If so, he could not bring himself to face his friend Wang Hua . Struggling and tangled with this, he sent more people to look for Yang-ming . But for the whole night, Yang-ming remained out of sight until the sun rose high the next morning, he was found to come back home alone, smiling with a relaxed look.

Then where had he been? The story goes that when all the people in his bride’s family were busy preparing for the ceremony, he had nothing to do and went out to hang around Nanchang City aimlessly. Unconsciously, he approached the Guangrun Gate, the southwestern gate of Nanchang City, which is the prosperous business center of the city. Outside the city gate, the famous Nanpu Pavilion was built over the Zhangjiang River. Today Nanpu Pavilion has become far more famous because it is situated close to Tengwang Pavilion , or the Pavilion of Prince Teng , whose splendor and majesty was lauded by Wang Bo , a poet in early Tang dynasty. In one of his masterpieces, “Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng,” he described it as follows:

In the morn the rosy clouds from the southern shore flit across the painted pillars. In the eve the rain in the western mountains are drawn in by the red curtains.

Inside the Guangrun Gate was a famous Taoist temple named “Tiezhu Gong .”²⁴ Yang-ming idled aimlessly that day, wishing to cast a glance at the Zhangjiang River and Nanpu Pavilion . But when he passed by the Tiezhu Gong, noticing an old Taoist inside, a smile on his face, sitting in meditation in such peaceful serenity and leisure with a gesture “focusing on his breath to silence his mind ” that he was totally attracted and drawn inside out of curiosity and fell into conversation with the Taoist , who happened to be talkative. Yang-ming was dramatically impressed by his volubility and formula for fitness, totally unaware of the passing time.

The incident that his very wedding night saw his going on chitchatting with a Taoist so far as to forget his wedding day was often cited as another “extraordinary” anecdote. Unimaginably queer as it is, yet it is so natural to Yang-ming . Firstly, he had never stopped questing for the path to become a sage and kept feeling depressed by his failure in the “bamboo investigation ” that let him down so much, so this talk with a Taoist naturally illuminated a way to pursuing his dream again, for the regimen and meditation reminded him of his old ambition. Though still vague about what a sage looked like, he was sure the Taoism of regimen and meditation could lead him to his goal. Secondly, though a 17-year-old youth, he was in frail condition and frequently troubled by coughing, a never-curable ailment resulting from the “bamboo investigation .” So the old Taoist’s words concerning regimen and meditation in keeping healthy aroused his great interest such that he missed a critical moment of his life. However, it has to be mentioned that this bond to Taoism , the first time after he grew up, exerted remarkable influence on Yang-ming’s later career, not only on his way of thinking, but also on his way of keeping fit, both physically and mentally, both to a great extent.

After the wedding, the newly married couple stayed with the bride’s family in Nanchang for one and a half years. In December of the following year, when Yang-ming was 18, he took his wife back to his hometown of Yuyao . The past 6 or 7 years before his marriage only witnessed Yang-ming’s numerous efforts of trying to become a sage , yet they were only found to be in vain, and even worse he was left in a frail condition. Now Yang-ming had to take a very practical move since he was old enough to attend the imperial examinations . In an era when achieving everything was decided by a set of imperial examinations, Yang-ming had no alternatives if he cherished his lifelong pursuit of “ruling a country or a government.”

In 1492 when Yang-ming was 21, he successfully passed the provincial examination and became a Juren , a candidate qualified for a higher level national examination . Then he moved to Beijing , on the one hand to attend to his father, meanwhile on the other hand, to prepare for the following year’s national examination. If he succeeded, he could be a Jinshi , a candidate qualified for the highest imperial exam and would be assigned a position in government. Yang-ming worked hard and was confident and determined to attain the goal. Frequently he was seen to stay up so late that his father, worried about his health, had to order the servants to take away the candles from his study. However, Yang-ming would choose to go on reading by lamplight and stay up after his father fell into deep sleep.

The talent he was born with, combined with his diligence, would naturally help him achieve his goal of becoming a Jinshi . However, out of all expectations, the road turned out to be tortuous and he failed the national examination the following year when he took it. The reasons can be attributed to himself and other factors. As for himself, he studied hard indeed, but the books he selected for preparation were Confucian Six Classics and sub-history records, which served as a good channel for cultivation of Chinese culture and one’s manners, but not accorded with the requirements of Imperial Examinations . The other reasons are hard to tell, but it was most likely that someone was jealous of his talents.

It was recorded in documents that, on hearing of his failure for Jinshi , his friends and acquaintances naturally came to comfort him. Li Dong-yang , Zaixiang , in power at that time, a leading literati and enjoying a very high reputation among the men of letters, mocked Yang-ming with an ironic tone, “Even if you failed this year, you are bound to come out first in the palace examination next time with your talent. Now I’d like to test you with an essay entitled ‘Reflection on the next Zhuangyuan ’, how about that?” The people present could easily sense the sarcasm, for it was just like the way we ask a loser who failed to pass the entrance examination for higher education today to talk freely about his/her future admission to top universities like Qinghua University or Peking University . What an embarrassment!

However, Yang-ming ignored the irony as he had already had such experience like writing a poem on the spot at 11. Now maturing into a self-possessed and confident youth, he calmly took a brush to compose another on-the-spot essay at one stretch (what a pity, this article is untraceable). His response, it was said, amazed all the scholars and officials present, “Genius! Talent!”. At this someone envied, “this guy is really talented, but if he were picked as the top one in the examination and assigned to be a top official, could there be any place for us in the imperial palace?”. The dark side of human nature—jealousy of the talented—has long been there, and Yang-ming failed again for the same reason in his second Imperial Examination 3 years later, though he was gifted.

In this chapter, a picture of “an extraordinary youth” of Wang Yang-ming is presented. Now let’s summarize his extraordinary character. (1) From what has been discussed earlier, we can see that Wang Yang-ming went out to inspect Juyong Three Passes at the age of 15 through a very unique way of putting his ideas into practice, during which he was invisible for a month, and this “disappearance” was an “extraordinary” escape; (2) His “Bamboo Study” at the age of 16 turned out to be another example of “extraordinary” practice in that he wanted to apply Zhuxi’s Philosophy of “Gewu Zhizhi ” by studying bamboo for 7 days himself, even if it was not in accordance with Zhuxi’s original intention; (3) At the age of 17, he made his wedding ceremony again an “extraordinary” one, for the groom was nowhere to be found on the very wedding day; (4) He was made to write an onsite essay entitled “Reflection on the next Zhuangyuan ” by Zaixiang Li Dong-yang after Yang-ming failed the Imperial Examination at the age of 22, but he proved to us what an “extraordinary” top scholar he was! (5) Later, he was sent to Longchang and was confronted with the threat of death, he simply lay down in the coffin to feel what death was like. Can we again call it an “extraordinary” death experience?

In fact, Wang Yang-ming’s whole life was filled with too many such “extraordinary” events, and these “extraordinary” cases just tell us what kind of person Yang-ming was: fully independent, greatly confident, and remarkably competent in putting things into practice in person, which not only shows his unique character, but also his aboveboard personality.

His failure in the Imperial Examination at 22 was indeed a setback, but Yang-ming did not quit. His failure did not stop him from becoming a sage and he always tried his way to reach his goal through his “extraordinary” approach in his life.

And his initial goal of being a Jinshi was reached 6 years later when he was 28.

(Translated by Zhang Zhen-mei; Proofread by Wu Hui-qin)