Establishing His Philosophical System

Abstract

Upon hearing of Zhu Chen-hao’s revolts, Wang Yang-ming, as an official passing through Jiangxi Province , raised an army of militia villagers within his limited power and in quite a short time suppressed the rebellion, making it a feat of “defeating a strong enemy of 100,000 soldiers with a mob of 10,000 militias” and saved the political destiny of the Ming dynasty . But such a clear fact turned out to be ambiguous due to the Emperor’s absurdity and false accusations of some villains.

6.1 Doctrine of Conscience

Upon hearing of Zhu Chen-hao’s revolts, Wang Yang-ming, as an official passing through Jiangxi Province , raised an army of militia villagers within his limited power and in quite a short time suppressed the rebellion, making it a feat of “defeating a strong enemy of 100,000 soldiers with a mob of 10,000 militias” and saved the political destiny of the Ming dynasty . But such a clear fact turned out to be ambiguous due to the Emperor’s absurdity and false accusations of some villains. Some of his disciples as well as a few officials who had been with him during the suppression were meanly persecuted and some were even persecuted to death. Truth was covered with lies and justice was not done. It is not rare in history that loyal officials and righteous men suffered from mortification, but things that happened to Wang Yang-ming were extremely rare.

Yet, what we have just said here is no more than an average person’s conjecture of the mentality of a noble character, for Wang Yang-ming himself took them with ease, bearing no resentment. He firmly believed that facts were facts, and that facts would not be changed by lies, just as the sunlight could not be forever blocked by clouds. He was also firm in the belief that justice and righteousness existed as truth was in the hearts of people, for there was a “compass” in everyone’s mind . As long as we frankly conduct ourselves under its guidance, we shall not feel lost.

After the war to suppress the rebellion, in the process of fighting a battle of wits and courage against Zhu Hou-zhao , the Zhengde Emperor , and the villains around him, Wang Yang-ming made a great leap again in developing his thought. The landmark of the leap is his doctrine of “Original Knowledge ,” symbolic of the completion of his philosophic thinking. Since then, Wang’s “Philosophy of Mind ” was truly established, a school radiant with freedom and vitality in the history of ancient Chinese thought.

As we may remember, the first leap in his thought development happened while he was trying to comprehend how to be a sage in Longchang , Guizhou Province , during which he was enlightened that “Intuition suffices to make one understand the way of being a sage.” That is to say, there originally exists “a way of being a sage ” in everyone’s nature, or in other words, how to be a sage in our mind. What we should do is to know our initially bright heart under the self-reflection of the mind, which requires that we should from time to time reflect on our words and actions in our everyday life so that the original substance of mind will be faithfully present. If not, or if we just take the way of being a sage as something objective in the material world and search for it, we will go astray. After the enlightenment in Longchang , Wang summarized his thoughts as “Oneness of Knowing and Doing ,” emphasizing that true knowledge must be transformed into action, and all our practices and conduct in life are not only the result of application of knowledge, but also a reliable source of knowledge. Therefore, in no cases are knowledge and action inseparable but are one. “Oneness of Knowing and Doing ” indicates a complete process of knowing and a philosophy of life as well.

As frequently stressed above, Wang Yang-ming was not only an advocate of the theory of “Oneness of Knowing and Doing,” but more of a practitioner himself. He was quite good at applying all sorts of knowledge to his life experiences and perceiving new knowledge from life as well. During his 5–6 years in Jiangxi , he went through fire and water in many battles. And yet, instead of being awarded by the Imperial Court , he suffered from all kinds of humiliation. A lot of unfounded charges which had confused right and wrong attacked him. On top of this, he had to bear all these misstatements while enduring the feelings of missing his family and mourning his beloved ones, and doing his best to perform his duty of handling all kinds of complicated civil and military issues to alleviate the sufferings of the people. It is not hard to imagine how painful he must have felt when he was trapped in such extreme distress. He had even written four letters to the Imperial Court, entreating time and again a permit for a visit to his family and parents, but each time he was declined. When he got to know that his father was badly ill, he missed his family even more badly. He even said something like this, “If declined once more, I would no longer wait for a permit, but run the risk of my life to escape!” The fact was that he didn’t escape but stayed to deal with the issues in Jiangxi “at the risk of” his health because his inner heart told him that every day the Jiangxi people were experiencing death or departure from their families. The pains they suffered were as much as he did. He stayed to do what he could to lessen their sufferings.

We will not forget that Wang was determined to be a sage since he was young. He called Confucianism “the Study of Sage .” In his mind , to become a sage, one had to follow Confucian teachings. According to Confucianism, “Self-cultivation of Nature and Character ” is an important issue. It does not advise us to escape from daily life into deep mountains or forests for seclusion like Wang did in his youth. Instead, we should cultivate ourselves in everyday life while dealing with other people and things. This kind of cultivation, as pointed out by Mencius , is not easy. It requires us to “stimulate the mind in order to keep it tenacious.” What does it mean? As in Wang Yang-ming’s case, he gave up all his private interest and desires and listened to a call of justice and righteousness in his heart, and then in the very complicated and tangled circumstances obeyed the call in his life. This is what it means by “stimulating the mind in order to keep it tenacious.” With constant application of this thought, Wang understood that there is a “thing” in everyone’s heart which knows forever what is right or wrong, good or evil, and justice or injustice. He named the “thing” as “Original Knowledge .” Talking of this concept, he said that he came to realize it via his life experience through numerous hardships and dangers, and that it was the root of “being a sage ,” a bit of “true blood” passed down through generations. He further said, “Original Knowledge” is initially possessed by every one of us, something inborn within us, not acquired through later learning, such as reading books. So he also called it “the Original Substance of the Mind ” because it exists in our mind from the start of our life. In addition, “Original Knowledge ” is possible to be applied to life experience. According to Wang, it is the root and nature of being a human. Then what are the features of “Original Knowledge”? Wang Yang-ming’s understanding is elaborated as follows:

• (1) “Original Knowledge ” is innate, starting at birth, hence also called one’s “natural virtue” or “conscience”; it is eternal and never disappears. It exists even in the evilest person like Zhu Chen-hao .

• (2) “Original Knowledge” knows of its own existence and is conscious of the outside world. It is always awake, not asleep; therefore, an innate supervisor of our conduct in life, and a sober looker-on, observing our words and actions. The often-told story goes that one of Wang’s disciples once asked the master, “When I am asleep, I have no senses of the outside world. Doesn’t it mean that my ‘Original Knowledge ‘ is also asleep and thus absent for a while?”, and that Wang gave him a quite interesting reply, “Your ‘Original Knowledge’ is often ‘on alert’, ‘clear but not dim’. Otherwise, how can you promptly wake up at a call?”

• (3) Just because “Original Knowledge ” is awake, soberly watching out for our words and actions, it can make proper judgment on rightness or wrongness of our actions. As Wang always said, “Original Knowledge” differentiates what is good and what is evil. The key problem is that people do not always submit themselves to it but act against it. As a result, immorality happens. Here is an example. When a thief steals, his “Original Knowledge ” surely tells him that “stealing is bad”; otherwise, why does he try to avoid being seen? When abiding by his “Original Knowledge,” he won’t steal, but when not, he does it. Knowing it is bad but still doing it is a kind of disunity of “Knowing” and “Doing.”

“Original Knowledge” being the source of the three points above, Wang emphasized that it is the “Original Knowledge ” that constitutes the “Original Mind ,” which is the initial state of our mind, the source of our life; something from which we obtain knowledge, hence the source of our rationality; something on which we develop our morals, hence the source of our morality.

By now we should be clear that our life will present a fairly good look when every one of us can conduct according to our “Original Knowledge” and will become meaningful and radiant with virtue if we can observe public rules and norms. “Original Knowledge” makes us noble. Although “Original Knowledge” is eternal, our senses such as the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body, in dealing with the outside world, always take the liberty to make distinctions even to such an extent that prejudice is mistaken for truth. In this way, life goes astray from the direction of “Original Knowledge,” or in other words, “Original Knowledge” is covered by prejudice, which is quite dangerous in that we are losing the root and nature of our life. If values are lost in our pursuit of sensual desires and satisfaction, we will become decadent in nature. If we don’t mend our ways we will sooner or later become the captives of desires and eventually turn out to be “things” instead of human beings. As a “thing,” how can a person be called man again? Man should not be a thing, but should have integrity of feelings, rationality, and morality.

Now there is a question for everyone, that is, how can one return to the original state of the mind? Or to put it in another way, how can one return to the “Original Knowledge ” and make it the governor of his/her life? It is because only when guided by the “Original Knowledge” can he/she keep a balance between heart and body, can his/her existence remain a wholeness as a human being, and can his/her personality be integrated.

Returning to the “Original Knowledge,” or the “original state of mind ” or the “true nature” means a return to the nature of life, termed by Wang as “Realizing the Original Knowledge ,” which contains the following two meanings in his opinion:

• (1) According to Wang Yang-ming , everyone has “Original Knowledge,” and yet it is most likely to be covered in our dealings with various daily affairs because we may be blindly led by satisfying our desires via sensory organs like eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Once covered, it cannot play its due role in our life. So the first meaning of “Realizing the Original Knowledge ” is the demand for us to keep aware of the fact that “Original Knowledge” is our true nature; to make our life full of meaning, we need to make it reappear and guide us in everyday life. Wang employed an analogy to explain the idea that the “Original Knowledge” is as bright as a mirror, reflecting faithfully everything before it, whether big or small, beautiful or ugly. However, if the mirror is discarded for long, it will rust and no more play its role though it is still a mirror. But when we remove the rust, it will become bright again and can do all the things that a mirror does. In the same way, if we shelve our “Original Knowledge ” for long, allowing it to be covered with private interests and selfish desires, it will also become a rusty mirror. Self-cultivating manner and temperament according to the teachings of sages is like removing the rust. If we keep on removing the bad for the good, our “Original Knowledge” will eventually restore its brightness, we will be bathed in the glory of good, and our life will become a brilliant shining. There is no doubt that “Realizing the Original Knowledge ” should be done by oneself, i.e., perceiving his/her own “Original Knowledge,” removing the evil, and frequently honing his will. This is what self-awareness means.

