The Spread of Neo-Confucian Teachings hu Xi and the other leading Neo-Confucian thinkers revived a literary genre called / "records of conversations" to explain the most importantconcepts of their teaching. In form, The records of conversations influenced how Neo-Confucian students expressed their ideas, par- ticularly in the essays they wrote for the civil service examinations. The second selection presents criti- cisms of Neo-Confucian candidates' exam essays the conversations between the teacher and student from three examiners who graded exams in 1187. The students ignored the usual rules of composition so that they could express their ideas as their teach- ers did; their decision appalled these examiners. Here they give dear instructions for identifying Neo-Confucian-influenced essays, which would re- ceive low scores. resembled the snippets of conversations between Confucius and his students captured in The Ana- lects. Some twenty-five examples of Neo-Confucian records of conversations survive from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This genre fit well with the Neo-Confucian con- viction that everyone was born with a mind that could learn and recognize the truth, whether from reading a given text or from listening to a teacher. The main difference between students and a sage was that the sage had perfected his understanding of Neo- Confucian ideas, while students were still learning. The students' steadfast faith in the Neo- Confucian teachings, and their willingness to risk low scores, contributed to the spread of Neo- Confucian ideas throughout the empire. In the 1200s, as more and more people came to embrace Neo-Confucian thinking, examiners began to re- ward students for exactly this kind of writing, and in the 1240s and later, only students who wrote essays in the Neo-Confucian style could hope to do well on the civil service examinations. Records of conversations differed from other prose writings because they were in vernacular Chinese, a type of Chinese that sounded closer to speech than the traditional written language. The question-and-answer format allowed Neo- Confucians to employ colloquial expressions that added a conversational flavor. Still, the records of conversations were not transcripts of everything that was said in a conversation; they were carefully composed. In the first selection, for example, Zhu Xi explains two key concepts in his teaching: princi- ple and psychophysical stuff. He also mentions the concepts of yin and yang, which refer, respectively, to "dark, passive" and "bright, active" qualities. Sources: [Selection 1j Daniel K. Gardner, trans, Chu Hsi Learning to Be a Sage: Selections from the Conversations of Master Chu, Arranged Topicaly (Berkeley: University of Califomia Press, 1990), pp. 90-92. [Selection 2] Hide De Weerdt, Competition over Content: Negotiating Standards for the Civil Service Examinations in Imperial China (1127-1279) (Cambridge, Mas.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2007)p 197. From Zhu XI's Records of Conversations [Zhu:] "In the universe there has never been any psychophysical stuff without principle nor any principle without psychophysical stuff. "Before the existence of heaven and earth, there was simply principle. As there was prin- ciple, there was heaven and earth. If there hadn't been principle, there'd be no heaven and earth, no people, no things. There'd be nothing at all to sustain them. When there's princdple, there's psychophysical stuff; it drculates everywhere, developing and nour- ishing the ten thousand things." Someone said: "Is it principle that does the developing and nourishing?" Zhu replied: "When there's this principle, there's this psychophysical stuff that drcu- lates everywhere, developing and nourishing things. Principle has no physical form." Someone asked if principle exists first or psychophysical stuff. Zhu replied: "Principle has never been separate from psychophysical stuff. But prin- diple is above form and psychophysical stuff is within form. From the point of vlew of what is above and what is within form, how can there possibly be no sequence? Principle has no form, while the psychophysical stuff is coarse and contains impurities." weren't this stuff, this princdple would have nothing to adhere to...." There was a further inquiry: "What evi- dence is there that principle exists in the psychophyslcal stuff?" Zhu replied: "For instance, that there is an order to the intermixing of the yin and. yang and five elements is because of principle. If the psychophysical stuff doesn't coalesce, principle has nothing to adhere to." Someone asked about the statement that Someone asked: "What about the state- ment that there must exist this principle and only then will there exist this psychophysical stuff?" Zhu sald: "Fundamentally, one can't speak of them in terms of first and later. But if we must trace their beginnings, we have to say that there first exists this principle. Still, principle is not a separate entity but exists in the midst of this psychophysical stuff. If there first there exists principle and later there exists psychophysical stuff. Zhu sald: "There is no need to speak like this. Now we know that whether basi- cally there first exists principle and later the psychophysical stuff, it's not open to investigation." Recognizing the Examination Essays of the Neo-Confuclans According to the current regulations, a regulated prose-poem should be no longer than 360 characters; expositions should count 500 characters or less. Nowadays, in an essay on the meaning of the Classics, an ex posi tion, or a policy response essay, some write up to 3,000 words. In the prose parts of the prose-poem they have sentences of up to fifteen or sixteen characters long, coming to a total of 500 to 600 characters As for what we have called their eccentrici- tles, expressions like "firm vision," "power," "to imagine," "to divide one's efforts," "comes from somebody's collected works," "deter- mined direction," "vlew," "appearance," "air," "system," "dlosing off the mind," "ev- ery mind has a ruler, still there isa lot of noisy wrangling," and "with one trampling one can arrtve; while washing the hands it can be ac- complished"-all these are heterodox [non- standard] and vulgar expressions. per plece.

