Zhuxi [chu Hsi] 1130–1200 Ce

Zhuxi [Chu Hsi] is the major representative of a group of neo-Confucian philosophers who flourished in China in the eleventh and twelfth centuries CE. ¹ His ideas exerted a powerful influence on Chinese life and culture from the thirteenth to the twentieth century. He worked in the rationalist tradition, seeking to understand the principles of things and their relationships within a metaphysical unity. His philosophy is remarkable for its comprehensive synthesis of traditional doctrines: he drew together into one system Confucius’ teaching on benevolence, Mencius’ on humanity and righteousness, the yinyang doctrine of cosmic forces, the doctrine of the Five Agents of water, fire, wood, metal and earth, and a number of important elements of Daoist and Buddhist teaching. It was he who arranged and wrote commentaries on the Four Books, strengthening their Confucian components and presenting them in the form in which they became the basis of the Chinese civil service exams. His writings are contained in sixty-two volumes.