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Wang Yangming (王陽明 1472-1529) was a Ming Chinese idealist Neo-Confucian scholar-official. He and Zhu Xi are considered the two most important Neo-Confucian thinkers.
Born Wang Shouren (守仁) in Zhejiang Province, his courtesy name was Bo'an (伯安).
He was the leading figure in the Neo-Confucian "school of Mind." It championed an interpretation of Mencius (a Classical Confucian who became the focus of later interpretation) that "unified knowledge and action." Their rival school, the "School of li (principle)" treated gaining knowledge as a kind of preparation or cultivation which, when completed, could guide action.
Wang Yangming came up with the idea of innate knowing. This so-called innate knowing means that every person knows from birth the difference between good and bad, without having to think about it - it is more like a feeling.
He argued that objects do not exist entirely apart from the mind because the mind shapes them. He believed that it is not the world that shapes the mind, but the mind that gives reason to the world. Therefore, the mind alone is the source for all reason. He understood this to be an inner light, an innate moral goodness and understanding of what is good. This is similar to the thinking of the Greek philosopher Socrates who argued that knowledge is virtue.
In order to eliminate selfish desires that cloud the minds understanding of goodness, one can practice his type of tranquil repose meditation, similar to Chan (Zen) meditation in Buddhism.
Yangming Xiansheng (Master Brilliantly Yang) was his sobriquet in the literary circle.
Yangmingshan, a national scenic attraction on Taiwan, is named after him.
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