“Knowledge is the beginning of action and action the completion of knowledge.”
Wang Yangming · Neo-Confucianism (School of Mind)
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Paraphrase or translation
Philosopher
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Wang Yangming
1472–1529 · Neo-Confucianism (School of Mind) · Renaissance
Wang Yangming (Wang Shouren) was a Ming-dynasty official, general and philosopher. Against Zhu Xi's outward 'investigation of things', he held that principle is not outside the mind. Everyone has innate knowing (liangzhi), a moral awareness that can be clouded by selfish desire but not lost. His best-known teaching is the unity of knowing and acting: someone who claims to know filial piety but does not act on it does not yet really know it.
Read more
His teachings were gathered by students in Instructions for Practical Living.
One card from Chan's translation.
Start here
Instructions for Practical Living, Part I, sections 1–5, tr. Chan.
The knowing-acting dialogue is here.
Quotations
Key ideas
Unity of knowing and acting
Real knowledge already moves you. Knowing without doing is not yet knowing.
Innate knowing
Everyone has a built-in sense of right; the task is to extend it.
Mind is principle
Look within, not only out to things.
Major works
Instructions for Practical Living (Chuanxi lu) (1518–1572)
Tr. Wing-tsit Chan.
Common misreadings
- 'Look within' is not 'follow any feeling'. Innate knowing must be cleared of selfish desire.
- Unity of knowing and acting does not mean thinking is useless.
Famous lines Wang Yangming never said
None of the lines this library files for Wang Yangming is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
FAQ
What is the best book to start with?
Instructions for Practical Living, Part I, sections 1–5, tr. Chan. The knowing-acting dialogue is here.
What is the most famous quote?
This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Wang Yangming that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “Knowledge is the beginning of action and action the completion of knowledge.” (Instructions for Practical Living, Part I, sec. 5, tr. Wing-tsit Chan, Paraphrase or translation).
What is the most misquoted line?
None of the lines this library files for Wang Yangming is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
What is one key idea, in a sentence?
Unity of knowing and acting: Real knowledge already moves you. Knowing without doing is not yet knowing.