The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi's Philosophical Thought

The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi's Philosophical Thought
Author: John Makeham
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2018-06-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0190878576

Zhu Xi (1130-1200) is the most influential Neo-Confucian philosopher and arguably the most important Chinese philosopher of the past millennium, both in terms of his legacy and for the sophistication of his systematic philosophy. The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi's Philosophical Thought combines in a single study two major areas of Chinese philosophy that are rarely tackled together: Chinese Buddhist philosophy and Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian philosophy. Despite Zhu Xi's importance as a philosopher, the role of Buddhist thought and philosophy in the construction of his systematic philosophy remains poorly understood. What aspects of Buddhism did he criticize and why? Was his engagement limited to criticism (informed or otherwise) or did Zhu also appropriate and repurpose Buddhist ideas to develop his own thought? If Zhu's philosophical repertoire incorporated conceptual structures and problematics that are marked by a distinct Buddhist pedigree, what implications does this have for our understanding of his philosophical project? The five chapters that make up The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi's Philosophical Thought present a rich and complex portrait of the Buddhist roots of Zhu Xi's philosophical thought. The scholarship is meticulous, the analysis is rigorous, and the philosophical insights are fresh. Collectively, the chapters illuminate a greatly expanded range of the intellectual resources Zhu incorporated into his philosophical thought, demonstrating the vital role that models derived from Buddhism played in his philosophical repertoire. In doing so, they provide new perspectives on what Zhu Xi was trying to achieve as a philosopher, by repurposing ideas from Buddhism. They also make significant and original contributions to our understanding of core concepts, debates and conceptual structures that shaped the development of philosophy in East Asia over the past millennium.

Dao Companion to ZHU Xi’s Philosophy

Dao Companion to ZHU Xi’s Philosophy
Author: Kai-chiu Ng
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 994
Release: 2020-03-04
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3030291758

Zhu Xi (1130-1200) has been commonly and justifiably recognized as the most influential philosopher of Neo-Confucianism, a revival of classical Confucianism in face of the challenges coming from Daoism and, more importantly, Buddhism. His place in the Confucian tradition is often and also very plausibly compared to that of Thomas Aquinas, slightly later, in the Christian tradition. This book presents the most comprehensive and updated study of this great philosopher. It situates Zhu Xi’s philosophy in the historical context of not only Confucian philosophy but also Chinese philosophy as a whole. Topics covered within Zhu Xi’s thought are metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, hermeneutics, philosophy of religion, moral psychology, and moral education. This text shows both how Zhu Xi responded to earlier thinkers and how his thoughts resonate in contemporary philosophy, particularly in the analytic tradition. This companion will appeal to students, researchers and educators in the field.

The Four Books

The Four Books
Author: Daniel K. Gardner
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2007-03-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1624660088

In this engaging volume, Daniel Gardner explains the way in which the Four Books--Great Learning, Analects, Mencius, and Maintaining Perfect Balance--have been read and understood by the Chinese since the twelfth century. Selected passages in translation are accompanied by Gardner's comments, which incorporate selections from the commentary and interpretation of the renowned Neo-Confucian thinker, Zhu Xi (1130-1200). This study provides an ideal introduction to the basic texts in the Confucian tradition from the twelfth through the twentieth centuries. It guides the reader through Zhu Xi's influential interpretation of the Four Books, showing how Zhu, through the genre of commentary, gave new coherence and meaning to these foundational texts. Since the Four Books with Zhu Xi's commentary served as the basic textbook for Chinese schooling and the civil service examinations for more than seven hundred years, this book illustrates as well the nature of the standard Chinese educational curriculum.

Zhu Xi's Reading of the Analects

Zhu Xi's Reading of the Analects
Author: Daniel K. Gardner
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2003
Genre: Neo-Confucianism
ISBN: 9780231128643

This text explains the significance of Zhu Xi's interpretation of the Confucian tradition and of the genre of commentary in Eastern philosophy.

Zhu Xi

Zhu Xi
Author: Zhu, Xi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2019
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0190861258

This volume contains nine chapters of translation, by a range of leading scholars, focusing on core themes in the philosophy of Zhu Xi (1130-1200), one of the most influential Chinese thinkers of the later Confucian tradition. It includes an Introduction to Zhu's life and thought, a chronology of important events in his life, and a list of key terms of art. Zhu Xi's philosophy offers the most systematic and comprehensive expression of the Confucian tradition; he sought to explain and show the connections between the classics, relate them to a range of contemporary philosophical issues concerning the metaphysical underpinnings of the tradition, and defend Confucianism against competing traditions such as Daoism and Buddhism. He elevated the Four Books-i.e. the Analects, Mengzi, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean-to a new and preeminent position within the Confucian canon and his edition and interpretation of these four texts was adopted as the basis for the Imperial Examination System, which served as the pathway to officialdom and success in traditional Chinese society. Zhu Xi's interpretation remained the orthodox tradition until the collapse of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) and exerted a profound and enduring influence on how Confucianism was understood in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Returning to Zhu Xi

