Visiting Yangming on the First Day of the Lunar New Year

Tracing back, my earliest contact with Wang Yangming was most likely in high school politics class, where “the flower tree in the rock” and “nothing outside the mind” were criticized as typical examples of idealism. However, at that time, no one guided me, and I didn’t delve into Wang Shouren (Wang Yangming). It can be said that “I didn’t know Wang Yangming when I was young, and when I knew him, I was already half a hundred years old”.

In early 2018, the speech “Uprooting the Roots of Poverty, Planting Big Trees, Folk Customs are the Greatest Soft Power” by Mr. Wang Xiaodong, Secretary of the Qingyun County Party Committee in Shandong Province, at the Yanqi Lake Conscience Courtyard in Beijing, went viral on the internet. It is rare to see a grassroots cadre with such good eloquence, so I listened to a few more articles, and followed the clues to search for intellectual allusions such as “Zhi Liangzhi” (Extending Innate Knowledge/Conscience) and “Zhi Xing He Yi” (Unity of Knowledge and Action).

After that, I intermittently listened to Mr. Du Yinshan’s “Unity of Knowledge and Action: Wang Yangming”, and intermittently browsed through “Chuanxi Lu” (Instructions for Practical Living). In addition, seeing words like “Unity of Knowledge and Action”, Yangming Road, and Yangmei Bridge frequently in work and life, I gradually began to understand Mr. Yangming and the School of Mind. It is exactly: When I did not look at this flower (mind), the mind and the flower returned to silence together; when I came to look at this flower, the colors of this flower became clear for a moment.

In May 2018, I went to Yuyao, Ningbo to participate in the Robot Summit. During the lunch break in the town, I visited Wang Shouren’s former residence by the way. For a long time after that (until yesterday…), I believed that Wang Yangming was from Ningbo. Only when I did my homework did I discover that Shaoxing has so many Yangming relics, Yangming Grotto, Yangming Former Residence, Xinjian Earl’s Mansion, Jishan Academy, and Wang Yangming’s Tomb, etc. A bigger discovery is that Yuyao belonged to Shaoxing Prefecture in the Ming Dynasty, which means that Wang Yangming is a genuine Shaoxing native. Yesterday coincided with the first day of the first lunar month of the Year of the Ox (Xinchou), so I decided to go to Shaoxing to visit Yangming Grotto and Yangming Tomb, to comprehend the mental journey of the gentleman.

Yangming Grotto is located at the bottom of the Wanwei Mountain valley. At the beginning of late spring, cherry blossoms are blooming and water is flowing, which is indeed a place for immortals. At that time, Wang Yangming built a hut here and started lecturing, and he must have taken a fancy to the great scenery here. As for where the gentleman built his hut in the past, where he realized the Dao, and whether he faced the Yu Cave to explore the relationship between heaven and man, there is no way to verify, but it is an indisputable fact that the gentleman met Yangming Grotto first, changed his name to Wang Yangming and became famous in the world.

Separated by only a mountain from Yangming Grotto is the Dayu Mausoleum Scenic Area. In the Qingming Festival of 2019, I visited Dayu Mausoleum with a friend. At that time, I didn’t know that Yangming Grotto was right next door, which was a bit regrettable. And this time, because I also had to pay homage to Wang Yangming’s Tomb, I didn’t have time to climb over the mountain to Dayu Temple, which is also a regret.

Wang Yangming’s Tomb is located at the southern foot of Xianxia Mountain in Huajie, Lanting. The gentleman’s tomb and Yangming Grotto are located at the Lanting Expressway Exit (where Wang Xizhi wrote the Lanting Preface) and Pingshui Expressway Exit respectively. Thinking about it, there must be a connection between the two places, and the ancients and moderns thought of the same thing. It is said that in the 1980s, when the Yangming fever had not yet arisen, even the local villagers did not know the existence of Yangming Tomb. Now Shaoxing is spending several “small goals” (hundreds of millions) to rebuild Yangming Garden. No matter what the purpose is, it is worthy of affirmation.

After browsing the two relics of the gentleman, I didn’t gain much insight. Maybe I need to read a few more paragraphs of “Chuanxi Lu” in my spare time, but the more important thing is “Extending Innate Knowledge” and “Honing Oneself in Affairs”.

Published at: Feb 13, 2021 · Modified at: Dec 2, 2025