The debate at the spring of heaven: Neo-Confucian epistemology and some forgotten foundations of Chinese humanism

Abstract

Qian Dehong (1496–1574) and Wang Ji (1498–1583), the two best known disciples of Wang Yangming's (1472–1529) School of Heart-Mind, represent two fundamental currents in the later Neo-Confucian epistemology. The present article follows the well-known assumption that two similar currents could also be observed in the parallel development of the Chan—Buddhist theories of perception or, theosophically speaking, in their teachings of salvation. This similarity is not accidental, for it is known that the teachings of the School of Heart-Mind—at least in part—were based on certain crucial paradigms of Buddhist philosophy, especially with regard to their theories of perception. However, these elements were integrated in a very latent and indirect way into the Neo-Confucian teachings, because the main focus of Qian and Wang's efforts was to establish a new view of man and their methods of gaining knowledge. These theoretical endeavors can be seen as a shift in the late Neo-Confucian perception of humanity, which could have led to more autochthonous forms of a specifically Chinese enlightenment.