1. Okada Takehiko, Oyomei to Minmatsu no jogaku (Tokyo, 1971).

2. Wang's exceptional moral courage was remarked upon admiringly by the late Ming historian Shen Te-fu. Cf. Shen Te-fu, Wan-li yeh-huo pien (1619; new ed., Beijing, 1980), 2:508.

3. Wan-li T'ai-ho chih (1579; reprint, Taipei, 1989), 535; Also cf. Irene Bloom, trans., Knowledge Painfully Acquired: The K'un-chih chi by Lo Ch'in-shun (New York, 1987), 4.

4. See also Bloom, "On the 'Abstraction' of Ming Thought: Some Concrete Evidence from the Philosophy of Lo Ch'in-shun," in Principle and Practicality. Essays in Neo-Confucianism and Practical Learning , ed. Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (New York, 1979), 65-125.

5. Lo Ch'in-shun, K'un-chih chi (reprint, Beijing, 1990), 113-115, 170. Bloom has not dealt with Lo Ch'in-shun's relationships with contemporaries, relationships about which there remain quite a few letters written by him and to him.

6. Lo Ch'in-shun, K'un-chih chi , 133.

7. Translated in Bloom, Knowledge Painfully Acquired , 175-85. See also Wing-tsit Chan, trans., Instructions for Practical Living and Other Neo-Confucian Writings by Wang Yang-ming (New York, 1963), 263-64.

8. Chan, Instructions , 157-65.

9. Ibid., 188.

10. Lo Ch'in-shun, Cheng-an ts'un-kao (SKCSCP ed., 4th ser), 15.4b-5a.

11. Ts'ui Hsien, Huan tz'u (SKCSCP ed., 6th ser.), 10.13a-14b (on Lo's seventieth birthday); 10.14b-15b (letter to Lo); and 6.15a-16a (reply to Lo).

12. Hsu Chieh, Shih-ching-t'ang chi (Ming printed ed.), 19.32a-38a.

13. Wang Yang-ming, Wang Yang-ming ch'üan-chi (reprint, Taipei, 1964), 425; T'ai-ho chih , 554.

14. Chan, Instructions , 66-67, 194-95, 235.

15. Wang Yang-ming, Wang Yang-ming ch'üan-chi , 425.

16. Chan, Instructions , 150-57.

17. Ming shih-lu (reprint, Taiwan, 1965), 74:1815, 76:2474, 76:2486.

18. Yen Sung, Ch'ien-shan-t'ang chi (ms. ed.), fu-lu , portrait appreciations, composed and signed in 1532 by T'ai-ho men Ou-yang Te and Ch'en Ch'ang-chi, and in some later year by Ch'en Te-wen, a vice director in the Ministry of Works. Ou-yang Te's written works also contain a number of flattering messages for Yen Sung.

19. Hsu Chieh, Shih-ching-t'ang chi , 19.32a-38a; also reprinted in Chiao Hung, ed., Kuo-ch'ao hsien-cheng lu (1594; reprint, Taipei, 1965), 2:1390-92.

20. Ou-yang Te, Ou-yang Nan-yeh hsien-sheng wen-chi (woodblock ed., 1558), 1.14a-18b, 18b-24a, 24ab; Lo Ch'in-shun, K'un-chih chi , 117-21, 121-23.

21. Ou-yang Te, 2.29ab and 3.21ab.

22. Lo Ch'in-shun, K'un-chih chi , 124-27,132-33, 176-77, 182-83.

23. Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao (SKCSCP ed., 4th ser), A26.9b-14a (epitaph for Hu Shun-chü); L. Carrington Goodrich and Fang Chaoying, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography (New York, 1976), 2:1382-85 (Julia Ching, biography of Wang Ken).

24. Ou-yang Te, 1.33b-34b (response to Hu Yang-chai, i.e., Hu Yao-shih). Ou-yang's philosophical letters are not individually dated; his editor places this one along with a number of others in a section that he dates to the years 1529-34.

