Chapter 79: Night Chat 8

The operation of "Yuanqi" is called "Yuan Shen", where "Yuan Shen" is not a god of gods and monsters, but only refers to the wonderful movement of the entity, so the movement contains opposing yin and yang. So, how does " vitality" produce everything? The vitality has the "qi of Taixu Zhenyang" and "the Qi of Taixu Zhenyin". The former "feels the latter", that is, the two touch each other and produce the sun, moon and stars. The essence of the sun and the moon changes, and then water and fire are produced. The floating water, "the one who gets fire and condenses" is the earth, and then produces gold, stone, grass and wood. As a result, human history emerged, as he can point out, such as peony, couple, father and son, monarchs and ministers, famous religion, etc.

On the contrary, Wang Ting explained the essence or emptiness of "qi" to some people, and advocated that "qi" was a "real thing" from the common sense of natural science. He once said this in his debate with He Baizhai: "Although Qi is invisible, it is a real thing. The mouth can be sucked in, and the hand can be shaken. It is not empty and empty. Confucianism takes gas as nothing, and it's wrong to see it! It is foolish to say that scholars must know the essence, and then they can talk about creation. Otherwise, it is difficult to argue with the rest!" Obviously, the touchable material entity is the indispensable objective existence of people's life, which is opposed to the "nothing" of the empty body. Is the origin of the world a material entity, or is it the "nothing" of the empty body? This is a philosophical "brain" problem, that is, the starting point of the worldview.

Distinguish between materialism and idealism, look at the attitude towards this issue, and then discuss the rest of the problems. Therefore, he pointed out that " vitality" is completely different from what Laozi said about "born in nothing"; and pointed out that the so-called "nothing born in nothing" is essentially synonymous with "God", and scientists also call it "Tao". He once refuted this: "Bai Zhai's theory of stupidity out of the horizontal canal, and all things are born in existence, born in all boundaries, not only do not know stupid, but also Lao Shi do not know. Lao Shi said that all things are born from something, which is called the Zen of form and qi; those born from nothing, it is said that there is nothing at the beginning of form and qi. Yu thought that everything was at the beginning of vitality, so he said that Confucianism and Taoism were real, and there was no 'no' and no 'empty'. Bai Zhai still knows whether there is a shape or god, and he foolishly thinks that this is the source of Bai Zhai's cool love for immortals and Buddhas. As the general " vitality of "real things", Wang Tingxiang also called it "Taiji", but "Taiji" made a materialist interpretation in his hand, which is fundamentally different from "Taiji" such as Zhou Dunyi and Zhu Xi. Taiji was originally changed from the "imperial pole" of Shangshu, which was regarded as the original reason, so each family can make various opposite explanations of "Taiji". In Wang Tingxiang's view, "there is nothing above vitality, so it is called Taiji", which means that "Taiji" cannot be regarded as a driving force above the world, but can only be regarded as a concept beyond existence. He pointed out that Song Ru's interpretation of "Taiji" as "empty" and "nothing" is nonsense. This kind of delusion and the immortalism of God communicate with each other, that is, that is, the belief that "god" can exist alone from the "shape". Wang Tingsang once sharply criticized this kind of immortalist view, insisting that both "god" and "shape" come from "qi", that is, "God must borrow form and qi". He inherited the tradition of Wang Chong and Fan Zhen and said, "It is the seed of qi, and the transformation of qi is the qi. God, the wonderful use of form and qi, and the choice of sex. The three are consistent. Today, the deacon (He Baizhai) takes God as Yang and shape as Yin. This comes from the theory of Shi's immortal Buddha, which is wrong. The husband will take advantage of the shape and qi, and the invisible qi will be destroyed. Even if there is, it also takes advantage of the husband's breath that has not dissipated. If the firelight must be attached to the object and then see it, why does the fire care if there is nothing? The real "shape" and the virtual "qi" are different manifestations of "qi", which Zhang Zai once mentioned, but Qiangzai did not associate this proposition with the materialist proposition of "god, the wonderful use of form and qi"; while Wang Tingsang combined this principle to advocate the theory of annihilation, and the arguments held by the previous generation of atheists The "shape god" is the same as the metaphor of candlelight. Wang Tingsang repeatedly explained that the changes of natural phenomena based on natural science knowledge are restricted by objective laws, and are not dominated by gods with will and personality. We can look at it from these aspects:

Theological teleology says that grass, trees, animals, etc. are the conscious arrangement of the "heaven". Wang Tingsang refuted such a statement from the perspective of "the situation has to be". He said, "The creatures of heaven and earth have to be the same. What is the heart of heaven? Strong food and weak, big thief small, wise and stupid, the power of things has to be the same, what is the heart of heaven? World Confucius said that the creatures of heaven and earth are human ears, and they are ignorant!" This passage refutes theological teleology with the inevitability of objective things, which is noteworthy in the history of thought. However, it should also be pointed out that the use of "the momentum of things" to explain the "strong food and weak, small, intelligent and stupid" of social phenomena has slipped into the circle of fatalism. Since Wang Chong, there have been such limitations.

