Abstract
In this chapter, I discuss how Zhu Xi deployed the Four Books—the Great Learning, the Analects, the Mencius, and the Doctrine of the Mean—to explain the Confucian moral metaphysics. To fully gauge the significance of Zhu Xi’s philosophy, I will proceed in two steps. First, I will find out why Zhu Xi felt the need to compile and annotate the Four Books. Second, I will examine Zhu Xi’s two methods of connecting the four texts: (1) Adding prefaces to highlight the common themes among the texts; and (2) aggressively modifying the tenor and texture of the four texts by either dividing them into “verses and sections” or providing “collected annotations.” Through these two methods, I argue, Zhu Xi created a cohesive textual body to train readers to see the transformative potentials in the humdrum of everyday life.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
During the Three Kingdom period (220–280), the precocious philosopher Wang Bi (226–249) was a fierce critic of the grandiose socio-political vision of the Five Classics. In his commentary to the Yijing (Book of Changes), he argued that at war or in crisis, kinsmen and friends would only look after their own interests. Instead, strangers would help one other when facing a common problem. For the details of Wang Bi’s argument, see Hon 2003.
- 5.
Unless mentioned otherwise, the translations in this chapter are mine.
- 6.
The Four Books contain large numbers of quotations from the Five Classics, especially the Book of Poetry and the Book of Documents. Thus, a reader is unable to fully follow the arguments in the Four Books without a solid knowledge of the Five Classics. In fact, one of Zhu Xi’s tasks in annotating the Four Books was to clarify the meanings of the quotations from the Five Classics.
References
Adler, Joseph A. 2014. Reconstructing the Confucian Dao: ZhuXi’s Appropriation of ZhouDunyi. Albany: State University of New York Press. (An insightful study of Zhu Xi’s creative interpretation of Northern Song thinker, Zhou Dunyi.)
Berthrong, John. 2000. “Expanding the Tao: Chu Hsi’s Commentary on the Ta-Hsueh.” In Ching-I Tu, eds., Classics and Interpretations: The Hermeneutic Tradition in Chinese Culture (3–22). New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. (An informative study of Zhu Xi’s commentary on the Great Learning.)
Book of Rites 禮記. 2000. In The Corrected Meanings of the Book of Rites 禮記正義. Beijing 北京: Beijing daxue chubanshe 北京大學出版社.
Cai, Fanglu 蔡方鹿. 2000. Zhuzi and Chinese Culture 朱子與中國文化. Guiyang 貴陽: Guizho renmin chubanshe 貴州人民出版社.
Chan, Wing-tsit (Chen, Rongjie) 陳榮捷. 1963. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
———. 1973. “Chu Hsi’s Completion of Neo-Confucianism.” Etudes Song, Series II: 59–90. (A collection of essays by a major scholar of Zhu Xi’s thought.)
———. 1988. Studies of ZhuXi 朱學論集. Taipei 臺北: Xuesheng shuju 學生書局.
———. 1989. ChuHsi: New Studies. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
———. 1995. New Studies of Neo-Confucianism 新儒學論集. Taipei 臺北: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan zhongguo wenzhe yanjiusuo choubeichu 中央硏究院中國文哲硏究所籌備處.
Chen, Lai 陳來. 2010. Studies of Zhuzi’s Philosophy 朱子哲學研究. Beijing 北京: Sanlian shudian 三聯書店. (An insightful study of Zhu Xi’s philosophy.)
Cheng, Chung-ying. 2000. “The Daoxue at Issue: An Exercise of Onto-Hermeneutics Interpretation of Interpretations.” In Ching-I Tu, eds., Classics and Interpretations: The Hermeneutic Tradition in Chinese Culture (23–44). New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
Gardner, Daniel K. 1986. ChuHsi and the Ta-Hsueh: Neo-Confucian Reflections on the Confucian Canon. Cambridge, MA: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University. (A thoughtful study of Zhu Xi’s interpretation of the Great Learning.)
