Zhang Zai 1020 – 1077
Zhang Zai was a Chinese Northern Song Confucian philosopher and one of the founding figures of the Neo-Confucian renaissance. With Zhou Dunyi and the Cheng brothers, he reshaped Confucian thought by developing a sustained metaphysics of qi, the vital material force that constitutes and pervades all things, and by articulating in his short Western Inscription a vision of the cosmic kinship of all human beings with heaven, earth, and one another. The Western Inscription was inscribed on the western wall of his study and has remained one of the most loved texts of Confucian moral imagination.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Chinese
- Era
- Medieval
- Movements
- Confucianism
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Zhang Zai:
“Heaven is my father, Earth is my mother, and I, this small creature, find an intimate place in their midst.”
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Attributed to Zhang Zai:
“All people are my brothers and sisters; all things are my companions.”
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Attributed to Zhang Zai:
“Compassion follows from the recognition that one is one with all things.”
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Attributed to Zhang Zai:
“The Great Vacuity is identical with qi.”
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Attributed to Zhang Zai:
“To establish a heart for heaven and earth, to establish a destiny for the people, to recover the lost teaching, and to bring peace to all generations.”