朱熹 “修德为本” 思想的义理溯源、逻辑建构与道德合理性

—— 基于二程 “入德之门” 论述及《大学》八条目次第的贯通性研究

Zhu Xi’s Thought of “Cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation”: Tracing Its Doctrinal Origins, Logical Construction, and Justification of Moral Legitimacy

—A Cohesive Study Based on the Cheng Brothers’ Thesis of “The gateway of entering virtue realm of sagehood for Beginners” and the Sequence of the Eight Items in the Great Learning

引言

在宋代理学重构儒家伦理、重整社会价值秩序的思想浪潮中，朱熹作为理学集大成者，将先秦儒家的修身传统提升为贯通宇宙、心性、政治与日常实践的根本性原则，系统确立起以 “修德为本” 为核心的德性伦理体系。这一思想并非凭空创立，而是对二程理学遗产的直接继承，对《大学》《论语》《孟子》等儒家经典的创造性诠释，以及对当时佛道伦理挑战的针对性回应。

Introduction

In the intellectual tide of Song dynasty Neo-Confucianism’s reconstruction of Confucian ethics and the reordering of social values, Zhu Xi, as the great synthesizer of the tradition, elevated the pre-Qin Confucian tradition of self-cultivation into a fundamental principle connecting cosmology, mind-and-nature, politics, and daily practice. He systematically established a virtue-centered ethical system with “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” at its core. This thought did not emerge from a vacuum; rather, it directly inherited the intellectual legacy of the Cheng brothers (Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi), creatively reinterpreted Confucian classics such as the Great Learning, the Analects, and the Mencius, and provided a targeted response to the ethical challenges posed by Buddhism and Daoism at the time.

以思想史的纵向溯源、义理论的横向分层、实践论的系统串联，打通概念界定、渊源梳理、逻辑建构、合理性论证与价值阐发的全链条，完整呈现朱熹如何承接二程的入德之思，通过重新诠释《大学》“三纲领八条目” 的系统架构，将 “修德” 从普通的道德修养要求，论证为上达天理、下开人伦、贯通内圣外王的伦理根本与价值本源，还原这一理学德性思想的圆融体系与完整逻辑。

Through a longitudinal tracing of intellectual history, a horizontal layering of doctrinal theory, and a systematic threading of practical theory, it will connect the entire chain of concept definition, origin tracing, logical construction, justification, and value elucidation. It will fully demonstrate how Zhu Xi, inheriting the Cheng brothers’reflections on entering virtue and reinterpreting the systematic framework of the Great Learning’s “three guiding principles and eight items,” elevated “cultivating virtue” from a common moral requirement to the ethical foundation and source of value that reaches up to heavenly principle, extends down to human relations, and links inner sagehood with outer kingship, thereby restoring the complete logic and harmonious system of this Neo-Confucian virtue-based thought.

一、思想溯源：二程 “入德之门” 的经典奠基与朱熹的理学承接

1. Intellectual Origins: The Cheng Brothers’ Classic Foundation of “The gateway of entering virtue realm of sagehood” and Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucian Continuation

要准确理解朱熹 “修德为本” 思想的理论起点，必须先锚定二程对《大学》文本的学术定位，这是程朱一系讨论成德之学、修养工夫的共同思想前提。在《大学》的经典接受史上，唐代以前它不过是《礼记》中一篇普通的礼学文献，并未被视为儒家道德修养的核心入门典籍；直到中唐韩愈为辟佛道而重建儒家道统，在《原道》中援引《大学》正心诚意至治国平天下的完整逻辑，才首次将其内在的 “修己治人” 贯通思想发掘出来，为其后续经典化埋下伏笔。真正将《大学》确立为儒家德性修养核心经典的，正是北宋理学家程颢、程颐兄弟 —— 程颐以 “初学入德之门” 作为《大学》的根本定位，这一断语深刻重塑了后世儒家为学入德的进路，也成为朱熹建构 “修德为本” 思想的直接学术前提。

To accurately understand the theoretical starting point of Zhu Xi’s thought of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation,” it is first necessary to anchor the Cheng brothers’ academic positioning of the Great Learning text. This positioning constitutes the shared intellectual premise for the Cheng-Zhu school’s discussion of the learning of achieving virtue and the work of self-cultivation. In the reception history of the Great Learning, prior to the Tang dynasty it was merely an ordinary ritual text within the Book of Rites and was not regarded as a core introductory classic for Confucian moral cultivation. It was not until the mid-Tang, when Han Yu sought to counter Buddhism and Daoism by reconstructing the Confucian orthodoxy, that he cited the complete logic of the Great Learning—from rectifying the mind and making the intentions sincere to governing the state and pacifying the world—in his “Inquiry into the Way” (Yuan Dao). This was the first time the text’s inherent integrative thought of “cultivating oneself and ordering others” was uncovered, laying the groundwork for its subsequent canonization. The true establishment of the Great Learning as a core classic of Confucian virtue cultivation, however, was the work of the Northern Song Neo-Confucians Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi. It was Cheng Yi who defined the Great Learning as “the gateway of entering virtue realm of sagehood for beginners” (chuxue rude zhi men). This judgment profoundly reshaped the later Confucian approach to learning and entering virtue and became the direct academic premise for Zhu Xi’s construction of the “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” thought.

所谓 “初学入德之门”，包含着两层极为关键的义理内涵：其一，《大学》是道德初学者进入道德生命境界的唯一可行门径，是区分自然生命与道德生命的关键分水岭；其二，《大学》本身拥有一套完整、有序的修养次第，能够引导学者从基础的认知工夫入手，逐步深入德性内核，最终完成道德人格的完整塑造。二程兄弟并不满足于《礼记》中的《大学》古本原貌，而是基于自己的理学义理，对古本文本进行了重新编排，隐然区分出 “经”“传” 二分的结构，将《大学》的纲领条目与具体阐释内容一一对应，彻底强化了文本的体系性与逻辑性，也为后续朱熹进一步改造《大学》、建构完整修养逻辑奠定了重要基础。

The designation “the gateway of entering virtue realm of sagehood for beginners” contains two crucial layers of doctrinal meaning. First, the Great Learning is the sole viable gateway for moral beginners to enter the realm of moral life, serving as the critical watershed that distinguishes natural life from moral life. Second, the Great Learning itself possesses a complete and orderly sequence of self-cultivation that can guide learners from basic cognitive work, step by step into the inner core of virtue, and ultimately complete the formation of a moral personality. The Cheng brothers were not content with the original ancient version of the Great Learning as found in the Book of Rites; instead, based on their own Neo-Confucian doctrines, they re-arranged the ancient text, implicitly distinguishing a structure divided into “classic” (经jing) and “commentary” (传zhuan). By correlating the guiding principles and items of the Great Learning with their specific exegeses, they thoroughly reinforced the text’s systematic coherence and logic, thereby laying a crucial foundation for Zhu Xi’s subsequent further reformulation of the text and construction of a complete self-cultivation logic.

朱熹终身服膺二程的学术判断，完全认可《大学》作为 “入德之门” 的经典地位，并在此基础上进一步完成了理论深化与体系重构。朱熹在《大学章句序》中，明确区分了 “小学” 与 “大学” 两个前后衔接、递进有序的为学阶段：人生八岁时，王公贵族到普通百姓的子弟，都会进入小学，学习洒扫、应对、进退的日常礼仪，以及礼乐、射御、书数等基础文化技能；到十五岁以后，资质优异的子弟进入大学，学习穷究事理、修正心性、修养自身、治理他人的根本学问。在这一阶段划分中，“小学” 是基础的行为习惯培养，核心是 “涵养基本”；“大学” 则是成德之学的正式开启，核心是 “明其理，修其身”，而《大学》文本恰恰是承接小学基础、引导学者正式入德的关键门径。

Throughout his life, Zhu Xi wholeheartedly adhered to the Cheng brothers’ scholarly judgment and fully endorsed the status of the Great Learning as the “gate of entering virtue.” Building on this, he further deepened the theory and reconstructed the system. In his “Preface to the Commentary on the Great Learning” (大学章句.序Daxue Zhangju Xu), Zhu Xi explicitly distinguished between the “elementary learning” (小学xiaoxue) and the “great learning” (大学daxue), two stages of learning that are connected and progressively ordered: at the age of eight, the children of everyone from princes and dukes down to commoners would enter elementary learning, where they were instructed in the daily rituals of sprinkling and sweeping, responding to others, and advancing and retiring, as well as basic cultural skills such as rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics. After the age of fifteen, those of outstanding talent would enter great learning, where they were taught the fundamental knowledge of exhaustively investigating the principles of things, rectifying the mind-and-heart, cultivating their persons, and governing others. Within this staged division, “elementary learning” is the cultivation of basic behavioral habits, centered on “preserving and nourishing the fundamental,” while “great learning” is the formal commencement of the learning of achieving virtue, centered on “understanding its principles and cultivating one’s person.” The Great Learning text, accordingly, is the crucial gateway that connects the foundation of elementary learning and guides learners to formally enter virtue.

与二程相比，朱熹对《大学》的义理逻辑挖掘更为深入，文本整合也更为系统。他在二程改本的基础上，进一步调整文本旧次、补缀前人未及阐发的释义阙文，最终形成了《大学章句》这一流传最广、影响最深的权威版本；在这个版本中，他将《大学》全文区分为 “经” 一章和 “传” 十章：“经” 是孔子所言、曾子记述的全篇总纲，“传” 则是曾子及其门人对 “经” 文内容的逐句展开和详细阐释。更重要的是，朱熹将《大学》的核心价值，与儒家 “内圣外王” 的终极追求完全绑定，明确指出《大学》的整个架构，本质上是一套由 “修己” 通向 “安人” 的完整道德实践方案：“三纲领” 是这套方案的总目标，“八条目” 则是实现目标的具体阶梯，而这一整套方案的核心枢纽，正是 “修身”—— 也就是修德 —— 这一根本原则。

Compared with the Cheng brothers, Zhu Xi’s excavation of the Great Learning’s doctrinal logic was more profound, and his textual integration more systematic. Building upon the Cheng brothers’ revised version, he further adjusted the old sequence of the text and supplemented gaps in interpretation that predecessors had not addressed, ultimately producing the Commentary on the Great Learning (Daxue Zhangju), the most widely circulated and profoundly influential authoritative version. In this version, he divided the entire text into one chapter of “classic” and ten chapters of “commentary”: the “classic” is the general outline of the whole text, spoken by Confucius and recorded by Zengzi; the “commentary” is the sentence-by-sentence elaboration and detailed explanation of the content of the “classic” by Zengzi and his disciples. More importantly, Zhu Xi completely bound the core value of the Great Learning to the ultimate Confucian pursuit of “inner sagehood and outer kingship,” explicitly pointing out that the entire architecture of the Great Learning is essentially a complete moral practice plan leading from “cultivating oneself” to “bringing peace to others”: the “three guiding principles” are the general goals of this plan, and the “eight items” are the specific steps to achieve these goals. The central hub of this entire set of plans is precisely “self-cultivation”—that is, cultivating virtue—as the fundamental principle.

在承接二程 “入德之门” 论述的过程中，朱熹也完成了对这一命题的理学转化：二程更多是从为学入门的通俗维度定义《大学》的基础价值，朱熹则将其与自己的理气论、心性论深度绑定，将 “入德” 这一简单的修养起始行为，转化为一套上达天理、下贯人伦的完整学术体系。在他看来，二程之所以将《大学》定为入德之门，本质是因为这部书的内容 “外有以极其规模之大，而内有以尽其节目之详”，既搭建了由个人到天下的完整实践框架，又细化了由认知到实践的全部修养细节；而这个庞大框架的核心支点，正是 “修德” 这一不可动摇的根本原则。从这一意义上说，二程的 “入德之门” 论述，是朱熹 “修德为本” 思想的逻辑原点；而朱熹对《大学》的系统性诠释，正是将这一原点论述，扩展为覆盖本体、工夫、政治、日用的完整德性伦理体系。

In the process of inheriting the Cheng brothers’ discourse on the “gate of entering virtue,” Zhu Xi also completed a Neo-Confucian transformation of this proposition. While the Cheng brothers defined the fundamental value of the Great Learning more from the practical dimension of a beginner’s gateway to learning, Zhu Xi deeply integrated it with his own theories of principle (理li) and vital force (气qi), and mind-and-nature, transforming “entering virtue” from a simple initial act of cultivation into a complete academic system that reaches up to heavenly principle and extends down to human relations. In his view, the essential reason the Cheng brothers designated the Great Learning as the gateway of entering virtue realm of sagehood is that the content of this book “outwardly has the capacity to realize the greatness of its scale, and inwardly has the completeness of its detailed items.” It both establishes a complete practical framework extending from the individual to the world and details every cultivation step from cognition to practice. The core fulcrum of this vast framework is precisely the unshakable fundamental principle of “cultivating virtue.” In this sense, the Cheng brothers’ thesis of “the gateway of entering virtue realm of sagehood” is the logical origin of Zhu Xi’s thought of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation”; and Zhu Xi’s systematic interpretation of the Great Learning is precisely the expansion of this original thesis into a complete virtue-ethical system encompassing ontology, praxis, politics, and daily life.

