This book is a revised and expanded version of an earlier work by the
same title. The original work evolved out of a series of three talks
presented on the fifty-fourth anniversary of the Rockwell Lectures, which I
had the honor and pleasure of delivering at Rice University, in March of
1992. The theme of the lectures was Confucian moral self cultivation, and
they were focused primarily on the thought of three figures: Mengzi
("Mencius"), ¹ Xunzi, and Wang Yangming. The first lecture also
contained material that forms parts of the Introduction and first chapter of
the present volume. This material was substantially augmented and
developed for the original publication. Chapters two, three, and five were
essentially the lectures as given, incorporating minor modifications and
with notes added. The fourth chapter on Zhu Xi and the sixth chapter on
Dai Zhen were added. For this revised version of the volume, I have
reworked all of the original material and added a new chapter on the Qing
dynasty figure Yan Yuan.

The aim of the original lectures was quite ambitious. It was adopted
as the guiding sensibility for my original work and remains the aim of
the revised version: to provide a philosophically sensitive and
sophisticated account of Confucian moral self cultivation, as represented
by important figures from different periods of time, who presented distinct
and diverse views. In particular, this book is designed to appeal to
philosophically inclined readers who may have little or no knowledge of
the history of Chinese philosophy, and historians and others interested in
Chinese culture, who may have little or no knowledge of philosophy.
With these aims in mind, I have endeavored to keep the technical
vocabulary, both sinological and philosophical, to a minimum. However,
where the special vocabulary of these disciplines was crucial to making a
particular point, I have not hesitated to make use of these valuable tools
and explain their special sense. Given the stated audience of this work, I
have avoided secondary sources in languages other than English and
philosophical works that would not be easily understood by novices. For
those interested in pursuing more specialized issues relating to the topics
examined here, the works cited provide a rigorous and thorough guide to
this literature.

I have studied and taught the material that is covered in this work for
many years, and the questions and suggestions of numerous colleagues,
students, and other friends went into the original work as well as the
current revision. Their criticisms and suggestions have helped me to
think through these complex and fascinating issues. Among those who
have made the most significant and direct contributions to the latest

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