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'Neo-Confucianism' ()/() is a form of Confucianism that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty. It is very related to Confucianists in the Qing Dynasty of China and other dynasties, including the Song. The term should not be mistaken for New Confucianism which is an effort to apply Confucianism to the 21st century.

Contents

Origins

World view

Bureaucratic examinations

Confucian canon

List of Neo-Confucians

China

Japan

Korea

References

Origins

Confucians of the Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.) studied the classical works of their faith, but were also familiar with Buddhist teachings. Buddhist thought offered to them many things that they considered worthy of admiration, including ideas such as the nature of the soul and the relation of the individual to the cosmos, ideas not yet fully explored by Confucianism. Song Confucians drew greatly from Buddhist thought as well as their own traditions, thus giving rise to the name of Neo-Confucianism.
There were many competing views within the Neo-Confucian community, but overall, a system emerged that resembled both Buddhist and Daoist thought of the time and some of the ideas expressed in the Book of Changes (I Ching) as well as other yin yang theories associated with the Taiji symbol (Taijitu). A well known Neo-Confucian motif is paintings of Confucius, Buddha, and Lao Tzu all drinking out of the same vinegar jar, paintings associated with the slogan "The three teachings are one!"
One of the most important speakers for Neo-Confucianism was Zhu Xi (1130-1200 A.D.). He was a rather prolific writer, maintaining and defending his Confucian beliefs of social harmony and proper personal conduct. One of his most remembered was the book 'Family Rituals', where he provided detailed advice on how to conduct weddings, funerals, family ceremonies, and the veneration of ancestors. Buddhist thought soon enticed him, and he began to argue with Confucian style for the Buddhist observance of high moral standards. He also believed that it was important to practical affairs that one should conduct both academic and philosophical pursuits, although his writings are concentrated more on issues of theoretical (as opposed to practical) significance. It is reputed that he wrote many essays attempting to explain how his ideas were not Buddhist or Taoist, and included some extremely heated denunciations of Buddhism and Taoism.
While Neo-Confucianism incorporated Buddhist and Taoist ideas, many Neo-Confucianists claimed to oppose strongly Buddhism and Taoism. Indeed, they rejected Buddhism as a faith. One of Han Yu's most famous essays decries the worship of Buddhist relics. Nonetheless, Neo-Confucian writings adapted Buddhist thoughts and beliefs to the Confucian interest. In China Neo-Confucianism was an officially-recognized creed from its development during the Song dynasty until the early twentieth century, and lands within the scope of Song China (Korea, Vietnam, and Japan) were all deeply influenced by Neo-Confucianism for more than half a millennium.

World view

Zhu Xi's formulation of the Neo-Confucian world view is as follows. He believed that the Way (道, Tao) of Heaven (天, Tian) is expressed in principle or ''li'' (理, Pinyin lǐ), but that it is sheathed in matter or ''qi'' (氣, py qì). In this, his system is based on Buddhist systems of the time that divided things into principle (again, li), and ''shi'' (事, Pinyin shì). In the Neo-Confucian formulation, ''li'' in itself is pure and perfect, but with the addition of ''qi'', base emotions and conflicts arise. Human nature is originally good, the Neo-Confucians argued (following Mencius), but not pure unless action is taken to purify it. The imperative is then to purify one's ''li''. However, in contrast to Buddhists and Taoists, neo-Confucians did not believe in an external world unconnected with the world of matter. In addition, Neo-Confucians in general rejected the idea of reincarnation and the associated idea of karma.
Different Neo-Confucians had differing ideas for how to do so. Zhu Xi believed in ''gewu'' (格物, géwù), the Investigation of Things, essentially an academic form of observational science, based on the idea that ''li'' lies within the world. Wang Yangming (Wang Shouren), probably the second most influential Neo-Confucian, came to another conclusion: namely, that if ''li'' is in all things, and ''li'' is in one's heart, there is no better place to seek than within oneself. His preferred method of doing so was ''jingzuo'' (靜坐, jìngzuò), 'quiet sitting', a practice that strongly resembles zuochan or Chan (Zen) meditation. Wang Yangming developed the idea of ''innate knowing'', arguing that every person knows from birth the difference between good and evil. Such knowledge is intuitive and not rational. These revolutionizing ideas of Wang Yangming would later inspire prominent Japanese thinkers like Motoori Norinaga, who argued that because of the Shinto deities, Japanese people alone had the intuitive ability to distinguish good and evil without complex rationalization. His school of thought (''Ōyōmei-gaku'' in Japanese) also greatly influenced the Japanese samurai ethic.
The importance of ''li'' in Neo-Confucianism gave the movement its name, literally "The study of Li."