二、义理内核：朱熹 “修德为本” 的概念界定与经典理据阐释

2. Doctrinal Core: The Conceptual Definition and Classical Rationale of Zhu Xi’s “Cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation”

在继承二程思想的基础上，朱熹以《大学》《论语》《孟子》等经典为核心依据，结合自己的理气论、心性论架构，完成了 “修德为本” 概念的义理提纯，明确了这一德性伦理原则的核心内涵、存有依据及价值优先级，为后续的实践逻辑建构筑牢了理论根基。

On the basis of inheriting the Cheng brothers’ thought, Zhu Xi, taking the Great Learning, the Analects, and the Mencius as core textual authorities and integrating his own frameworks of principle-and-vital-force and mind-and-nature, completed the doctrinal refinement of the concept of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation.” He clarified the core meaning, ontological foundation, and value priority of this virtue-ethical principle, laying a firm theoretical groundwork for the subsequent construction of its practical logic.

2.1 根本界定：德者本也，修身立本

2.1 Fundamental Definition: Virtue as the Root, Self-Cultivation Establishes the Foundation

朱熹 “修德为本” 的核心命题，直接源自《大学》对 “本” 的根本性论述。《大学》在提出三纲领、八条目之后，紧接着用 “物有本末，事有终始，知所先后，则近道矣” 一句，点明了整个儒家实践体系的核心逻辑 —— 本末有序、先后有次，抓住根本才是践行大学之道的关键；而在这一整套体系中，“修德” 是覆盖从个人修养到天下治理所有层面的绝对根本。《大学》进一步以逆推溯源、顺推践行的双向互释结构，强化了这一根本逻辑：从宏大的 “明明德于天下” 目标逆向回溯，治理天下的前提是治理好国家，治理国家的前提是整治好家庭，整治家庭的前提是修养自身；而从基础工夫正向推导，格物之后才能致知，致知之后才能诚意，诚意之后才能正心，正心之后才能修身，修身之后才能齐家，齐家之后才能治国，治国之后才能平天下。在这一闭环逻辑中，修身是连接内在心性涵养与外在事业拓展的唯一枢纽：此前的格物、致知、诚意、正心，是完成修身的内在工夫；此后的齐家、治国、平天下，是修身的外在延伸与自然结果。

The core proposition of Zhu Xi’s “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” stems directly from the fundamental discussion of the “root” (ben) in the Great Learning. Immediately after presenting the three guiding principles and the eight items, the Great Learning states, “Things have their roots and branches, affairs have their endings and beginnings. When you know what comes first and what comes last, you are near the Way.” This sentence highlights the core logic of the entire Confucian practical system—the order of root and branch, the sequence of before and after; grasping the root is the key to practicing the Way of great learning. Within this entire system, “cultivating virtue” is the absolute root covering all levels, from individual cultivation to the governance of the world. The Great Learning further reinforces this foundational logic through a bidirectional mutual-explication structure of reverse tracing and forward practice. Tracing backward from the grand goal of “making bright virtue manifest in the world”: to bring peace to the world, one must first order one’s state; to order the state, one must first regulate one’s family; to regulate the family, one must first cultivate one’s person. Proceeding forward from foundational work: things are investigated, and then knowledge becomes complete; knowledge is complete, and then the intentions are sincere; intentions are sincere, and then the mind is rectified; the mind is rectified, and then the person is cultivated; the person is cultivated, and then the family is regulated; the family is regulated, and then the state is ordered; the state is ordered, and then the world is at peace. In this closed-loop logic, self-cultivation is the sole hub connecting inner mind-and-nature cultivation with outer enterprise expansion. The preceding steps of investigating things, extending knowledge, making the intentions sincere, and rectifying the mind are the inner work for accomplishing self-cultivation; the succeeding steps of regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world are the outward extension and natural outcome of self-cultivation.

朱熹精准把握住了《大学》的这一核心旨趣，在注疏时反复强调 “修身为本” 的绝对性与普遍性：《大学》明言 “自天子以至于庶人，壹是皆以修身为本”，在朱熹看来，这一表述具有极为重要的伦理革命意义 —— 它打破了天子与平民之间的身份等级壁垒，在道德价值的维度上实现了彻底的人格平等：无论身份贵贱、职位高低，涵养德性、修养自身，是所有人不可推卸的根本责任。他进一步从体用、本末的双向维度，界定了修德与天下国家的关系：“修身是对天下国家说。修身是本，天下国家是末”，“本” 是决定事物存在与发展的核心依据，“末” 是依傍根本存在的外在表现；修德是 “明明德” 的核心落地方式，是向内涵养本善德性的 “内圣” 根本，而天下国家的治理，只是修德向外自然生发的 “外王” 结果。

Zhu Xi accurately grasped this core thrust of the Great Learning. In his commentaries, he repeatedly stressed the absoluteness and universality of “self-cultivation as the root.” The Great Learning explicitly states, “From the Son of Heaven down to the common people, all without exception must regard self-cultivation as the root.” In Zhu Xi’s view, this statement had an immensely revolutionary ethical significance—it shattered the hierarchical barriers between the emperor and commoners, realizing a thorough equality of personality on the dimension of moral value: regardless of the nobility or baseness of one’s status, or the height of one’s position, nurturing virtue and cultivating oneself is an inescapable fundamental responsibility for all. He further defined the relationship between cultivating virtue and the state and the world from the dual dimensions of substance-and-function and root-and-branch: “Self-cultivation is in relation to the state and the world. Self-cultivation is the root; the state and the world are the branches.” The “root” is the core basis determining the existence and development of things; the “branch” is the external manifestation dependent on the root. Cultivating virtue is the core method of realizing “making bright virtue manifest,” the “inner sagehood” foundation for inwardly nurturing the original good virtue, while the governance of the state and the world is merely the result of “outer kingship” naturally arising from the outward extension of self-cultivation.

这一逻辑的关键支撑，是《大学》中 “德者本也，财者末也” 的经典论断，朱熹将其从单纯的财政伦理命题，上升为贯穿整个社会人伦的价值本末原则。在《大学》的原始语境中，这一论述本是针对治国理政的价值取舍展开：君子必定先慎重修养德行，只有具备德性，才能获得民众的拥戴，获得民众拥戴才能保有土地，保有土地才能拥有财富，拥有财富才能供给国家用度；德行是根本，财富是枝末，如果颠倒本末，将德行当作外在装饰，将财利作为内心追求，就会诱导百姓互相争夺，甚至引发全社会的道德崩塌。朱熹完全认可这一逻辑，并进一步作了创造性诠释：他并不否定财利的合理价值，而是明确 “德能致财，财由德有” 的先后逻辑 —— 不是要完全排斥财利，而是必须将修德作为获取财利的根本前提；只有以德性为基础，让百姓安居乐业、各得其利，国家才能拥有持久不竭的财富来源。在他看来，财富是人人都喜好的共同欲望，如果统治者颠倒本末、聚敛财富，就会引发百姓的争夺，最终落得 “财聚则民散” 的下场；反之，以德为本、散财于民，让百姓拥有自己的生业与财富，就会实现 “财散则民聚” 的治理效果。这一论述，本质是将修德这一个人伦理原则，直接转化为政治领域的根本价值准则，完成了修德从个人修养到社会治理的价值贯通。

A key support for this logic is the classical dictum in the Great Learning, “Virtue is the root; wealth is the branch.” Zhu Xi elevated this from a simple fiscal-ethical proposition to a principle of value root-and-branch running through the entirety of social and human relations. In the original context of the Great Learning, this statement was aimed at value choices in governing the state: the noble person must first carefully cultivate virtue; only with virtue can one gain the people’s support; with the people’s support, one can possess the land; with land, there will be wealth; with wealth, there will be resources for state use. Virtue is the root; wealth is the branch. If one reverses root and branch, treating virtue as an external decoration and pursuing profit as an inner goal, it will induce the people to contend with one another and even lead to the moral collapse of the entire society. Zhu Xi fully endorsed this logic and further offered a creative interpretation: he did not deny the legitimate value of wealth and profit, but clearly defined the sequential logic that “virtue can lead to wealth, and wealth comes from virtue”—not to completely reject wealth, but to insist that cultivating virtue must be the foundational prerequisite for acquiring wealth. Only by taking virtue as the foundation, allowing the people to live peacefully and enjoy their work and each to obtain their own benefits, can the state have an inexhaustible source of wealth. In his view, wealth is a common desire beloved by all people. If the ruler reverses root and branch and amasses wealth, it will provoke contention among the people, ultimately leading to the outcome of “when wealth is gathered, the people scatter.” Conversely, taking virtue as the root and dispersing wealth to the people, allowing them to possess their own livelihoods and property, will bring about the governance effect of “when wealth is dispersed, the people gather.” This exposition essentially transforms the individual ethical principle of cultivating virtue directly into a fundamental value criterion in the political domain, completing the value integration of cultivating virtue from personal cultivation to social governance.

2.2 存有依据：天理赋予与明德复归

2.2 Ontological Foundation: The Endowment of Heavenly Principle and the Return to Bright Virtue

“修德为本” 不是朱熹单纯基于社会现实提出的规范性要求，而是以其理学本体论、心性论为深层存有依据的道德原则 —— 也就是说，修德的必要性与合理性，根源于人得之于天的德性本体，而非后天的人为规定。朱熹以 “性即理” 为核心出发点，建构起从天理到人性、再到道德实践的完整存有论链条：天地万物都由理与气共同构成，理是形而上的、纯善无恶的终极本体，是事物的本质规定性；气是形而下的、有清浊偏正之分的物质质料，是万物现实存在的基础。人作为万物之灵，同样是理与气的结合：天理落在人身上，就构成了人的天命之性 —— 也就是仁义礼智等先天善性；而气禀则构成了人的形体，成为性理的现实载体。

“Cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” is not a normative demand put forward by Zhu Xi purely on the basis of social reality, but a moral principle with deep existential grounding in his Neo-Confucian ontology and theory of mind-and-nature. That is, the necessity and legitimacy of cultivating virtue are rooted in the innate virtuous substance that humans receive from heaven, not in artificial postnatal stipulations. Taking “nature is principle” (性即理xing ji li) as the core point of departure, Zhu Xi constructed a complete ontological chain from heavenly principle to human nature, and then to moral practice. The ten thousand things of heaven and earth are all constituted by the combination of principle (理li) and vital force (气qi). Principle is the metaphysical, purely good, and ultimate substance, the essential defining nature of things. Vital force is the physical material substrate with distinctions of clarity and turbidity, partiality and balance, which forms the basis for the actual existence of all things. Humans, as the most intelligent of all beings, are likewise a combination of principle and vital force: when heavenly principle falls into a human being, it constitutes that person’s heavenly-endowed nature—that is, the innate good nature of humaneness, rightness, propriety, and wisdom; vital force endowment then forms the physical body and becomes the actual carrier of the nature-as-principle.

在这一架构中，“明德” 是连接天理与人的现实道德生命的关键概念，也是修德的终极存有依据。朱熹在《大学章句》中明确界定 “明德” 的内涵：“明德者，人之所得乎天，而虚灵不昧，以具众理而应万事者也”—— 这是一种上天赋予、本来光明澄澈的先验道德本体，它完全具备天理的所有善性，能够统摄应对世间万事万物；但在现实中，这一光明的本体往往会被人的气禀所拘限、被人欲所遮蔽，从而陷入晦暗不明的状态，然而它的本然光明性能量从未真正停息，依然会在日常实践中悄然显露出善的端绪。这一界定，清晰指出了修德的本质：不是从外部向人灌输某种道德规范，而是通过后天的修养工夫，祛除气禀物欲的遮蔽，将自身本具的 “明德” 重新焕发出来，回复到它的本然光明状态。朱熹进一步用镜子做比喻来解释这一逻辑：人的本性原本善良光明，就像一面干净明亮的镜子；但后天的物欲、不良习惯的沾染，如同镜子上落满了灰尘；而修德的过程，就是常常擦拭镜子、祛除灰尘，让其原有的光明重新显现的过程。

Within this framework, “bright virtue” (明德mingde) is the key concept connecting heavenly principle with the actual moral life of humans, and it is also the ultimate ontological basis for cultivating virtue. In his Commentary on the Great Learning, Zhu Xi explicitly defines the meaning of “bright virtue”: “Bright virtue is what humans obtain from Heaven; it is empty, spirit-like, and not obscured, thereby containing all principles and responding to the ten thousand affairs.”This is an innate, originally radiant and clear transcendent moral substance endowed by heaven, fully possessing all the good nature of heavenly principle and capable of comprehending and responding to all things in the world. However, in reality, this radiant substance is often constrained by one’s endowment of vital force and obscured by human desires, thus falling into a dim and unmanifest state. Nevertheless, its inherent luminous power never truly ceases and occasionally reveals the sprouts of goodness in daily practice. This definition clearly points out the essence of cultivating virtue: it is not the inculcation of external moral norms into a person, but rather the use of postnatal cultivation work to eliminate the obscurations of vital force and material desires, to re-illuminate the “bright virtue” inherently possessed by the self, restoring it to its original luminous state. Zhu Xi further used the metaphor of a mirror to explain this logic: human nature is originally good and bright, like a clean and bright mirror; but the contamination of postnatal desires and bad habits is like a mirror covered with dust. The process of cultivating virtue is the process of constantly wiping the mirror to remove the dust, allowing its original brightness to manifest again.

