"Everything in the world, the upper and twinkling stars, the lower and the instantaneous mayflies, are all born of matter, do you know?"

This is naturally recognized, and many things in Confucianism are difficult to be defined simply by idealism or materialism, but in terms of rational qi, since it is the "ontology of qi", then it is actually the belief that the world is made of matter, and this material basis is different qi.

"Too empty is angry."

Regarding Jiang Xinghuo's point of view, the opposing debaters have not yet spoken, but Yang Jingcheng took the lead in agreeing.

It's not that he wants to be a traitor, but the idea that "too void is qi" is an important philosophical proposition put forward by Zhang Zai, the patriarch of Guanxue, and it is also one of the foundations of the theory of rational qi.

However, just like Zhu Xi sewed a lot of things from the Buddhists, Zhang Zai, Zhou Dunyi and other five sons of the Northern Song Dynasty also sewed from the Taoists.

The word "Taixu" is not Confucianism itself, it was first seen in the Taoist "Zhuangzi Zhibei Tour", "It is not to be too flat Kunlun, not to swim in too void", of course, in the context of this sentence, Taixu refers to the place of extreme nothingness, not yet a philosophical concept in the full sense.

However, with the development of the times, the "Su Wen Tianyuan Era Treatise" put forward the view of "Taixu Liao Kuo, Zhaoji, the beginning of all materials, and the end of the five fortunes", and Taixu became a real philosophical concept, as a Taoist term, it began to refer to the material carrier of the "Tao" mentioned by Laozi and Zhuangzi, that is, the initial state of the empty and far-reaching universe, that is, the origin of all things to be generated.

Well, in the words of modern science, "too void" is the "singularity" of the Big Bang.

It is precisely because of this origin that there is a follow-up saying that "the Tao begets one, one begets two, two begets three, and three begets all things".

Zhang Zai believes that Taixu is the ancestor of heaven and earth, and heaven and earth come from Taixu, that is, "Taixu is formless, the essence of qi; It gathers and disperses, and the object of change is shaped".

In a nutshell:

Void (singularity) → produce qi (cosmic matter)

However, unlike the Big Bang theory of modern science, in Zhang Zai's theoretical system, the relationship between "Tai Xu" and "Qi" is the relationship between the formless and the tangible.

It may be a bit strange to say this, but in fact, it is easy to understand from a perspective that people in the world are more familiar with, and if you understand the "qi world" as the yang world, and the "void world" as the underworld qi dissipation, then return to the void.

Of course, Zhang Zai definitely didn't mean that.

The correct way to open Zhang Zai's "Theory of Tai Void Qi" is that Tai Void is the eternal universe ontology, and all things in the world that gather and change are the temporary forms of the existence of Qi, that is, the so-called "various forms of change", Tai Void is the Qi that is scattered but not gathered, and when it gathers, it is Qi, which is the basic connotation of Zhang Zai's idea of "Tai Void is Qi".

At the same time, Zhang Zai believes that all things in heaven and earth, including human beings, are material beings, and matter is imperishable, while the worldview of Buddhism and Taoism is wrong, that is, "Futu takes mountains, rivers and the earth as a disease." The former sentence is a criticism of Buddhism, and the latter sentence is a criticism of Taoism.

Zhang Zai believes that Buddhism's concept of reincarnation, ghosts and gods, and Taoism's concept of immortality are all wrong, Buddhism believes that "the heart gives birth to ten thousand laws", all things in heaven and earth are born and died because of the heart, and the heart is the root of all things in heaven and earth.

In Zhang Zai's theory, the relationship between "Tai Xu" and "Qi", which is the ontology of Qi, is formless and object-form, non-feeling and objectivity, and tranquility and dispersion, thus giving people the impression that "Tai Xu" and "Qi" are two things that are treated together, and it is easy for people to understand "Tai Xu" as a transcendent existence above "Qi", rather than the original state of "Qi", and even understand it as the origin of Qi or the reason for the existence of Qi.

