Volume 283 Biographies 171: Confucian Scholars 2

陳獻章〈（李承箕張詡）〉婁諒〈（夏尚樸）〉賀欽陳茂烈湛若水〈（蔣信等）〉鄒守益〈（子善等）〉錢德洪〈（徐愛等）〉王畿〈（王艮等）〉歐陽德〈（族人瑜）〉羅洪先〈（程文德）〉吳悌〈（子仁度）〉何廷仁〈（劉邦采魏良政等）〉王時槐許孚遠尤時熙〈（張後覺等）〉鄧以贊〈（張元忄卞）〉孟化鯉〈（孟秋）〉來知德鄧元錫〈（劉元卿章潢）〉

Chen Xianzhang (Li Chengqi, Zhang Xu)]〉 Lou Liang (Xia Shangpu)]〉 He Qin, Chen Maolie, and Zhan Ruoshui (Jiang Xin and others)]〉 Zou Shouyi (Zishan and others)]〉 Qian Dehong (Xu Ai and others)]〉 Wang Ji (Wang Gen and others)]〉 Ouyang De (his clansman Yu)]〉 Luo Hongxian (Cheng Wende)]〉 Wu Ti (his sons Ren and Du)]〉 He Tingren (Liu Bangcai, Wei Liangzheng, and others)]〉 Wang Shihuai, Xu Fuyuan, and You Shixi (Zhang Houjue and others)]〉 Deng Yizan (Zhang Yuanbian)]〉 Meng Huayu (Meng Qiu)]〉 Lai Zhide and Deng Yuanxi (Liu Yuanqing, Zhang Huang)]〉

陳獻章，字公甫，新會人。舉正統十二年鄉試，再上禮部，不第。從吳與弼講學。居半載歸，讀書窮日夜不輟。築陽春臺，靜坐其中，數年無戶外跡。久之，復遊太學。祭酒邢讓試和楊時《此日不再得》詩一篇，驚曰：「龜山不如也。」揚言於朝，以為真儒復出。由是名震京師。給事中賀欽聽其議論，即日抗疏解官，執弟子禮事獻章。獻章既歸，四方來學者日進。廣東布政使彭韶、總督朱英交薦。召至京，令就試吏部。屢辭疾不赴，疏乞終養，授翰林院檢討以歸。至南安，知府張弼疑其拜官，與與弼不同。對曰：「吳先生以布衣為石亨所薦，故不受職而求觀秘書，冀在開悟主上耳。時宰不悟，先令受職然後觀書，殊戾先生意，遂決去。獻章聽選國子生，何敢偽辭釣虛譽。」自是屢薦，卒不起。

Chen Xianzhang, styled Gongfu, came from Xinhui. He passed the provincial examination in the twelfth year of the Zhengtong reign and later presented himself at the Ministry of Rites, but failed the metropolitan examination. He studied under Wu Yubi. After six months he went home and read without pause, day and night. He built the Yangchun Terrace and meditated there in seclusion; for years he scarcely set foot beyond his gate. After some time he returned to study at the Imperial Academy. When Director Xing Rang set him to compose a matching poem to Yang Shi's 《This Day Will Not Come Again》, he exclaimed in wonder, "Even Yang Shi could not match this. He proclaimed this at court, declaring that a true Confucian had appeared again. From this his reputation resounded throughout the capital. Supervising Secretary He Qin heard him lecture and that very day memorialized to resign his post, thereafter honoring Xianzhang with the deference due a master. Once Xianzhang had gone home, students flocked to him from every quarter. Peng Shao, administration commissioner of Guangdong, and Grand Coordinator Zhu Ying both recommended him. He was summoned to the capital and told to undergo examination at the Ministry of Personnel. He repeatedly pleaded illness and declined to attend; he memorialized asking to spend his mother's remaining years at her side and was granted the post of Hanlin Academician-Compiler before returning home. When he reached Nan'an, Prefect Zhang Bi questioned why he had accepted office, since that seemed at odds with his principles. He replied, "Master Wu was a commoner whom Shi Heng recommended; he therefore refused an appointment and asked only to consult the palace archives, hoping to enlighten the emperor. The chief ministers failed to understand; they insisted he take office before he might read the archives, which was utterly contrary to the Master's purpose, and so he left for good. As for myself, I was a National University student awaiting appointment—how could I feign refusal merely to win a hollow reputation? From then on he was recommended again and again, but in the end he never accepted office.

