論王陽明的最後定見

On the Final Views of Wang Yang-ming

黃宗羲《明儒學案》述王陽明學成以後三變，似乎是沒有問題的說法，二、三百年來並無異辭。但我發現，錢德洪的說法與之有異，只謂教亦三變，致良知即陽明最後定見。這種說法為《年譜》與《傳習錄》記載的天泉證道所謂四句教所證實。然陽明歿後，王龍溪撰〈天泉證道記〉，倡四無之旨，貶抑四有，以四句教為權法，乃平地起風波，引起日後無窮爭論。劉宗周雖處處與龍溪對反，卻認為陽明只是因病立方，致良知也只是權法，乃歸顯於密，倡誠意慎獨之旨。宗羲秉承乃師所教，將致良知教移前，以之為學成以後之第二變，並不以之為陽明最後定見，對陽明思想的理解造成了巨大的折曲。本文揭破了此一公案，並對於道統問題作出了觀察。

In Huang Tsung-hsi's The Records of Ming Scholars it was reported that after Wang Yang-ming's enlightenment there were still three changes. Such an account was never questioned by scholars since the publication of Huang's work. But I discovered that Wang's immediate disciple Chien Te-hung had a different account, and only this account offered a true picture of Wang's thought. Chien took chih-liang-chih (extension of innate knowledge of good) to be the final views of Wang. This was confirmed by the so-called Four-sentence-teachings as recorded in Wang's Instructions for Practical Living and his chronology. But after Wang died, another immediate disciple of Yang-ming, Wang Lung-hsi, gave a very different account of the Four-sentence-teachings. He declared that these teachings were only expedient in nature, and the final views would have to be what he called Four-Negatives-teachings. This opened up endless debates on the issue. Liu Tsung-chou rejected almost everything Lung-hsi said, but he also thought that the teaching of chih-liang-chih was only expedient in nature, and he proposed to replace it with his own teachings of sincerity of the will and keeping vigilant in solitude. Huang Tsung-hsi inherited his teacher's views and moved the teaching of chih-liang-chih to the second stage after Yang-ming's enlightenment and did not regard it as Yang-ming's final views. His account produced a distortion in the understanding of Yang-ming's thought. This article for the first time exposes the distortion and also discusses the implications for the transmission of the so-called tao-tung (orthodox tradition of the Way).