• (2) The second meaning of “Realizing the Original Knowledge” is that when we are aware of our “Original Knowledge,” we should make it present in all aspects of our life. As Wang said, we should extend our “Original Knowledge ” to all things, that is, whatever we do, we do it according to our “Original Knowledge.” The realization of “Original Knowledge” is the fulfillment of our existence, of its value and meaning as well. The “Realization” in this sense guides us to do things according to our “Original Knowledge,” unalloyed with selfishness or desires, for it naturally tells right from wrong, beautiful from ugly. Following “Original Knowledge,” we can find the true look of things. It ensures us to handle everything in the due way; after doing it, there will be no hassling over gains or losses. A mirror faithfully reflects what is shown in front of it; once the object is moved away, it leaves no trace in the mirror. In the same way, once we have properly behaved according to our “Original Knowledge ,” we can surpass the constraints to the mind and reach a broad, free, and easy realm. Morality is noble in that it contains no selfishness, no personal interests or desires, and it is beyond any utilitarianism. Mencius once asked whether it is moral to do a good deed, e.g., to help others? Of course it is, but if you do it just for the purpose of winning praise from others, it is no more than a thing “for favor,” which cannot be regarded as a moral action, for a truly moral action is done “from benevolence and righteousness,” a natural action from our heart with no utilitarian motives. That is why the action out of benevolence and righteousness is a truly moral and noble action.

As far as the two meanings of Wang’s “Realization of the Original Knowledge” are concerned, we can find that Wang proposed two things for us to realize the Original Knowledge . One is that everyone should be conscious of its presence in his/her mind, and the other is that he should also apply the innate Original Knowledge in his/her life. “Doing” goes with “Knowing.” In whatever sense, the two should be in one. This is the most fundamental principle. “Oneness of Knowing and Doing ” is an effective way of extending the knowledge. This is what Wang always adhered to.

Here “Knowledge” in “Oneness of Knowing and Doing ” is not what we generally think of as knowledge, but refers to the “Original Knowledge ” or “the Original Mind .” This is what Wang meant by saying “There is nothing outside the mind,” or “Nothing is outside the mind .” But unfortunately, the statement is often misunderstood.

As is generally accepted, things exist objectively, independent of man’s will. This is of course true. However, on the other hand, when we face a “thing” and try to understand it, this particular “thing” has in fact entered into our conscious world or mental world. But when it hasn’t, we have no way to perceive or deal with it. Such kind of existence is meaningless to us.

Take Zhu Chen-hao’s rebellion for example. Before Wang arrived at Fengcheng, Jiangxi Province , he surely had no idea of it, let alone to think of suppressing the insurgence, for it had not been in his mind at that time. But when the governor of Fengcheng told him about it and he got to know some details; in other words, when the incident of Zhu Chen-hao’s rebellion truly entered his mental world, it became possible for him to take proper actions to handle it with reflection and guidance of his “Original Knowledge .” People deal with or interact with people and things in this world. Therefore, it is an interactive process. In Wang’s opinion, the “interaction” connects us with other people and things in the world. In other words, it is the communication of thoughts and the application of knowledge that connect us with the world. The broader our mental realm is, the nobler we will become; the stronger our practical ability is, the more colorful life we will live. The world we have built up by interacting with various people and things belongs to ourselves, and therefore we should take responsibility for it. In this sense, we should not say “the things” in the objective world are just outside our mind.

Is there any opposite case? Yes, there is. We have the word “absent-minded,” meaning the mind is not there, not in the “particular thing” we are involved with. In this case, we may say that the “particular thing” has not entered our mind. Then what may happen in this situation? We may answer the question by quoting the words from Great Learning , “The result of absent-mindedness is looking without seeing, listening without hearing, and eating without tasting.” Please think of it: Can we have a full understanding of a thing and handle it in a proper way in a case like this? What is the meaning of such existence of things to us?

Therefore, Wang advanced the notion that “There is nothing outside the mind .” What he really meant is that things not yet entering one’s mental world make no sense to us, and that all the meaningful things to the person are those that we have paid close attention to and have become part of his/her mental world. Just for this reason, he demanded that everyone realize their Original Knowledge and expand our spiritual world as much as possible. Since our capacity of mind or Original Knowledge is infinite, we can make many things connect with us and put them into our mind as long as we really concern ourselves with them. In this way can we reach the realm of taking “all the things under the heaven as oneness of benevolence and kindheartedness.” Only when our mental world becomes boundlessly expanded, can we get rid of our personal interests or desires and gain infinite freedom of life and ease of mind .

Although Wang’s concept that “There is nothing outside the mind” or “Nothing exists outside the mind” sounds strange to us today, even his disciples present at his lectures felt it was difficult to understand. A good case in point is the story that goes like this:

On a sunny spring day when azalea blossomed everywhere on the cliff, Wang and his students were making a tour in Kuaiji Mountains ¹. A student then asked him, “You always told us ‘Nothing exists outside of the mind ’. Now please look at those flowers. Aren’t they blossoming there irrespective of our existence? Is there anything related between the flowers and our mind?” Wang replied to it. “Both the flowers and you are in a state of ‘solitude’ when you don’t notice them. But when you see them, you become aware of their colors and the flowers are no longer outside your mind .

Wang Yang-ming did not deny the objectivity of the flowers, but he stressed that they existed in a state of solitude before they were noticed or before they came into our mental world. Solitude is a state not so “clear” to us, not so understandable or easily grasped, but as soon as we see the flowers, their colors, shapes and smell their scents, they are immediately captured by our mind . In this sense, we may say that only when things come into our mind can their existence become obvious to us and the meaning of their existence be properly understood. Otherwise, the lonely existence bears no significance to us.

What we have elaborated on in this chapter is just a brief introduction to Wang’s thoughts instead of the whole system. Starting from 1520 to 1521 (the fifteenth or sixteenth year of the Zhengde Emperor ) Wang Yang-ming began to preach his “Original Knowledge ” in Ganzhou . From then until 1527, except for the 3 years he was in mourning for the death of his father, his main activities in Shaoxing were giving lectures mainly on “Original Knowledge.” A friend of his who had attended his repeated speeches on “Original Knowledge” said to him, “Apart from the ‘Original Knowledge ’, do you have anything else to talk about?” Wang answered him very confidently, “Apart from the ‘Original Knowledge’, what else is worth talking about?” In his opinion, the ultimate aim of whether reading and studying or getting on in the world is to “enlighten one’s original mind ” or one’s “Original Knowledge,” which is the basis of all one’s learning and the foundation of all one’s achievements. As the “Original Knowledge” helps build up the value in our life, the mind is set to learn once the “Original Knowledge” is made clear. Therefore, there is indeed nothing much worthy of being talked about except for the “Original Knowledge.”

On an unprecedented scale, his thoughts were spread with his lectures and became popular near and far, changing the historical pattern of traditional Chinese ideological history, and making himself one of the most creative and greatest philosophers and ideologists in Chinese history. His “Theory of Original Knowledge ” broke away ideological shackles since Zhu Xi brought a fresh style into the ideological world, and in fact played a great role in emancipating the mind . It can also be said that his “Theory of Original Knowledge ” brought a revolutionary transformation to the ideological background at that time.

Wang Yang-ming immersed himself in the pleasure of giving lectures, ignorant of the frame-up of villains and the injustice of the Imperial Court . Indeed, those 5 or 6 years out-of-office became the happiest time for him. However, he was not ignored by the Imperial Court. In 1527 (the sixth year of the Jiajing Emperor ), he was remembered by the Imperial Court and was appointed a new position. Forced to bid farewell to his beloved lecture hall, Wang Yang-ming, dragging himself, headed for a strange, faraway place.

(Translated by Chen Jun-lin; Proofread by Yue Ming)

6.2 Appointment to Guangdong and Guangxi

From 1522 (the first year of the Jiajing Emperor ) to 1526 (the fifth year of the Jiajing Emperor), instead of being engaged in political activities, Wang Yang-ming spent most of his time delivering lectures in Shaoxing , Yuyao , and other places, which was also his favorite activity. Although Jiang Bin and other gangsters had been either put into death or exiled, the Imperial Court did not rehabilitate Wang Yang-ming for what he had been wrongly accused of. In spite of the fact that Wang Yang-ming was offered a title of “Xinjian Bo ,”² he had never enjoyed the special treatment, so the title absolutely existed in name only. Nevertheless, Wang Yang-ming was no more concerned about how he was treated because he obtained great pleasure from his lectures.

During these 5 years, some changes had taken place in his life. In January 1525 (the fourth year of the Jiajing Emperor ) when he was 54, his wife Ms. Zhu died, which wrapped him in deep grief. Besides, his own physical condition was not always good. He had never fully recovered from coughing which started from his childhood and deteriorated with years of military life. Owing to his condition, he had to pay more attention to his own health while delivering lectures. Moreover, from relevant historical materials, we also know that Wang remarried a Ms. Zhang , who became his second wife around the end of 1525 (the fourth year of the Jiajing Emperor). Ms. Zhang gave birth to a boy in November of the following year. Since Ms. Zhu , Wang Yang-ming’s late wife, never gave birth to a child, they only adopted Wang Zheng-xian , his cousin’s son, as his own son. Now with the birth of his own son in his later years, he felt extremely gratified.

Wang Yang-ming’s comparatively relaxing life of delivering lectures was not interrupted by the Imperial Court until May 1527 (the sixth year of the Jiajing Emperor ). He had to bid farewell to his beloved teaching platform, to pause his wandering in the ideological world, to say goodbye to his own little son, and to get dressed in military uniform again in order to support the collapsing Ming dynasty with his weak body.

In May 1527 (the sixth year of the Jiajing Emperor in the Ming dynasty), he was appointed Zuo-Du-Yushi in Ducha Yuan , in charge of the military affairs in Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces . He was sent to settle the Si-en ³ and Tianzhou ⁴ affairs because according to the Imperial Court , the “military rebellion” became very tricky there and Wang Yang-ming was the right person to clean up the mess.

Then what is the “Si Tian Affair ”? We have to make a brief introduction first.

