Collected Commentaries on the Four Books · Collected Writings of Zhu Xi · Classified Conversations of Master Zhu
Collected Commentaries on the Four Books · Collected Writings of Zhu Xi · Classified Conversations of Master Zhu
The first mark is from the “Reply to Huang Daofu” (Collected Writings, juan 58); the second and third are from the Zhongyong zhangju and the Daxue zhangju; the fourth is from the supplementary commentary on the investigation of things and extension of knowing in the Daxue zhangju; all are T1. The marks serve identification only. The life dates are the conventional ones; this archive has verified only the single entry “On the jiazi day of the third month Zhu Xi died” in the Songshi, “Annals of Ningzong” (juan 37), and has not checked his chronology item by item.
One-line placement: with “Principle is the Way above form, the root of the generation of things” (E-04), “Before Heaven and Earth existed there was, after all, only principle; because there is this principle there are this Heaven and Earth” (E-06), “The Supreme Ultimate is not a separate thing;
it is in yin and yang as yin and yang… it is simply one principle” (E-10) and “Nature is principle” (E-13), Zhu Xi stipulates a ground that holds without waiting on any knower and that is inherent in every thing and every person. With “Bright virtue… is empty, numinous and unobscured, possessing all principles and responding to the myriad affairs… yet the brightness of its original substance never ceases” (E-17) and “People have this bright virtue from the very start… this bright principle has never been extinguished” (E-18), he explains that this ground is originally present in human beings but obscured by endowed qi and human desires. Yet his stipulation of completion consistently falls on “knowing”: “The learner should follow where it shows itself and so make it bright, so as to return to its beginning” (E-17); “When effort has been applied for long, suddenly one morning one breaks through, and then the outside and inside, the fine and the coarse of all things are reached, and the whole substance and great function of my heart are all made bright. This is called the investigation of things; this is called the utmost of knowing” (E-19); “If one does not exhaust principle, there is obscuration and one cannot fully realize the measure of this heart… knowing nature is what is meant by the investigation of things; fully realizing the heart is what is meant by the utmost of knowing” (E-20).
At the same time he explicitly rejects direct viewing of the heart’s substance: “Using the heart to observe things, the principles of things are obtained; now if there is again a thing turned back to observe the heart, then outside this heart there is another heart” (E-28); “Before arousal it cannot be searched for; after awareness it does not allow arranging” (E-25); “The Buddhists only speak of seeing nature… in affairs it cannot move at all” (E-29). Overall placement ②「Direct Seeing of the Ground」 (C): the structure in which the ground is originally present and completion is conditioned on “the utmost of knowing” and “returning to the beginning” is B; his chain of “exhausting principle — utmost of knowing” has strong completion-layer evidence; the ② / ③ boundary has to be judged by the function of this cognition in the complete ultimate structure and by the main task of the whole thought, and cannot be decided merely by opposing “gradual inquiry” to “direct viewing”.
Most distinctive feature: Zhu Xi is the one who binds the structure “originally present — obscured — restored to brightness” most tightly to the empirical, gradual effort of “going to things and exhausting their principle”. Structurally, the commentary on bright virtue in the Daxue zhangju (E-17) is of the same type as several ② archives — the brightness of the original substance never ceases, it is obscured by endowed qi and human desires, and the learner makes it bright so as to return to the beginning;
but he fills in the way of “making it bright” with the supplementary commentary on the investigation of things and extension of knowing (E-19): not turning back to look at the heart, but going outward to things and, on the basis of principles already known, exhausting them further until one breaks through. On one side he grants that the breakthrough “is not reached by forcing human effort” (E-22); on the other he insists on “grinding a little today, grinding a little tomorrow” (E-23). (A: stated in the text; overall structure B)
Final load-bearing point: look at three layers. (1) Ground layer: principle is the root of the generation of things (E-04); because there is this principle there are this Heaven and Earth (E-06); nature is principle (E-13). This layer does not wait on knowing; the deletion test passes. (2) Dismantling layer: the Supreme Ultimate is not a separate thing (E-10); principle and qi have no before and after (E-08); if one really sees, speaking of being or non-being does no harm (E-09); using the heart to observe the heart is rejected (E-28); the emptiness of “seeing nature” is rejected (E-29, E-30). (3) Completion layer: making it bright so as to return to the beginning (E-17); breaking through, the whole substance and great function all made bright (E-19); fully realizing the heart is the utmost of knowing (E-20);
at the same time, “merely reaching its principle without treading its affairs, one still cannot have it in oneself” (E-21), preserving principle and removing desire (E-26), reverence as the root of exhausting principle (E-24, E-25). The inference to ② depends on “the utmost of knowing” in the third layer; the ② / ③ boundary depends on whether “the utmost of knowing” has become a non-deletable condition of ultimate completion, or whether the whole thought still takes inquiry, argument and normative principle as its main task; it may not be decided merely by gradual effort or by the rejection of observing the heart.
Most delicate point: Zhu Xi has two ways of speaking about the relation of “heart and principle”: “Heart and principle are one; it is not that principle is a thing in front; principle is right within the heart” (E-15), which seems to make the knower and the ground originally not two; but he also strictly distinguishes heart (awareness) from nature (principle), criticizes “joining nature and awareness to get the name of heart” as making it “seem that outside nature there is another awareness” (E-16), and in the “Discourse on Observing the Heart” rejects the heart observing the heart (E-28). The former can serve as material in the ① / ② direction; the latter means that Zhu Xi’s completion cannot be read as “awareness recognizing awareness itself”. This archive’s judgment: for Zhu Xi, what knows is the heart and what is known is principle;
“heart and principle are one” is a state reached after “long learning” (note on card E-15), not an original state that needs no knowing.
Note on texts: the Collected Commentaries on the Four Books are the work Zhu Xi revised all his life, of the status of a fixed text; the supplementary commentary in the Daxue zhangju he wrote himself according to Master Cheng’s intent; the letters and miscellaneous writings in the Collected Writings are his own work; the 140 juan of the Classified Conversations of Master Zhu were recorded by disciples and compiled by Li Jingde in the Jingding era; the recorders vary and there are occasional divergent records, so it is listed as T2. This archive has not used the Sishu huowen, Zhouyi benyi, Taijitu shuo jie, Tongshu jie or Ximing jie (in the Zhou Yuangong ji, juan 1, the “Taijitu shuo” is printed mixed with Master Zhu’s explanation; this archive did not separate them and therefore did not use it).
This archive distinguishes two sets of grades, which are never mixed:
Direction marks: support = supports the current six-position judgment; limit = shows that some entity, name, effort or form of cognition has been dismantled, or forms a boundary for the current judgment; disputed = the direction of the text is not unique, with reasonable disagreement among ① / ② / ③; neutral = the text exists but does not form part of the core argument.
Zhu Xi’s commentaries quote extensively from Cheng Yi, Cheng Hao, Zhang Zai and others (“Master Cheng says”, “Master Zhang says”). This archive takes as his position only the parts that Zhu Xi adopted into his commentary and developed, or stated positively with “in my foolish view” or “for”; wherever a judgment depends on a quoted saying of another (such as E-13 “Nature is principle”), this is noted separately on the card.
Text levels in this archive:
Editions and transcriptions: the Collected Commentaries on the Four Books, the Classified Conversations of Master Zhu and the Songshi follow the electronic transcriptions of the Wenyuange Siku quanshu edition in Kanripo (漢籍リポジトリ); the Collected Writings follow the electronic transcription of the Sibu congkan edition in Kanripo; locations are given by juan and leaf (leaf numbers as marked in that electronic edition). Quotations reproduce the character forms of the electronic edition (such as “徳”, “隂”, “巳”), with only the original line-end marks removed; the recorders’ names given in small characters in the electronic edition (such as “淳”, “銖”) are not counted as part of the quotation. This archive has not checked images of the original books, nor collated against the Zhonghua shuju punctuated edition. A few specially constructed characters in the electronic edition are represented by codes (such as KR0636 in E-25), which is noted on the card.
Method: following v1.3, three questions are separated: (a) whether the ground holds without waiting on knowing — principle as the root of the generation of things, because there is this principle there are this Heaven and Earth, nature is principle: yes;
(b) whether cognition and thought itself can be positively placed within the ground — the heart possesses all principles and responds to the myriad affairs (E-17, E-20), principle is within the heart (E-15), Heaven, Earth and the myriad things are originally one body with me (E-31): partly holds; (c) once (a) and (b) hold, whether, with the function of “exhausting principle / the utmost of knowing” deleted, Zhu Xi’s account of “returning to the beginning”, “fully realizing the heart” and “the sage” remains complete. The deletion test removes only the function in (c), keeping reverence and practice as controls. This archive adds one further test: (d) whether the cognition Zhu Xi stipulates is a “direct seeing” of the ground (②) or an “inquiry / exhaustive investigation” of the ground (③) — this archive currently judges this question C.
Zhu Xi’s core question is: if the myriad things and human beings are all rooted in one principle, human nature is originally good and bright virtue originally bright, why do people still become benighted and lose their virtue? How is it restored? His answer: principle is the root of the generation of things, originally possessed by everyone, but constrained by endowed qi and obscured by human desires;
one must go to things and exhaust their principle so as to extend one’s knowing, dwell in reverence and nurture so as to preserve one’s heart, preserve Heavenly principle and remove human desire, until one breaks through and the whole substance and great function are all made bright, and one’s conduct is “at ease in acting, hitting the mean without effort”. The structural chain that unfolds from this is:
The main line of this chain is: the ground is originally present and does not wait on knowing; and completion is consistently stipulated as “returning to the beginning” by way of the “knowing” of exhausting principle and the “preserving” of reverence.