獻章之學，以靜為主。其教學者，但令端坐澄心，於靜中養出端倪。或勸之著述，不答。嘗自言曰：「吾年二十七，始從吳聘君學，於古聖賢之書無所不講，然未知入處。比歸白沙，專求用力之方，亦卒未有得。於是舍繁求約，靜坐久之，然後見吾心之體隱然呈露，日用應酬隨吾所欲，如馬之禦勒也。」其學灑然獨得，論者謂有鳶飛魚躍之樂，而蘭溪姜麟至以為「活孟子」雲。

Xianzhang's teaching centered on stillness. He taught his disciples simply to sit upright and clear the mind, cultivating the first stirrings of insight in quietude. When others urged him to write, he would not comply. He once said, "At twenty-seven I first studied with Master Wu; I read everything the ancient sages had written, yet I still could not find my way in. When I returned to Baisha I searched only for a method of real effort, yet still found nothing. So I set aside complexity for simplicity and sat in quiet for a long while, until the substance of my mind faintly disclosed itself; in daily affairs I could respond as I wished, like a horse that answers the rein. His learning was attained with an unforced clarity of his own; critics said it held the joy of kites soaring and fish leaping, and Jiang Lin of Lanxi went so far as to call him a "living Mencius."

獻章儀幹修偉，右頰有七黑子。母年二十四守節，獻章事之至孝。母有念，輒心動，即歸。弘治十三年卒，年七十三。萬歷初，從祀孔廟，追謚文恭。

Xianzhang was tall and imposing in bearing, with seven black moles on his right cheek. His mother had been widowed at twenty-four; Xianzhang served her with the utmost filial devotion. Whenever his mother thought of him his heart would stir, and he would return home at once. He died in the thirteenth year of the Hongzhi reign, at the age of seventy-three. Early in the Wanli reign he was admitted to sacrifice in the Confucian temple and posthumously honored as Wengong.

門人李承箕，字世卿，嘉魚人。成化二十二年舉鄉試。往師獻章，獻章日與登涉山水，投壺賦詩，縱論古今事，獨無一語及道。久之，承箕有所悟，辭歸，隱居黃公山，不復仕。與兄進士承芳，皆好學，稱嘉魚二李。卒年五十四。

His disciple Li Chengqi, styled Shiqing, came from Jiayu. In the twenty-second year of the Chenghua reign he passed the provincial examination. He went to study with Xianzhang, who day after day took him hiking among hills and streams, played pitch-pot and composed verse with him, and discoursed freely on past and present—yet never once spoke of the Way. In time Chengqi came to an inner understanding, took his leave, and retired to Mount Huangong, never entering official life again. He and his elder brother Chengfang, who had passed the metropolitan examination, were both devoted to learning and were known as the Two Lis of Jiayu. He died at the age of fifty-four.

張詡，字廷實，南海人，亦師事獻章。成化二十年舉進士，授戶部主事。尋丁憂，累薦不起。正德中，召為南京通政司參議，一謁孝陵即告歸。獻章謂其學以自然為宗，以忘己為大，以無欲為至。卒年六十。

Zhang Xu, styled Tingshi, came from Nanhai and likewise studied under Xianzhang. In the twentieth year of the Chenghua reign he passed the metropolitan examination and was appointed a director in the Ministry of Revenue. Soon afterward he entered mourning for a parent; though repeatedly recommended, he would not serve. During the Zhengde reign he was summoned to serve as vice commissioner of the Nanjing Office of Transmission; after paying one visit to the Xiaoling Mausoleum he asked to go home. Xianzhang said his learning took nature as its foundation, self-forgetting as its height, and freedom from desire as its perfection. He died at the age of sixty.

婁諒，字克貞，上饒人。少有誌絕學。聞吳與弼在臨川，往從之。一日，與弼治地，召諒往視，雲學者須親細務。諒素豪邁，由此折節。雖掃除之事，必身親之。景泰四年舉於鄉。天順末，選為成都訓導。尋告歸，閉門著書，成《日錄》四十卷、《三禮訂訛》四十卷。謂《周禮》皆天子之禮，為國禮。《儀禮》皆公卿大夫士庶人之禮，為家禮。以《禮記》為二經之傳，分附各篇，如《冠禮》附《冠義》之類。不可附各篇者，各附一經之後。不可附一經者，總附二經之後。其為諸儒附會者，以程子論黜之。著《春秋本意》十二篇，不采三傳事實，言：「是非必待三傳而後明，是《春秋》為棄書矣。」其學以收放心為居敬之門，以何思何慮、勿忘勿助為居敬要旨。然其時胡居仁頗譏其近陸子，後羅欽順亦謂其似禪學雲。