为了进一步说明修德的内在可能性，朱熹还创造性地区分了 “良知” 与 “良心” 两个概念，为德性修养找到了明确的主体依据。在他的诠释中，“良知” 是严格意义上的性理本体，是先天普遍、永恒不变的纯粹至善之性，是所有人与生俱来的道德存有依据；“良心” 则是 “良知” 在人心未被私欲遮蔽时的纯然显露状态，它会在现实生活中随着人的心念活动、实践选择发生变化。也就是说，“良知” 是修德的终极依据，保证了道德法则的普遍性；而 “良心” 的可变性，则指明了后天修养的必要性 —— 修德的本质，就是通过存养与扩充的工夫，将良心时时保存在本然状态，充分发挥 “良知” 的先天善性，彻底摆脱气禀物欲的桎梏。这一整套心性论架构，为 “修德为本” 提供了坚实的哲学基础：正因为人先天具有完满天理的明德、良知，修德才拥有明确的目标与可行的基础；正因为现实中明德会被私欲遮蔽、良心会发生变动，修德才成为必须持续践行的根本责任 —— 这不是外在的道德说教，而是人顺承自身本性、回归生命本然状态的必然选择。

To further illustrate the inner possibility of cultivating virtue, Zhu Xi also creatively distinguished between the two concepts of “innate knowledge of the good” (良知liangzhi) and “innate moral mind” (良心liangxin), finding a clear subjective basis for virtue cultivation. In his interpretation, “innate knowledge of the good” is strictly the substance of nature-as-principle, the innate, universal, eternal, and purely good nature, the existential basis of morality inherent in all people from birth. “Innate moral mind” is the pure manifestation of “innate knowledge” when the human mind is not yet obscured by selfish desires; it changes with the movements of one’s mental activities and practical choices in real life. That is to say, “innate knowledge of the good” is the ultimate basis for cultivating virtue, guaranteeing the universality of the moral law; and the variability of the “innate moral mind” points to the necessity of postnatal cultivation. The essence of cultivating virtue is to preserve and expand the innate moral mind, constantly maintaining it in its original state, fully giving play to the innate good nature of “innate knowledge,” and thoroughly casting off the shackles of vital force and material desires. This entire mind-and-nature framework provides a solid philosophical foundation for “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation”: precisely because humans innately possess bright virtue and innate knowledge replete with heavenly principle, cultivating virtue has a clear goal and a feasible basis; precisely because in reality bright virtue can be obscured by selfish desires and the innate moral mind can fluctuate, cultivating virtue becomes a fundamental responsibility that must be continuously practiced. This is not external moralizing, but the necessary choice for humans to comply with their own nature and return to the original state of life.

2.3 基本原则：义理、伦理、知行的三重规范

2.3 Basic Principles: The Threefold Norm of Principle-and-Rightness, Ethics, and Knowledge-and-Action

基于对 “修德为本” 的核心定义与存有依据的阐发，朱熹在其著作中明确了修德过程中必须遵循的三重基本原则，进一步细化了这一德性伦理原则的实践价值准则，将抽象的本体义理转化为可遵循的实践规范。

Based on the elucidation of the core definition and ontological basis of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation,” Zhu Xi, in his works, articulated three fundamental principles that must be followed in the process of cultivating virtue. This further refined the practical value standards of this virtue-ethical principle, transforming abstract ontological doctrines into actionable practical norms.

第一，在价值取舍层面，坚持 “重义轻利、以义制利” 的义理原则。朱熹继承了《大学》“德本财末” 的逻辑，将义利之辨视为修德的核心价值前提。他并不完全否定财利的合理价值，而是强调获取财利必须以德性为根本前提，坚决反对 “外本内末” 的价值颠倒：如果将财利、私欲作为根本追求，就会诱导民众争夺，破坏社会人伦；只有将德性、道义作为根本准则，让财利的获取完全符合道义规范，才能真正实现社会的长治久安。这一原则不是针对普通百姓的普通生活要求，而是针对所有需要承担公共事务的士人、统治者提出的严肃价值规范：在上位者必须先明确义利本末的先后顺序，自身修养德性，再以道义标准引导百姓，而不是将聚敛财富作为治国的核心目标。

First, in the realm of value choices, one must adhere to the principle of “valuing rightness and devaluing profit, and regulating profit by rightness.” Zhu Xi inherited the logic of the Great Learning’s “virtue as root, wealth as branch” and regarded the distinction between rightness (yi) and profit (li) as the core value premise of cultivating virtue. He did not entirely deny the reasonable value of wealth and profit but emphasized that acquiring them must take virtue as the foundational premise, resolutely opposing the value inversion of “making outward the root and inward the branch.” If one takes wealth and selfish desires as the fundamental pursuit, it will induce the people to contend and destroy social human relations. Only by taking virtue and the Way as fundamental standards, ensuring that the acquisition of wealth fully complies with moral norms, can one truly achieve long-term stability and order in society. This principle was not a common life requirement aimed at ordinary people, but a serious value norm directed at all scholars and rulers who undertake public duties: those in high positions must first clarify the sequential order of root and branch between rightness and profit, cultivate virtue themselves, and then guide the people by the standards of the Way and rightness, rather than taking the accumulation of wealth as the core goal of governance.

第二，在人伦关系层面，坚持 “尽伦消私、立公去私” 的伦理原则。朱熹认为，修德的本质是回归天理的公共性，核心是消除个人的偏私欲望，成就符合人伦公共理性的道德品格。天理的本质是公共的、普遍的、绝对的善，而人欲的本质是个体的、偏私的、非理性的欲望；二者在道德领域处于此消彼长、不容并立的对立状态。修德的过程，就是不断存养天理、消除人欲的过程：既要在日常人伦中践行仁义礼智的规范，做到事亲以孝、事兄以悌、交友以信；又要在具体事务中克制个人的偏私欲望，做到公平正直、绝无偏私。朱熹特别强调，这一原则并非只针对普通百姓，而是从天子到庶人都必须严格遵守的绝对标准 —— 任何人都不能以身份特殊为借口，放纵私欲、违背伦理，这也是 “壹是皆以修身为本” 的深层伦理内涵。

Second, in the realm of human relations, one must adhere to the ethical principle of “fulfilling one’s role in human relations to eliminate selfishness, and establishing the public to dispel the private.” Zhu Xi believed that the essence of cultivating virtue is returning to the publicness of heavenly principle, the core of which is eliminating individual partial and selfish desires and achieving a moral character that aligns with the public reason of human relations. The nature of heavenly principle is public, universal, and absolute good; the nature of human desire is individual, partial, and irrational desire. Within the moral domain, the two exist in a zero-sum state of mutual waxing and waning, incapable of coexistence. The process of cultivating virtue is the process of continuously preserving heavenly principle and eliminating human desire: one must both practice the norms of humaneness, rightness, propriety, and wisdom in daily human relations—serving parents with filial piety, serving elder brothers with brotherly respect, and treating friends with trustworthiness—and restrain personal partial desires in concrete affairs, achieving fairness, uprightness, and absolute absence of partiality. Zhu Xi particularly emphasized that this principle is not directed only at ordinary people, but is an absolute standard that must be strictly observed by everyone from the Son of Heaven down to the common people. No one can use special status as an excuse to indulge selfish desires and violate ethical norms; this is also the deeper ethical meaning of “all without exception must regard self-cultivation as the root.”

第三，在实践路径层面，坚持 “知行相须、知先行后” 的知行原则。朱熹反对将修德简化为单纯的理论知识积累，也反对缺乏理论引导的盲目实践，而是主张道德认知与道德实践必须紧密结合、互相促进。他明确提出，“知” 是道德实践的前提 —— 必须先通过格物致知的工夫，通晓天理的内涵，明辨善恶的标准，才能明确修德的正确方向；“行” 是道德认知的落地 —— 如果只有道德认知，却不将其转化为具体的道德实践，那么认知就只是空洞的理论，完全没有实际价值。在修德的具体过程中，要先通过讲学、读书、穷理的方式明晰义理，形成深刻的道德认知；再将这种认知转化为日常实践，在洒扫应对、待人接物、处理事务的过程中长期践行，将外在的道德规范内化为自身的道德品格，最终实现德性的真正成就。

Third, in the realm of the path of practice, one must adhere to the principle of “knowledge and action depend on each other, with knowledge preceding action.” Zhu Xi opposed reducing cultivating virtue to mere accumulation of theoretical knowledge and also opposed blind practice lacking theoretical guidance. Instead, he advocated that moral knowledge and moral practice must be closely integrated and mutually reinforcing. He explicitly stated that “knowledge” is the prerequisite for moral practice—one must first, through the work of investigating things and extending knowledge, comprehend the content of heavenly principle and clearly distinguish the standards of good and evil, thereby clarifying the correct direction for cultivating virtue. “Action” is the actualization of moral knowledge—if one only possesses moral knowledge but does not transform it into concrete moral practice, then knowledge remains empty theory without any practical value. In the concrete process of cultivating virtue, one must first clarify principles and rightness through lecturing, studying, and exhaustively investigating principle, forming a profound moral cognition; then transform this cognition into daily practice, long-term implementation in the processes of sprinkling and sweeping, interacting with others, and handling affairs, internalizing external moral norms into one’s own moral character, and finally achieving the true accomplishment of virtue.

三、逻辑建构：《大学》八条目次第下的修德进路与义理闭环

3. Logical Construction: The Progression of Cultivating Virtue and the Doctrinal Closed Loop Under the Sequence of the Eight Items of the Great Learning

如果说二程的 “入德之门” 论述指明了修德的经典前提，《大学》的 “德者本也” 论断指明了修德的价值定位，心性论指明了修德的存有依据，那么《大学》八条目则为朱熹 “修德为本” 思想提供了完整、有序的实践逻辑 —— 通过划分 “内圣修己 — 枢纽修身 — 外王安人” 的递进结构，朱熹将修德从一个抽象的价值命题，转化为一套可分阶段践行、可长期坚持的闭环修养体系。

If the Cheng brothers’ thesis of “the gateway of entering virtue realm of sagehood” pointed out the classical premise of cultivating virtue, and the Great Learning’s judgment of “virtue is the root” pointed out its value positioning, and the theory of mind-and-nature pointed out its ontological basis, then the eight items of the Great Learning provided Zhu Xi’s thought of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” with a complete and orderly practical logic. By dividing the progressive structure into “inner sagehood of cultivating oneself—the pivotal point of self-cultivation—outer kingship of bringing peace to others,” Zhu Xi transformed cultivating virtue from an abstract value proposition into a closed-loop system of cultivation that can be practiced in stages and sustained over the long term.

3.1 整体架构：本末有序的双向逻辑

3.1 Overall Architecture: The Bidirectional Logic of Root-Branch Order

朱熹将《大学》八条目视为承载 “修德为本” 逻辑的完整实践框架，其核心特征是本末分明、先后有序，以及由逆向溯源、顺向践行共同构成的双向互释结构。这一结构的本质，是将 “修德为本” 这一原则，从终极的平天下目标，一步步回溯到格物这一最基础的工夫起点；再从格物起步，顺着修养工夫的次第，一步步延伸到平天下的终极目标，形成一个首尾呼应、不可分割的闭环。

Zhu Xi regarded the eight items of the Great Learning as the complete practical framework carrying the logic of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation.” Its core features are the clear distinction between root and branch, the order of before and after, and the bidirectional mutual-explication structure formed by reverse tracing and forward practice. The essence of this structure is to take the principle of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation,” from the ultimate goal of bringing peace to the world, trace it step by step back to the most basic starting point of work, investigating things; and then from investigating things, follow the sequence of self-cultivation work step by step, extending to the ultimate goal of bringing peace to the world, forming a closed loop that connects beginning and end and cannot be separated.