Bureaucratic examinations

Neo-Confucianism became the interpretation of Confucianism whose mastery was necessary to pass the bureaucratic examinations by the Ming, and continued in this way through the Qing dynasty until the end of the Imperial examination system in 1905. However, many scholars such as Benjamin Elman have questioned the degree to which their role as the orthodox interpretation in state examinations reflects the degree to which both the bureaucrats and Chinese gentry actually believed those interpretations, and point out that there were very active schools such as Han learning which offered competing interpretations of Confucianism.
The competing school of Confucianism was called the Evidential School or Han Learning and argued that Neo-Confucianism had caused the teachings of Confucianism to be hopelessly contaminated with Buddhist thinking. This school also criticized Neo-Confucianism for being detached from reality with empty philosophical speculation that was unconnected with reality.

Confucian canon

The Confucian canon as it exists today was essentially compiled by Zhu Xi. Zhu codified the canon of Four Books (The Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius, and Mencius) which in the subsequent Ming and Qing Dynasties were made the core of the official curriculum for the civil service examinations.

List of Neo-Confucians

China

★ Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072)

★ Shao Yong (1011–1077)

★ Su Shi, aka Su Dongpo (1037–1101)

★ Su Che (1039–1112), Su Shi's brother.

★ Sun Lutang

★ Cheng Yi

★ Zhang Zai

★ Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi's brother.

★ Zhu Xi (1130–1200)

★ Lu Xiangshan aka Lu Jiuyuan (1139–1193)

★ Zhang Sanfeng

★ Wang Yangming aka Wang Shouren

Japan

★ Fujiwara Seika (1561–1619)

★ Hayashi Razan (1583–1657)

★ Nakai Tōju (1608–1648)

★ Yamazaki Ansai (1619–1682)

★ Kumazawa Banzan (1619–1691)

★ Kinoshita Jun'an (1621–1698)

★ Yamaga Sokō (1622–1685)

★ Itō Jinsai (1627–1705)

★ Kaibara Ekken (aka Ekiken) (1630–1714)

★ Satō Naokata (1650?–1719)

★ Asami Keisai (1652–1712)

★ Arai Hakuseki (1657–1725)

★ Muro Kyūsō (1658–1734)

★ Miyake Sekian (1665–1730)

★ Ogyū Sorai (1666–1728)

★ Amenomori Hōshū (1668–1755)

★ Itō Tōgai (1670–1736)

★ Matsumiya Kanzan (1686–1780)

★ Goi Ranshū (1697–1762)

★ Nakai Chikuzan (1730–1804)

★ Ōshio Heihachirō (1793–1837)

★ Yamada Hōkoku (1805–1877)

Korea

★ An Hyang (1243–1306)

★ Yi Saek (1328–1396)

★ Jeong Mong-ju (1337-1392)

★ Jeong Dojeon (1342-1398)

★ Gil Jae (1353-1419)

★ Ha Yun (1347–1416)

★ Kwon Geun (1352–1409)

★ Jeong Inji (1396–1478)

★ Kim Jong-jik (1431-1492)

★ Kim Gwaeng-pil (1454-1504)

★ Cho Kwangjo (1482-1519)

★ Yi Hang (1499-1576)

★ Yi Hwang aka Toegye (1501–1570)

★ Jo Sik (1501–1572)

★ Kim In-hu (1511–1560)

★ Gi Dae-Seung (1527–1572)

★ Seong Hon (1535–1598)

★ Yi I aka Yulgok (1536–1584)

★ Song Si-yeol (1607–1689)

References

Chan, Wing-tsit, ''A Sourcebook of Chinese Philosophy'' (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1963)
Chan, Wing-tsit, trans. ''Instructions for Practical Living and Other Neo-Confucian Writings by Wang Yang-ming.'' New York: Columbia University Press, 1963.
Tu Weiming. ''Neo-Confucian Thought in Action: Wang Yang-ming’s Youth (1472-1509).'' Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1976.
Tu Weiming. ''Confucian Thought: Selfhood As Creative Transformation.'' New York: State University of New York Press, 1985.