In other words, Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi are not unable to understand the exquisite harmonious symbiotic relationship between Zhang Zai's "Taixu" and "Qi", but according to their practical needs, they have theorized against each other.

As a result, Zhang Zai's "Taixu" was replaced by "reason" here in Cheng Yi.

This is also the macroscopic and microscopic dichotomy of Cheng Zhu Lixue, which is the foundation of the dualism of rationality and qi.

The reason why we need to sort out this is to explain that in the Zhang Zai era, the original theory of qi was "too void and qi", and in the Cheng Yi era, it became "reason and qi", and then in the Zhu Xi era, it was further extended to "heavenly reason and human desire".

Therefore, although the debate of reason and desire and the debate of reason and qi are not exactly the same thing, they are closely related from the source.

Since "reason" is used to replace "too empty", then the discussion of whether starvation is a small matter and a loss of moderation is a big matter, we must not just talk about "reason", otherwise, the arguments that theorists have are almost infinite, and the arguments are very detailed.

And Jiang Xinghuo's train of thought, everyone on the opposite side also guessed it.

Jiang Xinghuo wanted to trace back to the source, find flaws from the root of the "Qi Theory of Qi Theory", and then break through Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi's not very solid dualism of rational qi.

Sure enough, Jiang Xinghuo didn't make a move, and as soon as he made a move, he hit the nail on the head.

"There is qi in the world, but there is too much emptiness? Qi can be called a substance, or an atom, and no matter what it is called, it is the basis of everything in the world, and there must be such a thing. But the so-called 'too empty', who can prove it? ”

This step is absolutely irreversible.

"Reason" is used by physicists to replace "too void", and the current Cheng Zhu science rarely mentions "too void", but you can't help but admit it, because if you don't admit the existence of "too void", then the "reason" that is replaced from here will be directly shaken.

Yang Shiqi refused to flinch, and at this time he raised his voice and responded: "Slim void, every inch of air, all too empty!" ”

Kong Xilu looked at Yang Shiqi, if there was a dialogue bubble on his head, there would definitely be only three words on it - "silly boy".

"Really?"

Jiang Xinghuo seemed to be smiling.

Then, Jiang Xinghuo clapped his hands and said, "Come up with a microscope." ”

The microscope, starting with the first generation of hand-ground crystal microscopes, has always been under the strict control of Jiang Xinghuo.

The first generation of microscopes was only given to the Tai Hospital to enable Dai Sigong to study bacteria, Kong Xilu to study cells and microorganisms, except for these two places, there is no other circulation.

The second-generation hand-ground glass microscope only provided samples for Kong Xilu to try.

Today's presentation is the second generation of glass microscopes with magnification and clarity far exceeding the first generation of crystal products.

"Kong Gong, what do you think of my microscope?"

Jiang Xinghuo placed the glass microscope on the table and asked Kong Xilu to weigh it carefully.

This posture is the monster that shows off the treasures in "Journey to the West".

But to everyone's surprise, Kong Xilu actually picked it up and looked at it seriously with an extremely solemn and pious attitude.

In fact, except for Cao Duan, Gao Xunzhi and others, others really don't know what Kong Xilu has been studying recently.

The last time Kong Xilu publicly released the news, he still expressed his opinions on the genealogy of classics and history, ancient and modern texts in the "Ming Pao", but few people know about the "way of the body" of microorganisms.

The main reason is that Kong Xilu himself is also carrying out theoretical research, and many things have not been studied clearly, and things that have not been understood are definitely impossible to come up with with Kong Xilu's character.

When Kong Xilu feels that he can take it out, it must be that he wants to use this thing to completely establish his historical status.

"What is this?"

The microscope was given to Kong Xilu first, and then presented to everyone one by one.

"Seeing is believing."

The glass on the microscope is small, but it is very transparent, and it has a pale blue halo under the reflection of sunlight, like a natural gemstone.

Yang Shiqi watched from the side, his mood gradually changed, and his eyes showed surprise.