Lou Liang, styled Kezhen, came from Shangrao. From youth he aspired to master the highest learning. Hearing that Wu Yubi was at Linchuan, he went to study with him. One day, as Yubi was working the fields, he called Liang over and said that a scholar must attend personally even to humble tasks. Liang had always been proud and free-spirited; from this he learned to humble himself. Even sweeping and cleaning he would do with his own hands. In the fourth year of the Jingtai reign he passed the provincial examination. Late in the Tianshun reign he was appointed instructor at Chengdu. Before long he asked leave to return home, shut his door to write, and completed forty juan of 《Daily Records》 and forty juan of 《Corrections to Errors in the Three Rites》. He held that the 《Rites of Zhou》 were entirely the ceremonial of the Son of Heaven and constituted the rites of the state. The 《Ceremonies》, he argued, were the rites of nobles, ministers, officers, and commoners, and constituted the rites of the household. He treated the 《Record of Rites》 as commentary on the two classics, attaching each passage to its proper section—as, for example, attaching the 《Meaning of the Capping Ceremony》 to the 《Capping Ceremony》 itself. Passages that could not be attached to a particular section he placed after the relevant classic as a whole. Passages that could not be assigned to either classic he placed after both classics together. Interpretations he judged to be forced concoctions of later scholars he set aside, following the arguments of Master Cheng. He wrote twelve chapters of 《Original Meaning of the Spring and Autumn》, taking no factual material from the Three Commentaries, and declared: "If right and wrong can be known only after the Three Commentaries, then the 《Spring and Autumn》 itself is a book cast aside. In his teaching, recovering the straying mind was the gateway to reverent composure, and "What thinking? What deliberating? Do not forget; do not assist" was its essential purport. At the time Hu Juren openly mocked him as too close to Master Lu; later Luo Qinshun likewise judged his learning akin to Chan Buddhism.

子忱，字誠善，傳父學。女為寧王宸濠妃，有賢聲，嘗勸王毋反。王不聽，卒反。諒子姓皆捕系，遺文遂散軼矣。

His son Chen, styled Chengshan, carried on his father's learning. His daughter became consort to Prince Ning Chen Hao. Renowned for her virtue, she once urged the prince not to rebel. The prince refused to listen and in the end rose in rebellion. All of Liang's sons and kinsmen were arrested and imprisoned, and his surviving writings were scattered and lost.

門人夏尚樸，字敦夫，廣信永豐人。正德初，會試赴京。見劉瑾亂政，慨然嘆曰：「時事如此，尚可幹進乎？」不試而歸。六年成進士，授南京禮部主事。歲饑，條上救荒數事。再遷惠州知府，投劾歸。嘉靖初，起山東提學副使。擢南京太仆少卿，與魏校、湛若水輩日相講習。言官劾大學士桂萼，語連尚樸。吏部尚書方獻夫白其無私，尋引疾歸。早年師諒，傳主敬之學，常言「才提起，便是天理。才放下，便是人欲」。魏校亟稱之。所著有《中庸語》《東巖文集》。王守仁少時，亦嘗受業於諒。

His disciple Xia Shangpu, styled Dunfu, came from Yongfeng in Guangxin. Early in the Zhengde reign he traveled to the capital for the metropolitan examination. Seeing Liu Jin's corrupt rule, he sighed and said: "When the times are like this, how can one still pursue office?" He did not sit for the examination and returned home. In the sixth year he passed as a presented scholar and was appointed a principal secretary in the Nanjing Ministry of Rites. During a famine year he submitted in detail several proposals for famine relief. He was transferred again to serve as prefect of Huizhou, then impeached himself and retired. Early in the Jiajing reign he was recalled to serve as Vice Education Commissioner of Shandong. He was promoted to Vice Director of the Nanjing Court of the Imperial Stud, where he daily lectured and studied with Wei Xiao, Zhan Ruoshui, and others. Censorial officials impeached Grand Secretary Gui E, and their accusations implicated Shangpu as well. Minister of Personnel Fang Xianfu testified to his integrity, but soon afterward he cited illness and retired. In his youth he studied under Liang and carried forward the teaching of reverent composure, often saying: "The instant you lift it up, that is the Principle of Heaven. The instant you put it down, that is human desire." Wei Xiao praised him repeatedly. His writings include 《Words on the Mean》 and 《Collected Works from Eastern Cliff》. Wang Shouren, too, in his youth once studied under Liang.

