Category Archives: Neo-Confucianism

Wang Yangming Conference

On March 18-20, 2022, there will be a conference at Princeton on “Wang Yangming and Ming Thought,” organized by Harvey Lederman, PJ Ivanhoe, and Xueyin Snow Zhang. Details can be found at this website:

https://wangyangming.princeton.edu

Note that this will be in-person at Princeton, not on Zoom. Graduate students or early career researchers concerned about the expense of attending the conference might want to reach out to Harvey Lederman (hlederma@princeton.edu) for more information on possible available resources.

Lecture: Li, The relationship between Neo-Confucianism and Buddhism

The Glorisun Global Network for Buddhist Studies is pleased to present:

The relationship between Neo-Confucianism and Buddhism in Song Dynasty taking Zhu Xi as an example

By Professor Li Chunying 李春穎, International Confucian Academy at China University of Political Science and Law

Date: Monday, December 6, 2021, 10:00 AM PST
Webpage: https://glorisunglobalnetwork.org/guest-lecture-li-chunying/
Registration: https://ubc.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5wrdOmoqzgvGN1Ua0TqENfP-XZayG8-nG12

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Columbia Neo-Confucianism Seminar: Lederman on Wang Yangming

The next session of the Columbia University Seminar on Neo-Confucian Studies will convene on Thursday 9/23 from 7-8:30 pm EST, over Zoom.

Our speaker will be Professor Harvey Lederman of Princeton, who will be presenting his forthcoming paper The Introspective Model of Genuine Knowledge in Wang Yangming. Professor Lederman’s draft looks very well-formatted to me, but he says that he will have one more round of copyediting on it, and welcomes typographical comments.

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On-line Talk: Jenco, “Neo-Confucianism Beyond Moral Philosophy”

From Prof. Jun-Hyeok KWAK (郭峻赫) of Sun Yat-sen University:
We are pleased to announce the 19th Comparative Philosophy Workshop which will be held virtually at 16:00 PM to 18:00 PM (Beijing Time), 30th September (Thursday), 2021.
Due to the pandemic across the world, we will have a virtual (on-line) meeting. Should you wish to join the meeting, please email to the workshop coordinator to get the meeting password. We are going to use Tencent Voov Meeting, and any video recording of this meeting is prohibited.
At the 19th Political Philosophy Workshop, Leigh JENCO (LSE) will give a talk, “Neo-Confucianism Beyond Moral Philosophy: Chen Di’s Historical Phonology”

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Ng on Li 理

NG Kai-chiu has published a new article in the Soochow Journal of Philosophical Studies 東吳哲學學報 (in Chinese) titled “Rethinking Zhu Xi’s Li: ‘Principle of Existence’ or ‘Pattern’?” that considers the interpretation of li 理 as “Pattern” offered my Justin Tiwald and me in Neo-Confucianism: A Philosophical Interpretation. The abstract follows, and the whole paper (and others from the same issue) can be accessed here.

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MARCH 12, 2021: A Passage from Wang Yangming’s “Questions on the Great Learning

THE COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY

Presents: A Passage from Wang Yangming’s “Questions on the Great Learning”

Presenter: Harvey Lederman (Princeton University)
Discussants: Stephen Angle (Wesleyan University), Warren Frisina (Hofstra University), Xiaomei Yang (Southern Connecticut State University)

ABSTRACT: This session will follow the organization of those we had on Zhuangzi and Śāntideva from Fall 2020. A lead presenter will give some background on the text from which the passage below is derived–namely, Wang Yangming’s “Questions on the Great Learning” (大學問)–and introduce Wang’s notion of liangzhi (良知). The presentation will then discuss Wang’s understanding of “the extension of knowledge” (致知) and “making inclinations wholehearted” (誠意) from the Great Learning (大學) before giving a focused reading of the passage itself. According to this reading, a person has extended their knowledge if and only if they have made their inclinations wholehearted. Each of the discussants will then follow with some brief comments and questions before we open things up for Q&A.

DATE: March 12, 2021
TIME: 7:00-8:30 pm

Here is the passage:

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New Book: Chung on Wang Yangming in Korea

Rowman & Littlefield has published Edward Chung, The Great Synthesis of Wang Yangming Neo-Confucianism in Korea. The author adds that for those colleagues who would like to purchase it at the author’s discount (30%), its special promotion code is LEX30AUTH20. The table of contents follows.

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Wu Reviews Makeham, ed., Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi

Jiang WU has reviewed John Makeham, ed., The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi’s Philosophical Thought (Oxford, 2018) in the latest Journal of Chinese Religions; see here. One excerpt:

The current volume under review is thus a welcome step towards reevaluating the Buddhist influence on the formation of Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucian philosophy. Not only will it rekindle interest in philosophical issues among China specialists, it also helps to correct the previous tendency, or even bias, to overemphasize the social, intellectual, and historical aspects. This dominant approach tends to reduce philosophical arguments to a set of ideological dogmas conditioned by their social and cultural contexts, such as the competition for literati patronage. (p. 304)

Translation of Zhen Dexiu’s Xin Jing

Ryan Chiang McCarthy has published a translation of the 13th c. CE text Xinjing 心经. As he explains the text was:

…compiled by the Southern Song Dynasty politician and scholar Zhen Dexiu (1178-1235, art name Xishan). The Xinjing is an anthology of selected texts, from ancient classics such as the Yijing, the Liji, and the Mengzi, accompanied by comments by the Cheng brothers, Zhu Xi, and other eminent scholars, mostly of the Song period. Its theme, as the title suggests, is the matter of cultivating the heart, or mind.

Please see here. Congratulations, Ryan!

New Book: Dao Companion to Zhu Xi’s Philosophy

Yong Huang writes to share this news:
Dao Companion to Zhu Xi’s Philosophy, edited by Kai-chiu Ng and Yong Huang, vol. 13 of Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy series, edited by Yong Huang, had just been published by Springer. The volume consists of 40 chapters, contributed by the best Zhu Xi scholars today. In addition to the Introduction chapter, it includes 4 chapters on Zhu Xi as a commentator of Confucian classics, 6 chapters on the relationships between Zhu Xi and his predecessors, his contemporaries, and philosophers after him in the Confucian tradition of China, 16 chapters on the various aspects of Zhu Xi’s philosophy, 6 chapter on the relationships between Zhu Xi and non-Confucian philosophical traditions, and 7 chapters on the contemporary relevance of Zhu Xi’s philosophy. It is the most comprehensive and most updated studies of Zhu Xi in English. The whole volume is over 1000 pages, reasonably priced at $149.

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