Cherishing Life in Late Ming Thought

Abstract

This little piece is intended as an introduction to the two papers that follow it, which focus on two thinkers of Late Imperial China: Hong Yingming (1593-1655) and Li Zhi (1527-1602). Though both are better understood as inheritors of a tradition than creators in their own right, they still prove valuable subjects for investigation, for two reasons in particular. First, the traditions to which they are heirs have an important history in their own right, and contextualizing the work of these authors provides an opportunity to survey briefly some of the major changes that Confucianism underwent during its long progress from inception in the Golden Age of Philosophy during the Warring States to the chaotic last years of the Ming Dynasty, the time of our authors. Both fluctuations in politics and permutations due to Daoist and Buddhist influence in the intervening centuries produced a Confucianism that differs markedly in focus and in tone, if not in essence, from its earlier forms, and our analysis supports a nuanced view of Confucianism, rather than the somewhat monolithic impression that study of the Analects, the Mencius, and Xunzi alone might produce. Second, these two thinkers were not mere academicians, but actively sought to live out the philosophies they embraced in their daily lives, with an existential commitment even more significant due to the tenor of their times. Here we follow Phillip Ivanhoe’s basic schema in rendering the historical context, and rely on close-reading, textual analysis, and, where tenable, biographical data, to reveal the what we find to be distinctive in the life-philosophies of Hong Yingming and Li Zhi, regarding authenticity in self-cultivation, the diminished role of study and tradition, and their ambivalence (or animosity) towards the status quo.