从逆向溯源的逻辑来看，《大学》提出 “古之欲明明德于天下者，先治其国；欲治其国者，先齐其家；欲齐其家者，先修其身；欲修其身者，先正其心；欲正其心者，先诚其意；欲诚其意者，先致其知；致知在格物”—— 从 “明明德于天下” 这一最宏大的社会治理目标，依次回溯到格物这一最基础的认知工夫：要想实现天下大治，必须先治理好国家；要想治理好国家，必须先整治好家庭；要想整治好家庭，必须先修养好自身；要想修养好自身，必须先端正本心；要想端正本心，必须先净化意念；要想净化意念，必须先扩充知识；而扩充知识的关键，在于穷尽事物之理。这一逆向推导的核心，是为所有的实践目标找到根本支撑：天下治理的根本在国家治理，国家治理的根本在家庭整治，家庭整治的根本在个人修身，而个人修身的基础则在格物致知 —— 所有的外王事业，最终都锚定在修德这一根本上。

Looking at the logic of reverse tracing, the Great Learning states: “The ancients who wished to make bright virtue manifest in the world first ordered their states. Wishing to order their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their minds. Wishing to rectify their minds, they first made their intentions sincere. Wishing to make their intentions sincere, they first extended their knowledge. The extension of knowledge lies in the investigation of things.” From the grandest goal of social governance, “making bright virtue manifest in the world,” it traces step by step back to the most basic cognitive work, investigating things: to realize great order in the world, one must first order the state well; to order the state well, one must first regulate the family; to regulate the family, one must first cultivate the person well; to cultivate the person, one must first rectify the mind; to rectify the mind, one must first purify the intentions; to purify the intentions, one must first extend knowledge; and the key to extending knowledge lies in exhaustively investigating the principles of things. The core of this reverse derivation is to find the fundamental support for all practical goals: the root of world governance lies in state governance, the root of state governance lies in family regulation, the root of family regulation lies in personal self-cultivation, and the basis of personal self-cultivation lies in investigating things and extending knowledge—all enterprises of outer kingship are ultimately anchored in the single root of cultivating virtue.

从顺向践行的逻辑来看，《大学》提出 “物格而后知至，知至而后意诚，意诚而后心正，心正而后身修，身修而后家齐，家齐而后国治，国治而后天下平”—— 从格物这一基础工夫起步，依次推进到致知、诚意、正心，完成内在德性的涵养；再以修身为枢纽，向外推进到齐家、治国、平天下，完成外在事业的实践。这一顺向推进的关键，是明确修养工夫的不可变更的先后次第：只有先做好格物的工夫，才能实现致知；只有先完成致知，才能做到诚意；只有先做到诚意，才能实现正心；只有先完成正心，才能真正修身；只有先修好自身，才能整治家庭；只有先整治好家庭，才能治理国家；只有先治理好国家，才能最终实现天下太平。

Looking at the logic of forward practice, the Great Learning states: “Things being investigated, knowledge becomes complete. Knowledge being complete, intentions become sincere. Intentions being sincere, the mind is rectified. The mind being rectified, the person is cultivated. The person being cultivated, the family is regulated. The family being regulated, the state is ordered. The state being ordered, the world is at peace.” From the foundational work of investigating things, it proceeds in sequence to extending knowledge, making the intentions sincere, and rectifying the mind, completing the inner nurturing of virtue; then, taking self-cultivation as the hub, it proceeds outward to regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world, completing the practice of outer enterprise. The key to this forward progression is specifying the unalterable sequential order of cultivation work: only by first doing the work of investigating things well can one realize the extension of knowledge; only by first completing the extension of knowledge can one make the intentions sincere; only by first making the intentions sincere can one rectify the mind; only by first rectifying the mind can one truly cultivate the person; only by first cultivating the person well can one regulate the family; only by first regulating the family well can one order the state; only by first governing the state well can one ultimately bring peace to the world.

在朱熹看来，这一双向结构不是随意的排列，而是有着极强的因果逻辑：八个条目之间环环相扣、缺一不可，也不可随意变更先后顺序；每一个后续环节，都以前面的环节为基础；每一个前面的环节，都指向后续环节的落实。而贯穿这一整个闭环逻辑的核心枢纽，正是 “修身”—— 也就是修德：前四个条目是修德的内圣工夫，后三个条目是修德的外王延伸；无论是内圣的涵养，还是外王的实践，本质都是修德这一根本的不同展开形式。

In Zhu Xi’s view, this bidirectional structure is not a random arrangement but possesses a powerful causal logic: the eight items are interlocking and indispensable, and their sequence cannot be arbitrarily altered. Each subsequent link is based on the previous link; each preceding link points toward the realization of the subsequent link. The core hub running through this entire closed-loop logic is precisely “self-cultivation”—that is, cultivating virtue. The first four items are the inner sage work of cultivating virtue; the last three items are the outer kingly extension of cultivating virtue. Whether the inner nurturing or the outer practice, both are essentially different unfolding forms of the single root of cultivating virtue.

3.2 内圣维度：格致诚正的入德涵养工夫

3.2 The Inner Sage Dimension: The Cultivation Work of Entering Virtue in the Steps of Investigation, Extension, Sincerity, and Rectification

朱熹将格物、致知、诚意、正心这四个条目，划归为 “内圣修己” 层面，也就是修德的内在涵养工夫。这一维度的核心任务，是逐步摆脱气禀物欲的遮蔽，让本具的明德重新彰显，完成从自然生命向道德生命的本质转变；而这一整个转变过程，又以 “格物致知” 为 “入道” 第一义，也就是入门的根本前提。

Zhu Xi classified the four items of investigating things (格物gewu), extending knowledge (致知zhizhi), making the intentions sincere (诚意chengyi), and rectifying the mind (正心zhengxin) as belonging to the dimension of “inner sagehood and self-cultivation,” i.e., the inner nurturing work of cultivating virtue. The core task of this dimension is to gradually cast off the obscurations of vital force and material desires, allowing the inherent bright virtue to manifest again, and to complete the essential transformation from natural life to moral life. This entire transformation process takes “investigating things and extending knowledge” as the first principle of “entering the Way of sagehood” (入道rudao), the fundamental prerequisite of the gateway.

朱熹承接二程的思想，将 “格物致知” 定位为学者 “入道”—— 也就是进入道德生命的关键工夫，强调其基础优先地位。他对 “格物致知” 作出了明确的定义：“格，至也；物，犹事也。穷至事物之理，欲其极处无不到也”，“致，推极也；知，犹识也。推极吾之知识，欲其所知无不尽也”—— 格物不是单纯探索自然事物的原理，而是要穷究一切人事外物中蕴含的天理，并且要穷究到极致之处；致知则是将自己的道德认知推扩到极致，让自己对天理的认知没有半分蒙蔽、遗漏。在朱熹看来，常人往往被气禀、私欲所遮蔽，普遍缺乏对道德之理的自觉认知 —— 很多人沉湎在自然生命的需求中，完全分不清善恶的标准，即便有善端萌发，也因为缺少明确的认知，很快就会泯灭无踪。在这种情况下，主敬涵养的修身工夫根本无处下手，即便勉强去做，也会因为缺少理论引导，陷入盲目甚至错误的方向。而格物致知的价值，就是通过接触事物、穷究事理，开明人的心智，让人清晰认识到善恶的标准、天理的内涵，从此拥有明确的道德认知，真正踏上道德生命的成长之路。

Inheriting the Cheng brothers’ thought, Zhu Xi positioned “investigating things and extending knowledge” as the crucial work for a learner to “enter the Way of sagehood”—that is, to enter moral life—stressing its foundational priority. He provided a clear definition: “格Ge means to reach; 物wu means affairs. It is to exhaust the principles of things and affairs, wishing to arrive at their utmost limit with nothing unreached.” “致Zhi means to push to the extreme; 知zhi means knowledge. It is to push one’s knowledge to the utmost limit, wishing that what one knows is without incompleteness.” Investigating things is not simply exploring the principles of natural objects; it is to exhaustively investigate the heavenly principle contained in all human affairs and external things, and to do so to the utmost extreme. Extending knowledge is to push one’s moral cognition to the extreme, ensuring that one’s understanding of heavenly principle is without the slightest obscuration or omission. In Zhu Xi’s view, ordinary people are often obscured by their endowment of vital force and selfish desires, generally lacking conscious cognition of the principles of morality. Many are immersed in the needs of natural life, completely unable to distinguish standards of good and evil. Even if the sprouts of goodness emerge, because they lack clear cognition, they soon vanish without a trace. Under such circumstances, the cultivation work of abiding in reverence and nourishing the self has no place to start. Even if one forces oneself to do it, because of the lack of theoretical guidance, one will fall into blindness or even error. The value of investigating things and extending knowledge lies precisely in opening up the human mind through contact with things and the exhaustive investigation of their principles, allowing a person to clearly recognize the standards of good and evil and the content of heavenly principle. From then on, one possesses clear moral cognition and truly sets foot on the path of moral life growth.

格物致知之后，工夫就进入 “诚意” 与 “正心” 的环节，这是由道德认知转向道德意志的关键阶段，也是修德工夫最吃紧的地方。朱熹将 “诚意” 定义为 “实其心之所发，欲其一于善而无自欺也”—— 这是要净化自己的意念，彻底根除自欺欺人的私心杂念，让每一个念头都完全指向善的方向；他特别强调，诚意是 “人鬼关”，是区分善恶的关键节点：如果说格物致知是拨开认知上的迷雾，那么诚意就是在道德实践的起点上，做出为善去恶的决定性选择。而 “正心”，则是诚意工夫的进一步深化：它是指摆脱各种过度情绪、私欲杂念的影响，让心体保持长久的敬畏、警醒、端正状态；心是身的主宰，如果心被私欲杂念所裹挟，无法保持端正，那么即便有善的意念，也难以真正落实到实践中。只有在诚意的基础上进一步端正本心，让心完全统摄性情，不受任何偏私欲望的影响，才能确立起稳定的道德意志，为后续的修身实践提供可靠的内在主宰。

After investigating things and extending knowledge, the work enters the stages of “making the intentions sincere” and “rectifying the mind.” This is the crucial stage of shifting from moral cognition to moral will, and it is also the most intense and critical part of the work of cultivating virtue. Zhu Xi defined “making the intentions sincere” as “making real what the mind emits, wishing it to be unified in goodness and without self-deception”—this is to purify one’s own intentions, thoroughly eradicating the selfish, self-deceptive thoughts, so that every single incipient thought is fully directed toward goodness. He particularly emphasized that making the intentions sincere is the “gate of human and ghost,” the crucial juncture distinguishing good and evil: if investigating things and extending knowledge clears away the fog on cognition, then making the intentions sincere is the decisive choice to do good and eliminate evil at the very starting point of moral practice. “Rectifying the mind” is the further deepening of the work of making the intentions sincere: it refers to casting off the influence of various excessive emotions and selfish desires, maintaining the mind-substance in a prolonged state of reverence, vigilance, and uprightness. The mind is the master of the body. If the mind is entangled by selfish desires and cannot maintain uprightness, then even if there is the intention toward goodness, it will be difficult to truly implement it in practice. Only by further rectifying the original mind on the basis of making the intentions sincere, allowing the mind to completely command the nature and emotions, unaffected by any partial and selfish desires, can one establish stable moral will, providing a reliable inner master for the subsequent practice of self-cultivation.

朱熹进一步指出，这四项内圣工夫不是截然分开、互不关联的独立阶段，而是在实践中交相为助、互相支撑的有机整体：格物致知离不开主敬涵养的辅助，需要在收敛敬畏的心态中去穷究事理；诚意正心也需要以格物致知的认知为基础，没有对天理的清晰认知，意念的诚、心的正就会失去明确的方向，甚至陷入盲目的空寂实践。这一整套内圣修养的核心目标，是祛除气禀私欲对明德的遮蔽，让本具的明德完全、充分地彰显出来；而当这一目标达成时，工夫就会自然过渡到 “修身” 这一枢纽环节。

Zhu Xi further pointed out that these four items of inner sage work are not sharply separated, unrelated independent stages, but in practice are an organic whole that mutually assist and support each other. Investigating things and extending knowledge cannot be separated from the assistance of abiding in reverence and nourishing the self; one needs to exhaustively investigate principles in a state of convergence and reverence. Making the intentions sincere and rectifying the mind also need to be based on the cognition gained from investigating things and extending knowledge; without clear cognition of heavenly principle, the sincerity of intentions and rectification of the mind will lose their clear direction, even falling into blind and empty practice. The core goal of this entire set of inner sage cultivation is to eliminate the obscuration of bright virtue by vital force and selfish desires, allowing the inherent bright virtue to be fully and completely manifested. When this goal is achieved, the work will naturally transition to the pivotal link of “self-cultivation.”

3.3 枢纽核心：修身作为内圣外王的连接点

3.3 The Pivotal Core: Self-Cultivation as the Connection Point Between Inner Sagehood and Outer Kingship

在八条目严密的递进逻辑中，“修身” 是唯一连接内圣与外王的关键枢纽，是统摄修德全部工夫的核心支点：此前的格物、致知、诚意、正心这四项内圣工夫，最终的落地方向就是修身；此后的齐家、治国、平天下这三项外王事业，唯一的可靠出发点也是修身。正是修身这一枢纽，将内在的德性涵养与外在的社会治理实践紧密结合在一起，让儒家的道德思想不会沦为单纯的内在体悟，也让儒家的社会理想不会沦为脱离基础的空洞政治口号。

Within the rigorous progressive logic of the eight items, “self-cultivation” is the sole crucial hub connecting inner sagehood and outer kingship, the core pivot unifying all the work of cultivating virtue. The four preceding items of inner sage work—investigating things, extending knowledge, making the intentions sincere, and rectifying the mind—ultimately land on self-cultivation. The three subsequent items of outer kingly enterprise—regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world—can only reliably begin from self-cultivation. It is this pivotal point of self-cultivation that tightly integrates inner virtue cultivation with outer social governance practice, ensuring that Confucian moral thought does not degenerate into mere inner realization, nor does the Confucian social ideal become empty political slogans detached from their foundation.