———. 1990. Learning to be a Sage: Selections from Conversations of Master Chu: Arranged Topically. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Han, Yu 韓愈. 1986. “On the Nature of the Way 原道.” In The Annotated Collection of Writings by HanChangli 韓昌黎文集校注. Shanghai 上海: Shanghai guji chubanshe 上海古籍出版社.
Henderson, John B. 2000. “Touchstones of Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy.” In Ching-I Tu, eds., Classics and Interpretations: The Hermeneutic Tradition in Chinese Culture (71–84). New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
Hon, Tze-ki. 2003, June. “Human Agency and Change: A Reading of Wang Bi’s Yijing Commentary.” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 30.2: 223–242.
———. 2010. “Zhou Dunyi’s Philosophy of the Supreme Polarity.” In John Makeham, eds., Dao Companion to Neo-Confucian Philosophy (1–16). Dordrecht: Springer.
———. 2012, May. “From Sheng Min 生民 to Si Min 四民: Social Changes in Late Imperial China.” Journal of Political Science and Sociology (Keio University, Tokyo) 16: 11–31.
Lin, Weijie 林維杰. 2008. ZhuXi and Classical Exegesis 朱熹與經典詮釋. Taipei 臺北: Taida chuban zhongxin 臺大出版中心.
Loewe, Michael. 1994. Divination, Mythology and Monarchy in Han China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Makeham, John. 2003. Transmitters and Creators: Chinese Commentators and Commentaries on the Analects. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center.
Mou, Zongsan 牟宗三. 1968. The Substance of the Mind and the Substance of Human Nature 心體與性體, 3 vols. Taipei 臺北: Zhengzhong shuju 正中書局. (A ground-breaking study of Neo-Confucianism as a system of philosophy.)
Nylan, Michael. 2001. The Five “Confucian” Classics. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Qian, Mu 錢穆. 1971. New Studies of ZhuXi’s Thought and Learning 朱子新學案, 5 vols. Taipei 臺北: Sanmin shuju 三民書局. (A comprehensive study of Zhu Xi as a philosopher and a classicist.)
———. 1977. A Brief Introduction to Song–Ming Neo Confucianism 宋明理學概論. Taipei 臺北: Xuesheng shudian 學生書局. (A thoughtful introduction to Neo-Confucianism as a system of thought.)
Tillman, Hoyt C. 1992. Confucian Discourse and ChuHsi’s Ascendancy. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. (A thoughtful study of the rise of Zhu Xi’s learning.)
Tu, Wei-ming. 1985. Confucian Thought: Selfhood as Creative Transformation. Albany: State University of New York Press. (An insightful study of Neo-Confucianism as a philosophy system.)
———. 1993. Way, Learning, and Politics: Essays on the Confucian Intellectuals. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Yu, Yingshi 余英時. 2013. The Historical World of ZhuXi 朱熹的歷史世界, 2 vols. Taipei 臺北: Yunchen wenhua 允晨文化實業股份有限公司.
Zhou, Yuanxia 周元俠. 2012. Studies of ZhuXi’s Combined Commentaries on Lun Yu: Including A Study of the Hermeneutical Significance of Combined Commentaries on Lun Yu 朱熹的《論語集注》的研究:兼論《論語集注》的解釋學意義. Beijing 北京: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe 中國社會科學出版社.
Zhu, Xi 朱熹. 1983. The Verses, Sections, and Combined Commentaries on the Four Books 四書章句集注. Beijing 北京: Zhonghua shuju 中華書局.
———. 1986. Conversations of Master Zhu: Arranged Topically 朱子語類. Beijing 北京: Zhonghua shuju 中華書局.
———. 1996. Reflections on Things at Hand 近思錄, annotated by Zhang Boxing 張伯行. Taipei 臺北: Shangwu yinshuguan 商務印書館.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hon, Tk. (2020). Zhu Xi’s Four Books: The Locus Classicus of a New Confucian Philosophy. In: Ng, Kc., Huang, Y. (eds) Dao Companion to ZHUXi’s Philosophy. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29175-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29175-4_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-29174-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-29175-4
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)