Self-Cultivation as praxis in Song Neo-Confucianism
In: Modern Chinese Religion I (2 vols.)Search for other papers by Curie Virág in
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Abstract
This chapter concerns the central importance of self-cultivation in Song neo-Confucianism as conceived by Zhu Xi (1130–1200), the architect of the neo-Confucian movement. It argues that that the distinctive character of the neo-Confucian approach to self-cultivation was not only its theoretical synthesis of cosmic and moral ideas, but also its articulation of a praxis that engaged one’s book-body and mind, intellect and emotions. This focus on praxis meant, among other things, that learning was much more than a mental endeavor to grasp the li (pattern, principle, coherence) of a text: it was a process of self-transformation that proceeded through the physical embodiment of the text in oneself. The neo-Confucian focus on the praxis of self-cultivation ultimately affirmed that the self and cosmos were no longer ontologically distinct, but were fully integrated with one another, and that the proper arena of human activity was the real world of things and affairs.