"Isn't it?" Yang Shiqi suddenly remembered a rumor in the palace.

Jiang Xinghuo has a magical spell to extract the essence from garlic and save the life of Chengguo Gong Zhu Neng, and this spell lasts for a very short time, and all the garlic essence can only be stored for a very short time, for this reason, the people of the Tai Hospital are researching.

This version of the rumor, of course, was circulated privately by ignorant palace maids and eunuchs, but in Yang Shiqi's ears, it had some other meanings.

Not long after, a glass microscope and a small square table were placed in front of Yang Shiqi's desk at the same time.

Yang Shiqi picked up the glass microscope and looked at it carefully for a while, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "What a wonderful thing." ”

The appearance of this glass microscope is actually similar to that of the first generation of microscopes, except that the color is slightly lighter and more transparent.

But at this moment, Yang Shiqi heard Kong Xilu suddenly exclaim: "What do you want to do?" Throw this thing away. ”

"Why?"

Hu Jichen, who was trying to pick up a branch and put it on the lens to observe, stopped.

Kong Xilu eagerly explained: "This kind of glass is specially processed, and it is used to make the eyes stick to observe, not to put things. ”

After that, Kong Xilu taught everyone how to use the microscope step by step.

This kind of thing, if Jiang Xinghuo does it, maybe some people will not be convinced, but since Kong Xilu came forward, then no matter what, anyone has to give face and do it, even if it feels wrong, they have to do it and protest again.

What is the status of the rivers and lakes?

"Adjust the brightness first, and then fix the temporary loading on the stage, the objective lens is aimed at the light hole, and the eyes are looking at the side, so as to avoid the objective lens from touching the glass piece The glass piece and the lens are very brittle, you must be careful!"

"And then?"

"The left eye observes the changes in the field of vision through the eyepiece, and at the same time adjusts the lens barrel to slowly move up until the vision is clear, and if you can't see it, move the glass piece of the object below, and the mantra is 'want to go up and down, want to go left and right'."

Yang Shiqi followed Kong Xilu's guidance and put the glass pieces containing different objects one by one under the microscope for observation.

These pieces of glass were apparently prepared in advance.

In each group, there are ants, twig fibers, dirt, water droplets, dust, and so on.

Under the lens of a microscope.

Suddenly, Yang Shiqi's gaze fell into the world of lenses, Yang Shiqi turned slightly, and the lenses slowly rotated, as if the world was twisted and blurred.

And the blur is only temporary, and by rotating, Yang Shiqi also sees the scene inside the lens.

The world inside the lenses is very scary.

Yang Shiqi tried to concentrate and calm his breath, and he could barely see clearly, there was a green and shiny liquid, and in the liquid, there were many small "flesh buds" floating, and the shape of the "meat buds" was a bit similar to the antennae of insects.

Yang Shiqi looked inside, and saw that there were many "sarcomas", and these "sarcomas" did not seem to be all dead things, they were connected to many other parts, and even unintelligible tissues.

Yang Shiqi endured his nausea, pointed and asked, "What is this?" ”

"As you can see, this is the strand of a freshly budding willow branch."

Jiang Xinghuo explained very calmly.

"No, I mean what's in there?"

"In the words of Cheng Zhu Lixue, this is called 'qi', maybe it is the qi of the willow tree? In my words, this is the biological tissue of the willow tree, the 'cell' of its material composition. ”

As the saying goes, hearing is false, seeing is believing.

After personally observing all the glass objects one by one, the Confucians fell into awkward contemplation.

It's embarrassing

Everyone never thought that "qi" was like this before.

Of course, it's not that no one questions it, thinking that the microscopic components of this world shouldn't be like this, maybe there is something wrong with this Rausch "microscope", and it is a trick of the charlatans.

But he was soon speechless in reply.

Because of the principle of the microscope, it is very simple.

In the case that everyone now understands the principle of telescopes and magnifying glasses, you can take a convex lens and a concave lens to overlap and combine, which can also have the effect of magnification.