Wang Tingsang believes that the root cause of the growth and change of plants and animals should be found by themselves, not fabricated. He realized that in the process of studying things, we should explore the regularity of things themselves through some superficial phenomena and external causes. He said, "The wind and rain are the help of the generation of all things; the cold and warm people are the time for the life and death of all things; if physics is not, we can't insist on it. Although rain can be biological in spring, it can also kill things; when all things become solid in autumn, the rain is useless; wheat and vegetables are also born from the rain, which can be called autumn rain withered things? The wind and spring will fall, and the autumn will fall, and the physics will fall from the ears; the pine and osmanthus osmanthus and cypresses are lush in winter, and the autumn wind can fall? From this perspective, it is all caused by physics and bandits. This passage shows that things should be observed according to specific conditions such as time, place, etc. Only by understanding this can we understand "physics". He started from the "inevitable of physics" and refuted the mysterious heretics such as "fish yin from the sun, the second yang lies at the bottom of the water, the three yang is the fish on the ice, and the four yang and five yang float on the surface of the water": "The fool is the inevit of this physics. The winter moon is cold and warm on the water, so the fish dives at the bottom of the water; in the past of the first month, it is getting closer and closer to the north, and the ice is getting warmer. , so the fish is on the water, the ice has not been solved and the fish has been on, and all of them have no choice. This is exactly the theory he extracted based on the common sense of natural science.

Wang Tingsang believes that ancient things are not easy to know because they have lasted for a long time, and the future is also unpredictable, but according to scientific principles, ancient and future things can also be "proven". This is a compliment to scientific and rational knowledge. Starting from natural science, he clarified the geological situation that can be inferred from today's geological situation to the past. He said: "On the side of mountains and rocks, the ancient land has fallen; there are mountains and valleys, and the waterways are fluctuated and the sun goes down; the land is flat, and the water and soil are spreading; the high ones are peeled off day by day, the flat ones are getting better by day, and the rivers are getting lower and more and more salty. I have no choice but to do it." This is also his correct view based on natural science. Based on the above examples, it can be seen that Wang Tingxiang has improved some of the principles of natural science to a high degree of materialist interpretation, which strongly defends the principles of materialism and opposes metaphysical idealism and theism. As mentioned above, Wang Tingsang's worldview is a materialistic monomerism of Qi. He not only argued that there can be no domination other than the material " vitality", but also argued that "qi" is eternal and has no beginning and no end. This cuts off any way to theology. Based on the changes of natural phenomena, he demonstrated the permanence of "qi": "Gas and dissipates without extinction. At the beginning of rain, gasification is also obtained; when the fire is inflamed, it is steamed and becomes gas. The life of vegetation is full of anger; when the fire burns, it turns into smoke. From the perspective of form, if there is a difference of 'there is' and 'no'; and the difference between Qi and Taixu has not been reduced at the beginning. For the ice in the sea, it is cold and ice, and it gathers; when it melts, it is water and scatters; when it gathers, the ice inherently has 'no', and the water of the sea is not damaged. This gas machine opens up, whether there is or not, and life and death, and the reality of the three talents is extremely real.

Of course, Wang Tingsang could not be based on scientific experiments on temperature and air pressure, but only based on the understanding of the so-called dispersion of natural science at that time, he intuitively insighted the principle of the so-called "endless" conservation of qi.

Since "qi" has no beginning and no end, there is no "reason" that exists alone without matter. Based on the doctrine of "reason is rooted in Qi", Wang Tingxiang criticized Zhu Xi's objective idealism of "Qi is rooted in reason". He said, "Zhu Zi also said: 'Those whose qi has dispersed are scattered and have nothing, and those whose roots are born in reason are solid but infinite.' Whoop! This is also a glimpse of the inexhaustible of creation. What can I say? Those who swim in anger are also born in anger. Although Qi is scattered, it is still between two and cannot be extinguished. Therefore, it is said that 'everything cannot be too empty without dispersing'. The root is qi and cannot exist alone. In order to further demonstrate that "reason is rooted in qi", Wang Tingshang put forward such an argument: there are a variety of things in the world of different shapes, and things are changing, so reason cannot help but present their diversity in the process of change. His text is similar to Wang Fu's theory of changing the way later: "Confucian said that there are all shapes in heaven and earth, but reason is immortal, and this kind of condensed words. Now invisible, safe and rot? According to its truth, after the concession, it will be cut down, and after the cut, it will be usured; the well field will be ruined and become strange, and the feudal government will be set up. The former cannot be followed, and those who are suitable for the ancients are not suitable for the present. Because of the time, the dead are all rumbling dogs, and they are also immortal, don't they? This affirms the evolution of social history, which has different "reasons" at different stages of its evolution, and this glorious proposition is opposite to the rigid dogma of "the sky is unchanged and the Tao is unchanged".