(E-01—E-03 concern his life and intellectual experience; E-04—E-12 principle, qi and the ground; E-13—E-18 nature, heart and bright virtue; E-19—E-27 effort and completion; E-28—E-31 the distinction of Confucian and Buddhist and the place of thought itself;
E-32 and E-33 are supplementary material on heart and principle, on what is able to be aware and what is aware of, belonging to the part on nature and heart.)
Original excerpt: 其為學大抵窮理以致其知反躬以踐其實而以居敬為主In his learning, broadly, he exhausted principle so as to extend his knowing, turned back to himself so as to tread its reality, and took dwelling in reverence as the main thing.
Context passage: 延平李侗老矣嘗學於羅從彦熹歸自同安不逺數百里徒歩徃從之其為學大抵窮理以致其知反躬以踐其實而以居敬為主嘗謂聖賢道統之傳散在方冊聖經之㫖不明而道統之傳始晦於是竭其精力以研窮聖賢之經訓
What the passage does: Songshi, juan 429, places Zhu Xi in the “Biographies of the Learning of the Way”, says that after his term at Tong’an he walked several hundred li on foot to follow Li Tong (Yanping), and sums up his learning in three phrases: exhausting principle so as to extend knowing, turning back to oneself so as to tread its reality, and taking dwelling in reverence as the main thing. These three — exhausting principle and extending knowing, practice, and reverence — are exactly the three “functions” this archive sets out to test.
What it does not prove: This is a summary by Yuan historiographers, not a structural statement by Zhu Xi himself; it serves only as a coordinate for the outline of his life and learning, and the relative weight of the three in the structure of completion must be judged from Zhu Xi’s own texts.
Original excerpt: 余蚤從延平李先生學受中庸之書求喜怒哀樂未發之㫖未逹而先生没Early on I studied under Master Li of Yanping and received the <em>Zhongyong</em>;
I sought the meaning of the unaroused state of pleasure, anger, sorrow and joy, and before I had grasped it the master died.
Context passage: 余蚤從延平李先生學受中庸之書求喜怒哀樂未發之㫖未逹而先生没余竊自悼其不敏若窮人之無歸聞張欽夫得衡山胡氏學則往從而問焉欽夫告余以所聞余亦未之省也退而沉思殆忘寢食一日喟然嘆曰人自嬰兒以至老死雖語黙動静之不同然其大體莫非巳發特其未發者爲未嘗發爾自此不復有疑
What the passage does: Zhu Xi’s own account: early on he studied the Zhongyong under Li Tong and sought the meaning of the “unaroused” without grasping it, and Li Tong died; later he asked Zhang Shi (Qinfu) about the learning of the Hu family of Hunan, “withdrew and pondered, almost forgetting sleep and food”, and one day sighed: from infancy to death a person is, broadly, nothing but “the aroused”; the “unaroused” is merely what has not yet been aroused. This is the so-called “old theory of equilibrium and harmony”.
The same preface goes on to say that in the jichou year of the Qiandao era (1169), while debating with Cai Yuanding, he “suddenly came to doubt himself”, reread the writings of the Chengs, and “it was like ice thawing and melting”; he then regretted his earlier theory (the “new theory of equilibrium and harmony”, see E-25).
What it does not prove: The “sigh” and the later “ice thawing and melting” narrated in the preface are turning points of learning in Zhu Xi’s own account, and are not in themselves the ultimate completion he stipulates; they show that the problem of the “unaroused / aroused” is the pivot of his theory of heart, nature and effort.
Original excerpt: 某遂將那禪來權倚閣起意中道禪亦自在且將聖人書來讀讀來讀去一日復一日覺得聖賢言語漸漸有味却囬頭看釋氏之説漸漸破綻罅漏百出So I set Chan aside for the time being, thinking that Chan would still be there, and took up the books of the sages to read; reading back and forth, day after day, I felt the words of the sages gradually gain flavour, and turning back to look at the Buddhists’ teaching I gradually found it full of cracks and holes.
Context passage: 後赴同安任時年二十四五矣始見李先生與他説李先生只説不是某却倒疑李先生理㑹此未得再三質問李先生為人簡重却是不甚㑹説只教看聖賢言語某遂將那禪來權倚閣起意中道禪亦自在且將聖人書來讀讀來讀去一日復一日覺得聖賢言語漸漸有味却囬頭看釋氏之説漸漸破綻罅漏百出
What the passage does: Zhu Xi recalls that at fifteen or sixteen he paid attention to Chan learning and at nineteen, in the examinations, still answered with Chan ideas; at twenty-four or twenty-five, going to his post at Tong’an, he met Li Tong, who only said “that is not it” and only told him to read the words of the sages; so he set Chan aside for the time being and read only the books of the sages, and over time felt the words of the sages gradually gain flavour, while the Buddhist teaching, looked back upon, was full of flaws. This is the personal background of his later repeated distinction between Confucian and Buddhist (see E-28—E-30).
What it does not prove: This is a late-life recollection recorded by a disciple;
it can serve as evidence of experience, not as evidence of doctrine. “Full of cracks and holes” is Zhu Xi’s judgment, not this archive’s judgment of Buddhism.
Original excerpt: 天地之間有理有氣理也者形而上之道也生物之本也氣也者形而下之器也生物之具也Between Heaven and Earth there is principle and there is qi. Principle is the Way above form, the root of the generation of things; qi is the vessel below form, the means of the generation of things.
Context passage: 天地之間有理有氣理也者形而上之道也生物之本也氣也者形而下之器也生物之具也是以人物之生必禀此理然後有性必禀此氣然後有形其性其形雖不外乎一身然其道器之間分際甚明不可亂也
What the passage does: This is Zhu Xi’s most standard written statement of the relation of principle and qi: principle is “the Way above form” and “the root of the generation of things”, qi is “the vessel below form” and “the means of the generation of things”; humans and things must receive this principle to have their nature and receive this qi to have their form, and “the division between the Way and the vessel is very clear and must not be confused”.
The ground (principle) is stipulated here as the “root” by which the myriad things are generated, dependent on no knower.
What it does not prove: This passage stipulates the relation of the ground to the myriad things and does not touch on how a person “knows” this principle; it supports that the ground layer does not wait on cognition, and cannot by itself decide the structure of completion.
Original excerpt: 太極只是天地萬物之理在天地言則天地中有太極在萬物言則萬物中各有太極未有天地之先畢竟是先有此理The Supreme Ultimate is simply the principle of Heaven, Earth and the myriad things. Speaking of Heaven and Earth, within Heaven and Earth there is the Supreme Ultimate; speaking of the myriad things, within each of the myriad things there is the Supreme Ultimate. Before Heaven and Earth existed, there was, after all, first this principle.
Context passage: 問太極不是未有天地之先有箇渾成之物是天地萬物之理總名否曰太極只是天地萬物之理在天地言則天地中有太極在萬物言則萬物中各有太極未有天地之先畢竟是先有此理動而生陽亦只是理静而生隂亦只是理
What the passage does: A disciple asked whether the Supreme Ultimate is some undifferentiated thing prior to Heaven and Earth; Zhu Xi answered: the Supreme Ultimate is simply the principle of Heaven, Earth and the myriad things; speaking of Heaven and Earth, within them there is the Supreme Ultimate; speaking of the myriad things, each has the Supreme Ultimate within it; before Heaven and Earth existed, there was, after all, first this principle. Moving and producing yang, resting and producing yin, “is also simply principle”. The Supreme Ultimate is de-substantialized into “principle” and at the same time placed before Heaven and Earth.
What it does not prove: “First there was this principle” is a logical priority inferred in explanation; Zhu Xi himself also says “principle and qi originally have no before and after to speak of” (E-08), so it may not be read as one thing existing earlier in time.
Original excerpt: 未有天地之先畢竟也只是理有此理便有此天地若無此理便亦無天地無人無物都無該載了Before Heaven and Earth existed there was, after all, only principle. Because there is this principle there are this Heaven and Earth;
if there were not this principle, there would be no Heaven and Earth, no people and no things, nothing at all to bear and carry them.
Context passage: 問昨謂未有天地之先畢竟是先有理如何曰未有天地之先畢竟也只是理有此理便有此天地若無此理便亦無天地無人無物都無該載了有理便有氣流行發育萬物
What the passage does: Continuing the previous entry, Zhu Xi says further: before Heaven and Earth there was only principle; because there is this principle there are this Heaven and Earth; without this principle there would be no Heaven and Earth, no people, no things, nothing to bear them; where there is principle there is qi flowing and developing the myriad things. Principle is the basis on which Heaven, Earth, people and things are established, and this basis clearly does not wait on human cognition.
What it does not prove: This stipulates the function of the ground; “bear and carry” means supporting, not that principle exists like a container prior to the myriad things.
Original excerpt: 天下未有無理之氣亦未有無氣之理Under Heaven there has never been qi without principle, nor principle without qi.
What the passage does: Principle and qi are not separate: there is no qi without principle, and no principle without qi. The small-print note says “qi forms the shape and principle is also endowed”. This limits reading principle as an object that can be viewed on its own apart from the world.
