Recognized as one of the greatest philosophers in classical China, Chu Hsi (1130-1200) is known in the West through translations of one of his many works, the Chin-ssu Lu. This study offers an examination of Chu Hsi's religious thought, based on readings of both primary and secondary sources.

Recognized as one of the greatest philosophers in classical China, Chu Hsi (1130-1200) is known in the West primarily through translations of one of his many works, the Chin-ssu Lu. In this book, Julia Ching offers the first book-length examination of Chu Hsi's religious thought, based on extensive reading of both primary and secondary sources. Ching begins by providing an introduction to Chu's twelfth-century intellectual context. She then examines Chu's natural philosophy, looking in particular at the ideas of the Great Ultimate and at spirits and deities and the rituals that honor them. Next, Ching considers Chu's interpretation of human nature and the emotions, highlighting the mystical thrust of the theoretical and practical teachings of spiritual cultivation and meditation. She discusses Chu's philosophical disputes with his contemporariesin particular Lu Chiu-yuanand examines his relationship to Buddhism and Taoism. In the final chapters, Ching looks at critiques of Chu during his lifetime and after and evaluates the relevance of his thinking in terms of contemporary needs and problems. This clearly written and highly accessible study also offers translations of some of Chu's most important philosophical poems, filling a major gap in the fields of both Chinese philosophy and religion.

Chu Hsi (1130-1200) exerted a lasting influence on the thought and life of the Chinese in subsequent cent. The core of his synthesis was moral and social philosophy, but it also included knowledge about the natural world. His doctrine of ke-wu (invest. of things) made him mindful of the specialized knowledged in such "scientific" traditions as astronomy, harmonics, med., etc. This study of Chu Hsi's thought gives a systematic account of the basic concepts of his natural philosophy. Also discusses Chu Hsi's actual knowledge about the natural world. And examines the relation between Chu Hsi and Chinese "scientific" traditions and compares his natural knowledge with that of the Western scientific tradition.

In this engaging volume, Daniel Gardner explains the way in which the Four Books--Great Learning, Analects, Mencius, and Maintaining Perfect Balance--have been read and understood by the Chinese since the twelfth century. Selected passages in translation are accompanied by Gardner's comments, which incorporate selections from the commentary and interpretation of the renowned Neo-Confucian thinker, Zhu Xi (1130-1200). This study provides an ideal introduction to the basic texts in the Confucian tradition from the twelfth through the twentieth centuries. It guides the reader through Zhu Xi's influential interpretation of the Four Books, showing how Zhu, through the genre of commentary, gave new coherence and meaning to these foundational texts. Since the Four Books with Zhu Xi's commentary served as the basic textbook for Chinese schooling and the civil service examinations for more than seven hundred years, this book illustrates as well the nature of the standard Chinese educational curriculum.

Dr. Yong Choon Kim is a distinguished scholar and educator. He wrote this book to fill the need for a concise introduction to the philosophical and religious ideas of the East. The work is analytical, comparative, and critical presentation in three parts: Indian Thougt, Chinese Thought, abd the Thoughts of Korea and Japan. It can serve for such courses as Oriental Philosophy, Eastern Religions, World Religions, Comparative Religion, and Comparative Thought. It may also be used in other introductory courses in Religion, Philosophy, and Asian Culture. The book should be very useful to the general reader interested in Oriental Thought and culture.

The present anthology consists of papers presented at the International Conference of Chu Hsi held July 6–15 1982, in Honolulu. The symposium, convened as one of the continuing East-West Philosophers' Conferences and in conjunction with the seventy-fifth anniversary of the University of Hawaii, was the first on this Neo-Confucian thinker.

A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy is a milestone along the complex and difficult road to significant understanding by Westerners of the Asian peoples and a monumental contribution to the cause of philosophy. It is the first anthology of Chinese philosophy to cover its entire historical development. It provides substantial selections from all the great thinkers and schools in every period--ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary--and includes in their entirety some of the most important classical texts. It deals with the fundamental and technical as well as the more general aspects of Chinese thought. With its new translation of source materials (some translated for the first time), its explanatory aids where necessary, its thoroughgoing scholarly documentation, this volume will be an indispensable guide for scholars, for college students, for serious readers interested in knowing the real China.

Neo-Confucianism was the major philosophical tradition in China for most of the past millennium. This Companion is the first volume to provide a comprehensive introduction, in accessible English, to the Neo-Confucian philosophical thought of representative Chinese thinkers from the eleventh to the eighteenth centuries. It provides detailed insights into changing perspectives on key philosophical concepts and their relationship with one another.

A concise and accessible introduction to the evolution of the concept of moral self-cultivation in the Chinese Confucian tradition, this volume begins with an explanation of the pre-philosophical development of ideas central to this concept, followed by an examination of the specific treatment of self cultivation in the philosophy of Kongzi (Confucius), Mengzi (Mencius), Xunzi, Zhu Xi, Wang Yangming, Yan Yuan and Dai Zhen. In addition to providing a survey of the views of some of the most influential Confucian thinkers on an issue of fundamental importance to the tradition, Ivanhoe also relates their concern with moral self-cultivation to a number of topics in the Western ethical tradition. Bibliography and index are included.