Wang Shouren, courtesy name Bo'an, art name Yangmingzi, usually referred to as Wang Yangming, was a Chinese calligrapher, general, philosopher, politician, and writer during the Ming dynasty.
17 Facts About Wang Yangming
2.
Wang Yangming was born in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, to a scholarly family with a tradition of bureaucratic service.
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Wang Yangming earned the juren degree in 1492 and the jinshi degree in 1499.
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Wang Yangming later served as an executive assistant in various government departments until banishment for offending a eunuch in 1506.
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Wang Yangming became a successful general and was known for the strict discipline he imposed on his troops.
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In 1519 AD, while he was governor of Jiangxi province and on his way to suppress the revolts in Fujian, Wang Yangming was suddenly faced with the Prince of Ning rebellion, led by Zhu Chenhao the fourth Prince of Ning.
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Wang Yangming was the leading figure in the Neo-Confucian School of heart, founded by Lu Jiuyuan of the Southern Song.
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Out of Cheng-Zhu's Neo-Confucianism that was mainstream at the time, Wang Yangming developed the idea of innate knowing, arguing that every person knows from birth the difference between good and evil.
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Wang Yangming claimed that such knowledge is intuitive and not rational.
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Wang Yangming rejected both of these which allowed him to develop his philosophy of action.
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Wang Yangming believed that only through simultaneous action could one gain knowledge and denied all other ways of gaining it.
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Wang Yangming held that objects do not exist entirely apart from the mind because the mind shapes them.
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Wang Yangming believed that it is not the world that shapes the mind, but the mind that gives reason to the world.
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Wang Yangming understood this to be an inner light, an innate moral goodness and understanding of what is good.
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Wang Yangming is regarded one of the greatest masters of Confucianism in history along with Confucius, Mencius and Zhu Xi.
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Wang Yangming founded "Yaojiang School" or "Yangming School of Mind", which became one of the dominant Confucian schools in the mid-late Ming period and Qing period China.
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The teachings of Wang Yangming were credited with inspiring many Japanese reformers and revolutionaries during the nineteenth century.