Si-en ⁵ and Tianzhou ⁶ were both prefectures under the control of Tusi ⁷ in Guangxi Province . The Zhifu of the two prefectures shared the same family name, Cen and they were originally from the same clan, but there existed acute contradictions and accumulated grievances over the years. Here is the story:

Tianzhou was established in 1369 (the second year of the Hongwu Emperor in the Ming dynasty ) when Zhu Yuan-zhang (the first emperor of the Ming dynasty ) appointed Cen Bo-yan the first Zhifu in Tianzhou and the title was hereditary. After three generations, the title was passed to Cen Pu , who had two sons. The elder son was named Cen Xiao and the younger son was named Cen Meng . In 1499 (the twelfth year of the Hongzhi Emperor in the Ming dynasty), Cen Xiao killed his father Cen Pu because he felt that his father was partial and did not like him. However, the two Tumu ⁸ under Cen Pu, one of whom was Huang Ji and the other was Li Man , killed Cen Xiao . And by then Cen Meng was only 4 years old. Soon after that, Huang Ji and Li Man were at war against each other. Since Li Man occupied Tianzhou , Huang Ji together with Cen Meng, turned to the Du Fu ⁹ of Nanning and falsely accused Li Man of mutiny. The Du Fu of Nanning then ordered Cen Jun , Zhifu of Si-en Prefecture to send troops to escort Cen Meng to Tianzhou . However, Li Man refused to accept Huang Ji and Cen Meng, so Huang Ji had to return to Si-en with Cen Meng. In fact, Huang Ji was not a good man. He offered his daughter to marry Cen Jun after he arrived at Si-en. At the same time, he plotted partitioning Cen Meng’s territory of Tianzhou . He even imprisoned Cen Meng. When Deng Ting-zan , the Du Yushi , learned about it, he ordered Cen Jun to set Cen Meng free and appointed Cen Meng Zhifu of Tianzhou according to the hereditary system. Cen Jun didn’t obey it, which forced Deng Ting-zan to send troops to go on a punitive expedition to attack him. Cen Jun had no choice but to set Cen Meng free. In 1502 (the fifteenth year of the Hongzhi Emperor), Huang Ji and Cen Jun, united with other Tusi , sent troops to attack Tianzhou. Tianzhou was breached and Cen Jun occupied Tianzhou, which turned Cen Meng into a fugitive again. In 1505 (the eighteenth year of the Hongzhi Emperor ), the Imperial Court sent troops to fight against Cen Jun and have him killed, whereupon the Imperial Court removed the Tusi system in Si-en and changed it to “Liuguan Zhifu ” (flowing official prefect), governing both Si-en and Tianzhou. As for Cen Meng , he was demoted to Qianhu ¹⁰ of Pinghaiwei¹¹ in Fujian .

Here we should briefly explain the term “flowing official prefect.” Since the Ming dynasty , the Tusi system was set up in the regions inhabited by a concentration of ethnic minorities, and the Tusi’s ruling power was hereditary. Si-en and Tianzhou at that time were both under the dominion of Tusi from the Cen Family . As for some Tusi who were unwilling to follow the Imperial Court , the Tusi systems in those regions would be removed and the Tusi’s power would be revoked accordingly, and returned to the Imperial Court. And then the Imperial Court would send officials from the Han nationality to rule it. Those officials were called “flowing officials ” because just like the flow of water the officials only served a certain length of term in contrast to the hereditary Tusi system and the authority was not hereditary, so “flowing officials ” came into being. “Gai-Tu-Gui-Liu ”¹² is to remove the Tusi system and set up replaceable officials, which is very important in the history of the Ming dynasty as well as a strategy toward the regions where a concentration ethnic minorities lived.

Cen Meng disagreed with the Imperial Court policy of “Gai-Tu-Gui-Liu ,” which made him so unhappy that he refused to take over the position of Qianhu in Pinghaiwei of Fujian . In 1505 (the first year of the Zhengde Emperor ), Cen Meng bribed Liu Jin with the aim of retaining his former position of Tianzhou prefect but finally he only got the position of “Tongzhi¹³ and Lingfushi¹⁴ of Tianzhou .” Despite all that, Cen Meng tried his best to manage Tianzhou and gradually became powerful. During the reign of the Zhengde Emperor , the bandits in Jiangxi Province became an increasingly serious problem. Chen Jin , the Du-Yushi at that time ordered Cen Meng to send forth his troops to help exterminate the bandits. Owing to his achievements he was promoted to “Zhihui Tongzhi ¹⁵ of Tianzhou.” However, this position couldn’t satisfy Cen Meng but aroused his resentment because his main goal was to restore the previous official system in Tianzhou. In 1523 (the second year of the Jiajing Emperor ), Cen Meng dispatched troops to attack Sicheng .¹⁶ Why did Cen Meng do so? Because in Cen Meng’s eyes, Sicheng was originally part of Tianzhou and his attack was to seize back the property of his ancestors which was now occupied by others. But the other officials at the time regarded his action as a rebellion and asked the Imperial Court to send troops against him.

In April 1526 (the fifth year of the Jiajing Emperor), an army of 80,000 men commanded by Yao Mo , Du Yu Shi was sent to attack Tianzhou. When Cen Meng heard about it, he didn’t resist and even ordered his subordinates not to go into combat. Instead, he wrote Yao Mo a letter to tell his grievance in the hope that Yao Mo would listen to him. Nevertheless, Yao Mo ignored him and continued his attack and killed Cen Bang-yan , Cen Meng’s eldest son. In spite of this, Cen Meng didn’t organize a military confrontation but fled to Cen Zhang’s in Guishun ¹⁷ because Cen Zhang, the Zhizhou ¹⁸ of Guishun, was his relative by marriage. It was totally unexpected that Cen Meng was poisoned by Cen Zhang in Guishun and his head was presented to Yao Mo. Therefore, Yao Mo reported his victory to the Imperial Court and as a result removed the Tusi system in Tianzhou , at the same time changing the administration into the system of “the flowing officials .”

In May 1527 (the sixth year of the Jiajing Emperor ), Lu Su , the Tumu of Tianzhou, together with Wang Shou , the Tumu of Si-en revolted with their basic objective to restore the Tusi system in Tianzhou and Si-en. Lu Su concealed the news of Cen Meng’s death. Under the banner of Cen Meng, he immediately recruited thousands of village soldiers and occupied Tianzhou . Meanwhile, Wang Shou also occupied Si-en with thousands of soldiers. However, they did not intend to be against the Imperial Court so they conveyed to Yao Mo their readiness to accept amnesty but got no response from him. Yao Mo assembled all the troops in Guanxi, and deployed forces of the “Tu Bing ” under the Xuanwei-Si of Yongshun and Baojing in Huguang as well as the ethnic troops from Ganzhou in Jiangxi and from Tingzhou in Fujian . The assembled army was sent to Nanning immediately. Lu Su and Wang Shou were under the large-scale suppression of the troops from four provinces. The result, however, was unsatisfactory with the defeat of the troops of the Imperial Court.

At this point, things turned out to be worse. Yao Mo assembled the troops from four provinces to exterminate Lu Su and Wang Shou in the name of the Ming Imperial Court but failed, which deeply embarrassed the Ming Imperial Court. So some people of the Court criticized Yao Mo for messing things up in panic. They asked the Imperial Court to reappoint Wang Yang-ming by offering him the power to govern the military affairs in Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces so that Wang Yang-ming could be sent to deal with the affairs in Si-en and Tianzhou ; in other words, Wang Yang-ming would be sent to clean up the mess made by Yao Mo .

Wang Yang-ming was not only a wise man but also a man with excellent political wisdom. Although he had kept teaching in the previous 5–6 years without engaging in any political activities, he was quite aware of the Imperial Court’s intention at the time. When the order from Bing bu arrived, he replied immediately without any delay. In his letter, he clearly stated the following two points.

First of all, in a sincere tone, he claimed that he was in poor health and even a cough would make him faint, which prevented him from returning to the battlefield. If he cared only about his own fortune and fame regardless of his actual health condition, the consequence would be his death, which was nothing to himself but a great loss to the Imperial Court . Even if he could die a hundred times he could never make up for the damage to the Imperial Court. So he hoped that the Imperial Court would take his actual health condition into consideration and accepted his resignation from the new appointment.

Secondly, he also praised Yao Mo earnestly. He considered Yao Mo to be competent, sophisticated, and experienced. Although he had been defeated in this battle, it was only a natural thing in the battlefield. He wanted the Imperial Court to continue to rest hope on Yao Mo, to be patient with him and to give him time. He was sure that Yao Mo would succeed in the end.

When this sincere letter arrived, the Imperial Court would of course not accept Wang Yang-ming’s request. Meanwhile, in the Jiajing Emperor’s opinion, Wang Yang-ming refused the appointment because he was unhappy with Yao Mo. Hence, Yao Mo should retire in order to get Wang Yang-ming to take over Yao’s position. With this in mind , the Jiajing Emperor asked Yao Mo to retire and ordered Wang Yang-ming to go to Guangxi for the third time, asking Wang to feel free in dealing with the Si Tian Affair as Yao Mo had already retired.

At this point, we have to make it clear that we cannot regard the appointment of Wang Yang-ming to govern military affairs in both Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces as real trust from the Imperial Court or as a vindication of the false charge against him many years ago after putting down the rebellion of Zhu Chen-hao . In fact, the Imperial Court never cleared up the matter of the false charge made by the villains. Regardless of his poor health, the aim of the appointment was only to take advantage of his talent to clean up the mess in Guangxi. Under the pressure of the Imperial Court, Wang Yang-ming had no choice but to go to Guangxi in spite of his poor health.

On September 8, 1527 (the sixth year of the Jiajing Emperor), Wang Yang-ming left Shaoxing under orders and started the long journey to Guangxi in a very complicated mood. He was unwilling to say goodbye to his favorite teaching life. He was clearly aware of his worsening health and worried about the uncertain future in Guangxi, a place thousands of miles away from home. He seemed conscious of something, so before he left Shaoxing , he wrote his famous “Ke Zuo Si Zhu ” (a calligraphy work by Wang Yang-ming). He put it up on the wall of the lecture hall, leaving his earnest teachings for the scholars and his disciples as well. On the night before he left, his disciples learned that he would leave for Guangxi Province and came to see him off. Wang Yang-ming feasted with them in the yard of his house. It was a crisp fall night, with the bright moon shining in the sky and fresh breeze blowing. Wang Yang-ming was in high spirits. He, together with his disciples, played the stringed instruments, read and wrote poetry, quite like the situation in which Confucius agreed with Zeng Dian , one of his disciples. After most of his disciples left, two of his most important disciples, Qian De-hong and Wang Ji stayed behind. Wang Yang-ming discussed his philosophy in detail with them and answered all their questions. By clarifying his principles again, he brought forth the famous “Four Sentence Teaching .” This event is very important in the study of Wang Yang-ming’s theory. It was known as “Tianquan Zhengdao ” or the “Tianquan Sermon ” because the conversation between Wang Yang-ming, Qian De-hong, and Wang Ji took place at “Tianquan Bridge .”¹⁹ The second day, when Wang Yang-ming left Shaoxing for Guangxi, Qian De-hong and Wang Ji walked a long way to see him off. They didn’t say goodbye until they reached Yan Zi-lin Fishing Platform , where they showed their distress at parting after Wang Yang-ming answered their questions again. The last argumentation about “Mind ” between Wang and his disciples is known as “Questions and Answers at Yantan .” We can safely say that it was Wang’s last argumentation of the important issues concerning his philosophy.

