The Journal of Wu Yubi: The Path to Sagehood

Description

Most general studies of Neo-Confucianism focus on the leading thinkers of the Song (960-1279) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties, such as the Cheng brothers (Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi), Zhu Xi, and Wang Yangming, with the dominant emphasis being their key philosophical ideas as expressed in their various writings. What readers seldom get is a glimpse of how scholars struggled with putting their ideas into practice, as there are few extended firsthand accounts of anyone engaged in the daily pursuit of the Neo-Confucian goal of sagehood.

M. Theresa Kelleher is Associate Professor of Asian Studies and World Religions at Manhattanville College.

Wu Yubi undertook his intense inward turn toward self-perfection and sagehood in a political atmosphere of severe intellectual repression when it had become impossible for any thinker to venture outside the state-sanctioned Neo-Confucian orthodoxy. Wu found that the orthodoxy itself could be taken to furnish effective guidelines to making oneself a better person. His diary shows how demanding, frustrating, and unending such a quest might turn out to be. . . . Kelleher has beautifully accomplished the demanding job of addressing the needs of specialists, students and general readers. She has placed Wu Yubi in historical and cultural context and has made him humanly accessible. --John Dardess, University of Kansas