Ming Neo-Confucian from Zengcheng, a disciple of Chen Xianzhang, who taught that principle is to be realised in every situation and was Wang Yangming's friend and rival
Mural guide
A thatched pavilion open on three sides stands among tall bamboo; one person sits with their back turned at the veranda rail beside a zither and a stack of bamboo slips, while a stone path runs to a calm pond reflecting clouds and distant hills.
Zhan Ruoshui, courtesy name Yuanming, styled Ganquan, came from Zengcheng near Guangzhou. After passing the provincial examination in 1492 he went to study with Chen Xianzhang and had no wish for office, but at his mother's bidding he sat the metropolitan examination and became a jinshi in 1505, entering the Hanlin Academy as a compiler. There he formed a friendship with Wang Yangming, who was then teaching while serving in the Ministry of Personnel, and the two lectured in concert. He later served in Nanjing as minister of personnel, of rites and of war before retiring in old age. His teaching held that heavenly principle must be recognised in every situation as it arises, a position distinct from Wang's extension of innate knowledge, and people spoke of the schools of Wang and Zhan together; wherever he went he founded academies with shrines to Chen Xianzhang. He died in 1560 at ninety-four, still travelling to Nanjing at the age of ninety.
Carried on Chen Xianzhang's teaching, paired with Wang Shouren
Mid-Ming
Zhan Ruoshui came from Zengcheng, studied under Chen Xianzhang and had no taste for an official career. He took the jinshi degree in the eighteenth year of Hongzhi and was made compiler in the Hanlin Academy. He carried on Chen Xianzhang's teaching and, wherever he went, built an academy to honor Chen. He and Wang Shouren once taught together but later developed different doctrines, Wang teaching the extension of innate knowing and Zhan holding another aim, so that scholars divided into the Wang and Zhan schools. He also wrote the Gewu tong and the Xinxing tushuo.
Ming