In October, Wang Yang-ming arrived in Nanchang , where he received an unusually warm and ceremonious welcome by the people. Both sides of the road were full of people who warmly welcomed him by holding burning incense in their hands. People lifted up his sedan chair, passing it on. Wang Yang-ming was escorted with big crowds in front and behind, who went with him all the way to his residence. The enthusiastic atmosphere moved Wang Yang-ming deeply. He recalled the war fighting against the Ning Wang in order to put down his rebellion 10 years before and was full of complicated feelings. With drums and horns blowing and arrows whistling still ringing in his ears, he had a strong feeling that the world had changed but people remained the same. He expressed his deepest gratitude to the people in Nanchang . During his stay in Nanchang, he visited the Confucius Temple , where he delivered a lecture on Daxue (The Great Learning ) at Minglun Hall. The lecture enjoyed an unprecedented presence. With military affairs to deal with, he did not dare to stay any longer and had to bid farewell to the people in Nanchang in a hurry. Again he went up along the Gan River and reached Ji’an. In Ji’an, more than three hundred of his disciples came to greet their teacher and Wang Yang-ming delivered his last large-scale public lecture there.

On November 20, Wang Yang-ming arrived in Wuzhou , Guangxi Province , where the Zongdu Fu ²⁰ of Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces was situated at the moment. Once he reached Wuzhou, he began to work immediately on the military affairs concerning Si-en and Tianzhou “rebellion.” In fact, Wang Yang-ming had already started to investigate Lu Su and Wang Shou’s “rebellion” since he entered Jiangxi Province . In October, he issued a document to the military governments in Jiangxi , Huguang , Guangdong, and Guangxi Provinces , asking them to research the real situation of Lu Su and Wang Shou’s “rebellion” and report honestly the details and their own views on it. Meanwhile, he made necessary preparations for the possibly coming war, including money, food, soldiers, and so on. As for the 6,000 soldiers recruited by Yao Mo , the former Du Yushi in Huguang, he ordered them to station in Wuzhou temporarily before his arrival. On the second day after his arrival in Wuzhou, Wang Yang-ming wrote to the Bingbeidao ²¹ in Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces and asked them to enforce the “Shijiapai System ” strictly. We have mentioned several times that it is a kind of household registration system with ten families as a unit created by Wang Yang-ming and proved effective in several practices. Wang Yang-ming brought forth a famous point of view that “The extraterritorial protection policy should be based on internal pacification; and the art of pacifying the people should be based on a change of customs.” It roughly means that the protection from external enemies should depend on internal governance and the maintenance of social stability should be based on a change of customs. The “Shijiapai System” which he promoted was a practical and effective measure with “internal governance” as its fundamental purpose.

Wang Yang-ming made necessary preparations and in the meantime launched a number of investigations on the causes and effects of Lu Su and Wang Shou dispatching troops. It was based on careful research that he got the truth of the so-called “rebellion” of Lu Su and Wang Shou. After carefully analyzing the causes and effects of the Si-en and Tianzhou Affair , he formed his basic principle in dealing with the Si-en and Tianzhou Affair. In his opinion, pacification should be the best strategy. He reported to the Imperial Court his own opinion and put forward two suggestions at the same time.

First of all, the so-called “rebellion” of Lu Su and Wang Shou was not true and the Imperial Court should exonerate them in order to give them a second chance. If the Imperial Court insisted on sending troops against them, the war could last for a long time because the local people would not support it regardless of the excuse. Therefore, it actually would be impossible for the Imperial Court to build up its authority, and neither would it be good for the country because the huge military consumption that came along with the war would increase the burden and make people lose trust in the Imperial Court.

Secondly, in consideration of the living habits, cultural traditions, and other aspects of the local minorities, the policy of replacing Tusi with Han officials promoted by the Imperial Court in southwest minority regions, the so-called “Gai-Tu-Gui-Liu ” policy was not always effective. The Imperial Court should treat it differently. He claimed that the “Gai-Tu-Gui-Liu” policy introduced in Si-en and Tianzhou with no exception didn’t bring real benefits to local minority people; instead, new problems concerning habits, cultural traditions, and other aspects arose. Hence, the Imperial Court should maintain Tusi system to implement local autonomy and at the same time establish a Han Prefect in order to strengthen supervision and management of the local autonomy in ethnic minority regions.

Wang Yang-ming’s main ideas were very clear, i.e., the policies in Han regions should not be imposed without exception in ethnic minority regions. In order to win universal support of the minority people, the Imperial Court should not try to alter in any way but with different treatments. Local autonomy was a more effective way in ethnic minority regions. Taking the real situation in Si-en and Tianzhou into consideration, it was the entirely carrying out the “Gai-Tu-Gui-Liu ” policy that led to the discomfort of local people in their habits and other aspects of life, which had a direct influence on the uprising of Lu Su and Wang Shou. As for the local people’s attachment to the Tusi system, Yao Mo , the former Du Yushi , took a commanding attitude and resorted to arms frequently without any sympathy and understanding, which provoked the resentment of the local people. Judging from the situation then, Lu Su and Wang Shou did not really want to confront the Imperial Court. It was Yao Mo who misjudged the situation as well as flustering and overreacting, which made the situation even worse, finally leading to a total mess that was difficult to clean up. Since the fault lay with the Imperial Court, they should correct the mistake once they learned it and should not leave it be. Therefore, the best strategy for the Imperial Court was to pacify Lu Su and Wang Shou in order to prevent the situation from getting worse. Only in this way could the Imperial Court re-establish its authority and show its original intention to appease the people.

According to the historical record, when Wang Yang-ming’s report arrived at the Imperial Court , it aroused controversy among the officials there but finally got the support from the Bing Bu . Then the Imperial Court issued an order to approve Wang Yang-ming’s strategy, let him act according to the circumstances and concurrently appointed Wang Yang-ming the Xunfu of Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces on December 2. The Xunfu before Wang Yang-ming was Yao Mo . After the handover, Wang Yang-ming dealt with the “rebellion” in Si-en and Tianzhou at once. He solicited opinions from all sectors and reached the agreement that it was correct to pacify Lu Su and Wang Shou . In late December, he ordered Lin Fu ,²² You-Buzhengshi ²³ of Guangxi Province , to dismiss the troops assembled from the three provinces. The soldiers were sent back to rest and farm. Within several days, Wang Yang-ming had dismissed thousands of soldiers. In order to solve the problem of traveling expenses, he allowed soldiers to sell horses, swords, guns, and other weapons by themselves. Then he used the military funds to buy them back. Although Wang Yang-ming dismissed the armies from the three provinces, he did not send the “Tu Bing ” assembled from the two Tusis of Huguang and Baojing because it was a long journey from Guangxi to Huguang and the “Tu Bing” were poorly disciplined and would disturb people’s life on their way home. Therefore, it was ordered that before sending them back, all the prefectures and counties along the way should make preparations of army provisions.

As for Lu Su and Wang Shou , they indeed had no intention of rebellion. They assembled the villagers and fled into the woods just because they had no other choice but to save their own lives. The immediate dismissal of armies undoubtedly showed them hope for a new life. In January 1528 (the seventh year of the Jiajing Emperor ), they sent leaders under them to see Wang Yang-ming and expressed their desire to surrender. Wang Yang-ming placated them kindly and issued an order again to urge Lu Su and Wang Shou to surrender with their armies. In the order, Wang Yang-ming said, “Although there is no great evil in you, it does not necessarily mean that you have committed no crime. You assembled thousands of people into the woods, which actually separated thousands of couples, broke up fathers and sons, and made brothers unable to reunite, feeling alarmed day and night. That is your crime. Just because you led people to flee into the woods, the Imperial Court had to dispatch armies which caused three provinces to become unpeaceful. That is also your crime. I fully sympathize with you because I know that your intention of escaping into the woods was to save your lives. You should dismiss the army and surrender within 20 days after you receive this order. Otherwise, the Imperial troops will be sent against you and you will come to a bad end which you deserve.”

When Lu Su and Wang Shou received this order, they felt very pleased. With no hesitation, they removed the defense and decided to surrender. Wang Yang-ming asked them to discipline their soldiers and not to disturb people’s life along their way. “No damage to people’s bushes and trees.” On January 26, 1528 (the seventh year of the Jiajing Emperor ), Lu Su , together with more than 40,000 people and Wang Shou, together with more than 30,000 people arrived in Nanning and stationed outside the city. On the second day, Lu Su and Wang Shou tied themselves up and offered to surrender. Wang Yang-ming claimed that their surrenders should be praised but proper punishment was also necessary because they had disturbed the peace for more than 2 years. They received a punishment of flogging and Lu Su and Wang Shou gladly accepted without complaint.

After the surrender, Wang Yang-ming ordered them to dismiss their armies and sent the soldiers back to their hometowns to engage in production. Up until then, the once notable affair, the so-called Si Tian “rebellion,” which had lasted more than 3 years, shocked the Imperial Court and caused the futile attempts at suppression by troops from four provinces, was settled by Wang Yang-ming immediately and properly without using any soldiers, and won him the support of the local people. On February 13, Wang Yang-ming wrote to the Imperial Court about the whole process of handling the Si Tian affair .

From the settlement of Si Tian Affair, we can find that Wang Yang-ming was a man who sought truth from facts and dared to stand up for the truth. Judging from the situation at that moment, the Imperial Court sent him to Guangxi because the attempted suppressions had been futile then. The original intention of the Imperial Court was to make use of his military abilities to defeat Lu Su and Wang Shou . Nevertheless, after the careful investigation, Wang Yang-ming stated that Lu Su and Wang Shou did not intend to betray the Imperial Court. It was the improper policy and a particular official’s misjudgment and overreaction that led to the worsening consequence. When he realized the policy of “Gai-Tu-Gui-Liu ” introduced by the Imperial Court without exception harmed the feelings of minority people, he dared to correct it and continued the minority autonomy policy. He never put himself on the opposite side of the people but kept the people and the country’s interest at heart all the time. Some people in the later generations criticized his offering amnesty to Lu Su and Wang Shou and considered it unwise to exercise minority autonomy in Si-en and Tianzhou . A specific territorial environment will result in a specific lifestyle, which in turn results in specific cultural traditions. From the perspective of political administration, in order to achieve the effect of the administration, the administrative system and mode must be adjusted with the specific cultural traditions. After Si Tian Affair , Wang Yang-ming , on the one hand, kept the Zhizhou ²⁴ in a Tusi to show his respect for the lifestyle and cultural traditions of ethnic minorities; on the other hand, he set up the “flowing official prefect” to strengthen the supervision and guidance of the minority regime, which showed his concern for the unity of political administration of the Imperial Court and also strengthened the minority people’s approval of the central government. Based on these points, Wang Yang-ming’s strategy was full of political vision and progressiveness.

