T he Four Beginnings (of humanity, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom) are all originally present in the self. Nothing need be added from the outside.

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quote 2414  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 35:22a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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E stablish yourself in life and respect yourself. Don't follow other people's footsteps nor repeat their words.

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quote 2413  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 35:22a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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C ollect your spirit. Be your own master. "All things are already complete in oneself. (1) What is it that is lacking? When I should be commiserative, I am naturally commiserative. When I should be ashamed, liberal, generous, affectionate, tender, or strong and firm, I am naturally so.

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quote 2412  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 35:18a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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P rinciple exists in the universe without any obstruction. It is only that you sink from it, hide yourself in darkness as in the trap, and loose all sense of what is high and far beyond. It is imperative that this trap be decisively broken and the confining net be penetrated and destroyed

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quote 2411  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 35:15b-16a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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S tudents of today only pay attention to details and do not search for what is concrete. […] When is it necessary to depend on words?" […] When scholars read today, they only try to understand words and do not go further to find out what is vital.

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quote 2410  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 35:10a-b, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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M encius said, “He who exerts his mind to the utmost knows his nature. He who knows his nature knows Heaven (Nature). ” (1). There is only one mind. My mind, my friends' mind, the mind of the sages thousands of years ago, and the mind of sages thousands of years to come are all the same. The substance of the mind is infinite. If one can completely develop his mind, he will become identified with Heaven. To acquire learning is to appreciate this fact. This is what is meant by the saying, "Sincerity means the completion of the self, and the Way is self-directing."

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quote 2409  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 35:10a-b, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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A student must make up his mind. To read book and merely understand their literate meanings means not to have made up one’s mind.

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quote 2408  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 35:1b, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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T he universe has never separated itself from man. Man separates himself from the universe.

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quote 2407  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 34:5b, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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M y learning is different from that of others in the fact that with me every word comes spontaneously. Although I have uttered tens of thousands of words, they all are expressions of what is within me, and nothing more has been added. Recently someone has commented of me that aside from [Mencius'] saying, "First build up the nobler part of your nature” (1) I had nothing clever. When I heard this, I said, "Very true indeed."

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quote 2406  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 34:5a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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M ost interpreters have explained the human mind (which is liable to make mistakes) as equivalent to [selfish] human desires and the moral mind (which follows the Way, the Moral Law) as equivalent to the Principle of Nature. This interpretation is wrong. The mind is one. How can man have two minds?

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quote 2405  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 34: 1 b, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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W hen, influenced by external things, he begins to be active, that is desire arising from his nature. As one becomes conscious of things resulting from this impact, one begins to have likes and dislikes…. When [as a result of these likes and dislikes] one is unable to return to his original mind, the Principle of Nature is destroyed. "(1) Here is the origin of the theory that principle is from Nature whereas desire is from man.

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quote 2404  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 34: 1 b, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33  (1) The term Principle of Nature of course does not appear in the Lao Tzu. Lu was evidently thinking of the general Taoist doctrine of having no or few desires in chs. 3, 19, 34, 37, 57.

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M oral principles inherent in the human mind are endowed by Heaven and cannot be wiped out. Those who are beclouded by material desires so as to pervert principles and violate righteousness, do so because they do not think, that is all. If they can truly examine themselves and think, their sense of right and wrong and their choice between right and wrong will have the qualities of quiet alertness, clear-cut intelligence, and firm conviction.

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quote 2403  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 32:4a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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T he human mind is most intelligent and principle is most clear. All people have this mind and all minds contain this principle in full.

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quote 2402  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 22:5a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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T he four directions plus upward and downward constitute the spatial continuum (yu). What has gone by in the past and what is to come in the future constitute the temporal continuum (chou). The universe (these continua) is my mind, and my mind is the universe. Sages appeared tens of thousands of generations ago. They shared this mind; they shared this principle. Sages will appear tens of thousands of generations to come. They will share this mind; they will share this principle. Over the four seas sages appear. They share this mind; they share this principle.

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quote 2401  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 22:5a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33  This is Lu's philosophy in a word. Chu Hsi is correct in saying that all Lu talked about was the one mind .31 Unfortunately, Lu has never explained the mind fully beyond saying that it is the mind of everyone, that it is the original mind, that it is equivalent to jen (humanity), and that it consists of the Four Beginnings of humanity, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom taught by Mencius. In short, he added nothing to what Mencius had taught. His importance in the history of Chinese philosophy does not lie in his philosophical originality but in the fact that he made the mind the center of a philosophical movement.

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T his principle fills the universe. Who can escape from it? Those who follow it will enjoy good fortune and those who violate it will encounter calamities. People (whose minds) are obscure and beclouded are darkened and stupid, and those (whose minds) are penetrative and discerning are intelligent and wise. The darkened and stupid do not see this principle and therefore they often violate it and suffer calamity. The intelligent and wise understand this principle and are therefore able to follow it and achieve good fortune.

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quote 2400  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 21: 1 a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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M encius said, "That whereby man differs from the lower animals is but small. The ordinary people cast it away, while the superior man preserves it. (1) What is cast away is the mind. That is why Mencius said that some people "cast their original mind away . (2) What is preserved is this mind. That is why Mencius said that "The great man is one who does not lose his child's heart" (3) (What Mencius referred to as) the Four Beginnings (of humanity, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom, that is, the sense of commiseration, the sense of shame, the sense of deference and compliance, and the sense of right and wrong) (4) are this mind. It is what Heaven has endowed in us. All men have this mind, and all minds are endowed with this principle. The mind is principle.

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quote 2399  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 11: 5b-6a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33  (1) Mencius, 4B: 19. (2) Mencius, 6A: 10. (3) Mencius, 4B: 12. (4) Mencius, 2A: 6.

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M encius said, “First build the nobler part of your nature and then the inferior part cannot overcome it” (1). It is because people fail to build up the nobler part of their nature that it is overcome by the inferior part. In consequence they violate principle and become different from Heaven and Earth.

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quote 2398  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 11: 1 a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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M encius said, "Is there not a heart of humanity and righteousness originally existing in man?"(1) He also said, "We originally have them with us (the senses of humanity and righteousness, propriety, and wisdom) and "they are not drilled into us from outside". (2), The stupid and the unworthy do not come up to them and thus they are obscured with selfish desires and lose their original mind.

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quote 2397  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 1:6b, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33  (1) Mencius, 6A: 8. (2) Mencius, 6A:6.

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M encius said, "The ability possessed by men without their having acquired it by learning is innate ability, and the knowledge possessed by them without deliberation is innate knowledge. (1) These are endowed in us by Heaven. "We originally have them with us," and "they are not drilled into us from outside." (2) Therefore Mencius said, "All things are already complete in oneself. There is no greater joy than to examine oneself and be sincere (or absolutely real) (3)

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quote 2396  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 1:3b-4a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33  (1) Mencius, 7A: 15. (2) Mencius, 6A: 6 (3) Mencius, 7A:4.

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T he mind is one and principle is one. Perfect truth is reduced to a unity; the essential principle is never a duality. The mind and principle can never be separated into two.

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quote 2395  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 1:3b-4a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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P rinciple is endowed in me by Heaven, not drilled into me from outside. If one understands that principle is the same as master and really makes it his master, one cannot be influenced by external things or fooled by perverse doctrines.

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quote 2394  |   Lu Hsiang Shan Complete Work of Lu Hsiang-shan (Hsiang-shan ch’uan-chi), 1:3a, in Wing-Tsit Chan, Chinese Philosophy, Chapter 33

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