The Taixue Society has not yet fallen to the point of sprinkling and rolling around as a scoundrel.

"Everything in the world is made up of this 'cell'?" Hu Jichen asked curiously.

Today's participation is a very novel experience for Hu Jichen, which is tantamount to opening the door to a new world.

"All living objects, whether animals or plants, are made of cells."

Kong Xilu said very firmly: "According to the old man's long-term observations, summaries, and experiments, generally speaking, bacteria like 'miniature mayflies', these microorganisms are composed of a single cell, that is, single-celled organisms, while plants and animals are multicellular organisms. ”

"The cell body is very small, the movement, nutrition and reproduction of life are completed by these cells, invisible to the naked eye, can be glimpsed under the microscope, the shape is varied, normal single cells are mainly composed of nucleus and cytoplasm, there is a cell membrane on the surface, there will be a cell wall outside the cell membrane of plants, there are often plastids in the cytoplasm, chloroplasts and vacuoles in the body, and mitochondria; Animal cells do not have a cell wall and often have centrosomes in the cytoplasm. ”

Hu Jichen asked again: "So, the essence of qi is actually these things?" ”

"You can understand it this way, and even the cell itself can divide, the so-called life two, two birth three, three birth of all things, this is the truth, if you are interested, I can show you, but the process may be relatively long."

Cao Duan pondered for a moment and then said, "In other words, cells are actually eggs, they will hatch from the mother's body, and then breed more eggs, so that there will be more and more of them."

Kong Xilu nodded: "You can understand it that way. ”

"Wait. Ovum? ”

Cao Duan was stunned: "Then we, people, are grown from this cell?" ”

Kong Xilu looked at the young man.

"Renlun Dao, parents are bloody, don't you understand?"

Cao Duan seemed to think of something, and he couldn't hold back a little.

"What does Kong Gong mean that we were all hatched from this little thing?"

"Well, that's theoretical."

Jiang Xinghuo added at this time: "And there is an assumption that the cell itself is born for self-reproduction, or inheritance, if people complete this task, for the cell, there is no meaning of existence." ”

"Isn't that?"

"Well, after it devours old cells, it will slowly wither, which is human aging."

Hearing this, the faces of the people around him flashed with a trace of fear.

People in this era probably can't imagine that there are such terrible things in this world.

But today, the laws of birth, aging, sickness and death of all life in this world were suddenly and without warning to be revealed to them.

The impact is unparalleled.

These Confucians, who stand at the top of the current ideological circle of the Ming Dynasty, have basically fallen into a sluggish state of shutdown, and can only passively accept the indoctrination of Kong Xilu's research results.

Kong Xilu explained in detail, and he did not retain the intention of hiding secrets, because this kind of valuable experience and laws of observing the microscopic world must be widely recognized by the academic community in order to serve as the capital for the founding of the sect to leave its name in history.

Kong Xilu knew that Jiang Xinghuo needed the endorsement of his identity, and in essence, he was actually using him to attack Cheng Zhu Lixue.

But Kong Xilu didn't care.

No, Kong Xilu not only didn't care, but was very, very grateful to Jiang Xinghuo for giving him this opportunity.

Cheng Yi, Zhu Xi, are you a fart?

Lao Tzu's surname is Kong!

Not to mention attacking Cheng Zhu Lixue, if you really want to talk about it, the entire Confucianism should be surnamed Kong, right? On the contrary, it is the current Cheng Zhu Lixue that completely tampered with the ideas of pre-Qin Confucianism.

Therefore, to smash Cheng Zhu Lixue's "dualism of rationality and qi", Kong Xilu did not have any mustard.

The academic battle is the battle of Taoism, either you die or I die.

Either you don't shoot, or you are fully prepared and kill with one hit!

As I have said before, Cheng Zhuli's "dualism of rationality and qi" itself cannot explain the detailed demarcation between macro and micro.

On the macro level, how to crack the "reason", Kong Xilu can't control.