Wang Yang-ming also held the view that in areas of relatively concentrated ethnic minorities, such as Si-en and Tianzhou , the reason why the effect of political administration was not thought of as ideal was due to the poor education. If education fell behind and moral education couldn’t be spread, all of these would directly influence the effect of political administration. After the suppression of Si Tian Affair , he set up a Sitian School , and at the same time founded the Binyang Academy in Binzhou and the Fuwen Academy in Nanning , where he came to teach. The establishment of the school and colleges not only showed Wang Yang-ming’s view of moral priority, but also enhanced the spread of Han culture in ethnic minority regions.

After pacifying Lu Su and Wang Shou and settling the Si-en and Tianzhou “rebellion,” Wang Yang-ming was supposed to report to the Imperial Court and leave Guangxi, going back to his lecture hall in Shaoxing . But at that time, he was concerned about another situation in Guangxi. That was the local armed forces based in Duanteng Gorge ,²⁵ Ba Zhai ,²⁶ and other places. These armed forces were becoming a seriously unstable factor affecting the political stability of the Imperial Court. Since Wang Yang-ming was both Zongdu of military affairs and Xunfu of administrative affairs of Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces , it was his duty to protect local stability as well as to maintain the living and political order. He planned to clean up the local armed forces based in Duanteng Gorge, Ba Zhai , and other places so as to maintain the political stability and unity of the Imperial Court . Therefore, he carried out the last war in his life. So what would the final result be?

(Translated by Sun Juan; Proofread by Lu Yi-ye)

6.3 The Last Battles

After Wang Yang-ming sorted out the rebellions in Si’en and Tianchuan , he turned to the rehabilitation of these two places by setting up schools in order to reinforce moral education there. And meanwhile, he decided to deal with the local ethnic minority armed forces in Duanteng Gorge and Ba Zhai , as they had been deranging and disturbing the political order and the lives of the local people. In Wang Yang-ming’s military career, these were the last battles. First we had better get to know something in general before we move on to the process of the battles.

• (1) Where is Duanteng Gorge? Duanteng Gorge is a gorge extending for more than 40 km in the lower reaches of the Qianjiang River ,²⁷ with the main body lying in today’s Guiping City of Guangxi. It is the longest and most rugged gorge in Guangxi. In the Ming dynasty , the inhabitants around Duanteng Gorge were mostly from ethnic minorities like the Yao and Zhuang nationalities, whose living habits and cultural traditions were quite different from those of the Han nationality.

• (2) Why is the gorge called Duanteng Gorge? Originally, Duanteng Gorge (literally Broken Vine Gorge ) was called Dateng Gorge (literally Big Vine Gorge ). It was said that there were vines of liana on the banks of the river. The vines were so big and thick that they could grow all the way from one side of the river to the other side. They submerged into the river in the daytime and emerged at night, so the local people used this kind of vine to get across the river. During the years 1464–1487 (in the reign of the Chenghua Emperor in the Ming dynasty ), because of the same cause—that the local armed forces of ethnic minorities seriously interfered with the political administration order of the Imperial Court —a person called Han Yong led a troop into this area, crushed the armed forces of the ethnic minorities and chopped the vines down. From then on, Dateng Gorge was changed to Duanteng Gorge. Then during the years 1505–1521 (in the reign of the Zhengde Emperor in the Ming dynasty ), Chen Jin , a Du-Yushi before Wang Yang-ming gave permission to the local ethnic groups to draw commercial taxes from passing merchant ships, so the name of the gorge was again changed to “Yongtong Gorge ” (“Yongtong” literally means “forever flowing” in Chinese). However, today some people still stick to its original name “Dateng Gorge .”

• (3) As for the name “Ba Zhai ,” it is impossible to list the exact eight villages. Due to the constant changes in the names of the villages through history, it is also very hard for us to specify their exact locations. However, one thing is sure, that generally most of them are in the two counties of Shanglin and Xincheng in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region today.

After we’ve got to know the above three points, we can have a rough picture of the region in our mind . The vast area of Duanteng Gorge and Ba Zhai was situated right in the heart of Guangxi, with a difficult terrain. It could be said that this area was full of high mountains and precipitous paths, towering hills and turbulent rivers, steep cliffs and bottomless pools. Therefore, it was not easy for people to get access to this area, especially in a time without the convenience of modern transportation and communication systems. Furthermore, Duanteng Gorge was very close to Ba Zhai . West across Duanteng Gorge was the access leading to Ba Zhai. Almost at the beginning of the Ming dynasty (1386), armed forces began to be set up by people from ethnic minorities in Duanteng Gorge and the Ba Zhai villages. They attacked the county government and robbed the local people, posing a serious threat to the ruling order of the Imperial Court and seriously interfering with the daily life of the local residents. Therefore, almost at the same time, the Imperial Court began to detach and later kept sending troops into the area in order to clear out these forces. According to historical records, the largest scale battle could be dated back to the years of the Chenghua Emperor (1464–1487), Han Yong sent 160,000 soldiers into the campaign. When it came to the reign of the Zhengde Emperor (1505–1521), the local armed forces revived again. Since 1526 (the fifth year of the Jiajing Emperor ), the so-called “rebellion” headed by Lu Su and Wang Shou in Si’en and Tianzhou had largely tied down the imperial troops, and meanwhile the armed forces in Duanteng Gorge and Ba Zhai were getting more and more active. They acted in collusion and frequently went around robbing rampantly and posing a ceaseless threat to the local people and the government on a monthly and even daily basis. According to Wang Yang-ming , places like Duanteng Gorge and Ba Zhai “are the base of the armed forces. Their hideouts were quartered in the region and extended to thousands of miles. The ferocious robbers have been a great torment to the local people but their pernicious influence has hardly ever been exterminated… They have been the root of the problems of the rampant robberies in Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces , so if they continue to exist, the robbery cases in this region would never disappear anyway.” Thus, in February 1528 (the seventh year of the Jiajing Emperor ), Wang Yang-ming offered amnesty to Lu Su and Wang Shou , settled the Si Tian Affair and planned to clean up the armed forces in the area of Duanteng Gorge and the Bazhai villages.

As we have mentioned above, in order to show his sincerity in offering amnesty to Lu Su and Wang Shou, Wang Yang-ming had dismissed the troops in the three provinces assembled by Yao Mo , the former Duyushi, but kept the Tu Bing from Huguang Province . Why didn’t he send the Tu Bing back? He aired his view that it took time as there were more than 6,000 Tu Bing in the troop and it was quite a distance between Huguang and Guangxi, and that they were more relaxed in discipline and the undisciplined Tu Bing might disturb the life of the inhabitants along the road, so their route should be carefully planned and the soldiers should be strictly constrained and put under surveillance when they marched through the towns and countryside. But in fact, Wang Yang-ming meant to hold the troop back for his military purpose. It was this troop of more than 6,000 Tu Bing from Huguang that constituted the main force to surround and attack Duanteng Gorge .

On the other hand, Lu Su and Wang Shou showed that they were willing to be under his command to show gratitude to Wang Yang-ming and to show loyalty to the Imperial Court . Wang Yang-ming told them to dismiss their troop and give their soldiers 3 months to take a rest and do some farm work. After 3 months, this troop was reassembled to be the main force to attack the Ba Zhai villages.

Let’s focus on one thing at a time. First, let’s look at the battle of Duanteng Gorge . In late February 1528 (the seventh year of the Jiajing Emperor ), Wang Yang-ming issued a public order to the Tu Bing from Yongshun and Baojing Counties of Huguang Province and asked them to evacuate from Guangxi. Meanwhile, he issued documents to the governments of every county or prefecture along the route to ask them to put the passing Tu Bing under strict discipline and surveillance, so that they would not disturb the people and spoil anything even the grass and trees. However, at the same time, he confidentially gave a secret command to the commanders of the troops, that is, the Xuanwei Shi of Xuanwei Si of Yongshun and Baojing Counties, to take advantage of the evacuation, cooperate with the Imperial troops, and launch the attack on the Ba Zhai villages. Thus, the public evacuation of the troops of Huguang from Guangxi was actually a secret and large-scale military deployment.

In order to implement a clear up of the armed forces in Duanteng Gorge and secure a complete victory, Wang Yang-ming sent undercover informers to make careful and solid investigations into the roads and traffic of the villages around the gorge. He put the campaign into two stages: the first stage was mainly to attack the major stockaded villages of Niuchang , Liusi , and Modao ; the second one was to attack the two major stockaded villages of Xiantai and Huangxiang . In the first stage, he divided the troops from Huguang into six divisions to encircle the three stockaded villages of Niuchang, Liusi , and Modao simultaneously. In late March, Wang Yang-ming gave the commanders of all the six divisions clear deployment instructions of their specific routes and issued strict disciplinary orders to the troops. He stressed that the primary goal of the military action was to “stop the chaos and bring peace back to the people,” to chop off the head of the robbers, “but not to take credit for killing as many enemies as possible.” Therefore, in no way were soldiers allowed to make trouble when they passed through the prefectures, counties, and villages along the route. “Any soldier who violates the military orders and spoils even the grass or trees will be beheaded in public according to the military laws.” The commanders of the troops were required to get familiar with the roads, the armed forces of the enemies, and the villages along the route before they arrived at their designated places. They were also ordered to plant flags to designate “good villages.” When firing began, yellow cloth was supposed to be tied on the arms of the Imperial soldiers as a sign, and the crossroads were garrisoned by troops to prevent the enemies from escaping.

The military actions against Duanteng Gorge were taking place in an abrupt manner. Wang Yang-ming did not give any warnings beforehand. He was staying in Nanning and did not show any military intentions, and the Tu Bing of Huguang , who were previously stationed in Nanning, were evacuating from Guangxi to Huguang on a large scale in the broad daylight. But how could such an apparent “evacuation” turn out to be “marching”? These Tu Bing had to get across Guiping County before they got back to Huguang. So it was actually a public military disposition that appeared to be an evacuation. When the Tu Bing were stationed in Nanning , they did not prepare the army horses and supplies, nor carry out any military activities, so they did not look like they were going to fight when they assembled in Guiping County, and neither did they draw any attention from the villages around Duanteng Gorge . All the plans were carried out so secretly that they did not get on the nerves of the armed forces in villages around Duanteng Gorge.

On the early morning of April 2, all the troops launched attacks on the major villages of Duanteng Gorge all at once, so sudden and so unexpected, like lightning, that their enemies could not make any defense but fall into a total mess. Wang Yang-ming’s troops took advantage of rigorous training and thorough preparation while their enemies were in a state of relaxation and without preparation. This was where the Imperial troops took the decisive occasion and won the battle. However, they were also confronted with some strong resistance. But on the whole, the battle went smoothly in Duanteng Gorge . On February 10, the first stage of the battle was won, a great victory, and the enemies from the major villages of Niuchang , Liusi , and Modao were cleared out.