What it does not prove: Not being separate is not the same as not being distinct (compare E-04, “the division is very clear”); this entry only excludes substantializing and isolating principle.
Original excerpt: 理與氣本無先後之可言但推上去時却如理在先氣在後相似Principle and qi originally have no before and after to speak of; but when one infers upward, it seems as if principle is first and qi after.
Context passage: 或問理在先氣在後曰理與氣本無先後之可言但推上去時却如理在先氣在後相似又問理在氣中發見處如何曰如隂陽五行錯綜不失條緒便是理
What the passage does: Zhu Xi says explicitly that principle and qi originally have no before and after; only when inferring upward does it “seem” that principle is first and qi after; he also says that the manifestation of principle within qi is yin–yang and the five phases “intertwining without losing their order”. This shows that “principle before qi” is a priority of explanation, not of time, nor a pre-existing thing that can be intuited on its own.
What it does not prove: This entry limits the reading of E-05 and E-06; it does not touch on human cognition and completion.
Original excerpt: 上天之載是就有中說無無極而太極是就無中說有若實見得即說有說無或先或後都無妨礙“The workings of high Heaven” speak of non-being from within being; “the Ultimate of Non-being and yet the Supreme Ultimate” speaks of being from within non-being;
if one really sees it, then speaking of being or non-being, first or after, does no harm at all.
What the passage does: In the debate with the Lu brothers over “the Ultimate of Non-being and yet the Supreme Ultimate”, Zhu Xi says: “the workings of high Heaven” speak of non-being from within being, “the Ultimate of Non-being and yet the Supreme Ultimate” speaks of being from within non-being; if one truly sees it, speaking of being or non-being, first or after, does no harm. On one side this is a self-reflexivity about names and words (being and non-being are both angles of speech); on the other side it ties the freedom of speech to “really seeing it”.
What it does not prove: “If one really sees it” is a criticism, in debate, of the other side’s clinging to wording, not a definition of the structure of completion; but it shows that for Zhu Xi the freedom of speech is conditioned on “seeing it”.
Original excerpt: 太極非是别為一物即隂陽而在隂陽即五行而在五行即萬物而在萬物只是一箇理而已The Supreme Ultimate is not a separate thing; it is in yin and yang as yin and yang, in the five phases as the five phases, in the myriad things as the myriad things; it is simply one principle.
What the passage does: The Supreme Ultimate is not another thing; it is right in yin and yang, the five phases and the myriad things, simply one principle; the same juan also says “each person has one Supreme Ultimate, each thing has one Supreme Ultimate”. The ground is both transcendent (prior to Heaven and Earth) and immanent (present in things), and this makes “going to things and exhausting principle” structurally possible: principle is right in things.
What it does not prove: “In the myriad things as the myriad things” explains where principle is, not how people know it; being immanent is not the same as everyone already knowing it.
Original excerpt: 盖能於分殊中事事物物頭頭項項理㑹得其當然然後方知理本一貫For only when one can, in the particular differentiations, understand for each affair and thing, each head and item, its proper way, does one then know that principle is originally one thread.
Context passage: 或問理一分殊曰聖人未嘗言理一多只言分殊盖能於分殊中事事物物頭頭項項理㑹得其當然然後方知理本一貫不知萬殊各有一理而徒言理一不知理一在何處
What the passage does: A disciple asked about “principle is one, its differentiations many”; Zhu Xi said: the sages rarely spoke of principle being one and mostly spoke of the differentiations; one must, among the differentiations, understand affair by affair and thing by thing their “proper way”, and only then does one know that principle is originally one thread; if one does not know that each of the myriad differences has its own principle and speaks emptily of principle being one, one does not know where the oneness of principle lies. The oneness of principle (the ground) is originally so, but “knowing” the oneness of principle is stipulated as reachable only by way of the principles of the differentiations.
What it does not prove: This entry places “knowing the oneness of principle” at the end of effort, supporting the load-bearing status of cognition; but it speaks of the order of knowing and does not say that without knowing, principle is not one.
Original excerpt: 氣雖是理之所生然既生出則理管他不得如這理寓於氣了日用間運用都由這箇氣只是氣強理弱Although qi is produced by principle, once it has been produced, principle cannot govern it; as this principle lodges in qi, all the workings of daily life come from this qi; it is simply that qi is strong and principle weak.
What the passage does: Zhu Xi concedes: although qi is produced by principle, once produced, principle cannot govern it; in daily life all workings come from qi — the so-called “qi strong, principle weak”. This explains why originally present principle is not automatically realized in human beings, and hence why effort is needed to transform the physical disposition.
What it does not prove: “Qi strong, principle weak” is said of actual operation and does not change principle’s status as the ground; it gives reasons for the necessity of effort and cognition, but does not say what completion itself consists of.
Original excerpt: 性即理也天以隂陽五行化生萬物氣以成形而理亦賦焉Nature is principle. Heaven transforms and generates the myriad things by yin–yang and the five phases; qi forms the shape and principle is also endowed.
Context passage: 命猶令也性即理也天以隂陽五行化生萬物氣以成形而理亦賦焉猶命令也於是人物之生因各得其所賦之理以為健順五常之徳所謂性也
What the passage does: Commenting on “What Heaven decrees is called nature”: nature is principle; Heaven transforms and generates the myriad things by yin–yang and the five phases, qi forms the shape, and principle is endowed at the same time; humans and things at birth each obtain the principle endowed to them, which becomes the virtues of vigour, compliance and the five constants — this is nature. The ground (principle) thereby becomes directly each person’s “nature”, originally complete.
What it does not prove: “Nature is principle” comes from Cheng Yi;
Zhu Xi adopts and develops it in his commentary; this entry stipulates the relation of the ground to human beings, not completion.
Original excerpt: 道者日用事物當行之理皆性之徳而具於心無物不有無時不然所以不可須臾離也The Way is the principle that ought to be practised in daily affairs and things; it is all the virtue of nature and is possessed in the heart; there is no thing that lacks it and no time when it is not so; this is why it cannot be departed from for an instant.
What the passage does: Commenting on “The Way cannot be departed from for an instant”: the Way is the principle that ought to be practised in daily affairs and things, all of it the virtue of nature and possessed in the heart, present in every thing and at every time, which is why it cannot be departed from for an instant; therefore the noble person is always reverent and cautious, “so as to preserve the original state of Heavenly principle”. Principle is both in things and possessed in the heart; effort is to “preserve” its original state.
What it does not prove: “Possessed in the heart” speaks of original possession, not of having already been made bright;
Original excerpt: 心與理一不是理在前面為一物理便在心之中Heart and principle are one; it is not that principle is a thing in front; principle is right within the heart.
What the passage does: Zhu Xi says that heart and principle are one; principle is not another thing in front of one, it is right within the heart, which cannot contain it, and it issues forth according to affairs; he uses the image of lighting a lamp in a sutra pavilion so that all four sides and eight directions are brilliantly lit. This is the saying in Zhu Xi’s conversations closest to “the heart is principle”, and can serve as material in the ① / ② direction: the knower and the ground are not two things.
What it does not prove: The same work, juan 20, also says “only after long learning are heart and principle one”; heart and principle being “one” is often a state reached after long learning; and Zhu Xi strictly distinguishes heart and nature (E-16), so this one entry cannot be used to read him as holding the Lu–Wang “the heart is principle”.
Original excerpt: 横渠心統性情語極好又曰合性與知覺有心之名則恐不能無病便似性外别有一箇知覺了Hengqu’s saying “the heart unites nature and feelings” is excellent. He also said, “joining nature and awareness one gets the name of heart”; then I fear it cannot be free of fault — it seems as if outside nature there were another awareness.
What the passage does: Zhu Xi greatly praises Zhang Zai’s “the heart unites nature and feelings”: nature is the principle of the heart, feelings are the function of nature, and the heart unites both; but he criticizes Zhang Zai’s “joining nature and awareness to get the name of heart”, because it seems that outside nature there is another awareness. In Zhu Xi’s system awareness belongs to the heart and principle to nature; the heart can know principle, but awareness itself is not principle.
What it does not prove: This distinction makes Zhu Xi different from systems that take “awareness” or “aware nature” as the ground (see Section 9, “whether the highest structure is defined by awareness”).
Original excerpt: 明徳者人之所得乎天而虚靈不眛以具衆理而應萬事者也但為氣禀所拘人欲所蔽則有時而昏然其本體之明則有未嘗息者故學者當因其所𤼵而遂明之以復其初也Bright virtue is what people receive from Heaven, empty, numinous and unobscured, possessing all principles and responding to the myriad affairs. But constrained by endowed qi and obscured by human desires, it is at times darkened; yet the brightness of its original substance never ceases. Therefore the learner should follow where it shows itself and so make it bright, so as to return to its beginning.
What the passage does: This is Zhu Xi’s definition of “making bright virtue bright”: bright virtue is what people receive from Heaven, empty, numinous and unobscured, possessing all principles and responding to the myriad affairs; constrained by endowed qi and obscured by human desires, it is at times darkened, but the brightness of its original substance never ceases; the learner should, where it shows itself, “so make it bright” and thereby restore its beginning.
This structure is of the same type as the “originally present — obscured — made manifest” of several ② archives in this series: the ground is originally present and does not perish, completion is “returning to the beginning”, and the way of “returning” is “making it bright”.