賀欽，字克恭，義州衛人。少好學，讀《近思錄》有悟。成化二年以進士授戶科給事中。已而師事陳獻章。既歸，肖其像事之。

He Qin, styled Kecong, came from Yizhou Guard. From youth he loved learning; reading the 《Nearness to Everyday Life》, he found enlightenment. In the second year of Chenghua he passed as a presented scholar and was appointed a supervising secretary in the Revenue Section. Before long he took Chen Xianzhang as his teacher. After returning home, he had a portrait made in his likeness and venerated it.

弘治改元，用閣臣薦，起為陜西參議。檄未至而母死，乃上疏懇辭，且陳四事。一，謂今日要務莫先經筵，當博訪真儒，以資啟沃。二，薦檢討陳獻章學術醇正，稱為大賢，宜以非常之禮起之，或俾參大政，或任經筵，以養君德。三，內官職掌，載在《祖訓》，不過備灑掃、司啟閉而已。近如王振、曹吉祥、汪直等，或參預機宜，幹政令，招權納寵，邀功啟釁。或引左道，進淫巧，以蕩上心。誤國殃民，莫此為甚。宜慎飭將來，內不使干預政事，外不使鎮守地方掌握兵權。四，興禮樂以化天下。「陛下紹基之初，舉行朱子喪葬之禮，而頹敗之俗因仍不改，乞申明正禮，革去教坊俗樂，以廣治化。」疏凡數萬言。奏入，報聞。正德四年，劉瑾括遼東田，東人震恐，而義州守又貪橫，民變，聚眾劫掠。顧相戒曰：「毋驚賀黃門。」欽聞之，急諭禍福，以身任之，亂遂定。欽學不務博涉，專讀《四書》、《六經》、《小學》，期於反身實踐。謂為學不必求之高遠，在主敬以收放心而已。卒年七十四。子士諮，鄉貢士，嘗陳十二事論王政，不報。終身不仕。

When the Hongzhi reign began, on the recommendation of grand secretaries he was recalled as Administration Vice Commissioner of Shaanxi. Before the appointment letter arrived, his mother died. He memorialized earnestly to decline the post and set forth four matters. First, he argued that among the urgent tasks of the day nothing should precede the classics lecture, and that true Confucians should be widely sought to aid the ruler's instruction. Second, he recommended Compiler Chen Xianzhang, whose learning was pure and upright and whom he hailed as a great worthy. He should be summoned by extraordinary rites, either to share in great affairs of state or to serve at the classics lecture, so as to nurture the ruler's virtue. Third, the duties of inner eunuchs, as recorded in the 《Ancestral Instructions》, were no more than sweeping, attendance, and the opening and closing of gates. Recently men such as Wang Zhen, Cao Jixiang, and Wang Zhi have either joined in state secrets, meddled in government orders, gathered power and courted favor, or sought merit and provoked strife. Others have introduced heterodox teachings and licentious arts to unsettle the ruler's mind. Nothing has done more harm to the state and the people. Future conduct should be strictly regulated: inwardly they must not intervene in government; outwardly they must not garrison the provinces and hold military power. Fourth, rites and music should be revived to transform the realm. "At the outset of Your Majesty's succession, the Zhu Xi rites for mourning and burial were enacted, yet decadent custom persists unchanged. I beg that the proper rites be clarified and the vulgar music of the Music Office abolished, so that governance and transformation may reach farther." The memorial ran to tens of thousands of characters. It was submitted and acknowledged. In the fourth year of Zhengde, Liu Jin seized Liaodong fields and the people of the east were shaken with fear. The Yizhou prefect, too, was greedy and brutal; the people rose in revolt and gathered to plunder. They warned one another, saying: "Do not alarm He the Yellow Gate." When Qin heard of it, he hurriedly preached the consequences of fortune and disaster, took personal responsibility, and the disorder was settled. Qin did not pursue wide reading. He devoted himself to the 《Four Books》, the 《Six Classics》, and the 《Lesser Learning》, aiming to turn inward and put what he learned into practice. He held that learning need not reach for what is lofty and remote; it consists simply in reverent composure and recovering the straying mind. He died at the age of seventy-four. His son Shizi, a provincial graduate, once submitted twelve proposals on royal governance, but received no reply. He never held office all his life.