25. Lo Ch'in-shun, K'un-chih chi , 160-61.

26. Ming shih-lu , 76:2524-26. Hu Yao-shih's memorial is given in T'ai-ho hsien-chih (1826; reprint, Taipei, 1989), 5:1818-22.

27. Ou-yang Te, 17.4a-6a (message to Hu [Yao-shih], on his departure for the south).

28. Ch'en Po-ch'üan, ed., Chiang-hsi ch'u-t'u mu-chih hsuan-pien (Nan-chang, 1991), 368-70 (Hu Shun-chü, epitaph for Hu Yao-shih).

29. Chan, Instructions , xxv.

30. Lo Ch'in-shun, K'un-chih chi , 208; Ming shih-lu , 71:352-53.

31. The Great Rites dispute has been thoroughly studied in Carney T. Fisher, The Chosen One: Succession and Adoption in the Court of Ming Shizong (Sydney, 1990). On this and other protests in Ming history, cf. John W. Dardess, "Ming Officials and Modern Intellectuals: Some Enduring Configurations of Moral-Political Protest in China" (paper presented at the research conference entitled The Continuing Relevance of Traditional Chinese Institutions and Values in the Context of Modern China, East-West Center, University of Hawaii, May 1993).

32. Tsou Shou-i, Tung-kuo hsien-sheng wen-chi (Ming printed ed.), 3.1a-3a (preface to the Kai-chai wen-chi ). The Kai-chai wen-chi , the collection of Wang Ssu's written works, is apparently now lost.

33. Ming shih-lu , 66:2215-17; Ming shih (Kuo-fang yen-chiu-yuan ed.), 3:2242 (biography of Wang Ssu).

34. Ming shih , 3:2242; See T'ai-ho hsien-chih (1826), 5:1788-90, for the full memorial.

35. Ming shih-lu , 66:2348; Wan-li T'ai-ho chih , 548-49. The account of his lectures (a yü-lu or ch'uan-lu ) appears no longer to be extant. The academy he lectured at was the Ching-han Academy in Ch'eng-hai County; I have not been able to find much information about it. The quotation is from the Wan-li T'ai-ho chih .

36. Ming shih-lu , 71:599.

37. T'ai-ho hsien-chih (1826), 5:1790-92, 1792-96.

38. Hsia Liang-sheng, Tung-chou ch'u-kao (SKCSCP ed., 4th ser), 14.48a (poem of lament for Wang Ssu). Wang Ssu had a wife, a concubine, and two daughters.

39. Chu Che, T'ien-ma shan-fang i-kao (SKCSCP ed., 4th set.), 2.18b-19b (postface to the Kai-chai hsueh-lu ). The work is now apparently lost. Chu Che noted a particular argument in it—that "the vacuity in the Way of Heaven consists solely of mind, and that the vacuity in the human mind consists solely of desire. The learner's job is done when he is no longer burdened by private desires, such that the substance of the mind engages the world with clear immediacy and in each instance according to principle."

40. Ming shih-lu , 82:5269-70; Chiao Hung, ed., Kuo-ch'ao hsien-cheng lu , 4:2180-81 (T'ang Po-yuan, biography of Liu K'uei). T'ai-ho hsien-chih (1826), 5:1804-7, contains the text of Liu K'uei's memorial.

41. Chiao Hung, ed., Kuo-ch'ao hsien-cheng lu , 4:2180 (T'ang Po-yuan, biography of Liu K'uei).

42. Ming shih , 5:3190 (biography of Yu Shih-hsi); Huang Tsung-hsi, Ming-ju hsueh-an (reprint, Taipei, 1965), 187. The quotation is from Huang Tsung-hsi.

43. Yang Chueh, Yang Chung-chieh chi (SKCSCP ed., 5th ser.), 6.12b-13a.

44. Ming shih-lu , 84:5736; T'an Ch'ien, Kuo ch'ueh (reprint, Beijing, 1958), 4:3676.

45. The minister of personnel here was Hsiung Chia (1478-1554). Ming shih , 3:2297-98 (biography of Hsiung Chia); Chiao Hung, ed., Kuo-ch'ao hsien-cheng lu , 2:1033-34 (Chang Ao, epitaph for Hsiung Chia). The other prisoner was Chou I (1506-69). Chiao Hung, ed., Kuo-ch'ao hsien-cheng lu , 5:3042 (Chiang Pao, epitaph for Chou I).

