MUZIChinese Matrix
Scholars › Philosopher / Thinker
Founding Patriarch of the Jiangmen School of Mind and Pioneer of Ming Neo-Confucianism
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.
Also known as Chen Baisha · Master Baisha · Baisha Jushi · Jiangmen Xuepai Kaizongzhe · Chen Gongfu
Philosopher and educator who founded the Jiangmen School of Neo-Confucianism in Lingnan, pioneering inner meditative awakening prior to Wang Yangming.
MingChen Xianzhang, a native of Xinhui, studied for half a year under Wu Yubi and returned home. He built the Yangchun Terrace and sat in stillness there, leaving no trace outdoors for several years. His learning centered on stillness and was marked by an easy, self-reached insight.
After Chen Xianzhang returned home, the students who came to him from every quarter grew in number day by day. Peng Shao, the Guangdong provincial administration commissioner, and Zhu Ying, the governor-general, both recommended him; he was summoned to the capital and ordered to sit an examination at the Ministry of Personnel, but he declined several times on grounds of illness, petitioned to stay home and care for his mother, and in the end was made examiner in the Hanlin Academy and went home again.