However, from a microscopic perspective, the new "way of body" discovered by using a microscope can completely study the composition of "qi" or "material world".

And this supreme glory, Jiang Xinghuo gave it to him completely and without any secrets.

Jiang Xinghuo didn't need this reputation, and as he had never told anyone, the main ideas of the New Mind were put forward by him.

Similarly, the new "way of body and matter", which can have a subversive impact on the most important "qi theory" in the Confucian worldview, Jiang Xinghuo handed over to Kong Xilu.

Kong Xilu is the most suitable candidate.

——The head of the Southern Confucian family, a generation of Confucianism, the embodiment of the beautiful virtues in the world, and the walking of Confucius in the world.

When this identity came up with a new method that was reasonable and evidence-based, to smash Cheng Zhu Lixue's "rationality and qi dualism", this was another blow to Cheng Zhu Lixue, who had suffered the three punches of "ancient and modern kings and righteousness"!

"It seems that Da Ming is really extraordinary." Hu Jichen listened and thought in his heart.

By the time Kong Xilu had finished telling all of his research, the scene had become extremely silent.

Yang Shiqi's face became very ugly, even iron blue.

He knew what Jiang Xinghuo was going to do, and he also knew what Jiang Xinghuo wanted to do.

Although he was unwilling to accept the facts, he still had to admit that Jiang Xinghuo was right and he was outrageously wrong.

No, it's not that he Yang Shiqi is outrageously wrong, but all the predecessors of Cheng Zhu Lixue are outrageously wrong!

This world can be said to be composed of "qi", specifically called "cells", or whether it is called a mouthful of more microscopic "atoms" that Jiang Xinghuo mentioned just now, in fact, it doesn't matter.

Importantly, this is the first time that the form of "qi" has been exposed in front of the public.

It turns out that a gentleman is not made of positive and yang energy, and a villain is not made of evil yin energy.

All life in this world is composed of "cells", "cells" is the basic expression structure of "qi", most of the microorganisms in the air dust are single-celled, while plants and animals are multicellular, these cells have different forms and functions, but they all assume the function of maintaining the operation of life.

Even human beings, who are the spirits of all things, are made up of these tiny cells, and grow from cells in the mother's body to babies, and then to adults, and grow old as cells decay and wither, and get sick and die with the death of cells.

Actions speak louder than words.

This sentence is especially obvious now.

The principle of the microscope is understandable to all; The material of the microscope and the material of the observation experiment can be found by everyone; Everything that Kong Xilu said is based on the results of experimental observations, and everyone can reproduce it.

So, what's not to believe?

There is no doubt that this is a historic academic breakthrough.

From now on, the new way of body and object will replace the old method of objectification, and put things into a more microscopic level to investigate, which will become the mainstream of academic research.

And the true face of the vague, hazy, and clear "qi" that no one can say in the past has also been revealed in front of everyone.

And with that comes the truth about how life works.

This kind of impact is so huge that the scene was silent for a long, long time.

Jiang Xinghuo pointed to the microscope and said, "Everyone, let's talk about the argument just now, is it really too void to be empty, every inch of air?" Or does the void really exist? ”

Yang Shiqi reluctantly said: "It is true that 'cells' can be observed as the manifestation of 'qi', but this does not falsify the existence of Taifu. ”

- Still hard-mouthed.

"Then what do you think the void looks like?"

Yang Shiqi was silent.

"Since you can't say it, I'll talk about it."

Jiang Xinghuo pointed to a piece of grass in front of the Confucian Temple and said, "From what I see, what people see is too empty, and qi is not empty." Void and void, qi is full of deficiency, and there is no such thing as nothing. In the final analysis, if it is too empty, it is also real. ”

Jiang Xinghuo's meaning is that what people see as Tai Void is a form of Qi existence, not emptiness, and the Tai Void that seems to be nothing is actually full of Qi, and it is not really an absolute void, in the final analysis, as a state of Qi, Tai Void is not nothing, but real.