Returning to Zhu Xi
Author: David Jones
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2015-11-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1438458398

Zhu Xi (1130–1200), the chief architect of neo-Confucian thought, affected a momentous transformation in Chinese philosophy. His ideas came to dominate Chinese intellectual life, including the educational and civil service systems, for centuries. Despite his influence, Zhu Xi is known as the "great synthesizer" and rarely appreciated as a thinker in his own right. This volume presents Zhu Xi as a major world philosopher, one who brings metaphysics and cosmology into attunement with ethical and social practice. Contributors from the English- and Chinese-speaking worlds explore Zhu Xi's unique thought and offer it to the Western philosophical imagination. Zhu Xi's vision is critical, intellectually rigorous, and religious, telling us how to live in the transforming world of li—the emergent, immanent, and coherent patternings of natural and human milieu.

The Original Meaning of the Yijing

The Original Meaning of the Yijing
Author: Zhu Xi
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 442
Release: 2019-11-05
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 023154930X

The Yijing (I Ching), or Scripture of Change, is traditionally considered the first and most profound of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual based on trigrams and hexagrams, by the beginning of the first millennium it had acquired written explanations and a series of appendices attributed to Confucius, which transformed it into a work of wisdom literature as well as divination. Over the centuries, hundreds of commentaries were written on it, but for the past thousand years, one of the most influential has been that of Zhu Xi (1130–1200), who synthesized the major interpretive approaches to the text and integrated it into his system of moral self-cultivation. Joseph A. Adler’s translation of the Yijing includes for the first time in English Zhu Xi’s commentary in full. Adler explores Zhu Xi’s interpretation of the text and situates it in the context of his overall theoretical system. Zhu Xi held that the Yijing was originally composed for the purpose of divination by the mythic sage Fuxi, who intended to create a system to aid decision making. The text’s meaning, therefore, could not be captured by a single commentator; it would emerge for each person through the process of divination. This translation makes available to the English-language audience a crucial text in the history of Chinese religion and philosophy, with an introduction and translator’s notes that explain its intellectual and historical context.

Embracing Our Complexity

Embracing Our Complexity
Author: Catherine Hudak Klancer
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2015-08-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1438458428

This book discusses what a religiously grounded authority might look like from the viewpoints of the European Catholic Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) and the Chinese Neo-Confucian Zhu Xi (1130–1200). The consideration of these two figures, immensely influential in their respective traditions, reflects the conviction that any responsible discourse on authority must consider different cultural perspectives. Catherine Hudak Klancer notes that both Zhu Xi and Aquinas conceive wisdom as including, yet surpassing, human reason. Both express an explicit faith in the moral order of the cosmos and the ethical potential of human beings. The systematic, idealistic approach common to both provides the cosmic, anthropological, and ethical elements needed for a comprehensive exploration of how to exercise and limit authority. Ultimately, Klancer writes, authority requires a particular virtue, hitherto latent in both scholars' work and in their lives as well. A person with this virtue—humble authority—is properly grounded in the sacred order, and fully cognizant in theory and in practice of the parameters of human nature and the responsibilities attendant upon the human role.

Chu Hsi and Neo-Confucianism

Chu Hsi and Neo-Confucianism
Author: Wing-tsit Chan
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 657
Release: 2020-12-31
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0824846974

The present anthology consists of papers presented at the International Conference of Chu Hsi held July 6–15 1982, in Honolulu. The symposium, convened as one of the continuing East-West Philosophers' Conferences and in conjunction with the seventy-fifth anniversary of the University of Hawaii, was the first on this Neo-Confucian thinker.

Neo-Confucianism

Neo-Confucianism
Author: JeeLoo Liu
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2017-06-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1118619145

Solidly grounded in Chinese primary sources, Neo Confucianism: Metaphysics, Mind, and Morality engages the latest global scholarship to provide an innovative, rigorous, and clear articulation of neo-Confucianism and its application to Western philosophy. Contextualizes neo-Confucianism for contemporary analytic philosophy by engaging with today’s philosophical questions and debates Based on the most recent and influential scholarship on neo-Confucianism, and supported by primary texts in Chinese and cross-cultural secondary literature Presents a cohesive analysis of neo-Confucianism by investigating the metaphysical foundations of neo-Confucian perspectives on the relationship between human nature, human mind, and morality Offers innovative interpretations of neo-Confucian terminology and examines the ideas of eight major philosophers, from Zhou Dunyi and Cheng-Zhu to Zhang Zai and Wang Fuzhi Approaches neo-Confucian concepts in an penetrating yet accessible way