In this episode, we explore Zhu Xi’s striking account of how to read philosophical and other important texts with what he calls “reverential attention.” Blending close reading with reflections on learning, character, and distraction in modern life, we discuss how Zhu Xi tries to make reading simultaneously transformative and objective. The discussion raises a fascinating puzzle at the heart of Zhu’s approach: how can we personalize our reading so that it shapes us, while also preventing our own biases from distorting the text?

Key passages

     First passage: an “inside view” of reverential attention (1st of 2)

「坐如尸，立如齊」，「頭容直，目容端，足容重，手容恭，口容止，氣容肅」，皆敬之目也。

“Sit as though you were impersonating an ancestor, stand as though you were performing a sacrifice.” “The head should be upright, the eyes looking straight ahead, the feet steady, the hands respectful, the mouth quiet and composed, and bearing solemn”—these are all aspects of reverential attention.

(The Classified Sayings of Master Zhu 12.109, quoting from the Rites (Liji 禮記); modified from Daniel Gardner’s translation, p. 172)

     Second passage: a second “inside view” of reverential attention (2nd of 2)

。。。但此事甚易，只如此提醒，莫令昏昧，一二日便可見效，且易而省力。只在念不念之間耳，何難而不為！

…It’s an extremely simple matter: just arouse the mind and prevent it from growing dim, and in one or two days you’ll see the results. It’ll be easy and save you trouble. It’s simply a state somewhere between thinking and not thinking. Why is it that you find it difficult and don’t do it?

(The Classified Sayings of Master Zhu 12.79; Daniel Gardner’s translation, p. 170)

     Third passage: personalizing what you read

大抵觀書先須熟讀，使其言皆若出於吾之口；繼以精思，使其意皆若出於吾之心，然後可以有得爾。然熟讀精思既曉得後，又須疑不止如此，庶幾有進。若以為止如此矣，則終不復有進也。

“Generally speaking, in reading, we must first become intimately familiar with the text so that its words seem to come from our own mouths. We should then continue to reflect on it so that its ideas seem to come from our own minds. Only then can there be real understanding. Still, once our intimate reading of it and careful reflection on it have led to a clear understanding of it, we must continue to question. Then there might be additional progress. If we cease questioning, in the end there’ll be no additional progress.”

(The Classified Sayings of Master Zhu 10.55; Daniel Gardner’s translation, p. 135)

     Fourth passage: guarding against subjective biases

學者觀書，病在只要向前，不肯退步看。愈向前，愈看得不分曉。不若退步，卻看得審。大概病在執著，不肯放下。正如聽訟：心先有主張乙底意思，便只尋甲底不是；先有主張甲底意思，便只見乙底不是。不若姑置甲乙之說，徐徐觀之，方能辨其曲直。橫渠云：「濯去舊見，以來新意。」此說甚當。若不濯去舊見，何處得新意來。今學者有二種病，一是主私意，一是舊有先入之說，雖欲擺脫，亦被他自來相尋。

The problem students have with reading is simply that they wish to advance and are unwilling to retreat and reread. The more they advance, the more their reading lacks understanding. It’d be better if they were to retreat but fully comprehend what they read. In general, the problem is that they stick to their opinions and are unwilling to give them up. It’s just like hearing litigation: if beforehand the mind supports proposition B, it will simply search for the wrongs in A; and if beforehand it supports A, it will simply discover the wrongs in B. Better to put aside one’s views toward A and B and slowly examine them both. Only then will one be able to distinguish right from wrong. Zhang Zai said: “Wash away the old understanding and bring forth new ideas.” [Zhangzai ji, 321]. This statement is extremely apt. If one doesn’t wash away the old understanding, where will the new ideas arise? Students today have two kinds of flaws: one is that they let themselves be ruled by personal prejudices; the other is that they embrace received theories. Even if they wished to shake free of these, they’d still naturally be troubled by them.

(The Classified Sayings of Master Zhu 11.73; Daniel Gardner’s translation, p. 150)

Sources and phrases mentioned

• Alex Voorhoeve, Conversations on Ethics (contains the interview of Bernard Williams that Richard mentions, where Williams talks about two motivations for philosophy: curiosity and salvation)
• Alasdair MacIntyre, “Intractable Moral Disagreements“
• Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130-1200 CE)
• Episode 18: Neo-Confucian Metaphysics (our first full episode on Zhu Xi, with Stephen C. Angle)
• jing 敬 (reverential attention, reverence)
• Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)
• Thomas Aquinas (circa 1225-1274)
• dushu fa 讀書法 (methods of reading)
• Philip J. Ivanhoe, Confucian Moral Self Cultivation (introduces “reverential attention” as a translation and interpretation of jing 敬, p. 49)
• Liji 禮記, the Rites, the Book of Rites, the Record of Rituals
• Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)
• Alasdair MacIntyre on tradition as (roughly) an extended argument over time: see his After Virtue, p. 222
• Episode 5: Cultivation and the Autobiography of Confucius (early episode in this series, which talks about degrees of knowledge, understanding, or epistemic achievement)
• Zhu Xi compares “getting it oneself” to knowing one’s way around one’s own home
• Mortimer Adler, How to Read a Book
• siyi 私意 (selfish or self-centered thoughts, ideas, or inclinations)
• Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis (uses the phrase “inner lawyer” to refer to a certain sort of cognitive bias)
• qieji 切己 (“apply it to one’s self,” “make it relevant to one’s self,” one of Zhu Xi’s frequent recommendations in reading)
• Plato’s theory of forms
• Tianli 天理 (Heavenly Pattern, Heavenly Principle)
• zide 自得 (getting it oneself)
• “direction of fit”
• Immanuel Kant on the autonomy of moral action
• Richard Feynman, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (the source of Richard’s anecdote about mixing unconventional colors to make yellow)
• Dai Zhen 戴震 (1724-1777)
• Further readings on “reading with reverential attention” in the thought of Zhu Xi:
  • Translations of Zhu Xi on reading and jing:
    • Daniel Gardner, Learning to Be a Sage (see especially chapters 4-6)
    • Philip J. Ivanhoe, ed., Zhu Xi: Selected Writings (see especially chapters 1, 2, and 4)
  • Secondary scholarship on Zhu Xi and reading:
    • Stephen C. Angle, Sagehood (see especially chapters 8 and 9) and Growing Moral (chapters 6, 8, and 9)
    • Philip J. Ivanhoe, “Literature and Ethics in the Chinese Confucian Tradition” (chapter 7 in Moral Cultivation, edited by Brad Wilburn)
    • Richard J. Lynn, “Chu Hsi as Literary Theorist and Critic” (chapter 20 in Chu Hsi and Neo-Confucianism, edited by Wing-tsit CHAN)
    • PENG Guoxiang 彭国翔, 《身心修炼：儒家传统的功夫论》(see especially chapter 6)
    • Baldwin Wong, Careful, Patient, and Modest Citizens: Facilitating Civic Education through Zhu Xi’s Method of Deep Reading