"At the same time, the 'qi' that makes up all things is also real, the cell is actually existing, and the real being is the most essential feature of 'qi', all tangible and intangible things are real, and there is no absolute nothingness in the world, even if it is formless, it is not true nothingness, but real existence."

"The world is made of matter, and the first nature of matter is objective reality, and matter is an objective reality that does not depend on human consciousness and can be reflected by human consciousness."

Zhang Yuchu seemed to have an understanding, and sang the song.

"The Invisible One, not nothing, seek it quietly, look at it openly, there is no Invisible One in the universe."

"Those who are too void, the amount of qi, the qi is endless and the hope is invisible, then people see the void but do not see the qi, all the void is qi, the gathering is revealed, and the manifestation is said to be there; Scattered is hidden, and hidden is said to be nothing. ”

Zhang Yuchu's singing voice became more and more high-pitched, while the faces of the Confucians on the opposite side became more and more ugly.

"The void is all qi, the obvious is said to be there, the hidden is said to be nothing, there is real existence, there is nothing is not nothing, in the void, it is the qi of real existence, and there is nothing else."

Translation, what does it mean?

This is to regard qi as the only source of all things in the universe, which fundamentally denies the possibility of other existence above qi, and does not leave any place for metaphysical transcendent things such as "heavenly principles" and "human hearts".

Jiang Xinghuo and the others not only have to prove that the existence of "qi" is the objective material existence of cells, but also to cut off the Taoist foundation of Cheng Zhu Lixue's "dualism of reason and qi" and destroy Cheng Zhu Lixue's worldview.

This kind of thinking is epoch-making in this era, but it has an exclusive academic term in the late Ming Dynasty in Jiang Xinghuo's previous life.

- Qi Monism!

In Jiang Xinghuo's hands, it is the "material monistic world theory".

However, the concept of "qi" is not completely equivalent to matter in the theoretical structure of Confucianism.

The tremendous destructive effect of "Qi Monism" on Cheng Zhu Lixue was realized by all the great Confucians almost in the next instant.

There is another question here, that is, the so-called "gentleman is yang and villain is yin and evil" is not simply ignorance, but it also involves an important physical infrastructure, that is, what is human nature? Whether it is good or evil, or non-good and not evil, has been inconclusive since Mencius, until Zhang Zai first proposed the difference between "the nature of heaven and earth" and "the nature of temperament", and the debate on the question of human nature came to an end.

And Zhang Zai's theory of human nature was a very big theoretical breakthrough in Song and Ming Dynasty science.

It is because Zhang Zai extended the view of "too void is qi" to the fact that people and all things originate from the qi of heaven and earth, so human nature is through nature, and the nature of heaven and earth is pure.

That is to say, "after the metaphysical, there is the nature of temperament, and if the good is the opposite, the nature of heaven and earth exists, so the nature of temperament is the nature of the gentleman."

However, now that "qi" has been confirmed to be a cell, then genetic factors can be used to explain human nature, but the most important "human nature is through nature" cannot be explained.

What are the consequences of the inexplicability of "human nature is through nature"? That is, the absolute antagonistic relationship between human desire and heavenly principles constructed by Cheng Zhu Lixue has lost its heel logic.

Zhang Zai said that human nature is through nature, and the nature of heaven and earth is pure goodness, but is this really the case with heaven and earth?

Heaven and earth are unkind, and all things are used as dogs.

Everything is equal in the face of the laws of the world.

"The nature of heaven and earth" is actually the ethics and morality advocated by Cheng Zhu Lixue, in order to find a transcendent and transcendental support for Confucian ethics and morality.

How did Prime Minister Wen's sentence "Heaven and earth have righteousness, and miscellaneous manifolds" came about? It's from this theory.

And the "monism of qi" kills not only the so-called righteous and evil qi, but also the inevitable logic between heavenly principles and human desires.

It was only at this time that Yang Shiqi understood how Jiang Xinghuo planned to crack the lore of "starvation is a small matter, and a loss of festival is a big thing".

It's a pity that it's late.

(End of chapter)