Worldly Wisdom: Confucian Teachings of the Ming Dynasty

A lot of people like myself who dabble in Chinese philosophical exploration, are familiar with the basic figures, usually Laozi and Zhuangzi, maybe Liehzi and Menzi if we've dug a little deeper. Some Western Buddhists will also know about Tamo, Huang Po, Hui Neng, and Linji although these often brilliant men have had little influence outside of their own Buddhist lineages. Unfortunately, later Chinese thought is often ignored, whether the highly developed Buddhism of the Tang, the various class-based forms of Taoism, or the beautiful and humanistic strain of Confucian thought that flourished during the Ming. This book helps illustrate the latter. A lot of the book goes to Wang Yangming and his students. This is very appropriate, as Wang's teachings represent a new approach to Confucianism. While the Confucians differed starkly from their early opponents, the Legalists, there is much in early Confucian thought that seems harsh and simplistic. Menzi humanized it considerably and made it more practically understandable for many Chinese. Wang in turn develops a system that is not only practical and analytical, but also deeply contemplative, compassionate, and flexible, valuing human well-being first and foremost and dispensing with much of the liturgical baggage of the philosophy. Wang is a Chinese thinker sadly under-appreciated in the West, and this book does a good job of presenting (though mostly second-hand, through his students' accounts) the simple and elegant philosophy that he espoused. The book goes beyond this though, to show the variety of thought around both the Orthodox Confucians and Neo-Confucians, who often followed the same philosophy to surprisingly different conclusions. The social aspects of Confucianism are not the only bone of contention; ideas as basic as the method of gaining knowledge and reliability of reason are addressed and expanded upon. Cleary does a good job of translating and lets the material speak for itself as much as possible, offering brief introductions to put it in context. We see the effects of cultural interchange between Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist thought at a time when Chinese philosophies had more fluid boundaries and allowed for some truly surprising results. The best thing about this book is that it refuses to dumb down the material, but is fully accessible to a layman with some basic knowledge of Chinese thought. It is scholarly but not dry or academic. For someone interested in broadening the aforementioned "basic knowledge", this is truly a gem.