Without any procrastination, Wang Yang-ming sent the order to have the troops begin the second stage of the campaign. He targeted the major villages of Xiantai and Huaxiang this time. Late on the night of April 11, he adjusted the plan, redeployed the soldiers and commanders, redirected the marching routes, and made appointments with the troops to launch attacks simultaneously at dawn on April 13. As their enemies were already on the defensive this time, the battle was more challenging. But on the whole it was a smooth battle. After 10 days of fighting, on April 24, all the local village stockades had been breached and the major enemies were vanquished. Thus, it could be announced that the battle of Duanteng Gorge was as almost at an end.

Let’s move on to the campaign of Ba Zhai . Compared with the battles in Duanteng Gorge , the battles in Ba Zhai were much tougher, for Ba Zhai covered a vast territory, a difficult terrain and more fortified villages. The so-called “Ba Zhai” referred to the eight big stockaded villages, each with a population of as many as 10,000 people and more. They occupied favorable locations and their influence in the area could not be underestimated. These eight villages were both independent and interconnected. They used to go around robbing on their own, but they could gang up as a whole to fight together if there was an alert or an attack from the Imperial troops. So Wang Yang-ming once put it that Ba Zhai went under the name of eight villages but was actually a one piece entity, which was largely responsible for the reasons why they were so powerful so as not to be broken up by the Imperial troops.

Overall, Wang Yang-ming took the campaigns of Duanteng Gorge and the Ba Zhai villages as a whole in his deployment, but the attacks against the Ba Zhai villages were relatively independent in his military strategy due to the differences in the main forces, the targeted enemies, the strategic principles, and the specific attack plans. The campaign of the Ba Zhai villages was planned in late March, launched in the early April, carried out in late April, and ended for the most part in the middle of June. The specific operational process lasted about one and a half months.

It has been mentioned above that the Tu Bing from Huguang were once stationed in Nanning . At that time, all the villages in Ba Zhai were quite on alert in case Wang Yang-ming would deploy Tu Bing and launch a sudden attack on them. But they felt reassured when they saw what happened next: The imperial troops were dismissed on a large scale; Lu Su and Wang Shou’s troops were also disbanded after being offered amnesty; and soldiers from Huguang ceased fire and withdrew one after another. They thought Wang Yang-ming was not able to get at them, even though he was well known as a man skillful and smart in battle. Therefore, they were no longer on such high alert as before. Moreover, when they found Wang Yang-ming turning a deaf ear to their minor cases of robberies, which they meant as an attempt to get a reaction from him, they felt assured and became more reckless. They slacked or even gave up the thought of preparing for possible battles. They did not know Wang Yang-ming was actually adopting the strategy of “playing cat and mouse” with them, so without them knowing, the enemies in Ba Zhai could not escape from the military snare set by Wang Yang-ming any longer.

When the gang leaders of Ba Zhai fancied themselves clever, they boldly went out on their robberies again, slack in war preparations. Wang Yang-ming took it as “a destined opportunity that cannot be missed,” and picked the right time to surround and launch an attack on them. Therefore, in early April, Wang Yang-ming called a secret meeting with people like Lin Fu , the You Buzhengshi, and some others, to give them confidential instructions to deploy concrete strategies to implement and encirclement and attack on Ba Zhai . He also ordered Lu Su and Wang Shou to assemble their troops confidentially, getting ready to attack the eight stockaded villages. What is worth mentioning is that the troops led by Lu Su and Wang Shou were from the local residents. They were both familiar with the terrain in the Ba Zhai villages and experienced and skillful in the battles in mountainous regions, so they were actually the main forces in the campaign, while the Imperial troops were in the position to cooperate with them. At the same time, Wang Yang-ming ordered every prefecture and county to strictly follow the “Shijiapai System ” and to get ready for the battles.

On April 22, all the troops strictly abided by Wang Yang-ming’s elaborate deployment and arrived at their designated action positions, respectively. All the marching was done furtively, “moving rapidly at night, with a stick in the mouth; passing the villages silently, with no attention drawn from the villagers.” The next morning, all the troops launched the attacks on Ba Zhai simultaneously. The strategy of sudden attack proved to be effective after the battle started. All went smoothly. Shortly after the battle started, all the troops broke through the natural strongholds of the enemies, bravely rushed into the eight stockaded villages, and breached all of them.

Half a month later, the major stockaded villages of the enemies were almost torn down, which indicated a decisive victory in the battle of Ba Zhai. However, when Wang Yang-ming assessed the outcome of the campaign, he found quite an extraordinary phenomenon that although all the stockaded villages were broken up, the chief leaders were almost nowhere to be found. They were not killed nor captured. In Wang Yang-ming’s eyes, it was very strange and unusual, for in most cases, when a stockaded village was taken, the gang leaders were either killed or captured. There were rare cases that a few leaders might run away, but when it came to the disappearance of most gang leaders, it was simply unbelievable. To make it worse, he found the soldiers were not as uplifted as before. They looked sagged and low spirited.

It raised great concern with Wang Yang-ming. Judging from his experience, there must be some hidden problems with his own troops, and most probably, some women from the enemy villages sneaked in among the troops and lured the soldiers with their fortune and beauty, and thus those greedy soldiers were made to either let the gang leaders go or refuse to fight bravely. It was very dangerous in the course of battle. The troops would be greatly compromised once the enemies got to know it and came back with a surprise attack. Wang Yang-ming ordered the commanders to take their token flags and brands and to patrol the camps. Soldiers who were found to give shelter to these women would not be punished directly. Instead, they would be sent to search for the escaping gang leaders in the mountains. If they made contributions, they would be forgiven and have the women and fortune back after the troop returned in victory. However, those who refused to offer help due to their addiction to the beauty of the women would be beheaded in the open air to ensure the strict discipline in the army.

Wang Yang-ming’s purge measures for military discipline soon took effect. When it came to early June, with the rigorous supervision of the commanders, all the troops made their contributions. The enemy leaders were either captured or killed, the eight stockaded villages were swept away, and the enemies scattered all around. So Wang Yang-ming issued the order to chase and exterminate the scattered enemies. The remnants of enemy armies were pushed to the bank of the Hengshui River (also Liu River) . In order to get across the river, thousands of enemies scrambled onto the ships but only to capsize all of them. Countless of them fell into the river and died. With no ships left, together with the thunderstorm and the heavy rain, Wang Yang-ming’s troops had to withdraw and get back to their camps. The rain lasted for more than 10 days. When it cleared up, Wang Yang-ming sent his soldiers to search for the enemy remnants, but only to be shocked at finding thousands of people died in the caves, trees, and under the cliffs, their bodies piled up and beginning to decay.

Judging by the situation at this point, Wang Yang-ming estimated that there were virtually no more remnants of the enemies from Ba Zhai left, so he ordered the troops to return. The campaign of Ba Zhai was thus announced as ended.

After the campaigns, Wang Yang-ming awarded the soldiers from Huguang and commanders like Lu Su and Wang Shou as a matter of routine. On July 10, Wang Yang-ming submitted Memo on the Victory in Ba Zhai and Duanteng Gorge to report in detail to the Imperial Court about the attacks on the two places. Two days later, he submitted to the Imperial Court another statement of his comprehensive ideas on the administrations in Ba Zhai and Duanteng Gorge. He proposed strengthening the management in Ba Zhai and Duanteng Gorge in order to prevent the possible risks and dangers in the future. He proposed in the statement the following five suggestions:

• (1) Move and establish Nandan as a guard town in Ba Zhai villages. Wang Yang-ming believed that this move could cut off the bonds between the eight stockaded villages, no matter how difficult the terrain and how interconnected the villages might be. Therefore, it could be a safety shield against possible robberies of the stockaded villages in the future. Even if there were some cases of robberies from the eight stockaded villages, it could be easier for the government to put them down.

• (2) Move the site of prefectural government of Si’en from Qiaoli to Huangtian . The prefectural government of Si’en was originally built in Qiaoli, which was located among mountains. It was very inconvenient for the inhabitants due to the difficult transportation. However, Huangtian was flat and fertile with a distance of no more than 30 km from Qiaoli , and the transportation there was much easier. Therefore, it fits the life of the inhabitants much better.

• (3) Build Sanli as the seat of Fenghua County. Fenghua belonged to the Si’en Prefecture, but it did not have its county seat, while Sanli was the ideal place for the county seat, though it belonged to Shanglin County , it had a vast and flat land. If Sanli was to be built as the county seat, Fenghua County could control the traffic around it and form a reciprocal relationship with the capital city of Si’en Prefecture so as to enhance the political management in this area and to facilitate the life of the inhabitants as well.

• (4) Add Liuguan County and put Silong under its jurisdiction. Silong originally belonged to Xuanhua County , Nanning Prefecture, but with a fairly large territory, it was not easy to be managed. By adding a new county administration in it and transferring it to Tianzhou Prefecture, it could be much easier for the government to enhance the management of the area.

• (5) Build a guarding town castle in Wutun , a place around Duanteng Gorge .

On the whole, in his five suggestions above, Wang Yang-ming took into consideration both the facilities of political management and those of the life of the people. Actually, neither of them could work alone without the other. The place with relatively inconvenient transportation and weak administration tends to be the place for the people with a harder life, which in turn largely leads to the ganging up of people in the mountains. According to Wang Yang-ming , as long as the people had a peaceful environment for life, it would not be too difficult for the people to obtain substantial life resources, and thus a good life order could naturally be set up. On the basis of it, the enhancement of political management and moral education could lead people to pursue a life of goodness and honesty. Changing the custom of a place and changing the will of the people would result in the people’s pursuit of virtue, which is the fundamental way to realize long-term stability.

After the campaigns of Ba Zhai and Duanteng Gorge, Wang Yang-ming’s health deteriorated sharply. However, he went on as usual to conduct surveys on the topography everywhere and investigations into the geographical conditions of the region. Actually, he was devoting himself to the design of long-term stability with a good political order for the Imperial Court and to the guarantee of solid benefits in the lives of the people.

However, one thing that has to be mentioned is that not all the above five suggestions by Wang Yang-ming were carried out and put into practice, for they aroused a bitter dispute in the Imperial Court. Wang Yang-ming implemented the first three: (1) move and establish Nandan as a guard town²⁸ to Ba Zhai villages; (2) move the site of prefectural government of Si’en from Qiaoli to Huangtian ²⁹; and (3) build Sanli ³⁰ as the seat of Fenghua County. On the whole, these measures did help to build more rational basic-level administrative divisions and a more balanced distribution of political influences, which could undoubtedly enhance the political administration of these places by the Imperial Court and improve its effectiveness as well.