陳茂烈，字時周，莆田人。年十八，作《省克錄》，謂顏之克己，曾之日省，學之法也。弘治八年舉進士。奉使廣東，受業陳獻章之門，獻章語以主靜之學。退而與張詡論難，作《靜思錄》。尋授吉安府推官，考績過淮，寒無絮衣，凍幾殆。入為監察御史，袍服樸陋，乘一疲馬，人望而敬之。以母老終養。供母之外，不辦一帷。治畦汲水，身自操作。太守聞其勞，進二卒助之，三日遣之還。吏部以其貧，祿以晉江教諭，不受。又奏給月米，上書言：「臣素貧，食本儉薄，故臣母自安於臣之家，而臣亦得以自逭其貧，非有及人之廉，盡己之孝也。古人行傭負米，皆以為親，臣之貧尚未至是。而臣母鞠臣艱苦，今年八十有六，來日無多。臣欲自盡心力，尚恐不及，上煩官帑，心竊未安。」奏上不允。母卒，茂烈亦卒。

Chen Maolie, styled Shizhou, came from Putian. At eighteen he wrote the 《Record of Reflection and Self-Restraint》, holding that Yan's self-conquest and Zeng's daily self-examination are the true methods of learning. In the eighth year of Hongzhi he passed the metropolitan examination. On a mission to Guangdong he studied at Chen Xianzhang's gate, where Xianzhang taught him the learning of maintaining stillness. After returning he debated with Zhang Xu and wrote the 《Record of Quiet Reflection》. Soon he was appointed investigating prefect of Ji'an Prefecture. While traveling through Huai on performance review, he had no padded coat against the cold and nearly died of exposure. He entered service as an investigating censor. His robes were plain and shabby, and he rode a single worn-out horse; all who saw him treated him with respect. Because his mother was old, he retired to care for her until her death. Apart from what he needed to support his mother, he kept not even a single curtain. He tended his garden beds and drew water, doing the work with his own hands. The prefect heard of his labors and sent two soldiers to help him, but after three days Maolie sent them back. The Ministry of Personnel, seeing his poverty, offered him the salary of an instructor at Jinjiang, but he refused. The court also proposed granting him monthly rations of rice. He memorialized: "I have always been poor, and my salary is naturally meager, yet my mother is content in my home and I am able to endure my poverty on my own. This is not some extraordinary integrity shown toward others, but simply the fulfillment of filial duty. In antiquity men hired themselves out and carried rice on their backs—all for their parents' sake. My poverty has not yet reached that point. Yet my mother reared me through hardship. This year she is eighty-six, and her remaining days are not many. I wish to exhaust myself in her service and still fear I may not suffice. To trouble the public treasury would weigh on my conscience." The memorial was submitted and denied. When his mother died, Maolie died as well.

茂烈為諸生時，韓文問莆田人物於林俊，曰：「從吾。」謂彭時也。又問，曰：「時周。」且曰：「與時周語，沈屙頓去。」其為所重如此。

When Maolie was still a student, Han Wen asked Lin Jun about notable men of Putian. Lin Jun said: "Congwu." He meant Peng Shi. Asked again, he said: "Shizhou." And he added: "When I speak with Shizhou, my lingering illness suddenly lifts." Such was the esteem in which he was held.

湛若水，字元明，增城人。弘治五年舉於鄉，從陳獻章遊，不樂仕進。母命之出，乃入南京國子監。十八年會試，學士張元禎、楊廷和為考官，撫其卷曰：「非白沙之徒不能為此。」置第二。賜進士，選庶吉士，授翰林院編修。時王守仁在吏部講學，若水與相應和。尋丁母憂，廬墓三年。築西樵講舍，士子來學者，先令習禮，然後聽講。嘉靖初，入朝，上經筵講學疏，謂聖學以求仁為要。已復上疏言：「陛下初政，漸不克終。左右近侍爭以聲色異教蠱惑上心。大臣林俊、孫交等不得守法，多自引去，可為寒心。亟請親賢遠奸，窮理講學，以隆太平之業。」又疏言日講不宜停止，報聞。明年進侍讀，復疏言：「一二年間，天變地震，山崩川湧，人饑相食，殆無虛月。夫聖人不以屯否之時而後視賢之訓，明醫不以深錮之疾而廢元氣之劑，宜博求修明先王之道者，日侍文華，以裨聖學。」已，遷南京國子監祭酒，作《心性圖說》以教士。拜禮部侍郎。仿《大學衍義補》，作《格物通》，上於朝。歷南京吏、禮、兵三部尚書。南京欲尚侈靡，為定喪葬之制頒行之。老，請致仕。年九十五卒。

