Q0170

Zhu Xi

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

I ask the channel how it can be so clear — because fresh water keeps flowing from its source.
Thinker Zhu Xi
School Neo-Confucianism (Cheng–Zhu)
Source Reflections on Reading, no. 1
Theme Learning
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Reflections on Reading, no. 1, within the tradition of Neo-Confucianism (Cheng–Zhu). The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of learning, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Zhu Xi's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Zhu Xi. (n.d.). I ask the channel how it can be so clear — because fresh water keeps flowing from its source. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0170

MLA: Zhu Xi. “I ask the channel how it can be….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0170.

Chicago: Zhu Xi. “I ask the channel how it can be….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0170.

Same thinker

More from Zhu Xi

  1. The clearer the knowing, the more earnest the practice; the more earnest the practice, the clearer the knowing.
  2. To extend knowledge lies in investigating things: if one wishes to extend one's knowledge, one must approach things and exhaust their principle.
  3. Not leaning is called the Mean; not changing is called Constancy. The Mean is the right Way of the world; Constancy is its settled principle.

All quotations by Zhu Xi

Same theme

More on learning

  1. Leisure without study is death — a tomb for a living man.
  2. The Master said: Is it not a pleasure to learn and to practice what one has learned in due time? Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar? Is it not the mark of a gentleman to remain unresentful when others fail to appreciate one?
  3. The Master said: When three people walk together, one of them is sure to be my teacher. I select what is good in them and follow it; what is not good, I correct in myself.
  4. Zengzi said: Each day I examine myself on three counts: In acting on behalf of others, have I been loyal? In dealings with friends, have I been trustworthy? Have I practiced what was passed on to me?
  5. The Master said: Those who know it are not equal to those who love it; those who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.

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