The purpose of this study is to investigate Wang Yangming’s theory of “There is nothing outside our mind-heart (xin).” It attempts to identify the feature of his theory of the relation between mind-heart and thing (wu) by tackling the three aspects of Wang’s philosophy of “mind-heart” and the two dimensions of his idea of “thing.”
Firstly, it discusses the three aspects of Wang’s philosophy of “mind-heart” and points out that, when it is considered from the point of single-mindedness (jing-yi), the conscience of Dao is the intuitive conscience to know right from wrong. It also states, when the theoretic relations among the mind-heart is principle(li), the intuitive conscience is the principle of heaven and the intuitive conscience is the changes(yi), the intuitive conscience is the principle of changes; and when human beings are regarded as the mind-heart of the universe, the subjectivity of human beings in the universe is established. The aspect of the single-mindness of intuitive conscience reflects its concentration and attention-focusing while the transformation from the mind-heart of Dao to the mind-heart of the universe presents its extension.
Then, it moved to the two dimensions of Wang’s idea of “thing.” It argues that the difference between his understanding of idea of “investigating thing and extending conscience” and that of Zhuxi can be exposed in terms of Wang’s life experience of investigating thing and extending conscience. Besides, it tries to exhibit the implications of the practice of connection of human relations and the connection of nature of thing in light of his three life events, that is, the experience of sitting in mediation, the encounter of a Daoist priest and the enlightenment at Longchang.
Based on the foregoing inquiries, it analyzes Wang’s theory of “There is nothing outside our mind-heart.” It indicates that the characteristics of Wang’s view on the relation between mind-heart and thing is that thing is the function of mind-heart and there is no fixed term for thing and therefore the idea of there is no exact reference for the idea of “There is nothing outside our mind-heart.” Meanwhile, it uses the cases of Wang’s discourses on “flower tree in the rock and my mind-heart” and “spirits, everything and clear intelligence” to interpret the theory of “There is nothing outside our mind-heart.”
Wang began his career with the study of “investigating thing and extending conscience”, then he turned to the idea of “There is nothing outside our mind-heart” and finally established his most important thesis of “extending intuitive conscience.” Wang did not only cultivate inwardly his own mind-heart but also practiced his idea in the connection of human relations, that is, loving parents and relatives, and then extended it into the connection of nature, i.e. the all under heaven. The theme of Wang’s theory of “There is nothing outside our mind-heart” is to actualize the thesis of “extending intuitive conscience” in the life-world.