Category Archives: Zhu Xi

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)

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.

Continue reading →

New Book: Zhu Xi

Zhu Xi: Selected Writings has been published. This is the first volume in the new translation series, Oxford Chinese Thought.

This is the first book-length translation to give a comprehensive look at Zhu Xi’s thought and his place in history, literature, philosophy, and religion. It includes Zhu’s writings or lessons on a wide variety of topics, including his ethics, metaphysics, political thought, views on ghosts and spirits, objections to Daoism and Buddhism, selected commentaries, and his thoughts on literature, poetry, and current social conditions. The volume is edited by Philip J. Ivanhoe with contributions from experts in various areas and aspects of Zhu Xi’s writings.

The book has been released directly into paperback and there is a companion website that includes the Chinese text for all translated materials, both of which we hope will appeal to instructors looking to adopt the volume for their courses. The paperback edition is quite affordable, and the easy reference to the Chinese text gives language instructors a way to teach Song dynasty Chinese as applied to a variety of topics and genres.

The table of contents is below the fold.

Continue reading →

Song Reviews Liu, Neo-Confucianism

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

2019.03.33 View this Review Online   View Other NDPR Reviews

JeeLoo Liu, Neo-Confucianism: Metaphysics, Mind, and Morality, Wiley-Blackwell, 2018, 316pp., $34.95 (pbk), ISBN 9781118619414.

Reviewed by Bin Song, Washington College

This book is clearly one of the greatest accomplishments among English Neo-Confucian philosophical studies in recent decades. JeeLoo Liu uses clear language and rigorous philosophical reasoning to analyze eight pivotal Neo-Confucian figures regarding three major areas: metaphysics, moral theory and moral practice. The book can be aptly used as both an introduction to Neo-Confucianism for beginners and a top reference for researchers, which is itself a rare achievement.

Continue reading →

New Book Series: Oxford Chinese Thought

Eric L. Hutton and I are very pleased to announce the launch of a new book series devoted exclusively to translations of Chinese philosophical and religious texts, Oxford Chinese Thought. The series will be published by Oxford University Press and, at least initially, all books will be released immediately into paperback. As most readers of this blog know, there is a vast body of philosophical and religious literature in Chinese and only the thinnest slice of it — barely a sliver — has been translated into English, which has created major obstacles to teaching and scholarship on Chinese thought, especially to teaching the post-classical thinkers in depth. Oxford Chinese Thought aims to address this longstanding challenge by providing high-quality English translations that are well suited for classroom use.

Translations are solicited by the series editors in consultation with the advisory board. We intend to focus primarily on post-Han texts that played significant roles in shaping Chinese thought. Continue reading →

Conference in Taipei: “Phenomenology and Chinese Philosophy” (March 18-20)

Dear colleagues,

this is to inform you about the international conference “Selfhood, Otherness, and Cultivation. Phenomenology and Chinese Philosophy” (March 18-20, at National Chengchi University in Taipei). You can still register on our website which also contains many helpful information (list of speakers, abstracts, etc.). The conference is co-hosted by the philosophy department and the interdisciplinary “Research Center on Chinese Cultural Subjectivity in Taiwan” at National Chengchi University. Our guest of honor is Dan Zahavi (Kopenhagen/Oxford) who, besides participating in our conference, will also give a series of lectures next week (see here).

Cordially,
Kai Marchal

 

 

 

Ivanhoe Reviews Makeham (ed.), The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi’s Philosophical Thought

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

2018.11.26 View this Review Online   View Other NDPR Reviews

John Makeham (ed.), The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi’s Philosophical Thought, Oxford University Press, 2018, 354pp., $74.00 (hbk), ISBN 9780190878559.

Reviewed by Philip J. Ivanhoe, Sungkyunkwan University

This volume aims at answering important questions about the historical sources of Zhu Xi’s philosophical system; it includes a wealth of information about earlier, Buddhist philosophical writings and makes clear how some of these appear to have informed and influenced the development of Zhu’s philosophical system. I will very briefly describe the contents of the volume, highlighting some of the ways in which the various chapters fill out our understanding of how Chinese Buddhist philosophy provided sources and context for the development of Zhu’s thought. I then will consider what the volume aims to and does achieve.

Continue reading →

New Book: Makeham, ed., The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi’s Philosophical Thought

I’m very happy to announce the publication of John Makeham, ed., The Buddhist Roots of Zhu Xi’s Philosophical Thought (Oxford). This is the culmination of a multi-year collaborative project that it was my good fortune to be a part of; I am very grateful to John and to the group for the opportunity. Details from Oxford are here and from Amazon are here, and I’ll add some brief information below.

Continue reading →