In early September 1528 (the seventh year of the Jiajing Emperor ), the Imperial Court issued an imperial edict to award 50 liang ³¹ of silver and 4 pi of silk³² to him for his contributions to the suppression of rebellions in Si’en and Tianzhou , but did not mention anything about the encirclement and attack on Ba Zhai and Duanteng Gorge . On September 22, Wang Yang-ming submitted his memo to show his gratitude to the Imperial Court as he always did. In the memo, he mentioned his health condition, that he “has already been confined to bed for more than a month!” He also said, “I’m getting more seriously ill each day, so I’m afraid that I would not have the chance to serve the Imperial Court and see you, Your Majesty .” We can read an air of depression between the lines. In fact, Wang Yang-ming had not been strong since he was very young, and his health condition got worse in all the sufferings after he entered political circles. His footprints were left in places with extremely hard living conditions, like the mountains and the brambles. Since 1516 (the eleventh year of the Zhengde Emperor ), he had been serving in the army and involving himself in all the hardships of the campaigns. He devoted not only his bone and flesh but also his wit and intelligence to the victory of every battle. After the rebellion of Ning Wang and Zhu Chen-hao was appeased, he had to deal with all the political powers on the one hand, and endure the humiliations of various attacks and false charges on the other hand. Somehow, he managed all the hardships, but still, his health deteriorated. When he went back to his hometown, he took rest to regain his health, and at the same time, indulged himself in deep philosophical thinking. For sure, it was the happiest time in his life. In the lively and vigorous nature with the flying birds and leaping fish, he delivered lectures and had discussions with his disciples. He also savored the broadness, profoundness, loftiness, and boundlessness of the Tao of Sage , and he sampled the eternal joy and delight he found in the bond with the ancient sages. He also recovered gradually from his terrible health condition, although it was the same time a year earlier that he was ordered to go to Guangxi, where he found himself not adjusted to the climate and the customs, on the constant go between battlefields, and exhausted both in body and mind in all the troubles, all of which had made his previous cough worse.

In 1528 (the seventh year of the Jiajing Emperor ), Wang Yang-ming was in quite a good mood. He accomplished his mission to quash the rebellions in Sien and Tianzhou . Apart from that, he helped the country to exterminate the problem that lasted for dozens of years in Ba Zhai and Duanteng Gorge . He could also go back to his home and his platform, could range along the mountains and rivers, discussing with his disciples about the study of saints . However, at this time, it might never occur to Wang Yang-ming that Kuaiji Mountain , where there was a beautiful landscape he was longing for and the platform for study of saints he was holding in his heart and mind , would become a place that only his soul would come back to. Neither would he have thought that the false charges from the villains in the rebellion of Zhu Chen-hao would continue even so long after it had ended, and the expedition to Ba Zhai and Duanteng Gorge could be the excuse for them to slander and defame him.

Wang Yang-ming would go through life in an expedition of the dedicated pursuit of being a sage .

(Translated by Hu Sai-zhu; Proofread by Liao Jia-dong)

6.4 Bright as My Heart

Though he was in very poor health between August and September of 1528 (the seventh year of the Jiajing Emperor ), Wang Yang-ming insisted on checking the terrain all round and continued to be deeply concerned about achieving a long and peaceful reign in the country, while dealing with the aftermath of suppressing Ba Zhai and Duanteng Gorge . When October came, there were signs of his health deterioration: his cough was worse plus pyogenic infections caused by heat, maladjustment to the strange places, the tiresome travel, and inadequate medical care. He coughed day and night and ate only a small amount of porridge. He was well aware of his health conditions and thus expected more than ever to return to his hometown and see the doctors there.

Wang Yang-ming went back to Nanning from Hengzhou ³³ in October. When his boat passed a stretch of rapids, he asked the boatman where it was. The boatman told him it was “Wuman Tan ” and there was the Temple of General Fu-bo on the bank. Hearing that, he asked to pull over and took all the trouble to drag himself to the temple to worship Ma Yuan , General Fu-bo despite his disease. Why did he do that? For the fun of sightseeing? Of course not. There was a reason for his worship in Fu-bo Temple. He once dreamed of worshiping in this very Temple of General Fu-bo at the age of 15. He also wrote a poem in the dream starting with the following two sentences, “Back from battles was General Ma Fu-bo, with the art of war learned in youth was a white-haired old man.” It was at the very age of 15 when Wang Yang-ming investigated Juyong Three Passes . At that time, “with the ambition of managing and planning the world,” he was filled with pride and enthusiasm. Four decades had quietly gone away and he was now indeed a “white-haired” man. Now he came to Fu-bo Temple and stepped into it, only to find the temple almost looking like what he dreamed of 40 years ago. He was so shocked that he could not help inscribing two poems on the wall. One of them started with the following two lines: “The poems were made in my dream 40 years ago. Could it be possible that the trip was arranged by man?” He seemed to feel vaguely as if some incredible magic power had played a part in what had happened to him. Then who was the very General Fu-bo? His name was Ma Yuan , a renowned general in the Eastern Han dynasty. Ma Yuan was famous for his skill in maneuvering troops. He once led an army on a punitive expedition to Jiaozhi ³⁴ and suppressed a rebellion there. When they passed Wuman Tan , it was difficult for the troops to cross the river by boat because of the rapids and irregular reefs. Therefore, Ma stationed the troops on the bank and dredged the river. Later generations built a temple on the bank and offered sacrifices to commemorate him. Ma was entitled Xinxi Hou .³⁵ In his very late years, he still went out for battle under orders and finally died of diseases in the army. However, he was slandered by the villains even after his death, so Liuxiu , Emperor Guangwu , deprived him of his title of Xinxi Hou. Master Yang-ming would never know about the coincidence between what happened to him after his death and what happened to General Fu-bo.

Master Yang-ming then went back to his boat after leaving the temple. Back to Nanning , he submitted a written statement to the Imperial Court about his health conditions and asked for the permission to receive medical care in his hometown on October 10. He pleaded with the Emperor to assign someone to take over his position, the Xunfu of Guangdong and Guangxi. He also wrote in the letter that he could not afford any delay in the curing of his disease and he was then “confined to his boat,” namely, living on his boat, and ready to depart Nanning for his hometown via Guangzhou. He expected to march ahead and wait for his replacement meanwhile so that he might fulfill the final official business transition. By his estimate, the new Xunfu would arrive when he reached Shaozhou and Nanxiong , the area close to the border between Guangdong and Jiangxi .

His plea for the permission of medical care at hometown was the last written statement to the Imperial Court in his lifetime. There appeared a note of extreme sincerity and pathetic appeal in his statement. He had, according to his own evaluation, fulfilled and even surpassed his mission of being the Xunfu of the two Guangs ,³⁶ with his successful suppression of the rebellion of Si’en and Tianzhou long ago and the clearance of bandits in Ba Zhai and Duanteng Gorge . The political society and civil life there were under recovery and reconstruction. Everything was going on in the right way. That was why he thought that his requests would be approved and a new Xunfu would soon be assigned to take his place, and that the handing-over procedure would soon be completed and then he could be at home receiving medical care. However, out of Wang Yang-ming’s expectations, his statement, actually a plea with honesty and sadness, was suspended by Gui E , Neibu Dachen ,³⁷ and Li Bu Shagnshu.³⁸ People still feel indignant when they recall the event hundreds of years later.

As a matter of fact, Master Yang-ming was in absolute ignorance about Gui E withholding the statement at that time. He was still waiting for the approval from the Imperial Court anxiously but faithfully. Several days later, his health became even worse so that he stopped waiting and asked Lin Fu , You-Buzhengshi of Guangxi Province to run his official business. He then left Nanning right away and boated down the river to the east, waiting for the new Xunfu of the two Guangs officially designated by the Imperial Court .

In Guangzhou, Master Yang-ming took a side trip to Zengcheng ³⁹ to worship in a temple of one of his distant ancestors and visited Zhan Ruo-shui , an old friend of his. In 1505 (the eighteenth year of the Hongzhi Emperor ), at the age of 34, Master Yang-ming encountered Zhan Ruo-shui in Beijing . They felt like old friends at the first meeting and encouraged each other since then. They took the learning from the sages as their mission and became friends and soul mates. Although with the passage of 20 years they both made their own academic achievements and had different views and ideas, they were still friends. It was a pity that Zhan was not at home when Master Yang-ming arrived at his house. His son kindly asked Master Yang-ming to stay a night, but he refused politely and then left. Actually, it was his last visit to his old friend Zhan Ruo-shui but unfortunately he failed to see him.

He stayed in Guangzhou for several days. When he left there, his disease became more serious with constant coughing, pyogenic infections all over, and diarrhea. He even could neither get to his feet nor sit at ease. He was still waiting for and longing for the new Xunfu to come to take his place but in vain. He had to extend his stay in Guangzhou and planned to go on to the east if he still could not meet the new Xunfu’s arrival. He had faith that the new Xunfu was on his way and he might arrive a couple of hours later, or maybe the next day and that he would meet the new Xunfu when he reached the middle of Nan’an and Ganzhou in Jiangxi Province . He once expressed his anxiety in a letter to an old friend, “Morality can only be promoted when one is alive. With the skin gone, to what can the hair attach?” Confucius once said, “People can promote the morality, but not vice versa.” A person as a being only exists with a “living body.” When the “living body” is gone, he or she will not be able to “promote morality,” which can be illustrated by the relation of skin and hair. We could apparently sense his urgency and worry about his condition. As a matter of fact, his statement was detained by Gui E so that the Imperial Court had no knowledge about his situation. Consequently, there was no appointment of any new Xunfu. It had been a whole month since early October. Master Yang-ming had paused numerous times waiting for the new Xunfu for the work handover, only to miss the best time of curing his disease. He finally decided to move on to the east when he was too sick to delay. On November 21, he reached Jiangxi Province via Dayu Range , then went down the Zhang River ,⁴⁰ and arrived at Nan’an ⁴¹ of Jiangxi on November 25.

However, at that time he was extremely fragile and his disease was very grave. Although he was declining day by day when he just left Nanning , it was with hope and faith that the Imperial Court was sending someone to take over from him and the determination and desire of going home backed him up. Reaching Dayu Range meant entering the border between Nan’an and Ganzhou of Jiangxi Province , a place that he could not be more familiar with, a place that he had traveled all over, fought for, and lived in, a place that enlightened him on the morality of sages , a place that he devoted his wisdom and thought to, and a place that witnessed the beautifying of his life. Yes, in Master Yang-ming’s heart, the very place of Jiangxi had long become his second home, and now he came back and could finally feel at home!

