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Zhu is credited with spurring an explosion of private academies in the 12th-13th centuries, and is known for his emphasis on the importance of the inclusion of practical learning, as well as humanistic values and morality, in formal study. The Song Imperial Court had established hundreds of state-sponsored schools throughout the country, designed to train young men for the [[Chinese imperial examinations]], through which candidates could earn positions in the imperial bureaucracy. Zhu Xi felt that these schools focused too heavily on rote memorization, stifled creative thinking, and lacked sufficient moral purpose and humanistic learning in their curricula. His arguments inspired the establishment of roughly 140 private academies in the 12th and 13th centuries, dedicated to a slightly more flexible mode of teaching the [[Confucian classics]], in which philosophical discussion, creative thinking, and moral purpose occupied a larger space in the curriculum. Many families who agreed with Zhu Xi's ideals, or who believed these methods would lead to greater intellectual & career success, enrolled their children in these academies; many others enrolled their children in private academies chiefly because their children might find greater success in the examinations purely based on the prestige of the names of their teachers.
Zhu is credited with spurring an explosion of private academies in the 12th-13th centuries, and is known for his emphasis on the importance of the inclusion of practical learning, as well as humanistic values and morality, in formal study. The Song Imperial Court had established hundreds of state-sponsored schools throughout the country, designed to train young men for the [[Chinese imperial examinations]], through which candidates could earn positions in the imperial bureaucracy. Zhu Xi felt that these schools focused too heavily on rote memorization, stifled creative thinking, and lacked sufficient moral purpose and humanistic learning in their curricula. His arguments inspired the establishment of roughly 140 private academies in the 12th and 13th centuries, dedicated to a slightly more flexible mode of teaching the [[Confucian classics]], in which philosophical discussion, creative thinking, and moral purpose occupied a larger space in the curriculum. Many families who agreed with Zhu Xi's ideals, or who believed these methods would lead to greater intellectual & career success, enrolled their children in these academies; many others enrolled their children in private academies chiefly because their children might find greater success in the examinations purely based on the prestige of the names of their teachers.
He was rather prolific in his writings, with his "complete works," known as ''Zhuwengong wenji'', amounting to some 121 volumes. Another collection, entitled ''Zhuzi yulei'' and amounting to 140 volumes, collects lectures given by Zhu Xi, and conversations with his students.<ref>Watanabe Hiroshi, ''A History of Japanese Political Thought, 1600-1901'', International House of Japan (2012), 105.</ref>
==Teachings==
==Teachings==
Zhu Xi, drawing upon the ideas of the brothers [[Cheng Hao]] ([[1032]]-[[1085]]) and [[Cheng Yi]] ([[1033]]-[[1107]]), postulated a universe comprised of ''qi'' 氣 - the material/energy essence that composes all things - and ''li'' 理 - the fundamental guiding principle by which all things are what they are. He identified ''li'' as a "pattern" within the broader, more general path that is The Way (the [[Tao]]), and exhorted his students to understand the fundamental concepts of ''qi'' and ''li'', rather than simply studying how to behave; Zhu is quoted as saying, "Compare this to a person walking along a road ... If he does not see [the road], how can he walk on it?"<ref>Ebrey (trans.) in Ebrey, 173.</ref>
Zhu Xi, drawing upon the ideas of the brothers [[Cheng Hao]] ([[1032]]-[[1085]])<!--号： Mingdao--> and [[Cheng Yi]]<!--程頤, aka号： Yichuan--> ([[1033]]-[[1107]]), postulated a universe comprised of ''qi'' 氣 - the material/energy essence that composes all things - and ''li'' 理 - the fundamental guiding principle by which all things are what they are. He identified ''li'' as a "pattern" within the broader, more general path that is The Way (the [[Tao]]), and exhorted his students to understand the fundamental concepts of ''qi'' and ''li'', rather than simply studying how to behave; Zhu is quoted as saying, "Compare this to a person walking along a road ... If he does not see [the road], how can he walk on it?"<ref>Ebrey (trans.) in Ebrey, 173.</ref>
Aside from his more philosophical or conceptual teachings, politically, Zhu Xi was a powerful advocate for the inclusion of practical knowledge in the education and testing of Confucian scholars. In addition, he suggested a curriculum based not on the broader set of Confucian classics studied previously, but rather on the [[Analects|Analects of Confucius]] (''Lúnyǔ''), the writings of [[Mencius]] (''Mèngzǐ''), and two chapters he excerpted from the [[Book of Rites]] (''Lǐjì''): the [[Great Learning]] (''Dàxué''), and [[The Mean]] (''Zhōngyōng''). Together, these came to be known as "the Four Books."<ref>Valerie Hansen, ''The Open Empire'', New York: W.W. Norton & Company (2000), 357.</ref>
Zhu Xi completed his commentaries on the Analects, entitled ''Lunyu jizhu'', in ten volumes, and on the Mencius, ''Mengzi jizhu'', in 14 volumes, by [[1177]]. Zhu then completed his commentaries on the Great Learning, ''Daxue zhangju'', and on the Doctrine of the Mean, ''Zhongyong zhangju'', each in only one volume, by [[1189]]. Zhu continued to revise and refine these commentaries until his death, however. Together, these commentaries are known as the ''Sishu jizhu'' (Commentaries on the Four Books).<ref name=takatsu>Takatsu Takashi, “Ming Jianyang Prints and the Spread of the Teachings of Zhu Xi to Japan and the Ryukyu Kingdom in the Seventeenth Century,” in Angela Schottenhammer (ed.), ''The East Asian Mediterranean: Maritime Crossroads of Culture'', Harrassowitz Verlag (2008), 254.</ref> Along with the four canonical texts, Zhu's own commentaries came to form the standard canon to be studied, and tested on the exams.
Zhu Xi's attitudes and approaches were rather non-orthodox in his time, and were banned in [[1196]]; however, not long after his death, the Song authorized his teachings, and by [[1241]] he was permitted to be deified at a Confucius shrine. Sometime shortly afterwards, the civil examination system was altered to embrace his approaches, ideals, and selection of texts, as the new orthodox method for studying, and applying, the Confucian classics.<ref name=takatsu/>
===Metaphysics===
===Metaphysics===
The universe, in this view, is thus indestructible. Heaven and Earth may be thrown into chaos, all physical material things breaking down and returning to swirling ''qi'' material-force, but ''li'' and ''qi'' themselves will continue to exist, along with the universe they comprise.
The universe, in this view, is thus indestructible. Heaven and Earth may be thrown into chaos, all physical material things breaking down and returning to swirling ''qi'' material-force, but ''li'' and ''qi'' themselves will continue to exist, along with the universe they comprise.
==References==
==References==