朱熹从体用、本末两个维度，论证了修身的枢纽地位。从体用维度看，内在的德性修养是 “体”，是道德价值的根本依托；外在的社会事业是 “用”，是道德价值的自然展现。如果没有修身作为连接点，内在的德性就无法转化为外在的有效实践，外在的事业也会失去坚实的价值支撑；只有完成修身，才能让内在明德的价值，自然而然地流淌、展现到外部实践中。从本末维度看，修身是 “本”，是所有社会事业的核心基础；齐家、治国、平天下是 “末”，是由修身生发的外在结果。朱熹用极为坚决的语气，强调了这一逻辑的绝对性：“其本乱而末治者，否矣”—— 如果修身这个根本被破坏，内在的德性没有涵养完成，却想要实现齐家、治国、平天下的目标，这是绝对不可能成立的；就像树木的根部已经腐烂，却想要让它枝繁叶茂，开花结果，这完全是不切实际的幻想。

Zhu Xi demonstrated the pivotal status of self-cultivation from the two dimensions of substance-and-function and root-and-branch. From the substance-and-function dimension, inner virtue cultivation is the “substance” (体ti), the fundamental basis of moral value; external social enterprise is the “function” (用yong), the natural manifestation of moral value. Without self-cultivation as the connection point, inner virtue cannot be transformed into effective external practice, and external enterprise will lose its solid value support. Only by completing self-cultivation can the value of inner bright virtue naturally flow and be exhibited in external practice. From the root-and-branch dimension, self-cultivation is the “root,” the core foundation of all social enterprise; regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world are the “branches,” the external results generated by self-cultivation. Zhu Xi, in a tone of absolute resolution, emphasized the absoluteness of this logic: “If the root is in disorder, yet the branches are well-ordered, this is impossible.” If the root of self-cultivation is damaged, and inner virtue has not been nurtured to completion, yet one wishes to achieve the goals of regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world, this can never happen. It is like a tree whose roots are already rotten, yet one wishes it to have luxuriant branches and leaves and to blossom and bear fruit—this is an utterly impractical fantasy.

这一枢纽地位的本质，是 “修德” 的价值贯通：内圣工夫是修德的内在完成，外王事业是修德的外在延伸。在朱熹的思想中，修德从来不是个人层面的私事，而是具有强烈的社会政治价值的公共事业：一个人通过内圣工夫修成了明德，其德性必然会自然流露，影响到身边的人，进而影响到整个社会、整个国家；而社会、国家的治理效果，本质上是统治者、社会个体德性水平的直接投射。

The essence of this pivotal status is the value integration of “cultivating virtue.” Inner sage work is the inner completion of cultivating virtue; outer kingly enterprise is the outward extension of cultivating virtue. In Zhu Xi’s thought, cultivating virtue is never merely a personal private matter but is a public enterprise with powerful socio-political value. When a person accomplishes bright virtue through inner sage work, that virtue will inevitably flow forth naturally, influencing those nearby, and then extending to the entire society and the whole state. The governance outcomes of society and the state are, in essence, a direct projection of the level of virtue of the rulers and individual members of society.

3.4 外王维度：修齐治平的成德推扩实践

3.4 The Outer King Dimension: The Practice of Achieving Virtue and Its Extension in Cultivation, Regulation, Ordering, and Peace

修身的枢纽作用，是将内在德性向外推扩，转化为齐家、治国、平天下的外王实践，这是修德的价值展现维度。与内圣工夫的由外而内、聚焦心性涵养不同，外王实践的逻辑是由近及远、由个体向社会逐步推扩，其每一个环节的实践，都必须以修德为根本前提。

The pivotal role of self-cultivation is to extend inner virtue outward, transforming it into the outer kingly practice of regulating the family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world. This is the value manifestation dimension of cultivating virtue. Unlike the inner sage work that moves from the outside in and focuses on mind-and-nature cultivation, the logic of outer kingly practice moves from the near to the far, progressively extending from the individual to society, with each link’s practice necessarily taking cultivating virtue as its fundamental premise.

“齐家” 是外王实践的第一个环节，是修德在家庭人伦层面的直接落地。家庭是社会的基本细胞，也是连接个人修身与社会治理的天然桥梁；在朱熹看来，家庭人伦是人的最基本的道德关系，也是修德的最基础的实践场所：一个人如果能够在家庭中做到事亲以孝、事兄以悌、对待家人以仁让，将家庭关系整治得和睦有序，那么他的德性就已经完成了最基础的外推；反之，如果一个人连最基础的家庭人伦都无法处理妥当，连家人都无法感化，那么他就没有足够的德性基础去治理国家、教化百姓。朱熹进一步指出，齐家的核心逻辑，是将修身所成的德性，运用到家庭人伦的处理中，用自身的德行感化家人，使全家上下都能受到德性的感化，达成道德上的共同提升；这也是《大学》中 “不出家而成教于国” 的底层逻辑 —— 家庭中的孝悌美德，会自然转化为社会、国家中的忠顺美德，为后续的治国实践打下扎实的基础。

“Regulating the family” is the first link of outer kingly practice, the direct landing of cultivating virtue at the level of family human relations. The family is the basic cell of society and the natural bridge connecting individual self-cultivation with social governance. In Zhu Xi’s view, family human relations are the most fundamental moral relations of humans, and also the most basic site of practice for cultivating virtue. If a person can, within the family, serve parents with filial piety, serve elder brothers with brotherly respect, and treat family members with humaneness and deference, regulating family relations to be harmonious and orderly, then his virtue has already accomplished the most basic outward extension. Conversely, if a person cannot even handle the most basic family human relations properly, and cannot even influence his own family members, then he lacks the sufficient virtue foundation to order the state and transform the people. Zhu Xi further pointed out that the core logic of regulating the family is to apply the virtue accomplished through self-cultivation to the handling of family human relations, influencing family members with one’s own virtuous conduct, enabling the entire family, superiors and subordinates alike, to be transformed by the influence of virtue, achieving a common moral elevation. This is also the underlying logic of the Great Learning’s statement: “Without leaving the family, one’s teaching is completed for the state.” The virtues of filial piety and brotherly respect in the family will naturally transform into the virtues of loyalty and obedience in society and the state, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent practice of governing the state.

“治国” 是外王实践的第二个环节，是修德在国家政治层面的落位。在朱熹看来，治国的本质，是将齐家的德治逻辑，进一步推扩到整个国家的治理中。统治者的德性修养，是决定国家治理效果的最核心因素：统治者如果修养德性，能在家庭中践行孝悌仁让的规范，就能将这种德性延伸到国家治理中，施行德治仁政，善待百姓，减轻赋税，教化民众；反之，如果统治者自身没有德性，不能在家庭中践行伦理规范，却想要治理好国家、让百姓服从管理，这是绝对不可能实现的。朱熹特别强调，治国的关键在于 “以己化人”，也就是将自身的德性修养转化为对百姓的道德教化：统治者要先端正自身的道德行为，成为百姓效法的道德榜样；然后通过教化的手段，引导百姓去恶向善，提升全社会的德性水平，实现国家的长治久安。

“Governing the state” is the second link of outer kingly practice, the placement of cultivating virtue at the level of state governance. In Zhu Xi’s view, the essence of governing the state is to further extend the logic of ordering the family through virtue to the governance of the entire state. The virtue cultivation of the ruler is the most core factor determining the effectiveness of state governance. If the ruler cultivates virtue and can practice the norms of filial piety, brotherly respect, humaneness, and deference within the family, he can then extend this virtue to state governance, implementing virtuous rule and humane government, treating the people kindly, reducing taxes, and transforming the people through education. On the other hand, if the ruler himself lacks virtue and cannot practice ethical norms in his family, yet wishes to order the state well and make the people submit to governance, this is absolutely impossible. Zhu Xi particularly emphasized that the key to governing the state is “transforming others through oneself,” that is, transforming one’s own virtue cultivation into moral education for the people. The ruler must first rectify his own moral conduct, becoming a moral model for the people to emulate; then, through the means of education, guide the people to abandon evil and turn toward goodness, elevating the virtue level of the whole society and achieving long-term stability of the state.

“平天下” 是外王实践的最终环节，是修德在天下公共治理层面的终极展现。朱熹将 “平天下” 解读为 “明明德于天下”—— 不是通过武力征伐、强权压制来统一天下，而是通过自身德性的无限推扩，感化天下的百姓，让全天下的人都能明见自己本具的明德，实现天下的太平和谐。这一治理逻辑的核心，是《大学》所提出的 “絜矩之道”：这是一种以自身的道德感受为基准、推己及人的公共处事原则，自己厌恶上级的不良对待方式，就不要以同样的方式对待下级；自己厌恶下级的不良表现，就不要以同样的方式对待上级；通过这种推己及人的方式，让天下人都能各得其所、各安其分，最终实现公共秩序的完美规整。而絜矩之道的实现前提，依然是修德：只有先修好自身的德性，具备换位思考、克制私欲、秉持公道的道德能力，才能真正推行絜矩之道，实现天下平治的理想。

“Bringing peace to the world” is the final link of outer kingly practice, the ultimate manifestation of cultivating virtue at the level of public governance for all under heaven. Zhu Xi interpreted “bringing peace to the world” as “making bright virtue manifest in the world.” This is not the unification of the world through military conquest or coercive suppression, but through the limitless extension of one’s own virtue, transforming the people of the world, enabling everyone under heaven to illuminate their own inherent bright virtue, thereby realizing the peace and harmony of the world. The core of this governance logic is the “Way of the measuring square”(The Principle of Reciprocal Treatment Measured by One’s Own Feelings) (絜矩之道xieju zhi dao) proposed by the Great Learning: a principle of public conduct based on one’s own moral feelings, extended to others. If one dislikes how a superior treats oneself badly, do not treat one’s subordinates in the same way; if one dislikes how a subordinate behaves toward oneself badly, do not treat one’s superior in the same way. Through this method of extending from oneself to others, let all people under heaven each obtain their proper place and each rest in their proper lot, ultimately achieving the perfect ordering of the public order. The precondition for implementing the Way of the measuring square remains cultivating virtue: only by first cultivating one’s own virtue well, possessing the moral capacity for empathy, restraining selfish desires, and upholding the public good, can one truly implement the Way of the measuring square and realize the ideal of a world at peace.

通过这样的实践次第，朱熹将 “修德为本” 的逻辑，从个人的心性修养，一直贯通到天下公共治理的终极层面：内圣工夫是修德的向内落实，外王事业是修德的向外延伸；整个《大学》八条目，不是割裂的修养步骤，而是以修德为根本、闭环自洽的完整道德实践体系。

Through such a practical sequence, Zhu Xi threaded the logic of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” from individual mind-and-nature cultivation all the way through to the ultimate dimension of public governance for all under heaven. Inner sage work is the inward implementation of cultivating virtue; outer kingly cause is its outward extension. The entire eight items of the Great Learning are not fragmented cultivation steps but a complete, closed-loop, self-consistent system of moral practice with cultivating virtue as the root.

四、合理性证成：本体、工夫、伦理的三重义理支撑

4. Justification of Legitimacy: The Threefold Doctrinal Support from Ontology, Praxis, and Ethics

朱熹以二程 “入德之门” 为学术原点、以《大学》八条目为实践框架建构的 “修德为本” 思想，并非单纯的道德呼吁或政治建议，而是拥有本体论、工夫论、政治伦理三重义理支撑的完整学说，具备逻辑自洽的道德合理性。

The thought of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” that Zhu Xi constructed, using the Cheng brothers’ “gate of entering virtue” as the academic origin and the eight items of the Great Learning as the practical framework, is not a mere moral appeal or political suggestion. It is a complete doctrine supported by the threefold doctrinal pillars of ontology, praxis, and political ethics, and it possesses logically self-consistent moral legitimacy.

4.1 本体论支撑：性理之具与明德之复

4.1 Ontological Support: The Endowment of Nature-as-Principle and the Restoration of Bright Virtue

“修德为本” 的终极合理性，源自朱熹的本体论架构：德性是天理在人身上的落实，修德是人顺承天理、回归本然性命的必然要求。朱熹继承了二程 “性即理” 的核心命题，并进一步以 “理一分殊” 的概念阐释了天理与人性的关系：统体的天理是唯一的、完整的，它落实到每一个具体的人身上，就形成了每个人独有的天命之性；就像天上的月亮只有一个，却会完整地映照在万千条河流中，每人身上的天命之性，都是完整天理的具体化，二者在本质上完全相通。

The ultimate legitimacy of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” originates from Zhu Xi’s ontological framework: virtue is the implementation of heavenly principle in humans, and cultivating virtue is the necessary requirement for humans to comply with heavenly principle and return to their original nature. Zhu Xi inherited the core proposition of the Cheng brothers that “nature is principle” and further expounded the relationship between heavenly principle and human nature with the concept of “principle is one, but its manifestations are many” (理一分殊li yi fen shu). The unitary heavenly principle is unique and complete; when it falls into each specific person, it forms that person’s unique heaven-endowed nature. It is like the single moon in the sky fully reflecting in thousands of rivers; the heaven-endowed nature in each person is a concrete instantiation of the complete heavenly principle, and the two are fully interconnected in essence.

