School of Mind: Wang Yangming

Wang Yangming 王陽明 (1472–1529) is arguably the most influential Chinese philosopher of the Ming 明 period (1368–1644). Wang Yangming, after a long dominance of the Cheng-Zhu school, reestablished the school of heart/mind that became to be known also as “the school of Lu and Wang” (see Ching 1976; De Bary 1989: 72–123; Ivanhoe 2009). This adds a third viewpoint to our discussion of Neo-Confucianism, in addition to the school of veins and the school of energy, so that with this “parallactic view” we can see Neo-Confucianism in more depth.