Overview
Wang Yangming (Wang Shouren, 1472–1529) was the Ming Neo-Confucian who taught unity of knowledge and action and innate moral knowing (liangzhi). A statesman and general who suppressed rebellions, he developed teachings in exile and military camps. Instructions for Practical Living records dialogues with disciples. Handbook dates: 1472–1529. He rivaled Zhu Xi as East Asia’s most influential later Confucian.
Main ideas
Mind is principle; seeking principle only in external books misses the moral mind. Liangzhi is innate clear knowing that should be extended to all affairs. Knowledge and action are one: genuine knowing already includes doing. Investigation of things means correcting the mind’s affairs, not exhaustively cataloguing externals. Evil is obscuration by selfish desire removable through practice. Everyone can become a sage by reclaiming original clarity.
Major works
- Instructions for Practical Living
- Inquiry on the Great Learning
- Record of Music Mountain
- Political and military memorials
Legacy
Wang’s school spread through Ming–Qing China, Korea, and Japan (Yōmeigaku) and inspired modern reformers. Comparative philosophers link him to moral intuitionism and pragmatism. He remains Neo-Confucianism’s activist conscience.
Themes in this archive
Knowledge (5) · Mind (2) · Self (1) · Justice (1)
Quotes by theme
Wang Yangming on knowledge · Wang Yangming on practice · Wang Yangming on mind