在这一架构中，“明德” 是天理在人身上的直接显现，是人的本质规定性，这就从存有论层面，彻底论证了修德的绝对必要性：天理是世间万物的最高决定依据，是绝对至善的终极本体；而修德的本质，就是通过后天的修养工夫，祛除气禀物欲的遮蔽，将自身禀赋的天理 —— 也就是明德 —— 充分、完整地彰显出来，实现与天理的完全合一。这不是人类社会后天约定的道德规范，不是由某个人、某个群体的主观意志决定的行为准则，而是上天赋予人的本质使命，是人性的必然要求；人如果不修德，就等于主动放弃了自己的天命之性，背离了天理的方向，失去了作为道德存在者的价值依据。

In this architecture, “bright virtue” is the direct manifestation of heavenly principle in humans, the essential defining nature of human beings. This ontologically establishes the absolute necessity of cultivating virtue from the existential level. Heavenly principle is the highest determining ground of all things in the world, the ultimate substance of absolute goodness. The essence of cultivating virtue is to, through postnatal cultivation work, eliminate the obscurations of vital force and material desires, fully and completely manifest the heavenly principle endowed in oneself—that is, bright virtue—and achieve complete unity with heavenly principle. This is not a moral norm artificially agreed upon by human society, not a behavioral standard determined by the subjective will of any person or group, but an essential mission endowed by heaven, the necessary requirement of human nature. If a person does not cultivate virtue, it is tantamount to actively abandoning one’s own heaven-endowed nature, deviating from the direction of heavenly principle, and losing the value basis for existing as a moral being.

朱熹进一步通过区分 “道心” 与 “人心”，强化了这一论证的现实针对性：道心是源自天命之性的道德意识，是纯粹至善的；人心是源自形生气禀的感性欲望，是有善有恶的。对于现实中的人来说，道心往往被人心的私欲所遮蔽，难以直接显现；只有通过修德的工夫，持续存养道心、克制人心，才能让道心成为自身意识的主宰，完全回归天理的方向。这一逻辑的核心是将修德的道德要求，转化为源自宇宙本体、人性本质的先天使命：修德不是外在的负担，而是人遵从天理、实现自身价值的必经途径；这一存有论的论证，为 “修德为本” 提供了坚如磐石的终极合理性基础。

Zhu Xi further strengthened the realistic pertinence of this argument by distinguishing between the “mind of the Way” (daoxin道心) and the “human mind” (人心renxin). The mind of the Way is the moral consciousness originating from the heaven-endowed nature, purely and absolutely good. The human mind is the sensory desire originating from the physical form and vital force endowment, which can be good or evil. For actual human beings, the mind of the Way is often obscured by the selfish desires of the human mind and finds it difficult to manifest directly. Only through the work of cultivating virtue, continuously preserving the mind of the Way and restraining the human mind, can one allow the mind of the Way to become the master of one’s own consciousness and completely return to the direction of heavenly principle. The core of this logic is to transform the moral requirement of cultivating virtue into an innate mission originating from the cosmic substance and human nature. Cultivating virtue is not an external burden but the inevitable path for humans to comply with heavenly principle and realize their own value. This ontological argument provides an unshakably solid foundation of ultimate legitimacy for “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation.”

4.2 工夫论支撑：入道成德与内外交养

4.2 Praxeological Support: Entering the Way of sagehood to Achieve Virtue and the Mutual Nourishment of Inner and Outer

“修德为本” 的实践合理性，源自程朱一系的 “入道成德”工夫论 —— 这是一套由格物致知、主敬涵养相辅相成的完整体系，保证了修德的过程有次第、可操作，能够真正实现德性的养成与回归。朱熹承接二程的思想，将修身工夫划分为 “入道” 与 “成德” 两个不可分割的维度，二者互为前提、交相为助，共同支撑起完整的修德实践。

The practical legitimacy of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” originates from the Cheng-Zhu school’s theory of praxis (工夫论gongfu lun) of “entering the Way of sagehood and achieving virtue.” This is a complete system in which investigating things and extending knowledge and abiding in reverence and nourishing the self-complement each other, ensuring that the process of cultivating virtue has a sequence, is actionable, and can truly realize the cultivation and restoration of virtue. Inheriting the Cheng brothers’ thought, Zhu Xi divided self-cultivation work into the two inseparable dimensions of “entering the Way of sagehood” and “achieving virtue.” The two mutually premise and assist each other, jointly supporting a complete practice of cultivating virtue.

“入道” 维度，是指由自然生命跨入道德生命的基础阶段，这一维度以格物致知为第一义工夫。在朱熹看来，常人受到气禀物欲的遮蔽，普遍缺乏对道德之理的自觉认知，分不清善恶的标准，甚至会将感性欲望当作道德准则。在这种情况下，直接进行主敬涵养的内圣工夫，是没有任何效果的 —— 即便勉强去做，也会因为缺少明确的理论引导，陷入空寂的误区，甚至养成一个 “知觉形气” 的错误道德状态。因此，必须首先通过格物致知的工夫，接触外在事物、穷究其中的天理，开明自己的心术，清晰认识善恶的标准、天理的内涵；只有完成这一阶段，人才能从自然生命的懵懂状态中解脱出来，获得明确的道德认知，真正踏入道德生命的门径。

The “entering the Way of sagehood” dimension refers to the foundational stage of crossing from natural life into moral life. This dimension takes investigating things and extending knowledge as the first-principle work. In Zhu Xi’s view, ordinary people, obscured by vital force and material desires, generally lack conscious cognition of the principles of morality, cannot distinguish the standards of good and evil, and may even take sensory desires as moral standards. In such a state, directly undertaking the inner sage work of abiding in reverence and nourishing the self has no effect—even if one forces it, lacking clear theoretical guidance, one will fall into the pitfall of emptiness and may even cultivate an erroneous moral state of “perceiving the physical form and vital force.” Therefore, one must first, through the work of investigating things and extending knowledge, engage with external things, exhaustively investigate the heavenly principle within them, open up one’s own mental capacity, and clearly recognize the standards of good and evil and the content of heavenly principle. Only after completing this stage can one break free from the ignorant state of natural life, acquire clear moral cognition, and truly step through the gate of moral life.

“成德” 维度，是指切己自得、真正成就完满道德人格的阶段，这一维度以主敬涵养为第一义工夫。在朱熹看来，格物致知虽然是道德实践的基础，但它本质上属于认知层面的工夫，只是明确了道德的方向，并没有将道德价值真正内化为自身的德性；如果只停留在格物致知的认知阶段，即便对天理的认知足够清晰，也只是空洞的知识，不会对人格产生任何实际改变。而主敬涵养的工夫，正是将外在认知转化为内在德性的关键环节：主敬涵养，是指在内心保持敬畏、收敛、警醒的状态，在寂然不动的未发状态下存养自己的天命之性，在接事应物的已发过程中警醒自己的意念，让每一个念头、每一次实践都完全符合天理的要求；通过这种持续的存养工夫，人才能将格物致知获得的道德认知，内化为稳定的道德品格，真正实现德性的圆满成就。

The “achieving virtue” dimension refers to the stage of truly accomplishing a complete moral personality through personal, experiential realization. This dimension takes abiding in reverence and nourishing the self as the first-principle work. In Zhu Xi’s view, although investigating things and extending knowledge is the foundation of moral practice, it essentially belongs to work at the cognitive level, merely clarifying the direction of morality without truly internalizing moral value as one’s own virtue. If one only stays at the cognitive stage of investigating things and extending knowledge, even if one’s cognition of heavenly principle is clear enough, it remains empty knowledge and will not bring about any actual change in personality. The work of abiding in reverence and nourishing the self is precisely the crucial link that transforms external cognition into inner virtue. Abiding in reverence and nourishing the self means maintaining a state of awe, convergence, and vigilance within the mind, preserving and nourishing one’s heaven-endowed nature in the unaroused state of stillness, and alerting one’s intentions in the aroused state of engaging with affairs, allowing every incipient thought and every practice to fully comply with the requirements of heavenly principle. Through this continuous work of preservation and nourishment, one can internalize the moral cognition obtained from investigating things and extending knowledge into a stable moral character, truly achieving the complete perfection of virtue.

朱熹特别强调，这两种工夫不是先后割裂、非此即彼的关系，而是在实践中互相支撑、缺一不可的有机整体：格物致知为主敬涵养提供明确的理论引导，让涵养工夫不会陷入盲目；主敬涵养为格物致知提供端正的实践基础，让穷理的过程不会流于空谈。二者的有机配合，保证了修德的过程是循循有序、由知入行的完整过程，从工夫论层面论证了 “修德为本” 的实践可行性，避免了道德实践走向顿悟空疏或盲目向外求知的两个极端。

Zhu Xi particularly emphasized that these two types of work are not in a relationship of sequential separation or mutual exclusivity, but form an organic whole that mutually supports and is indispensable in practice. Investigating things and extending knowledge provides clear theoretical guidance for abiding in reverence and nourishing the self, preventing the nourishing work from falling into blindness. Abiding in reverence and nourishing the self provides an upright practical foundation for investigating things and extending knowledge, preventing the process of exhaustively investigating principle from degenerating into empty talk. The organic coordination of the two ensures that the process of cultivating virtue is a complete process that follows an orderly sequence and proceeds from knowledge to action. From the level of praxeology, it demonstrates the practical feasibility of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation,” avoiding the two extremes of moral practice veering into sudden enlightenment and emptiness or blind outward pursuit of knowledge.

4.3 政治伦理支撑：本末之序与德礼之治

4.3 Political-Ethical Support: The Order of Root and Branch and Governance by Virtue and Rites

“修德为本” 的社会政治合理性，源自《大学》“德本财末”“修齐治平” 的政治伦理逻辑 —— 这是一套将个人道德修养与社会治理、国家命运紧密绑定的理论体系，为现实中的政治实践提供了明确的价值准则。

The socio-political legitimacy of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” originates from the political-ethical logic of the Great Learning: “virtue is the root, wealth is the branch” and “cultivation, regulation, ordering, peace.” This is a theoretical system that tightly binds individual moral cultivation to social governance and the fate of the state, providing clear value criteria for actual political practice.

这一政治伦理的核心，是《大学》所反复强调的 “本末有序” 关系：在社会治理的整个体系中，修德是决定治理效果的根本因素，财利、制度、刑罚等所有其他治理手段，都只是依傍根本而存在的末节。朱熹完全继承了《大学》“德者本也，财者末也” 的论断，他并不否认财利、经济在社会治理中的重要性，但明确强调，财利的获取、经济的发展，必须以德性为根本前提，不能脱离德性的引导而独立追求；统治者只有先修养德性，施行德治仁政，赢得民众的拥戴，让百姓安居乐业、拥有稳定的生业，才能真正实现国家经济的持久发展，保障国家的财政收入。如果统治者颠倒本末，将财利作为治理国家的根本目标，忽视自身的德性修养，忽视对百姓的道德教化，一味聚敛财富，就会彻底失去民心，导致社会矛盾激化，最终落得 “财聚则民散” 的亡国下场。

The core of this political ethics is the relationship of “ordered root and branch” repeatedly emphasized by the Great Learning: within the entire system of social governance, cultivating virtue is the fundamental factor determining governance effectiveness; all other means of governance, such as wealth, institutions, and punishments, are merely the branches that depend on the root for their existence. Zhu Xi fully inherited the Great Learning’s dictum “Virtue is the root; wealth is the branch.” He did not deny the importance of wealth and economy in social governance but clearly emphasized that the acquisition of wealth and economic development must take virtue as the fundamental premise and cannot be pursued independently, detached from the guidance of virtue. Only if the ruler first cultivates virtue, implements virtuous governance and humane policies, wins the support of the people, and allows them to live peacefully, work happily, and possess stable livelihoods, can the state truly achieve lasting economic development and secure its fiscal revenue. If the ruler inverts root and branch, takes wealth as the fundamental goal of state governance, neglects his own virtue cultivation, neglects the moral education of the people, and solely amasses wealth, he will completely lose the hearts of the people, leading to the intensification of social contradictions and ultimately the ruinous outcome of “when wealth is gathered, the people scatter.”