What it does not prove: For Zhu Xi, “making it bright” is not a single intuition but the whole set of efforts of investigating things and extending knowing, making the intention sincere and rectifying the heart (E-19, E-21); the same commentary also says that resting in the highest good requires “exhausting the utmost of Heavenly principle without a hair of the selfishness of human desire”, so completion is not only cognition.
Original excerpt: 謂人合下便有此明徳雖為物欲掩蔽然這些明底道理未嘗泯絶須從明處漸漸推將去窮到是處吾心亦自有準則That is, people have this bright virtue from the very start; although it is covered by desire for things, this bright principle has never been extinguished;
one must push outward gradually from the bright place, exhaust it to the right point, and my heart will then have its own standard.
Context passage: 天理在人終有明處大學之道在明明徳謂人合下便有此明徳雖為物欲掩蔽然這些明底道理未嘗泯絶須從明處漸漸推將去窮到是處吾心亦自有準則
What the passage does: Zhu Xi explains exhausting principle: Heavenly principle always has a bright place in a person; people originally have bright virtue, and though covered by desire for things, this bright place has never been extinguished; one must push outward gradually from the bright place, exhaust it to the right point, and my heart will have its own standard. The original presence of the ground (“from the very start”) and completion by way of “pushing” and “exhausting” are set side by side in the same passage.
What it does not prove: “Push outward gradually” describes gradual effort, unlike Chan-style sudden seeing;
this entry supports the load-bearing role of cognition, but what it bears is gradual exhausting of principle, not a single seeing of nature.
Original excerpt: 至於用力之乆而一旦豁然貫通焉則衆物之表裏精粗無不到而吾心之全體大用無不明矣此謂物格此謂知之至也When effort has been applied for long, suddenly one morning one breaks through, and then the outside and inside, the fine and the coarse of all things are reached, and the whole substance and great function of my heart are all made bright. This is called the investigation of things; this is called the utmost of knowing.
Context passage: 所謂致知在格物者言欲致吾之知在即物而窮其理也蓋人心之靈莫不有知而天下之物莫不有理惟於理有未窮故其知有不盡也是以大學始教必使學者即凡天下之物莫不因其巳知之理而益窮之以求至乎其極至於用力之乆而一旦豁然貫通焉則衆物之表裏精粗無不到而吾心之全體大用無不明矣此謂物格此謂知之至也
What the passage does: Zhu Xi held that the fifth commentary chapter of the Daxue (explaining the investigation of things and extension of knowing) was lost, and “ventured to take Master Cheng’s intent to supply it”: extending knowing lies in investigating things, that is, going to things and exhausting their principle; the numinous human heart always has knowing, and the things under Heaven always have principle; only because principle is not yet exhausted is knowing not yet complete; so one must go to all things under Heaven and, on the basis of principles already known, exhaust them further, seeking to reach their utmost;
when effort has been applied for long, suddenly one morning one breaks through, and then the outside and inside, fine and coarse of all things are reached, and the whole substance and great function of my heart are all made bright — this is called the investigation of things, this is called the utmost of knowing. This is Zhu Xi’s clearest stipulation of the completed state of “knowing”: completion is written as a cognitive event (breaking through) and its result (the whole substance and great function all made bright).
What it does not prove: Among the eight items of the Daxue, “the utmost of knowing” is only the second, followed by making the intention sincere, rectifying the heart and cultivating the person; Zhu Xi himself also says “merely reaching its principle without treading its affairs, one still cannot have it in oneself” (E-21). Hence this entry establishes the completion of “knowing”, not the whole of completion.
Original excerpt: 人有是心莫非全體然不窮理則有所蔽而無以盡乎此心之量Everyone has this heart, which is nothing but the whole substance; yet if one does not exhaust principle, there is obscuration and one cannot fully realize the measure of this heart.
Context passage: 心者人之神明所以具衆理而應萬事者也性則心之所具之理而天又理之所從以出者也人有是心莫非全體然不窮理則有所蔽而無以盡乎此心之量故能極其心之全體而無不盡者必其能窮夫理而無不知者也既知其理則其所從出亦不外是矣以大學之序言之知性則物格之謂盡心則知至之謂也
What the passage does: Commenting on “One who fully realizes his heart knows his nature”: the heart is the spirit and brightness of a person, possessing all principles and responding to the myriad affairs; nature is the principle the heart possesses, and Heaven is that from which principle comes;
everyone has this heart, which is nothing but the whole substance, but without exhausting principle there is obscuration and one cannot fully realize its measure; so one who can carry the whole substance of the heart to its utmost without anything left unrealized must be one who can exhaust principle without anything left unknown; in terms of the order of the Daxue, knowing nature is the investigation of things, fully realizing the heart is the utmost of knowing. Here “the whole substance of the heart” is originally present (“nothing but the whole substance”), but “fully realizing” the heart — that is, the complete realization of the heart — is directly identified with “the utmost of knowing”.
What it does not prove: This entry rewrites Mengzi’s “fully realizing the heart” into the cognitive order of the Daxue, which is Zhu Xi’s interpretive framework; it strongly evidences that cognition cannot be deleted, but must still be read with “preserving the heart and nurturing nature so as to serve Heaven is how one treads its affairs” (E-21).
Original excerpt: 不知其理固不能履其事然徒造其理而不履其事則亦無以有諸已矣Without knowing its principle one certainly cannot tread its affairs; yet merely reaching its principle without treading its affairs, one still cannot have it in oneself.
Context passage: 愚謂盡心知性而知天所以造其理也存心養性以事天所以履其事也不知其理固不能履其事然徒造其理而不履其事則亦無以有諸已矣
What the passage does: Zhu Xi’s remark on the same chapter: fully realizing the heart, knowing nature and knowing Heaven is “reaching its principle”; preserving the heart and nurturing nature so as to serve Heaven is “treading its affairs”; without knowing its principle one certainly cannot tread its affairs, but merely reaching its principle without treading its affairs one cannot “have it in oneself”; and he says “wisdom without humaneness will drift into lawlessness and will not suffice to be wisdom”. Completion is divided into the two sides of knowing and acting, and neither can be deleted.
What it does not prove: This entry limits reading Zhu Xi as a system of purely cognitive completion; but it does not cancel the priority of knowing (“without knowing its principle one certainly cannot tread its affairs”).
Original excerpt: 到得豁然處是非人力勉强而至者也Reaching the place of breaking through is not something reached by forcing human effort.
Context passage: 問自一身之中以至萬物之理理㑹得多自當豁然有箇覺處曰此一段尤其要切學者所當深究道夫曰自一身以至萬物之理則所謂由中而外自近而遠秩然有序而不迫切者曰然到得豁然處是非人力勉强而至者也
What the passage does: A disciple asked: from within one’s own person out to the principles of the myriad things, once one has understood much, will there naturally be a place of breaking-through awareness? Zhu Xi said this passage is especially pressing; and he said that from the centre outward, from the near to the far, there is an orderly sequence without haste; “reaching the place of breaking through is not something reached by forcing human effort”. Breaking through is said not to be reachable by forcing human effort — on one side this weakens the reading that “cognition is a completion produced by humans”; on the other it still presupposes “having understood much”.
What it does not prove: “Not reached by forcing human effort” describes how the breakthrough occurs, not that prior exhausting of principle is unnecessary; the surrounding text in the same juan makes accumulation the condition (E-23).
Original excerpt: 因一事研磨一理乆乆自然光明如一鏡然今日磨些明日磨些不覺自光Grinding one principle on each affair, over long time it naturally becomes bright, like a mirror: grind a little today, grind a little tomorrow, and without noticing it shines of itself.
What the passage does: Zhu Xi says: the main thing lies in extending knowing, extending knowing lies in exhausting principle, and when principle is exhausted knowing naturally reaches its utmost; grinding one principle on each affair, over long time it naturally becomes bright, like grinding a mirror, a little today and a little tomorrow, and without noticing it shines of itself; if effort stops, what has become bright darkens again and what has not yet become bright will not become bright. The mirror originally has light (originally present brightness); the manifestation of the light depends on grinding (effort), and as soon as effort stops it recedes.
What it does not prove: The mirror image shows that “brightness” is originally present while its “manifestation” waits on effort; but “once effort stops it darkens” also shows that for Zhu Xi completion requires continued effort to maintain, and is not a one-time seeing.
Original excerpt: 持敬是窮理之本窮得理明又是養心之助Holding to reverence is the root of exhausting principle; exhausting principle to clarity in turn aids the nurturing of the heart.
What the passage does: Zhu Xi says holding to reverence is the root of exhausting principle, and exhausting principle to clarity in turn aids nurturing the heart;
the same juan also says “holding to reverence and exhausting principle, though two ends, are in fact one root”. Reverence (nurturing) and exhausting principle (extending knowing) are two kinds of effort that support each other; neither can be deleted.
What it does not prove: This entry shows the twin-track structure of effort; whether reverence likewise carries the definition of “completion” must be read with E-25.
Original excerpt: 然未發之前不可尋覔巳覺之後不容安排但平日莊敬[KR0636]飬之功至而無人欲之私以亂之則其未發也鏡明水止而其發也無不中節矣Yet before arousal it cannot be searched for; after awareness it does not allow arranging; only when the effort of daily solemn reverence and nurturing [KR0636] is complete, with no selfishness of human desire to disturb it, then in its unaroused state it is like a bright mirror and still water, and in its arousal it hits the measure in everything.
