Venerating Virtue and Seeking Learning Through the Way: A Study of Wu Cheng's Philosophical Thought

Author: Fang Xudong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: This book presents a systematic study of the philosophical thought of Wu Cheng, a Yuan Dynasty Confucian scholar. The author employs a research method that combines textual analysis with modern interpretation, placing Wu Cheng within the broader historical context of the New Confucianism of the Song Dynasty. Following the cognitive logic of the Way as the unity of the mind, inquiry into learning, and the application of knowledge, the book examines and organizes propositions and doctrines such as "the principle precedes substance," the theory of the Taiji, "principle and differentiation," the theory of human nature, the study of the mind, learning for breadth, the essence and sequence of learning, methods of learning, and methods of self-cultivation. Through this, it comprehensively elucidates the theoretical system of Wu Cheng's philosophical thought, highlighting and revealing its fundamental characteristics and historical significance.
From the perspective of the problem awareness, the concept of the lineage of the Way, and the cultivation methods reflected in Wu Cheng's philosophy, as well as his overall academic direction and framework, Wu Cheng was not a compromiser between Zhu Xi and Lu Jiuyuan but primarily an inheritor of Zhu Xi's thought. He could be termed "post-Zhu Xi studies."
Theoretically, Wu Cheng was the first to propose the proposition "the principle is within substance" in the history of Chinese philosophy. In the history of the "mind school," his views were an inheritance of the entire Song Dynasty Confucianism, not just Lu Jiuyuan's mind school. In terms of learning methods, Wu Cheng's vast academic framework and the emphasis on understanding the principle as the primary goal of knowledge fully reflect the path of "seeking learning through inquiry" re-emphasized by Zhu Xi. Moreover, Wu Cheng's emphasis on reverence as the foundation of knowing and acting demonstrates that his understanding of "revering moral nature" largely inherited the tradition of "reverence for the Way" advocated by Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi.