On Zhao Zhenji’s Philosophy Of Mind-Heart

As a follower of Wang Yangming,Zhao Zhenji was included in Taizhou school by Huang Zongxi.However, it is lack of the study of Zhao Zhenji in general,let alone his philosophy of mind-heart in particular.This thesis takes Zhao Zhenji’s doctrine of innate knowledge as the starting point and attempts to give a a general description of Zhao’s philosophy of mind-heart from the perspectives of ontology, the cultivation theory, and the combination of Confucianism and Buddhism.In ontology, Zhao Zhenji’s thought of mind-heart and nature presents three features.Firstly, Zhao divides nature into "nature from Heaven" and "nature from human".While "nature from Heaven " is equal to innate knowledge,"nature from human" is seen as a source of evil. Secondly, Zhao divides mind-heart into authentic mind-heart and habit-based mind-heart. Thirdly, Zhao’s mind-heart and nature are demonstrated on the same level, Which is different from Zhu Xi.This thesis also explores the logical structure of Zhao’s doctrine of innate knowledge. Moreover, in spite of his suggestion that innate knowledge is ready-made, Zhao pays much attention to cultivation, stressing gradual practice of keeping quiet and washing mind-heart, and transforming governing the world to governing.mind-heart. At last, this thesis shows that by Zhao takes Confucianism as substance while Buddhism as function.