Context passage: 前此認得此心流行之體又因程子凡言心者皆指巳發而言遂日心爲巳發性爲未發然觀程子之書多所不合因復思之乃知前日之說非惟心性之名命之不當而日用功夫全無本領……然未發之前不可尋覔巳覺之後不容安排但平日莊敬[KR0636]飬之功至而無人欲之私以亂之則其未發也鏡明水止而其發也無不中節矣此是日用本領工夫
What the passage does: This is the programme of Zhu Xi’s “new theory of equilibrium and harmony”: he reviews his earlier theory, which took the heart as the aroused and nature as the unaroused, so that “daily effort had no foundation at all”; the new theory takes the time when thought has not yet sprouted and affairs have not yet arrived as the unaroused, when the heart is still and unmoving and the Heaven-decreed nature is fully present in it; before arousal it cannot be searched for, after awareness it does not allow arranging; if only the effort of daily solemn reverence and nurturing is complete and no selfishness of human desire disturbs it, then the unaroused is like a bright mirror and still water, and the aroused hits the measure in everything.
The ground (the equilibrium of the unaroused) is originally present, but it cannot be searched for or viewed directly; it can only be allowed to appear naturally through nurturing.
What it does not prove: “Cannot be searched for” explicitly excludes direct viewing of the unaroused substance (compare E-28); this is an important limit on the “direct seeing of the ground” reading, and on this basis this archive keeps ② at C. The Kanripo transcription represents one character by the constructed-character code KR0636; the common editions read “涵” (nurture); this archive has not checked the original leaf.
Original excerpt: 人之一心天理存則人欲亡人欲勝則天理滅未有天理人欲夾雜者In the one human heart, when Heavenly principle is preserved human desire perishes, when human desire prevails Heavenly principle is extinguished; there has never been a mixture of Heavenly principle and human desire.
What the passage does: Zhu Xi says that in the human heart, when Heavenly principle is preserved human desire perishes and when human desire prevails Heavenly principle is extinguished; there is no state in which Heavenly principle and human desire are mixed; the learner must recognize and examine this.
The same juan also says “the learner must completely remove human desire and completely restore Heavenly principle; only then is it learning”. Ethically, completion is stipulated as the full restoration of Heavenly principle and the complete removal of human desire.
What it does not prove: This entry gives the direction and goal of effort; “recognizing and examining” is also a cognitive effort, but the weight here is on the practice of preserving principle and removing desire.
Original excerpt: 隨其心之所欲而自不過於法度安而行之不勉而中也Following what his heart desired, he naturally did not exceed the rules; at ease in acting, he hit the mean without effort.
What the passage does: Zhu Xi comments on Confucius’ “at seventy I followed what my heart desired without overstepping the measure”: following what the heart desires and naturally not exceeding the rules, at ease in acting, hitting the mean without effort. The same chapter quotes Master Cheng: “knowing the decree of Heaven is exhausting principle and fully realizing nature”.
The sage’s final state is described as a natural rightness that needs no forcing — this can serve as material in the ① direction: at completion there is no longer a subject exerting effort to know and to hold.
What it does not prove: The same commentary quotes Master Cheng that “Confucius himself spoke of the order of his advance in virtue” and “set a model for learners”, and says “the sage need not have been so”; this state is placed at the end of the order of advancing in virtue; “hitting the mean without effort” is the mode of existence after completion, not a cancellation of the conditions for reaching it.
Original excerpt: 故以心觀物則物之理得今復有物以反觀乎心則是此心之外復有一心而能𬋩乎此心也Therefore, using the heart to observe things, the principles of things are obtained; now if there is again a thing turned back to observe the heart, then outside this heart there is another heart that is able to govern this heart.
Context passage: 夫心者人之所以主乎身者也一而不二者也爲主而不爲客者也命物而不命於物者也故以心觀物則物之理得今復有物以反觀乎心則是此心之外復有一心而能𬋩乎此心也
What the passage does: Someone asked about the Buddhists’ “theory of observing the heart”; Zhu Xi answered: the heart is the master of the person, one and not two, the host and not the guest, commanding things and not commanded by things; so using the heart to observe things, the principles of things can be obtained; if there were again a thing that turned back to observe the heart, that would be another heart outside the heart governing this heart. He explains “refinement and oneness”, “holding and preserving” and “fully realizing the heart and knowing nature” all as the same heart rectifying and preserving itself, not as another heart observing it. This shows that Zhu Xi’s cognitive effort obtains principle by “using the heart to observe things”, not by turning back to intuit the heart’s substance.
What it does not prove: This entry strongly limits reading Zhu Xi’s completion as Chan-style “seeing nature”; but it does not deny the load-bearing role of cognition — it stipulates the direction of cognition (toward the principles of things), not its cancellation.
Original excerpt: 釋氏只說見性下梢尋得一箇實洞無稽底性亦由他説於事上更動不得The Buddhists only speak of seeing nature; in the end they find a hollow and groundless nature, and let it be as they say, but in affairs it cannot move at all.
Context passage: 格物不説窮理却言格物盖言理則無可捉摸物有時而離言物則理自在自是離不得釋氏只說見性下梢尋得一箇實洞無稽底性亦由他説於事上更動不得
What the passage does: Zhu Xi explains why the Daxue says “investigating things” rather than “exhausting principle”: if one speaks of principle there is nothing to grasp, and things are at times left aside; if one speaks of things, principle is naturally within them and cannot be left aside. He criticizes the Buddhists for speaking only of seeing nature and in the end finding a hollow, groundless nature that cannot move at all in affairs. Confucian cognition must land on affairs and things.
What it does not prove: This is Zhu Xi’s criticism of Buddhism, not this archive’s assessment of Buddhism; this entry is used to show that Zhu Xi consciously distinguished “going to things and exhausting principle” from “directly seeing nature”.
Original excerpt: 吾儒以性為實釋氏以性為空We Confucians take nature as real;
the Buddhists take nature as empty.
What the passage does: Zhu Xi divides Confucian and Buddhist by “real” and “empty”: Confucians take nature as real (really having its principles — humaneness, rightness, ritual propriety and wisdom), Buddhists take nature as empty. This shows that Zhu Xi’s ground (principle / nature) is real principle with content, not an undetermined emptiness or pure awareness.
What it does not prove: This is a doctrinal-classification summary; one cannot infer from it whether Zhu Xi’s understanding of Buddhism is accurate; it is used only to establish that Zhu Xi’s own ground is “real principle”.
Original excerpt: 盖天地萬物本吾一體吾之心正則天地之心亦正矣吾之氣順則天地之氣亦順矣For Heaven, Earth and the myriad things are originally one body with me; when my heart is rectified, the heart of Heaven and Earth is rectified too; when my qi is in accord, the qi of Heaven and Earth is in accord too.
Context passage: 盖天地萬物本吾一體吾之心正則天地之心亦正矣吾之氣順則天地之氣亦順矣故其效驗至於如此此學問之極功聖人之能事初非有待於外而脩道之教亦在其中矣
What the passage does: Commenting on “Realize equilibrium and harmony, and Heaven and Earth take their places and the myriad things are nourished”: Heaven, Earth and the myriad things are originally one body with me; when my heart is rectified, the heart of Heaven and Earth is rectified; when my qi is in accord, the qi of Heaven and Earth is in accord; so the efficacy extends to Heaven and Earth taking their places and the myriad things being nourished; this is “the utmost achievement of learning, what the sage is able to do”, and “from the start does not depend on anything outside”. The rectification of the human heart and the rectitude of Heaven and Earth are placed within one and the same whole — this is the statement in Zhu Xi’s texts closest to “cognition and practice being placed within a more basic structure”.
What it does not prove: “My heart is rectified” is the result of effort (“the utmost achievement of learning”), and the efficacy of one body is conditioned on “realizing equilibrium and harmony”; this entry can serve as a self-inclusion candidate, but it also proves that completion is conditioned.
Original excerpt: 問心是知覺性是理心與理如何得貫通為一曰不須去著貫通本來貫通如何本來貫通曰理無心則無著處Asked: “The heart is awareness, nature is principle; how can heart and principle interpenetrate as one?” He said: “There is no need to make them interpenetrate;
they originally interpenetrate.” “How do they originally interpenetrate?” He said: “Without the heart, principle has nowhere to rest.”
What the passage does: A disciple asked: the heart is awareness, nature is principle; how can heart and principle interpenetrate as one? Zhu Xi answered: there is no need to make them interpenetrate; they originally interpenetrate; asked again how they originally interpenetrate, he answered: without the heart, principle has nowhere to rest. This is the most direct “no need to… originally…” construction in Zhu Xi’s texts: the interpenetration of heart and principle is originally present without waiting on effort. It can serve as material in the ① direction and is also strong evidence for ②’s “the ground is originally present”.
What it does not prove: This entry says that heart and principle are structurally interconnected from the start (principle needs the heart as its resting place), not that everyone already knows principle; the same juan immediately goes on to say “what is aware of is the principle of the heart;
what is able to be aware is the numinous of qi” (E-33), so heart and principle still have the division of knower and known.
Original excerpt: 所覺者心之理也能覺者氣之靈也What is aware of is the principle of the heart;
what is able to be aware is the numinous of qi.