The Spread of Neo-Confucian Teachings hu Xi and the other leading Neo-Confucian thinkers revived a literary genre called / "records of conversations" to explain the most importantconcepts of their teaching. In form, The records of conversations influenced how Neo-Confucian students expressed their ideas, par- ticularly in the essays they wrote for the civil service examinations. The second selection presents criti- cisms of Neo-Confucian candidates' exam essays the conversations between the teacher and student from three examiners who graded exams in 1187. The students ignored the usual rules of composition so that they could express their ideas as their teach- ers did; their decision appalled these examiners. Here they give dear instructions for identifying Neo-Confucian-influenced essays, which would re- ceive low scores. resembled the snippets of conversations between Confucius and his students captured in The Ana- lects. Some twenty-five examples of Neo-Confucian records of conversations survive from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This genre fit well with the Neo-Confucian con- viction that everyone was born with a mind that could learn and recognize the truth, whether from reading a given text or from listening to a teacher. The main difference between students and a sage was that the sage had perfected his understanding of Neo- Confucian ideas, while students were still learning. The students' steadfast faith in the Neo- Confucian teachings, and their willingness to risk low scores, contributed to the spread of Neo- Confucian ideas throughout the empire. In the 1200s, as more and more people came to embrace Neo-Confucian thinking, examiners began to re- ward students for exactly this kind of writing, and in the 1240s and later, only students who wrote essays in the Neo-Confucian style could hope to do well on the civil service examinations. Records of conversations differed from other prose writings because they were in vernacular Chinese, a type of Chinese that sounded closer to speech than the traditional written language. The question-and-answer format allowed Neo- Confucians to employ colloquial expressions that added a conversational flavor. Still, the records of conversations were not transcripts of everything that was said in a conversation; they were carefully composed. In the first selection, for example, Zhu Xi explains two key concepts in his teaching: princi- ple and psychophysical stuff. He also mentions the concepts of yin and yang, which refer, respectively, to "dark, passive" and "bright, active" qualities. Sources: [Selection 1j Daniel K. Gardner, trans, Chu Hsi Learning to Be a Sage: Selections from the Conversations of Master Chu, Arranged Topicaly (Berkeley: University of Califomia Press, 1990), pp. 90-92. [Selection 2] Hide De Weerdt, Competition over Content: Negotiating Standards for the Civil Service Examinations in Imperial China (1127-1279) (Cambridge, Mas.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2007)p 197. From Zhu XI's Records of Conversations [Zhu:] "In the universe there has never been any psychophysical stuff without principle nor any principle without psychophysical stuff. "Before the existence of heaven and earth, there was simply principle. As there was prin- ciple, there was heaven and earth. If there hadn't been principle, there'd be no heaven and earth, no people, no things. There'd be nothing at all to sustain them. When there's princdple, there's psychophysical stuff; it drculates everywhere, developing and nour- ishing the ten thousand things." Someone said: "Is it principle that does the developing and nourishing?" Zhu replied: "When there's this principle, there's this psychophysical stuff that drcu- lates everywhere, developing and nourishing things. Principle has no physical form." Someone asked if principle exists first or psychophysical stuff. Zhu replied: "Principle has never been separate from psychophysical stuff. But prin- diple is above form and psychophysical stuff is within form. From the point of vlew of what is above and what is within form, how can there possibly be no sequence? Principle has no form, while the psychophysical stuff is coarse and contains impurities." weren't this stuff, this princdple would have nothing to adhere to...." There was a further inquiry: "What evi- dence is there that principle exists in the psychophyslcal stuff?" Zhu replied: "For instance, that there is an order to the intermixing of the yin and. yang and five elements is because of principle. If the psychophysical stuff doesn't coalesce, principle has nothing to adhere to." Someone asked about the statement that Someone asked: "What about the state- ment that there must exist this principle and only then will there exist this psychophysical stuff?" Zhu sald: "Fundamentally, one can't speak of them in terms of first and later. But if we must trace their beginnings, we have to say that there first exists this principle. Still, principle is not a separate entity but exists in the midst of this psychophysical stuff. If there first there exists principle and later there exists psychophysical stuff. Zhu sald: "There is no need to speak like this. Now we know that whether basi- cally there first exists principle and later the psychophysical stuff, it's not open to investigation." Recognizing the Examination Essays of the Neo-Confuclans According to the current regulations, a regulated prose-poem should be no longer than 360 characters; expositions should count 500 characters or less. Nowadays, in an essay on the meaning of the Classics, an ex posi tion, or a policy response essay, some write up to 3,000 words. In the prose parts of the prose-poem they have sentences of up to fifteen or sixteen characters long, coming to a total of 500 to 600 characters As for what we have called their eccentrici- tles, expressions like "firm vision," "power," "to imagine," "to divide one's efforts," "comes from somebody's collected works," "deter- mined direction," "vlew," "appearance," "air," "system," "dlosing off the mind," "ev- ery mind has a ruler, still there isa lot of noisy wrangling," and "with one trampling one can arrtve; while washing the hands it can be ac- complished"-all these are heterodox [non- standard] and vulgar expressions. per plece.