朱子对"道心"、"人心"的诠释

朱子特别重视伪《古文尚书.大禹谟》中"人心惟危,道心惟微;惟精惟一,允执厥中"之语,视之为"虞廷十六字心传",并且在《中庸章句.序》中对"道心"、"人心"提出完整的诠释,为宋代的道统论奠定了理论基础。他根据自己的义理学系统,对"道心"与"人心"这组概念提出了心性论的诠释,而有别于二程的理气论诠释。其次,他强调"人心"与"人欲"的区别,承认自然欲望之合理性。这说明了朱子的伦理学观点如多数的宋明儒者一样,属于"严格主义",而非"禁欲主义"。

Zhu Xi's Interpretation of moral mind and human mind

The concepts of "renxin"(human mind) and "daoxin" (moral mind) stem from the old text of shangshu (the Book of Documents). Zhu Xi took the pair of concepts seriously and gave a comprehensive interpretation to them with the view of justifying his doctrine of daotong (transmission of the way). His interpretation was based on his own moral psychology in contrast to the Cheng brothers' (Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao) ontological interpretation. Moreover, he emphasized the difference between "renxin" and "renyu"(irrational desires), which, dialectically, amounted to recognizing the rationality of our natural desires as human beings. In this sense, Zhu Xi's ethical stance,like that of most Song-Ming Confucians', pertained to rigorism,but not to asceticism.