What the passage does: Zhu Xi distinguishes what is aware of from what is able to be aware: what is known in awareness is the principle in the heart; what is able to be aware is “the numinous of qi”; the same juan also says “the heart is the refined brightness of qi”. Awareness is thus placed on the side of qi, and the highest structure is principle. This supports Zhu Xi taking principle rather than some knower as the ground; but a distinction of ontological character cannot replace the completion-layer deletion test, and it also shows that cognition for Zhu Xi is the awareness of principle by the numinous of qi — with a division of knower and known.
What it does not prove: This entry is a short saying recorded by a disciple, consistent in direction with the criticism in E-16 of “another awareness outside nature”; it does not say whether awareness can be deleted, only where awareness sits in the structure.
| Term | Levels that must at least be distinguished | Judgments that may not be overstepped |
|---|---|---|
| Principle (理) | The root of the generation of things (E-04) / that by which things are so and that which they ought to be / present in things (E-10) | “Principle first” is only priority in inference (E-08), not a thing that can be viewed on its own |
| Qi (气) | The means of the generation of things (E-04) / endowed qi (E-17) / qi strong, principle weak (E-12) | Qi is not evil, but endowed qi is the source of obscuration |
| Supreme Ultimate (太极) | The collective name for the principle of Heaven, Earth and the myriad things (E-05) / possessed by each person and each thing (E-10) | Not an undifferentiated thing prior to Heaven and Earth |
| Term | Levels that must at least be distinguished | Judgments that may not be overstepped |
|---|---|---|
| Nature (性) | Nature is principle (E-13) / the nature of Heaven and Earth and the physical nature | Nature is principle, not awareness |
| Heart (心) | Possesses all principles and responds to the myriad affairs (E-17, E-20) / unites nature and feelings (E-16) / one and not two, commanding things and not commanded by things (E-28) | The heart can know principle, but awareness itself is not principle |
| Bright virtue (明德) | The brightness of the original substance never ceases / obscured by endowed qi and human desires / made bright so as to return to the beginning (E-17) | The “making bright” of “returning to the beginning” is a whole set of efforts, not a single viewing |
| Term | Levels that must at least be distinguished | Judgments that may not be overstepped |
|---|---|---|
| Investigating things and extending knowing (格物致知) | Going to things and exhausting principle / on the basis of principles already known, exhausting them further / breaking through (E-19) | The cognitive stipulation of completion, but only the second of the eight items |
| Dwelling in reverence (居敬) | Concentrating on one thing without wandering, orderly and solemn / nurturing in the unaroused (E-25) / the root of exhausting principle (E-24) | Conditions exhausting principle mutually; cannot by itself carry completion |
| Heavenly principle / human desire (天理／人欲) | When one is preserved, the other perishes (E-26) | The ethical stipulation of completion |
Zhu Xi places the ground in principle: principle is the Way above form and the root of the generation of things; it is prior to Heaven and Earth and yet present in things; in human beings it is nature, possessed in the heart as bright virtue.
The texts have three groups of direct statements:
Hence Zhu Xi’s ground is not an object that has to be established by people, nor a fruit of cultivation, but real principle that is originally so and present everywhere. This layer does not wait on knowing: E-04, E-06 and E-13 directly support that the ground is originally so. The inference to ② does not come from the ground layer but from Zhu Xi’s stipulation of “returning to the beginning”, “fully realizing the heart” and “the utmost of knowing”.
Differences among beings: Zhu Xi explains the myriad beings with “principle is one, its differentiations many” (E-11) and the theory of principle and qi: principle is one, but the endowed qi is clear or turbid, partial or balanced, so people and things differ; each affair and thing has its own principle of how it ought to be. The basis of difference is endowed qi and differentiation, not a division of principle itself. This layer is the most prominent “explaining the world” part of Zhu Xi’s system (the ④ direction).
Final test｜The utmost of knowing and resting in the highest good: Zhu Xi’s Daxue zhangju stipulates the utmost of how affairs and principles ought to be by “resting in the highest good”, and unfolds the order of its realization through investigating things, the utmost of knowing, sincere intention, rectified heart, cultivated person, regulated family, ordered state and a world at peace; the commentary acknowledges the dependence of order in “knowing reaches its utmost and then the intention is sincere”. With “the utmost of knowing” deleted, reverence and conduct do not thereby logically disappear altogether, but the structural link of how “the utmost of how affairs and principles ought to be” is properly known and carried out loses the condition the text assigns to it. So this archive does not assert the over-strong inference “delete knowing → all action becomes impossible”, but asserts “delete knowing → the order of realizing the highest good stipulated by Zhu Xi is no longer complete”. (Textual order A; complete non-deletability B)
Final test｜② and ③: right knowing is a necessary relation for restoring brightness, fully realizing the heart and actual practice, and cannot be reduced by being “the second item” to an insignificant teaching step.
But Zhu Xi also takes classical exegesis and the analysis of principle, qi, heart and nature as continuing work on the fundamental question, and how the whole thought ultimately weighs between ② and ③ still admits equally reasonable readings; therefore the main placement adopts ② (C), with ③ as a competing boundary, and it is not inflated to ② (B). ④ is the direction of ethical-political application and does not replace the judgment of the ground and the function of completion.
Deletion test: from the complete structure, delete only the function of “exhausting principle / the utmost of knowing” (going to things and exhausting principle, breaking through, knowing nature as investigating things, fully realizing the heart as the utmost of knowing, and the “making bright” in making it bright so as to return to the beginning), keeping principle as the root of the generation of things, nature as principle, and the never-ceasing brightness of the original substance of bright virtue, and keeping reverent nurturing and practice as controls. Check separately which layer breaks: the stipulation of the ground, “returning to the beginning”, “fully realizing the heart”, the state of the sage. One may not declare cognition cancelled because “reaching the place of breaking through is not something reached by forcing human effort” (E-22), nor ignore Zhu Xi’s explicit stipulations that knowing and acting advance together and that reverence is the root because of “the utmost of knowing”.
(1) The ground holds: principle is the root of the generation of things (E-04); because there is this principle there are this Heaven and Earth (E-06); nature is principle (E-13). With exhausting principle deleted, these stipulations do not change by a single word. The first-layer deletion passes. (A: stated in the text)
(2) Dismantling and the learner: the substantialization of the Supreme Ultimate is dismantled (E-05, E-10); principle being prior to qi in time is dismantled (E-08); observing the heart with the heart is dismantled (E-28); an empty nature is dismantled (E-29, E-30); mere understanding without practice is dismantled (E-21). What can be deleted is the substantialization of principle, the direct viewing of the heart’s substance and empty knowing; Zhu Xi himself has already deleted them. But Zhu Xi did not delete “knowing”: he wrote the investigation of things and extension of knowing as a commentary chapter of the Daxue (E-19), and rewrote Mengzi with “knowing nature is what is meant by the investigation of things; fully realizing the heart is what is meant by the utmost of knowing” (E-20).
(3) Ultimate completion: Zhu Xi gives the same structure in many places: “Yet the brightness of its original substance never ceases; therefore the learner should follow where it shows itself and so make it bright, so as to return to its beginning” (E-17);
“When effort has been applied for long, suddenly one morning one breaks through, and then the outside and inside, the fine and the coarse of all things are reached, and the whole substance and great function of my heart are all made bright. This is called the investigation of things; this is called the utmost of knowing” (E-19); “Everyone has this heart, which is nothing but the whole substance; yet if one does not exhaust principle, there is obscuration and one cannot fully realize the measure of this heart” (E-20); “One must push outward gradually from the bright place, exhaust it to the right point, and my heart will then have its own standard” (E-18); “For Heaven, Earth and the myriad things are originally one body with me; when my heart is rectified, the heart of Heaven and Earth is rectified too… this is the utmost achievement of learning” (E-31).
Judgment and break points: removing exhausting principle while keeping the ground, the first layer is still complete: that principle and nature are originally so is unaffected. But “returning to the beginning” loses its way — bright virtue remains obscured, and “making it bright” has nothing to work with (E-17); “the whole substance of the heart” is still there, but “one cannot fully realize the measure of this heart” (E-20); the order of the Daxue breaks at the second item, and sincere intention and what follows lose their premise (“knowing reaches its utmost and then the intention is sincere”, see card E-19);
breaking through has no way to occur (E-19, E-22). “Necessary” here is not what is necessary for principle to hold, but what is necessary for a person to “return to the beginning” and “fully realize the heart”. The B-grade break lies in the completion layer, not in the ground layer.
Test of the controls: if only reverence is deleted while exhausting principle is kept, Zhu Xi says explicitly “without holding to reverence, looking at principle it all scatters and does not gather here” (in the juan of E-24), and “daily effort had no foundation at all” (in the context passage of E-25) — likewise a break. If only practice is deleted, then “one cannot have it in oneself” (E-21). Hence for Zhu Xi knowing, reverence and acting all bear load in the completion layer; cognition is not the sole bearer, but it is one of the non-deletable bearers, and it comes first in order (“without knowing its principle one certainly cannot tread its affairs”, E-21).