46. Chiao Hung, ed., Kuo-ch'ao hsien-cheng lu , 4:2180.

47. Yang Chueh, 2.10b-16a (prison diary); Wan-li T'ai-ho chih , 539-42 (biography of Liu K'uei).

48. Lo Hung-hsien, Nien-an wen-chi (SKCSCP ed., 5th ser.), 11.48a-51a (message to Liu Ch'ing-ch'uan [Liu K'uei] on his sixtieth birthday). In 1541, Lo Hung-hsien had himself offended the emperor in a memorial that touched on the sensitive question of the imperial succession. He was admonisher to the heir apparent (6B), and was dismissed from civil service for his remarks. He spent the rest of his life at home, engaging in tax and service reform, conducting car-tographical and other research, and developing and teaching his own version of the Wang Yang-ming doctrines. See Goodrich and Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography , 1980-84.

49. Hsu Chieh, Shih-ching-t'ang chi , 12.6a-7a (message for Yang Tzu-hsu [Yang Tsai-ming]).

50. A prefectural judge by the name of Kuo Lai-ch'ao was placed on the Ministry of Personnel's promotions list. Yang Tsai-ming thought Kuo quite acceptable. Why not? Yang had read and admired Kuo's writing, and Kuo also had an "outstanding" rating attached to his personnel file. Censors, however, discovered disrespect in Kuo's preparation of a routine memorial to the emperor, and they furthermore reported that Kuo had been "unreasonably greedy and oppressive" in his work as judge. The high officials of the ministry acknowledged their error and issued an apology. The emperor ordered them fined, but he considered Yang Tsai-ming the main culprit, guilty of evilly and deliberately misrepresenting Kuo's record. See Ming shih-lu , 87:7100-01; Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , A23.36b (epitaph for Yang Tsai-ming).

51. Ou-yang Te, 5.43b-44b (letter in reply to Yang Wu-tung [Yang Tsai-ming]).

52. Chiao Hung, ed., Kuo-ch'ao hsien-cheng lu , 2:1392-93 (Li Ch'un-fang, stela for the imperially authorized temple in honor of Ou-yang Te).

53. Hsu Chieh, Shih-ching-t'ang chi , 19.32a-38a (spirit-way stela for Ou-yang Te); also in Chiao Hung, ed., Kuo-ch'ao hsien-cheng lu , 2:1390-92.

54. Huang Tsung-hsi makes this and other regional groupings of the Wang Yang-ming school in his Ming-ju hsueh-an . Ch. 16-24 of that work provide excerpts of the thought of no fewer than twenty-nine Kiangsi men, only three of which were from T'ai-ho (Ou-yang Te, Liu K'uei, and Hu Chih). Kandice J. Hauf, "The Jiangyou Group: Culture and Society in Sixteenth-Century China" (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1987) is a pioneering attempt to study the lives and ideas of four leading figures: Nieh Pao, Tsou Shou-i, Ou-yang Te, and Lo Hung-hsien.

55. Described in John Meskill, Academies in Ming China: A Historical Essay (Tucson, 1982). Around 1542, Ou-yang Te attended one of the "meetings of the comrades of the nine counties" held at Ch'ing-yuan Mountain, and there discussed differing interpretations of Wang Yang-ming's thought with Nieh Pao, Tsou Shou-i, and Lo Hung-hsien. Ou-yang Te's son Ou-yang Shao-ch'ing accompanied him and "got to hear things he had never heard before, which he faithfully recorded, eventually amassing a container full of notes." The notes are lost. See Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , A24.4a (account of conduct for Ou-yang Shao-ch'ing, 1517-74). The account also relates that as a boy in Nanking in the company of his father in the 1530s, Ou-yang Shao-ch'ing was attracted to the philosophy of Chan Jo-shui, who was living nearby, until one night Ou-yang had a mystical experience. He dreamt that he rode a horse past Chan's house and soon came upon a strange new place, where Wang Yang-ming sat at the the gate. Wang called him over, smiled, and impressed a seal upon the palms of the young man's hands; Wang then pulled open his jacket and impressed the seal over his heart.

56. Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , A8.27a-30a (a generational account of the Hu); Lo Hung-hsien, Nien-an wen-chi , 15.40a-42b (epitaph for Hu T'ien-feng).

57. Lü Nan, Ching-yeh-tzu nei-p'ien (reprint, Beijing, 1992), 87-88, also cf. 52. The five T'ai-ho men were K'ang Shu (1495-1569) of T'ai-ho city; Ou-yang Ch'ien-yuan, a distant relative of Ou-yang Te's; and three Ch'en men from Willow Creek, including Ch'en Ch'ang-chi, who prefaced the Ching-yeh-tzu nei-p'ien . All five were provincial degree holders at the time of the discussions; only Ch'en Ch'ang-chi later achieved his chin-shih .

58 . Lü Nan, Ching-yeh-tzu nei-p'ien , 87-88, 121-22. The five T'ai-ho men were K'ang Shu (1495-1569) of T'ai-ho city; Ou-yang Ch'ien-yuan, a distant relation of Ou-yang Te's, and three Ch'en men from Willow Creek, including Ch'en Ch'ang-chi, who prefaced Lü's work. Ho Liang-chün tended to agree with Lü about Wang Yang-ming; he asserted that Wang Yang-ming was a true genius, whom "middling talents" simply could not follow, struggle as they might. Cf. Ho Liang-chün, Ssu-yu-chai ts'ung-shuo (reprint, Beijing, 1983), 32.

59. Wei Chiao, Chuang-ch'ü i-shu (SKCSCP ed., 5th ser.), 3.73ab, 4.6b-7a, 4.25ab, 4.55b-56a, 14.5b-6b. There is only one letter to Wei Chiao in Ou-yang Te's works, and it does not seem to bear directly on Wei's objections. Ou-yang Te, 3.9ab. Ou-yang also wrote Lü Nan. Ou-yang Te, 2.25ab. Wei Chiao's T'ai-ho disciple was Wang Tsung-yin of Nan-fu Ward (township 61), a chü-jen of 1528 and later a magistrate. Wei Chiao, Chuang-ch'ü i-shu , 4.53b-54b, 69b-70b.

60. Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , B8.20a-25a (epitaph).

61. Ibid., B11.29b-37a (biographies of Ch'en Liang-ching [I518-61], Lo Meng-fu, and Lo P'eng).

62. Hu Chih, K'un-hsueh chi , in Ming-ju hsueh-an , ed. Huang Tsung-hsi (reprint, Taipei, 1965), 221.

63. The Buddhist temple in question, the Hai-chih ssu, is not given in the gazetteers, at least not under that name. But it seems to have been located close to Hu Chih's home in township 51, as one of his poems suggests. Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , A7.1ab.

64. Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , A24.1ab (account of conduct for Ou-yang Shao-ch'ing). Hu Chih was three months older than Ou-yang Shao-ch'ing.

65. Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , B11.23a-25a (biography of Yang Hai).

66. Goodrich and Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography , 1:983.

67. Hu Chih, K'un-hsueh chi , 221.

68. Such letters are among those included in Lo Hung-hsien, Nien-an wen-chi , ch. 2-4. His T'ai-ho correspondents included Hu Chih, Wang T'o, Ou-yang Ch'ang, Tseng Yü-ch'ien, Tseng Yü-chien, Tseng Yü-hung, and Tseng Yü-yeh (the Tsengs were kinsmen from Moon Hill Ward, township 32).

69. Hu Chih, K'un-hsueh chi , 222; Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , B8.20a-25a (epitaph for Tseng Yü-ch'ien, 1520-62). The other members were Lo Ch'ao, Hsiao Lung-yu, Wang T'o, and Ou-yang Ch'ang. Except for Hu Chih, all failed in their careers: Tseng became a primary tutor, Hsiao eventually purchased a post as a county vice magistrate, and Ou-yang Ch'ang was still a sheng-yuan when he died. So too, it appears, were Lo and Wang.

An older friend of Hu Chih's was successful in Fukien, however. Wang Chu (1500-54, of Hollow Street, in T'ai-ho's western suburb) won his chü-jen degree in 1525, but he spent the next quarter century as a private teacher in T'ai-ho and an active member of the local study groups that gathered to develop and spread the ideas of Wang Yang-ming. In 1549, he was appointed instructor in P'u-t'ien County in Fukien. The provincial education intendant was Chu Heng, from Wan-an County, just south of T'ai-ho. Chu Heng set up a series of venues for intensive discussion of Wang Yang-ming's thought, and he had Instructor Wang run these sessions in P'u-t'ien. Hundreds of sheng-yuan attended, and ''their old habits of clinging to classical text and commentary [in the Ch'eng-Chu tradition] were completely changed." Local scholar-officials were highly impressed. Wang died suddenly in 1554; a public mourning ceremony was held at the P'u-t'ien school. It turned out he was so poor that all he owned was a ragged blanket and a tattered mat, and the costs of his funeral and burial had to be met by contribution. Wang Shen-chung, Tsun-yen chi (SKCSCP ed., 8th ser.), 24.20b-21a (letter to Wang Wu-yang, i.e., Wang Chu) and 19.5ab (eulogy); Ch'en Ch'ang-chi, Lung-chin-yuan chi (Ming woodblock ed.), 3-74a-75b (message for Wang on his departure for P'u-t'ien); P'u-t'ien hsien-chih (1879; reprint, Taipei, 1968), 268. The quotation is from the P'u-t'ien hsien-chih .

What Wang Chu tried to do at the county level was mirrored by what, at the same time, Ou-yang Te and others tried to do at the national level, in Peking. Information about the mass meetings held in Peking from 1553 to 1554 seems inexplicably scarce, but Ou-yang Te (minister of rites) and several other high officials conducted a series of lecture-discussions over a period of two months at the Ling-chi kung, a Taoist temple inside the Imperial City, for the purpose of introducing a younger generation of officials to Wang Yang-ming's thought. "Thousands" attended these affairs. See Hsu Hsueh-mo, Shih-miao shih-yü lu (reprint, Shanghai, 1991), 21.14a-15a; Lo Ju-fang, Hsu-t'an chih-ch'üan (reprint, Taipei, 1960), 297-98. The Ling-chi kung sessions are mentioned only briefly by Meskill, Academies in Ming China , 131, and Joanna E Handlin, Action in Late Ming Thought: The Reorientation of Lü K'un and Other Scholar-Officials (Berkeley, 1983), 43.

70. Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , A26.20a-31a (biographical account, written while Chang was still alive); A25.20b-22b (epitaph for Madame Liao, 1524-69); A10.15a-17b (preface to the reprinting of the Wang Hsin-chai i-lu ); Ou-yang To, Ou-yang Kung-chien kung i-chi (Ming woodblock ed.), 11.2a-3b (message for Chang Feng).

71. Wan-li T'ai-ho chih (1579; reprint, Taipei, 1989), 557-58; Wan-li Chi-an fu-chih (1585; reprint, Beijing, 1991), 375-76 (biographies of Kuo Ying-k'uei); Shou-chou chih (1550; reprint, Shanghai, 1981), 5.78a.

72. There was, stated Hu, an "original mind." It was Mencius's "mind of not being able to bear others' [misfortunes]." Certain lofty-minded men (surely he meant Lo Hung-hsien and Tsou Shou-i here) erred by drowning themselves in ''vacuity and tranquillity." Men of low mind (Grand Secretaries Yen Sung? Hsu Chieh?) engaged in the power-based manipulation of others. Only Ou-yang Te's "original mind," when made manifest, steered the student away from either of those errors. See Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , A21.16b-17b (tomb report).

73. Ibid., A10.22a-26b (preface to the Ou-yang Nan-yeh hsien-sheng wen-hsuan ).

74. Ming shih-lu , 94:1233.

75. Rodney L. Taylor, "Acquiring a Point of View: Confucian Dimensions of Self-Perception," Monumenta Serica 34 (1979-80): 145-70.

76. Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , B9.18a (epitaph for Hsiao Jun-chuang, 1517-81).

77. These were Lo Ju-fang (1515-88), Tsou Shah (Tsou Shou-i's son), Keng Ting-hsiang (1524-96), and Chiang Pao (1514-93). Lo Ju-fang served alongside Hu Chih in the Ministry of Justice (his career as lecturer and teacher has been dealt with by Joanna E Handlin in Action in Late Ming Thought , 41-54). Keng Ting-hsiang, another major intellectual figure, would later write Hu Chih's epitaph, as well as an earlier piece celebrating key phases in Hu Chih's intellectual development. See Keng Ting-hsiang, Keng T'ien-t'ai hsien-sheng wen-chi (reprint, Taipei, 1956), 3:1205-8, 1225-43. Chiang Pao was a Han-lin junior compiler. They were all among Ming bureaucracy's brightest and best.

78. Kuo Tzu-chang, Pin-i sheng Yueh-ts'ao (printed ed., 1590), 6.1a-20a (account of conduct for Hu Chih).

79. Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , A20.17a-19a (letter to Chang).

80. Chang Chü-cheng, Chang T'ai-yueh wen-chi (reprint, Shanghai, 1984), 262 (22.2ab, letter to Hu Chih).

81. Hu Chih was on his way to Peking when he was informed that his mother was ill, and he then decided to retire. He sent an i-nan (foster son, i.e., personal bondservant) by the name of Hu An ahead to Peking with a written retirement request. He also sent Grand Secretary Chang a long letter, in which he raised issues he said he had originally planned to raise with him in person. tie urged that more be done to acclimate the young Wan-li emperor to his moral role. He argued that officials should not be promoted solely on the basis of their concrete accomplishments. He asked that Chang intervene to heal a growing partisan split between followers of Chu Hsi and followers of Wang Yang-ming. He demanded that Chang rescind his tax reforms because they were causing hardship all over China. Chang seems to have ignored the letter. Hu's request to retire was approved. His mother soon recovered from her illness. Cf. Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , A20.40b-42a (memorial requesting retirement) and A20.21b-25b (official letter to Chang).

82. One gifted student who came for a short while in 1568 to take instruction was Kuo Tzu-chang (1543-1618, of Kuan-ch'ao Ward, township 31). Hu's lesson for him dwelt on "seeking benevolence," which Hu explained as a quest without intentionality or emotion, where "the learning of the Sages begins." Another gifted student, and future national luminary, who studied with Hu Chih around this time was Tsou Yuan-piao (1551-1624) of Chi-shui County. Cf. Kuo Tzu-chang, Ch'ing-lo kung i-shu (T'ai-ho, printed ed., 1882), 5a ( nien-p'u ); Goodrich and Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography , 2:1312-14; Ming shih , 4:2763-65 (biography of Tsou Yuan-piao).

83. Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , B5.5b-7b (preface and appreciation for the portrait). The two contributors were K'ang Tsung-wang, probably of Chueh-yü Ward (township 52) and Yueh I-ning, of Ho-ch'i Ward (township 65).

84. Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , B4.5a-7a (letters to Kuo Hsiang-k'uei [Tzu-chang]). Kuo was serving in Fukien at this time and may have published the Hu-tzu heng-ch'i there. It was also published in Ch'ang-chou, with a preface by the famed litterateur Wang Shih-chen (1526-90). See Wang Shih-chen, Yen-chou shan-jen hsu-kao (reprint, Taipei, 1970), 6:2581-85. The Ssu-k'u ch'üan-shu chen-pen edition of Hu Chih's works contains the entirety of the Hu-tzu heng-ch'i , under the label tsa-chu , or "miscellaneous writings." Hu Chih, Heng-lu ching-she ts'ang-kao , A28.1a-A30.117b.

85. Goodrich and Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography , 1:624-25 (biography of Hu Chih).

86. A phenomenon noted by Handlin, Action in Late Ming Thought , 14, and, indeed, throughout the book.