从治理实践的层面看，朱熹将 “修德为本” 的逻辑，转化为 “以德化民” 的具体治理路径，这是一种将道德教化置于治理核心位置的政治伦理。在他看来，统治者的德性修养，是决定国家治理效果的最核心因素：统治者如果修养德性，就能通过 “絜矩之道”，推己及人，善待百姓，减轻赋税，施行仁政，用自身的德行感化民众；反之，如果统治者自身没有德性，即便制定严苛的法律、动用刑罚手段，也无法让百姓真正心悦诚服，反而会激化社会矛盾，导致更多的社会问题。在此基础上，朱熹进一步区分了 “德礼” 与 “政刑” 的关系：德礼是治理国家的根本，是从根本上教化百姓、引导百姓向善的治本手段；政刑是治理国家的末节，是约束百姓行为、震慑犯罪的治标手段。二者并非对立关系，而是本末配合的关系 —— 必须以德礼为根本前提，先通过道德教化提升民众的德性水平，再以政刑作为辅助手段，治理少数不服从教化的人；如果舍弃德礼这一根本，只依靠政刑进行治理，即便能够在短时间内维持秩序，也无法实现长治久安，社会的道德水平只会持续下滑，最终陷入治理危机。

From the perspective of governance practice, Zhu Xi transformed the logic of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” into the concrete governance path of “transforming the people through virtue.” This is a political ethic that places moral education at the core of governance. In his view, the ruler’s virtue cultivation is the most central factor determining the effectiveness of state governance. If the ruler cultivates virtue, he can, through the “Way of the measuring square(The Principle of Reciprocal Treatment Measured by One’s Own Feelings),” extend himself to others, treat the people kindly, reduce taxes, implement humane governance, and influence the populace with his own virtuous conduct. Conversely, if the ruler himself lacks virtue, even if he enacts strict laws and employs penal means, he cannot make the people truly submit with heartfelt conviction; rather, this will intensify social conflicts and lead to more problems. On this basis, Zhu Xi further distinguished the relationship between “virtue and rites” (德礼de li) and “governance and punishment” (政刑zheng xing). Virtue and rites are the root of governing the state, the fundamental means of addressing the source by transforming the people and guiding them toward goodness. Governance and punishment are the branch, the means of addressing the symptoms by restraining the people’s behavior and deterring crime. The two are not in an oppositional relationship but a cooperative one of root and branch. One must take virtue and rites as the fundamental premise, first elevating the people’s level of virtue through moral education, and then use governance and punishment as auxiliary means to deal with the minority who do not submit to education. If one abandons the root of virtue and rites and relies solely on governance and punishment for governance, even if order can be maintained in the short term, long-term stability and peace cannot be achieved; the moral level of society will only continuously decline, eventually falling into a governance crisis.

这一整套政治伦理，将修德从单纯的个人道德要求，上升为关乎国家存亡、社会兴衰的政治根本原则，也为 “修德为本” 思想提供了坚实的现实政治支撑：在朱熹的逻辑中，无论是个人的安身立命，还是家庭的和睦、国家的治理、天下的太平，最终都要依赖修德这一根本；背离这一根本，所有的发展目标都会失去基础。

This entire political ethics elevates cultivating virtue from a mere personal moral requirement to a fundamental political principle concerning the survival of the state and the rise and fall of society, and it also provides solid, realistic political support for the thought of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation.” In Zhu Xi’s logic, whether it is the individual’s settling of the self and establishing of destiny, the harmony of the family, the ordering of the state, or the peace of the world, everything ultimately depends on this single root of cultivating virtue. Deviating from this root, all developmental goals will lose their foundation.

五、价值阐发：历史地位与当代启示

5. Value Elucidation: Historical Status and Contemporary Inspiration

朱熹以二程 “入德之门” 为基础、以《大学》八条目为框架建构的 “修德为本” 思想，是中国传统儒家德性伦理的集大成成果，不仅深刻影响了中国古代后期数百年的社会文化走向，也对当代社会的道德建设、国家治理具有重要的借鉴价值。

Zhu Xi’s thought of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation,” constructed on the basis of the Cheng brothers’ “gate of entering virtue” and with the eight items of the Great Learning as its framework, is the culminating achievement of the traditional Chinese Confucian virtue ethics. It not only profoundly influenced the direction of social culture in late imperial China for hundreds of years but also possesses significant reference value for the moral construction and state governance of contemporary society.

5.1 历史地位：儒家德性传统的理学重构

5.1 Historical Status: The Neo-Confucian Reconstruction of the Confucian Virtue Tradition

从儒家思想发展的历史脉络来看，朱熹 “修德为本” 思想的核心历史价值，是完成了孔孟儒家德性传统的理学化重构，将原本侧重于个人感悟、日常实践的先秦修身思想，转化为一套拥有完整本体论、工夫论、政治伦理支撑的严密理论体系，解决了儒家德性思想在佛道挑战下的理论危机。

Viewed from the historical trajectory of Confucian thought, the core historical value of Zhu Xi’s thought of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” is that it completed the Neo-Confucian reconstruction of the Confucian virtue tradition of Confucius and Mencius. It transformed the pre-Qin self-cultivation thought, which originally emphasized personal realization and daily practice, into a rigorous theoretical system supported by a complete ontology, praxeology, and political ethics, resolving the theoretical crisis faced by Confucian virtue thought under the challenges of Buddhism and Daoism.

在先秦儒家的经典论述中，修身一直是核心议题：孔子提出 “为政以德”，强调统治者的德行修养是国家治理的基础；孟子提出 “天下国家之本在身”，将个人修身视为社会治理的前提；《大学》在此基础上总结出 “修齐治平” 的完整实践次第，明确了 “修身为本” 的核心逻辑。但在汉唐时期，儒家的德性思想长期停留在政治实践、日常伦理的层面，缺少形而上的本体论支撑：它没有从宇宙论、心性论的角度说清楚人为什么要修德、修德的内在依据是什么，也没有建构出一套循序渐进、可操作的完整修养工夫。与此同时，佛道二教在当时的思想界占据了重要地位：佛教提出 “万法皆空”，将现实世界视为虚幻的存在，将修道的重点置于否定现实世界的涅槃解脱上；道教则强调修仙得道、长生不老，将修道的重点置于个人的出世修炼上。二者都将道德修养置于次要位置，甚至将其视为出世修炼的牵绊；这对儒家的德性传统构成了严峻挑战 —— 很多当时的思想精英都被佛道吸引，开始追求出世修炼，不再重视现实社会中的道德修养，直接冲击了儒家伦理的核心地位，也导致了社会道德规范的弱化。

In the classical expositions of pre-Qin Confucianism, self-cultivation had always been a core topic. Confucius advocated “governing through virtue,” emphasizing that the ruler’s virtue cultivation is the foundation of state governance. Mencius proposed that “the foundation of the world lies in the state, the foundation of the state lies in the family, the foundation of the family lies in the person,” regarding personal self-cultivation as the prerequisite for social governance. On this basis, the Great Learning summarized the complete practical sequence of “cultivation, regulation, ordering, peace,” clarifying the core logic of “self-cultivation as the root.” However, during the Han and Tang dynasties, Confucian virtue thought long remained at the level of political practice and daily ethics, lacking metaphysical ontological support. It failed to explain, from the perspectives of cosmology and mind-and-nature theory, why humans should cultivate virtue and what the inner basis for cultivating virtue is, nor did it construct a systematic, actionable, and complete praxeology. At the same time, Buddhism and Daoism held significant positions in the intellectual world. Buddhism proposed that “all phenomena are empty,” viewing the real world as illusory existence and placing the focus of cultivation on nirvana liberation through negating the real world. Daoism emphasized attaining immortality and long life through cultivation, placing the focus of cultivation on individual world-transcending practice. Both relegated moral cultivation to a secondary position, even viewing it as an entanglement hindering world-transcending cultivation. This posed a severe challenge to the Confucian virtue tradition—many intellectual elites of the time were attracted to Buddhism and Daoism, began to pursue world-transcending cultivation, and no longer valued moral cultivation in real society. This directly impacted the core status of Confucian ethics and led to the weakening of social moral norms.

面对这一思想危机，二程首先竖起了复兴儒学的大旗，通过《大学》“入德之门” 的经典定位，重新确立了儒家德性修养的经典权威，将《大学》从普通的礼学文献中拯救出来，作为对抗佛道思想的核心典籍。朱熹则在二程的基础上，进一步完成了系统性的重构：他以 “理” 为核心，构建起贯通宇宙、心性、政治与日常实践的完整哲学体系，将修德与宇宙终极的天理结合起来，为儒家德性传统提供了坚实的形而上支撑；他又以《大学》八条目为核心，搭建起由格物致知到修身、再到治国平天下的完整实践框架，明确了修德的具体工夫与递进次第，把这一抽象的道德原则，转化为普通人可以在日常实践中循序渐进、长期坚持的修养路径；更重要的是，他通过区分 “道心” 与 “人心”、“天命之性” 与 “气质之性”，回答了 “人为什么要修德”“修德的依据是什么”“如何修德” 等长期困扰儒家的理论问题，将修德从一个简单的政治道德口号，变成了圆融自洽的理学德性伦理体系。

Facing this intellectual crisis, the Cheng brothers first raised the banner of reviving Confucianism. Through the classical positioning of the Great Learning as “the gateway of entering virtue realm of sagehood,” they re-established the classical authority of Confucian virtue cultivation, rescuing the Great Learning from being an ordinary ritual text and making it a core classic to counter Buddhist and Daoist thought. Zhu Xi then, on the foundation laid by the Cheng brothers, further completed a systematic reconstruction. Taking “principle” (理li) as the core, he built a complete philosophical system connecting the cosmos, mind-and-nature, politics, and daily practice, integrating cultivating virtue with the ultimate heavenly principle of the universe and providing solid metaphysical support for the Confucian virtue tradition. Taking the eight items of the Great Learning as the core, he constructed a complete practical framework from investigating things and extending knowledge to self-cultivation and then to governing the state and bringing peace to the world, clarifying the specific work and progressive sequence of cultivating virtue. He transformed this abstract moral principle into a path of cultivation that ordinary people could follow step by step and sustain over the long term in daily practice. More importantly, by distinguishing the “mind of the Way” and the “human mind,” and the “heaven-endowed nature” and the “physical nature,” he answered long-standing theoretical questions that had troubled Confucianism, such as “why should humans cultivate virtue?” “what is the basis for cultivating virtue?” and “how to cultivate virtue?” He transformed cultivating virtue from a simple political-moral slogan into a self-consistent and harmonious Neo-Confucian virtue-ethical system.

这一重构的直接结果，是将《大学》抬到了四书之首的经典位置，将 “修德为本” 确立为后世儒家的核心价值准则。从元代皇庆二年（1313 年）起，朱熹的《四书章句集注》成为科举考试的官方指定标准读本，《大学》的逻辑架构成为中国古代士人人格修养和政治实践的基本遵循；此后近七百年间，所有的知识精英都在这一思想的熏陶下成长，将修德作为安身立命、建功立业的根本原则。这一思想不仅塑造了中国传统知识分子的 “内圣外王” 理想，也深刻影响了中国古代的社会治理模式、民众价值观念，成为中华文明重德传统的核心理论支撑；它将儒家的道德价值，渗透到从国家政治到家庭日常的每一个角落，让 “以德为本” 的价值理念，深深扎根在中国的文化传统中。

The direct result of this reconstruction was the elevation of the Great Learning to the premier position among the Four Books and the establishment of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” as the core value standard for later Confucians. From the second year of the Huangqing(皇庆) era of the Yuan dynasty (1313), Zhu Xi’s Collected Commentaries on the Four Books became the officially designated standard textbook for the civil service examinations. The logical architecture of the Great Learning became the basic guideline for the personality cultivation and political practice of Chinese scholar-officials. For the subsequent nearly seven hundred years, all intellectual elites were nurtured under the influence of this thought, taking cultivating virtue as the fundamental principle for settling the self, establishing destiny, establishing merit, and achieving enterprise. This thought not only shaped the traditional Chinese intellectual’s ideal of “inner sagehood and outer kingship” but also profoundly influenced the social governance model and popular value concepts of ancient China, becoming the core theoretical support for the Chinese civilization’s tradition of valuing virtue. It infused Confucian moral values into every corner, from state politics to daily family life, deeply rooting the value concept of “taking virtue as the foundation” in the Chinese cultural tradition.

5.2 当代启示：道德建设与治国理政的价值借鉴

5.2 Contemporary Inspiration: Value Reference for Moral Construction and State Governance

朱熹 “修德为本” 的思想，是中华传统道德文化的精华沉淀，即便在今天，依然折射着深刻的现实光芒，为当代社会的公民道德建设、国家治理体系构建、社会价值观塑造提供了多维度的借鉴。

Zhu Xi’s thought of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” is the refined sediment of traditional Chinese moral culture. Even today, it still reflects a profound realistic light, providing multi-dimensional reference for the civic moral construction, the building of the national governance system, and the shaping of social values in contemporary society.