Path / turn / end: under v1.3, sayings of the type “those who do not yet know remain benighted” only show that cognition is a turn. E-18 “push outward gradually from the bright place” and E-23 “grind a little today, grind a little tomorrow” belong to “path” and “turn”. The sentences that bring cognition into the level of “end” are: “This is called the investigation of things;
this is called the utmost of knowing” immediately following “the whole substance and great function of my heart are all made bright” (E-19) — the completed state itself is stipulated as a kind of “brightness”; and “fully realizing the heart is what is meant by the utmost of knowing” (E-20) — the complete realization of the heart is directly identified with the utmost of knowing. On the other hand, E-27 “at ease in acting, he hit the mean without effort” and E-31 “Heaven, Earth and the myriad things are originally one body with me” describe a completed state whose content is action and one body, not named by “knowing”. The two ways of speaking coexist in one system.
Test of the ② / ③ boundary: this archive takes the main task of the thought and the final relation of completion as the criterion, not sudden awakening / gradual cultivation or whether one “observes the heart” as a shortcut to classification. E-17, E-19 and E-20 (T1) explicitly link restoring brightness, the utmost of knowing and fully realizing the heart into one relation of completion, supporting the substantive candidacy of ②; E-25 and E-28 (T1) oppose particular methods — searching for the unaroused, turning back to observe the heart’s substance, and empty knowing — and do not directly prove that all right cognition of the ground can be deleted.
The strong evidence in the ③ direction is that Zhu Xi continually defines the ground through principle and qi, heart and nature, investigating things and classical exegesis; the strong evidence in the ④ direction is the actual ethical and social return of knowing, reverence and acting. The current ② / ③ type dispute is C and cannot be settled only by the difference of method.
Independence of evidence and limits: the load-bearing material in the ② direction is spread over three kinds of T1 texts: the Daxue zhangju (E-17, E-19), the Mengzi jizhu (E-20, E-21) and the Zhongyong zhangju (E-31); the Conversations (E-18, E-22, E-23) provide parallel supplements. The material limiting ② is likewise in T1: the “Discourse on Observing the Heart” (E-28) and the “First Letter to the Gentlemen of Hunan on Equilibrium and Harmony” (E-25). All quotations follow electronic transcriptions only; images of the original books have not been checked.
Test of the ① direction: the strongest version of ① is: “Principle is present in things, heart and principle are one, Heaven, Earth and the myriad things are originally one body with me; the sage follows what his heart desires without overstepping the measure, hitting the mean without effort; the place of breaking through is not produced by human effort.
Therefore completion is simply the natural flowing of principle, and cognition is only one occurrence within it.” This archive accepts the first three items as descriptions of the ground layer and of the completed state; Zhu Xi even says that heart and principle “need not be made to interpenetrate; they originally interpenetrate” (E-32). But Zhu Xi does not say that those who do not yet know have already returned to the beginning; what he says is “if one does not exhaust principle, there is obscuration and one cannot fully realize the measure of this heart” (E-20). The ① material in Zhu Xi is weaker than in most ② archives in this series: Zhu Xi has no completion-layer ①-direction sentences of the kind “no cultivation” or “originally already a Buddha”.
What has been withdrawn or de-substantialized: the Supreme Ultimate as an undifferentiated thing (E-05); the temporal priority of principle over qi (E-08); clinging to the theories of being and non-being (E-09); observing the heart with the heart (E-28); an empty and still nature (E-29, E-30); knowing without acting (E-21).
Final load-bearing point: principle as the root of the generation of things and nature as principle are Zhu Xi’s strongest stipulations of the ground;
but in the Daxue zhangju and the Mengzi jizhu Zhu Xi consistently stipulates returning to the beginning and the complete realization of the heart by “making it bright”, “the utmost of knowing” and “fully realizing the heart”, with reverence and practice as indispensable companions — this structure of completion, with knowing first and knowing, reverence and acting bearing load together, is the final load-bearing point.
Return: Zhu Xi’s return appears as ethical and political practice under “principle is one, its differentiations many” (regulating the family, ordering the state, bringing peace to the world, ritual and law, admonitions at the imperial lectures), and as the realization of equilibrium and harmony in “Heaven, Earth and the myriad things are originally one body with me” (E-31). The return does not change the load-bearing point above, but it forms the main content of this archive’s ④ direction.
Final self-inclusion test: E-17, E-20 and E-31 (T1) show the heart possessing all principles, responding to the myriad affairs and being one body with Heaven, Earth and the myriad things;
E-15 and E-32 (disciples’ records, T2) supply the strong statements “heart and principle are one” and “they originally interpenetrate”. This is evidence that cognition is positively placed, and its content cannot be denied because it must be realized through effort; but whether Zhu Xi’s own exegetical speech and the reader’s understanding are all positively brought into the same more basic structure still needs qualification. With T2 stripped away the force of self-inclusion weakens; and the necessity of the utmost of knowing in E-19 and E-20 prevents a complete ① from passing the deletion test. So ① as an overall classification is only a D-grade stress test, while the local positive evidence should still be kept.
Self-reflexivity: partly holds. (1) Toward concepts: the Supreme Ultimate “is not a separate thing” (E-10), and “principle first, qi after” only “seems so” when inferring upward (E-08). (2) Toward speech: “‘The workings of high Heaven’ speak of non-being from within being; ‘the Ultimate of Non-being and yet the Supreme Ultimate’ speaks of being from within non-being; if one really sees it, then speaking of being or non-being… does no harm at all” (E-09). (3) Toward his own early views: the “Preface to the Old Theory of Equilibrium and Harmony” and the “First Letter to the Gentlemen of Hunan on Equilibrium and Harmony” openly review the errors of his earlier theory (E-02, E-25).
But Zhu Xi does not, as Jizang or Milarepa do, apply a thorough self-reflexivity to his own fundamental concept (principle) or to the classical teachings; he states plainly “we Confucians take nature as real” (E-30).
Self-inclusion: partly holds. Zhu Xi gives cognition a positive place: the heart “possesses all principles and responds to the myriad affairs” (E-17, E-20), principle is “within the heart” (E-15), “using the heart to observe things, the principles of things are obtained” (E-28) — cognition is stipulated as a capacity originally possessed by the heart, and its object is the principle originally possessed by the heart. “Heaven, Earth and the myriad things are originally one body with me; when my heart is rectified, the heart of Heaven and Earth is rectified too” (E-31) places the rectification of the human heart within the whole of Heaven and Earth. The limit is that this placement is conditioned on “the heart being rectified” and “long learning”; Zhu Xi does not say that the speech and cognition of thought itself are already an unconditioned occurrence of principle. (A: stated in the text; overall judgment B)
The place of awareness in the structure: Zhu Xi’s highest structure is principle, stipulated as “the Way above form” and “the root of the generation of things”, a real-content “ought” and “reason why” — not defined by awareness.
He explicitly criticizes “joining nature and awareness to get the name of heart” as making it seem that “outside nature there is another awareness” (E-16). Under rule 6, awareness in Zhu Xi is placed as a function of the heart, while “what is aware of is the principle of the heart; what is able to be aware is the numinous of qi” (E-33), the heart is “the refined brightness of qi” (same juan), and principle alone is the highest. So the exclusion condition is no obstacle in Zhu Xi’s case: the highest structure is not defined by awareness. But this does not bring Zhu Xi closer to ①, because ① also requires that cognition can be deleted in the completion layer, and Zhu Xi’s completion layer explicitly does not allow knowing to be deleted (E-19, E-20). (B)
Question: Zhu Xi says that principle is prior to Heaven and Earth and present in things (E-06, E-10), that nature is principle (E-13), that heart and principle are one and principle is within the heart (E-15), that the brightness of the original substance of bright virtue never ceases (E-17), that the place of breaking through is not reached by forcing human effort (E-22), and that Heaven, Earth and the myriad things are originally one body with me (E-31).
At the same time he rejects observing the heart with the heart (E-28), says the unaroused substance cannot be searched for (E-25), and criticizes seeing nature (E-29). Is Zhu Xi’s “utmost of knowing”, then, a “recognition of the originally present ground” in the sense of ②, or an “exhaustive inquiry into and definition of the ground” in the sense of ③?
Why it looks like ②:
Why it looks like ③: a great part of Zhu Xi’s work is interpreting the classics, analysing principle and qi, and clarifying heart, nature and the method of exhausting principle; he does not merely announce a directly recognized ground, but repeatedly analyses how principle corresponds to the myriad affairs and things. The plausibility of ③ comes from whether these arguments about the ground constitute the final main task of the thought, not from the gradualness of investigating things or the rejection of observing the heart with the heart, which would not prove that he lacks a cognitive condition of completion. On the other hand, “resting in the highest good” in the Daxue zhangju governs investigating things, the utmost of knowing, sincere intention, rectified heart, and cultivating, regulating, ordering and pacifying; the Daxue zhangju’s own conditions of order — “things are investigated and then knowing reaches its utmost; knowing reaches its utmost and then the intention is sincere” — mean that “the utmost of knowing” cannot be arbitrarily pulled out of the complete chain. That knowing is only the second item cannot be directly turned into its being deletable. (③ competing interpretation C)
Why it looks like ④: the theory of principle and qi, “principle is one, its differentiations many”, the ethics of ritual and law, and political admonitions make up most of the content of Zhu Xi’s writings that explains and regulates the world; the Songshi sums up his learning as “exhausting principle so as to extend his knowing, turning back to himself so as to tread its reality” (E-01). But ④ requires that the ground has already been taken over ready-made in order to explain the world, whereas Zhu Xi’s ground is itself his central topic; ④ fits better as a direction of application.