On January 9, 1529 (November 29 of the Chinese Lunar Calendar , the seventh year of the Jiajing Emperor ), Master Yang-ming passed away on his boat pulled over in Qinglongpu of Nan’an .⁴² His life ended there after 57 years of hardships and honors.

In practice, when he departed Guangzhou, his disciple, seeing the seriousness of his health, had prepared the wood for his coffin and took the wood with the boat all the way. On November 25 (Chinese Lunar Calendar ), at the news of Wang Yang-ming’s arrival at Nan’an Zhou Ji, the Tuiguan of the county, also Yang-ming’s disciple came to see him. Wang Yang-ming struggled to sit up with ceaseless coughing. After quite a while, he asked Zhou Ji, “How is your learning coming on?” After he answered Wang’s question, Zhou Ji inquired about Wang Yang-ming’s health with great concern. Wang replied, “My disease is severe! Now I still have breath just because of the little Yuan Qi⁴³ left in me.” Master Yang-ming was concerned with the learning of his disciple and the practice of sages ’ morality at the last moment of his life. It was on November 29 (Chinese Lunar Calendar ) when Wang Yang-ming, with his eyes tightly shut and his breath very weak, sent someone for Zhou Ji to his bed. A long time later, he opened his eyes and said to Zhou Ji, “I am going!” Tears running down Zhou Ji’s face, he asked Wang Yang-ming about his will. Master Yang-ming smiled faintly, “Bright as my heart, nothing should be said.” With these words, he closed his eyes and passed away.

At the end of his life, Wang Yang-ming failed to see the new Xunfu sent by the Imperial Court who was supposed to take over his position of the Xunfu of two Guangs, failed to see his rehabilitation by the Imperial Court for the slander and false charges of all sorts against him since he had suppressed Zhou Chen-hao’s rebellion, and failed to see the return of the right path of the human world and the righteousness of the Imperial Court as he had longed for all the time. He went to see the deceased sages with a crystal, transparent and brightest heart, and a selfless, open, tolerant mind . However, as put by Wang Yang-ming himself, “there is a compass in everyone’s mind.” The righteousness of the world might not exist in the Court. Yet, it existed in every citizen’s mind. His coffin was received with his disciples’ loud cries and people’s burning incense wherever it passed after it left Nan’an , from cities to villages, even to remote mountainous areas. All put on their white funeral costumes, beat on their chests and cried as if for the loss of their own parents.

On December 11, 1529 (November 11 of the Chinese Lunar Calendar , the eighth year of the Jiajing Emperor ), Master Yang-ming’s coffin was buried among the green mountains five Lis⁴⁴ to Lanting ⁴⁵ from Shaoxing , a place of his choice. The tomb lies in front of green mountains, embraced by the shade of trees. There is a stream, Hongxi , running in front of the tomb. Before the stream are open vast fertile fields. His funeral was a ceremonious one as over 1,000 disciples from all over the country besides his family attended it, but his funeral was also a deserted one as the Imperial Court did not show any concern for it, neither did it hold a Xudian ⁴⁶ for Wang Yang-ming , nor did it award a Shihao ⁴⁷ to him. The Imperial Court even did not send any officials to participate in the funeral as if he were nobody but a civilian. That was why on his tombstone was simply engraved “Master Wang Yang-ming’s Tomb.”

However, Master Yang-ming was after all not a common civilian. When he was alive, he was the one that was framed and attacked by crafty villains and was a victim of super power struggles in the Imperial Court , while after his death, he was still the one that was framed and attacked by crafty villains and subjected to a sacrifice of justice and righteousness. Remember Master Yang-ming’s last statement to the Imperial Court for the permission to get medical care at his hometown on October 10, the seventh year of the Jiajing Emperor that was detained by Gui E? Actually, he did so on purpose by using Wang Yang-ming’s statement as a frame-up. After Wang Yang-ming’s death, Gui E impeached Master Yang-ming and accused him of deserting his post without permission, despising the Imperial Court, reversing the use of favors and disfavors in the business of Si’en and Tianzhou , going on a punitive expedition without authorization to Ba Zhai and Duanteng Gorge , cheating in taking the credit for suppressing Zhu Chen-hao’s rebellion , and so on and so forth. He even proposed that the emperor should hold a meeting on the punishment of Master Yang-ming’s wrongdoings. He disparaged Wang Yang-ming’s theory as discarding the ancient modes and disrespecting the masters, holding strange and conspicuous ideology, having a high opinion of himself, censuring Zhuxi and distorting the sage of old. The emperor was greatly enraged and gave the order to deprive Wang Yang-ming of the title “Xinjian Bo ” as a hereditary rank and Yang-ming’s philosophy was forbidden as a “False Philosophy .”

It was after the Jiajing Emperor died and his son succeeded in the first year of the Longqing Emperor in the Ming dynasty (1567) that all the false charges against Master Yang-ming were corrected. Given the fact that officials all over the country submitted statements as to the truth and the innocence of Wang Yang-ming , Emperor Muzong of Ming ⁴⁸ sent out the decree: Wang Yang-ming was awarded the title “Xinjian Hou ”⁴⁹ and conferred on a Shihao “Wencheng”.⁵⁰ The decree had finally come almost 40 years after his death! His tomb was by then already covered with green grass and trees. Such late glory meant nothing to Master Yang-ming but it has showed to all that lies will eventually be debunked by the truth, truth will sooner or later shine its own glory, and justice will always be unearthed after all.

Recalling the whole life of Master Yang-ming, we can always feel his bright and noble personality, his open and upright mind , his passion for pursuing truth, and his temperament of freedom in life from his rough and bumpy life experience. You may still remember that Wang Yang-ming had always been determined to be a sage since childhood. To be a sage he led a bold, unconventional, and unconstrained life in his teens. He practiced horsemanship and archery, studied the art of war , learned Taoism , conducted research on Buddhism , recited poetry and composed songs, and ground away at the classics. All these activities showed his ambition and determination to become a sage . Some researchers criticized him by saying that he had taken many detours to form his philosophy, displaying too much obsession with diverse ways of non-sages. But as a matter of fact, he had always adhered to his ambition to be a sage. All that he did, as mentioned above, indicated his determination to become a sage in every way. From the perspective of his whole life experiences, he couldn’t have accomplished military achievements without his study of the art of war, he couldn’t have created his profound and distinguished Philosophy of Mind without his research on Buddhism , and he couldn’t have become the great man who had virtually achieved the state of the “Three Immortals ”⁵¹ without his successful achievements in his career and thought. What makes Master Yang-ming outstanding is that he specialized in extracting various thoughts and then integrating them into unique and creative new thoughts, and in turn putting the new thoughts into daily practice.

Therefore, it is very important for one to have an ambition, without which, a person would be aimless, and would be likely to get lost in life and fail to realize the meaning of life. Ambition supports and motivates a meaningful life. One will live up to one’s expectations through consistent practice, and will constantly shape oneself to be closer to the expected state. Interestingly enough, one’s expectations for oneself always have such effect on one’s life and will always be realized in the end. As Mengzi once said, everyone can become a sage . One is actually Emperor Yao when he or she wears what Emperor Yao wears, says what Emperor Yao says and does what Emperor Yao does. Master Yang-ming had made up his mind to be a sage since childhood and at last did become a sage. If the ambition is regarded as “Knowing,” then Master Yang-ming’s “Oneness of Knowing and Doing ” refers to the fact of life. In this sense, a person’s “Knowing” decides his/her “Doing.” Therefore, “Doing” is the external form of “Knowing” and “Knowing” is the internal state of “Doing.” And the ultimate state of “The Oneness of Knowing and Doing” is in this way presented in our real life.

Master Yang-ming attached great importance to “The Oneness of Knowing and Doing ” which, in his case, was the key to his success in becoming a sage and a great man of the “Real Three Immortals .” As time goes by, his great “achievements” have gone in the long history but his “virtue” and “thought” glitter brightly in history, which instead of slipping away have become even brighter and guide our present life in a meaningful way.

His philosophy of “Realizing the Original Knowledge ” puts special importance on the necessity of the cultivation of one’s inner spirit. Undoubtedly, the existence of a person is first of all physical since his/her body is material. On the other hand, the existence of a person is more than material since in addition to the physical body a person has thoughts and consciousness, so we can also find the existence of spirit. One’s body may be contaminated with all sorts of dirt, so may one’s spirit. Clean water can wash dirt off one’s body while only truth can purify one’s mind. One can keep a healthy body nurtured by materials. Similarly, one can keep a healthy mind nurtured by spirits. Merely caring for one’s physical conditions but neglecting one’s spiritual state may break the balance of the two forms of existence, which may result in a split personality when the balance is destroyed seriously, or a walking dead when the imbalance goes so far that one has only a body without mind. Of course, no one is willing to turn into a “walking dead.” Such being the case, the cultivation of an inner spirit is essential to everyone.

The philosophy of “Realizing the Original Knowledge ” proposed by Master Wang Yang-ming in practice tells us that we all have “Original Knowledge ” which is the nature of life and the original state of every mind . In other words, our true inner world, or the “Original Mind ,” or the “Inborn Nature ,” whatever it is called, is the essential reason why we are different from other animals. If, in our life, we want to live like a human being, or live up to what a human being is like, we will have to realize our “Original Knowledge,” express our inborn spirits through behavior and follow our “Original Knowledge” in our daily practice and discipline ourselves against all those material desires with the “Original Knowledge .” Otherwise, we will be captives of personal desires and selfishness of all sorts, and our practical life will stray too far away from the humane value when we solely follow our material needs and physical well-being.

One has to have some “spirit” without which, one may become dejected, may feel unstable, may drift aimless, and may float up and down in the sea of desires. Master Wang Yang-ming taught us to realize the “Original Knowledge,” which indicates that we are supposed to retrieve our “Original Knowledge ,” keep it in our mind , and consult it in our life. Only in this way, can our lives have strong roots to support us so that we may fulfill our lives and live a frank, forthright, righteous, and courageous life, a life that human beings are supposed to live. Nowadays, the harmony of the society we are pursuing is based on the harmony of each individual’s body and mind which can be maintained mainly by “Realizing the Original Knowledge .” Adhering to “Realizing the Original Knowledge ” and “The Oneness of Knowing and Doing ” may lead us to a brilliant realm. In our daily life, the state of our mind tends to decide our attitude toward the outside world, our attitude decides the ways we behave, and the ways we behave directly decide the results of our response to the world, namely, the practical situation of our life. Only a bright mind can bring about a bright world.

Wish us to have an infinitely broad and bright world!

(Translated by Nan Er-li; Proofread by Xu Zhi-yuan)