ABSTRACT
Building on May Fourth "scientism," scholars working on Chu Hsi's theory of the Mind-and-heart and program of moral practice consistently suggest that Chu was in "intellectualist." Central to Chu Hsi's analysis of the single mind is his image of the mind-heart as an "observing" and "administering" agent. Chu's conception of reading was both compatible and incompatible with that of Lu Hsiang-shan. The process of reading books ensures that the mind-heart of man will be incapable of imposing itself on the Mind-Heart of the Way; it is a way to attenuate its otherwise potent ability to prevent the Mind-Heart of the Way from expressing itself. It is clear that because the Classics embody the Way, they are seen as places in which a trans-textual object can be comprehended. The mind-heart is so filled with such prejudices that it is constitutionally incapable of making that direct, unmediated contact with the text, let alone with its Moral Principles.