第一，它为当代公民道德建设提供了由知入行、切己务实的修养路径，指明了道德建设必须从基础的个体修养入手。朱熹的工夫论明确，修德不是一蹴而就的短期工程，而是要通过格物致知、主敬涵养的长期循序渐进过程：先要通过道德教育，让普通百姓明晰善恶的标准、懂得道德价值的道理，形成明确的道德认知；再通过日常的实践引导，让百姓将道德认知转化为具体的行为习惯，在待人接物、处理事务的过程中，长期践行道德规范，持续涵养自己的德性，最终将外在的道德规范内化为稳定的道德品格。这对于解决当代社会普遍存在的道德认知与实践脱节的知行脱节问题，具有很强的针对性：当代社会，很多人都具备明确的道德认知，知道什么是善、什么是恶，但在实际生活中，却往往因为缺少内在的德性涵养，不愿意将认知转化为实践，甚至在私欲的引导下做出违背道德的行为。朱熹的修德思想启示我们，公民道德建设不能只停留在道德知识的宣传普及上，必须同时重视内在的德性涵养，将理论学习与日常实践结合起来，引导普通百姓在日常小事中持续践行道德规范，真正实现由知入行、内外合一的道德养成；与此同时，道德建设必须坚持平等性原则，从天子到庶人，都必须以修身为本，任何人都不能拥有超越道德规范的特权；这对于在全社会强化道德共识、建立良好道德风尚，具有重要的指导意义。

First, it provides a self-cultivation path for contemporary civic moral construction that proceeds from knowledge to action and is both practical and personally relevant, pointing out that moral construction must begin with basic individual cultivation. Zhu Xi’s praxeology makes it clear that cultivating virtue is not a short-term project completed overnight but a long-term, step-by-step process through investigating things, extending knowledge, abiding in reverence, and nourishing the self. One must first, through moral education, allow ordinary people to clearly understand the standards of good and evil and appreciate the principles of moral value, forming clear moral cognition. Then, through daily practical guidance, people must transform moral cognition into concrete behavioral habits, practicing moral norms over the long term in the processes of interacting with others and handling affairs, continuously nourishing their own virtue, and ultimately internalizing external moral norms into stable moral character. This has strong pertinence for addressing the widespread problem of the disconnection between moral knowledge and action in contemporary society. In modern times, many people possess clear moral cognition and know what is good and what is evil, but in actual life, because they lack inner virtue cultivation, they are often unwilling to transform cognition into practice and may even act against morality under the guidance of selfish desires. Zhu Xi’s thought of cultivating virtue reveals to us that civic moral construction cannot stop at the dissemination of moral knowledge but must simultaneously emphasize inner virtue cultivation, integrating theoretical learning with daily practice, guiding ordinary people to continuously practice moral norms in daily small matters, and truly realizing a moral development that proceeds from knowledge to action and integrates inner and outer. At the same time, moral construction must adhere to the principle of equality—from the Son of Heaven down to the common people, all must take self-cultivation as the root, and no one can possess privileges that transcend moral norms. This has important guiding significance for strengthening moral consensus and establishing good moral customs in the whole society.

第二，它为当代国家治理体系构建提供了 “以德化民”“德本刑末” 的价值参考，明确了道德在国家治理中的基础性地位。朱熹的政治伦理强调，修德是国家治理的根本，治理者自身的德性修养、对百姓的道德教化，是实现国家长治久安的核心前提；德礼是治本的基础，政刑是治标的辅助，本末不可倒置。这一逻辑，与我国当代提出的 “依法治国与以德治国相结合” 的治理理念具有高度的内在契合性。现代国家治理，既需要法律制度的刚性约束，也需要道德伦理的柔性支撑；法律解决的是违法犯罪后的惩戒问题，道德解决的是思想认识层面的根本自律问题，二者缺一不可。朱熹的修德思想启示我们，在国家治理过程中，必须重视德性的基础性价值：一方面，治理者要率先加强自身的道德修养，做到公私分明、克己奉公、以身作则，以自身的道德行为引领社会风气；另一方面，在完善法律制度的同时，必须强化全社会的道德教化，将道德价值融入法治建设和社会治理的全过程，引导百姓崇德向善，从根源上减少违法犯罪行为，实现标本兼治的长治久安；此外，在制定公共政策、处理公共事务时，要坚持 “絜矩之道”，保持推己及人的同理心，以满足百姓的普遍需求、保障百姓的根本利益为价值出发点，避免因过度追求经济指标、忽视民生福祉而导致社会矛盾激化，这也是 “德本财末” 思想在当代治理中的全新转化。

Second, it provides the value reference of “transforming the people through virtue” and “virtue as root, punishment as branch” for the building of the contemporary national governance system, clarifying the foundational status of morality in state governance. Zhu Xi’s political ethics emphasized that cultivating virtue is the root of state governance; the governor‘s own virtue cultivation and the moral education of the people are the core prerequisites for achieving long-term stability of the state. Virtue and rites are the foundation of addressing the source; governance and punishment are the auxiliary means of addressing the symptoms; root and branch cannot be inverted. This logic has a high degree of inherent compatibility with the contemporary governance concept of “combining the rule of law with the rule of virtue” put forward by our country. Modern state governance requires both the rigid constraint of legal systems and the flexible support of morality and ethics. Law addresses the problem of punishment after violations and crimes; morality addresses the fundamental problem of internal self-discipline on the ideological level; both are indispensable. Zhu Xi’s thought of cultivating virtue reveals that, in the process of national governance, we must pay attention to the foundational value of virtue. On the one hand, governors must take the lead in strengthening their own moral cultivation, achieving clarity on public versus private interests, restraining the self to serve the public, and setting an example by their own conduct, leading social trends with their own moral behavior. On the other hand, while perfecting legal systems, we must strengthen the moral education of the whole society, integrating moral values into the entire process of legal construction and social governance, guiding the people to revere virtue and turn toward goodness, reducing unlawful and criminal behavior at the root, and achieving long-term stability through addressing both symptoms and root causes. Furthermore, when formulating public policies and handling public affairs, we must adhere to the “Way of the measuring square,” maintaining the empathy of extending ourselves to others, taking meeting the general needs of the people and safeguarding their fundamental interests as the value starting point, and avoiding the intensification of social contradictions due to the excessive pursuit of economic indicators and neglect of people’s livelihood and well-being. This is also a contemporary transformation of the thought of “virtue as root, wealth as branch” in modern governance.

第三，它为当代社会正确处理义利关系、重构理性价值观，提供了 “重义轻利、以义制利” 的经典准则，具有很强的现实针对性。朱熹强调，“德者本也，财者末也”，并不否定财利的合理价值，只是明确义先利后、以义制利的先后逻辑；获取财利必须以道德为前提，不能违背道义规范，更不能将财利作为人生的根本追求。这对于矫正当代社会过度逐利、道德滑坡的现象，重塑理性、健康的社会价值观具有重要意义：在市场经济环境下，人们追求合理的物质利益是正当的，但这一追求必须严格限定在法律和道德的框架内，不能为了获取利益，突破道德底线，甚至触犯法律；无论是个体的职业活动、企业的生产经营，还是公共部门的权力行使，都必须将道义价值放在首位，见利思义，在道德的引导下合理获取利益，避免拜金主义、极端利己主义的泛滥，真正实现物质追求与道德精神的双重平衡，这正是中华传统重德智慧为当代社会提供的精神滋养。

Third, it provides the classical principle of “valuing rightness and devaluing profit, and regulating profit by rightness” for the correct handling of the relationship between rightness and profit and the reconstruction of rational values in contemporary society, which has strong realistic pertinence. Zhu Xi emphasized that “virtue is the root, wealth is the branch,” not denying the reasonable value of wealth and profit, but only clarifying the sequential logic of rightness first, profit second, and regulating profit by rightness. The acquisition of wealth must take morality as the premise, must not violate the norms of the Way and rightness, and still less should wealth be taken as the fundamental pursuit of life. This has important significance for correcting the phenomenon of excessive profit-seeking and moral decline in contemporary society and for reshaping rational and healthy social values. In a market economy environment, it is legitimate for people to pursue reasonable material interests, but this pursuit must be strictly limited within the framework of law and morality; one must not break through the moral bottom line or even violate the law in order to obtain profit. Whether it is the professional activities of individuals, the production and operation of enterprises, or the exercise of power by public sectors, the value of the Way and rightness must be placed first, considering rightness when seeing profit, reasonably obtaining profit under the guidance of morality, avoiding the rampant spread of money worship and extreme egoism, and truly achieving a dual balance of material pursuit and moral spirit. This is precisely the spiritual nourishment that the traditional Chinese wisdom of valuing virtue provides for contemporary society.

综上所述，朱熹的 “修德为本” 思想，不是零散的道德观点或局部的政治主张，而是在继承二程 “初学入德之门” 学术思想的基础上，通过系统诠释《大学》“三纲领八条目” 的完整逻辑，建构起来的一套贯通本体与现象、贯通修养与政治、贯通心性与日用的完整德性伦理体系。这一体系以 “理” 为终极价值本源，以心性论为内在存有依据，以《大学》八条目为递进实践框架，以格物致知、主敬涵养为配合工夫，以修齐治平为外推实践路径，从本体、工夫、政治伦理三个层面，完整论证了修德作为伦理根本原则的必然性与合理性。

In summary, Zhu Xi’s thought of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation” is not a scattered collection of moral viewpoints or partial political propositions, but a complete virtue-ethical system, constructed on the basis of inheriting the Cheng brothers’ academic thought of “the gateway of entering virtue realm of sagehood for beginners” and through the systematic interpretation of the complete logic of the Great Learning’s “three guiding principles and eight items.” This system integrates ontology and phenomena, cultivation and politics, and mind-and-nature and daily life. Taking “principle” as the ultimate source of value, the theory of mind-and-nature as the inner existential basis, the eight items of the Great Learning as the progressive practical framework, investigating things and extending knowledge and abiding in reverence and nourishing the self as the coordinated work, and cultivation, regulation, ordering, and peace as the path of outward extension, this system fully demonstrates, from the three levels of ontology, praxis, and political ethics, the necessity and legitimacy of cultivating virtue as the fundamental ethical principle.

从义理结构上看，两篇原研究报告分工配合、共同支撑起这一思想的全貌：第一篇报告聚焦于 “修德是本” 的基本内涵、经典依据及价值定位，从宏观层面阐释了这一思想的核心义理，搭建了思想的基础价值架构；第二篇报告则深入挖掘其学术谱系、经典文本与逻辑论证细节，承接二程 “入德之门” 的思想渊源，以《大学》八条目为实践经纬，细致考证了其 “入道 — 成德 — 推扩” 的完整工夫逻辑，从理论层面证成了这一原则的道德合法性。二者一为宏观义理阐释，一为微观逻辑考证，内容上环环相扣、缺一不可，共同构成了理解朱熹 “修德为本” 思想的完整基础。

From the perspective of doctrinal structure, the two original research reports divide their labor and jointly support the full picture of this thought. The first report focuses on the basic meaning, classical basis, and value positioning of “cultivating virtue as the root,” explicating the core doctrine of this thought from a macroscopic level and establishing the basic value architecture of the thought. The second report deeply excavates its academic genealogy, classical texts, and details of logical argumentation, inheriting the intellectual origins of the Cheng brothers’ “gate of entering virtue,” taking the eight items of the Great Learning as the practical warp and weft, and meticulously examining the complete work logic of “entering the Way of sagehood—achieving virtue—extending.” It proves the moral legitimacy of this principle from the theoretical level. The former is a macroscopic doctrinal interpretation, the latter a microscopic logical examination; their content is mutually interlocking and indispensable, together constituting a complete foundation for understanding Zhu Xi’s thought of “cultivating virtue as the foundation of moral cultivation.”

朱熹这一思想的核心贡献，是将 “修德” 这一零散的先秦儒家修身观念，从简单的个人实践要求，提升为上达天理、下贯人伦、连接内圣外王的世界存在的根本伦理原则，完成了儒家德性传统的理学化重构，将儒家的道德价值，深深嵌入到从个人生活到国家治理的所有实践层面。在当代社会，这一思想依然是中华传统道德文化的核心精华，其关于本末先后的价值取舍、关于内在与外在的道德实践、个人修养与社会治理的辩证关系，对于推动公民道德建设、完善国家治理体系、塑造全社会的理性价值观念，都具有不可替代的借鉴价值。

The core contribution of Zhu Xi’s thought is that it elevated “cultivating virtue” from a scattered pre-Qin Confucian concept of self-cultivation, from a simple requirement of personal practice, into a fundamental ethical principle of existence in the world—reaching up to heavenly principle, extending down to human relations, and connecting inner sagehood and outer kingship. It completed the Neo-Confucian reconstruction of the Confucian virtue tradition, deeply embedding Confucian moral values into all levels of practice from personal life to state governance. In contemporary society, this thought remains the core essence of traditional Chinese moral culture. Its insights on the value choices between root and branch, the moral practice of inner and outer, and the dialectical relationship between personal cultivation and social governance are of irreplaceable reference value for promoting civic moral construction, perfecting the national governance system, and shaping rational value concepts for the whole society.

其思想逻辑的自洽性与理论的圆融性，也再次印证了中华传统儒家德性思想的深厚底蕴；而这一思想本身，也成为理解中华文明重德传统、传承和发展中华优秀传统文化的重要理论抓手。

The self-consistency of its logic and the harmony of its theory also once again confirm the profound foundation of the traditional Chinese Confucian virtue-based thought. This thought itself also becomes an important theoretical lever for understanding the Chinese civilization’s tradition of valuing virtue and for inheriting and developing the excellent aspects of traditional Chinese culture.

朱熹修德为本思想；

二程入德之门

大学八条目次第

儒家德性伦理重构

内圣外王与当代启示