Source level and terminological boundary: the key materials for both the ② and the ③ direction are in T1 (E-17, E-19, E-20 against E-25, E-28); neither side depends on weaker texts. “The utmost of knowing”, “breaking through” and “returning to the beginning” are Zhu Xi’s own terms; “direct seeing” and “inquiring” are v1.3 type labels, and this archive does not infer from Zhu Xi’s anti-Chan statements that he does not belong to ② — because the definition of ② is structural (the ground is originally present, and completion has cognition as a non-deletable condition), not based on “sudden awakening” as the standard.
Grades: A grade covers the sentences in which Zhu Xi directly says “yet the brightness of its original substance never ceases… so as to return to its beginning”, “suddenly one morning one breaks through…
this is called the utmost of knowing”, “fully realizing the heart is what is meant by the utmost of knowing”, “now if there is again a thing turned back to observe the heart, then outside this heart there is another heart” and “before arousal it cannot be searched for”; B grade is “cognition (the utmost of knowing) cannot be deleted from Zhu Xi’s structure of completion”; C grade is “this cognition belongs to the ② type (direct seeing of the ground) rather than the ③ type (inquiring into the ground)”. The competing reading ③ is supported by Zhu Xi’s own explicit anti-“seeing nature” and anti-“observing the heart” sentences, and is C, not D.
Conditions for further verification: if the primary texts can show that “the utmost of knowing” is only one step in a chain of knowledge and moral governance, rather than a non-deletable relation of right knowing in the complete becoming of a sage that Zhu Xi stipulates, ③ or ④ should be compared again; if it can be shown that “the utmost of knowing — returning to the beginning — fully realizing the heart — practice” has a non-deletable function of right knowing in the final structure, the evidence for ② is strengthened. The criterion keeps the original v1.3 definition and adds no threshold of “must be instantaneous direct seeing” on account of the figure or of the results of review.
Placement: ②「Direct Seeing of the Ground」 (C; the ② / ③ boundary is open. That cognition cannot be deleted from completion is B; the type of this cognition is C; ④ is the direction of application).
Why ②: on one side Zhu Xi stipulates principle as the root of the generation of things, nature as principle, and the never-ceasing brightness of the original substance of bright virtue, so the ground holds without waiting on knowing; on the other side, in the Daxue zhangju and the Mengzi jizhu, he directly stipulates “returning to the beginning” and “fully realizing the heart” as “the utmost of knowing” and “the whole substance and great function of my heart are all made bright”, reached by way of exhausting principle. This satisfies the structural conditions of ②: the ground is originally present, and completion has cognition of the ground as a non-deletable condition. The primary load-bearing evidence is E-17, E-19 and E-20 (T1); secondarily E-18, E-22 and E-23 (T2).
Why ② still has a C-grade boundary: E-17, E-19 and E-20 explicitly stipulate the completing role of right knowing, but in the Daxue investigating things and extending knowing is only one link in the process of perfecting virtue, and must be seen together with sincere intention, rectified heart, cultivated person, reverence, practice and the highest good.
If the complete endpoint does not have a further function of “rightly cognizing the ground” as a necessary condition, ② cannot hold; if the utmost of knowing actually bears load as a non-deletable function of completion, ② can be judged. The criticism of turning back to observe the heart’s substance (E-28) only negates one method; it does not directly negate ②.
Why it cannot yet be placed at ①: ① must satisfy at once positive built-in inclusion (including the proposing, speaking and understanding of thought itself) and the deletability of the function of rightly cognizing the ground in the complete ultimate structure. Zhu Xi’s principle does not hold by virtue of being known, and cognition has a certain positive place in the heart possessing all principles and responding to the myriad affairs; but once the utmost of knowing is deleted, the structure of perfecting virtue breaks at the link described in E-19 and E-20 (E-19, E-20), while the ① reading of “heart and principle are one” and “Heaven, Earth and the myriad things are originally one body with me” must still be read against the chain of the utmost of knowing and restored brightness, and is kept as grounded local counter-evidence; it may not be labelled weakest in advance by comparison with other archives.
Why not ④: Zhu Xi has a great deal of content that explains and regulates the world (principle is one, its differentiations many; ritual and law;
politics), but his ground (principle) is not a premise taken over ready-made; it is his central topic; his endpoint is returning to the beginning, fully realizing the heart and becoming a sage, not the explanation of the world itself. ④ as a direction of application is recorded as B.
Relation to traditional classifications: in Chinese intellectual history Zhu Xi is regarded as the great synthesizer of the Cheng–Zhu Learning of Principle; from the Yuan onward his Collected Commentaries on the Four Books became the standard for the civil examinations, with influence reaching the Confucianism of Korea, Japan and Vietnam. The opposition of the “Learning of Principle” and the “Learning of the Mind” (Lu Jiuyuan, Wang Yangming) is traditionally the most important classification. These affiliations serve only to explain historical background and take no part in the proof of the six-position structural classification.
Objection: E-25, E-28 and E-29 are all Zhu Xi’s explicit texts, and E-28 and E-25 are T1.
Reply: Partly accepted; this is why this archive keeps ② at C and marks the boundary as open. But in the Wang Bi archive the criterion for ③ is “after cognition is deleted, the structure of completion can still hold in theory”;
Zhu Xi’s case is the opposite — delete the utmost of knowing and both returning to the beginning and fully realizing the heart break (E-17, E-19, E-20). Zhu Xi’s cognition is not only a method of inquiring into the ground but one of the stipulations of completion. This makes the structural conditions of ② hold, but the type label “direct seeing” remains disputed.
Objection: E-21, E-26 and E-27 show that completion includes practice, preserving principle and removing desire, and hitting the mean without effort.
Reply: It is accepted that completion is not only cognition (Section 8, “Test of the controls”). But ④ requires that the ground is taken over ready-made, and ⑥ requires that life itself is the endpoint;
Zhu Xi’s ground is the central topic of his argument, his completion is named “returning to the beginning”, and “knowing reaches its utmost and then the intention is sincere” — knowing comes first in order. This archive records practice as a bearer alongside knowing, not as the sole one.
Objection: E-15, E-22, E-27 and E-31 can all serve as material in the ① direction.
Reply: Not adopted as the main class. Elsewhere in the Conversations “heart and principle are one” is conditioned on “long learning”; in E-31 “Heaven, Earth and the myriad things are originally one body with me” is “the utmost achievement of learning”, conditioned on realizing equilibrium and harmony;
Zhu Xi does not say that those who do not yet know have returned to the beginning, but on the contrary says “if one does not exhaust principle, there is obscuration and one cannot fully realize the measure of this heart” (E-20).
Objection: T2 cannot serve as primary load-bearing evidence.
Reply: Accepted. This archive’s primary load-bearing evidence, E-17, E-19, E-20, E-25 and E-28, is all T1; the Conversations material serves only as parallel supplement. Even with all the Conversations material removed, the structural conditions of ② and the competing reading of ③ both still hold.
Objection: E-19 and E-22 show that completion is a sudden cognitive event.
Reply: Partly accepted. Breaking through is indeed a completion-layer cognitive event, and “not reached by forcing human effort”. But Zhu Xi sets explicit premises for it (“when effort has been applied for long”, “go to all things under Heaven… and exhaust them further”), and the content of this event is “the outside and inside, the fine and the coarse of all things are reached” — a penetration of the principles of the myriad things, not a direct recognition of heart and nature. So this archive does not raise ② to B on this basis.
Objection: The core sentence of E-13 comes from Master Cheng.
Reply: Not adopted. The six-position classification measures the structure of thought, not originality; Zhu Xi adopted and developed this saying in his commentary, and gave independent formulations in writings of his own such as the “Reply to Huang Daofu” (E-04).
With “Principle is the Way above form, the root of the generation of things”, “Before Heaven and Earth existed there was, after all, only principle” and “Nature is principle”, Zhu Xi stipulates a ground that is originally so, present in things, and nature in human beings; with “The Supreme Ultimate is not a separate thing” and “Principle and qi originally have no before and after to speak of” he dismantles the substantialization of the ground; with “Bright virtue…
yet the brightness of its original substance never ceases” he explains that this ground is originally present in human beings yet obscured. On the other side, with “The learner should follow where it shows itself and so make it bright, so as to return to its beginning”, “Suddenly one morning one breaks through… and the whole substance and great function of my heart are all made bright. This is called the investigation of things; this is called the utmost of knowing” and “Fully realizing the heart is what is meant by the utmost of knowing”, he stipulates completion as a “brightness” reached by way of exhausting principle, and with “Holding to reverence is the root of exhausting principle” and “Merely reaching its principle without treading its affairs, one still cannot have it in oneself” he makes reverence and practice conditions that bear load alongside knowing; at the same time, with “Now if there is again a thing turned back to observe the heart, then outside this heart there is another heart”, “Before arousal it cannot be searched for” and “The Buddhists only speak of seeing nature… in affairs it cannot move at all” he rejects direct viewing of the ground.
Placed at ②「Direct Seeing of the Ground」 (C): that cognition cannot be deleted from completion is B; whether this cognition is of the “direct seeing” type or the “inquiring” type is C, and the ② / ③ boundary is open; ④ is the direction of application (B); ① is a D-grade stress test.
The Sishu huowen, Taijitu shuo jie and others have not been checked and do not enter the judgment.