Zhan Ruoshui, styled Yuanming, came from Zengcheng. In the fifth year of Hongzhi he passed the provincial examination and followed Chen Xianzhang, taking no pleasure in pursuing office. When his mother ordered him to enter public life, he enrolled in the Nanjing Directorate of Education. In the eighteenth year, at the metropolitan examination, Academicians Zhang Yuanzhen and Yang Tinghe served as examiners. Stroking Ruoshui's paper, one said: "Only a disciple of Baisha could write this." He was ranked second. He was granted the title of presented scholar, selected as a probationary academician, and appointed a compiling secretary in the Hanlin Academy. At that time Wang Shouren was lecturing at the Ministry of Personnel, and Ruoshui responded in harmony with him. Soon afterward he entered mourning for his mother and lived by her grave for three years. He built a lecture hall at Xiqiao. For every student who came to study, he first required the practice of rites and only then allowed them to hear lectures. Early in the Jiajing reign he entered court and submitted a memorial on lecturing at the classics lecture, arguing that sage learning takes the pursuit of benevolence as its essential. He soon memorialized again, saying: "Your Majesty's early governance is gradually failing to reach its proper end. Those close at hand and in attendance vie to beguile the ruler's mind with sensual pleasures and heterodox teachings. Grand ministers such as Lin Jun and Sun Jiao cannot uphold the law and mostly withdraw on their own—a sight chilling to the heart. I urgently beg that Your Majesty draw near the worthy and keep the wicked at a distance, exhaust principle and lecture on learning, and so raise up the cause of great peace." He also memorialized that daily lectures ought not be suspended; the memorial was acknowledged. The next year he was promoted to Reader and again memorialized, saying: "In the past year or two there have been celestial omens, earthquakes, mountains collapsing and rivers surging, and people starving until they eat one another—hardly a month without such calamities. A sage does not wait for times of stagnation and distress before heeding worthy instruction; a skilled physician does not abandon restorative medicines because the illness runs deep. Those who broadly expound and clarify the Way of the former kings should be sought to attend daily at Wenhua Palace and support the ruler's sage learning." Soon afterward he was transferred to Chancellor of the Nanjing Directorate of Education and wrote the 《Diagrammatic Treatise on Nature and Mind》 to instruct scholars. He was appointed Vice Minister of Rites. Following the model of the 《Supplement to the Extended Meaning of the Great Learning》, he wrote the 《General Treatise on Investigating Things》 and submitted it to court. He served in succession as Minister of the Nanjing Ministries of Personnel, Rites, and War. As Nanjing tended toward extravagant display, he fixed regulations for funerals and burials and promulgated them. In old age he requested retirement. He died at the age of ninety-five.

若水生平所至，必建書院以祀獻章。年九十，猶為南京之遊。過江西，安福鄒守益，守仁弟子也，戒其同誌曰：「甘泉先生來，吾輩當憲老而不乞言，慎毋輕有所論辨。」若水初與守仁同講學，後各立宗旨，守仁以致良知為宗，若水以隨處體驗天理為宗。守仁言若水之學為求之於外，若水亦謂守仁格物之說不可信者四。又曰：「陽明與吾言心不同。陽明所謂心，指方寸而言。吾之所謂心者，體萬物而不遺者也，故以吾之說為外。」一時學者遂分王、湛之學。

Wherever Ruoshui went in life, he invariably built an academy to honor and sacrifice to Xianzhang. At ninety he still made the journey to Nanjing. Passing through Jiangxi, Zou Shouyi of Anfu—a disciple of Shouren—warned his fellow students: "Mr. Ganquan is coming. We should revere the aged without begging instruction, and must not lightly enter into debate." Ruoshui had at first lectured together with Shouren, but later each established his own teaching: Shouren made extending innate knowledge his principle, while Ruoshui made experiencing the Principle of Heaven everywhere his principle. Shouren charged that Ruoshui's learning looked outward for what should be found within; Ruoshui, in turn, identified four reasons why Shouren's theory of investigating things could not be relied upon. He also said, "Yangming and I do not mean the same thing when we speak of the mind. What Yangming calls the mind is the mind confined to the square inch of the heart. What I call the mind is that which embraces all things and leaves nothing out—so they dismiss my teaching as outward-looking. For a time, scholars split into followers of Wang and followers of Zhan.

湛氏門人最著者，永豐呂懷、德安何遷、婺源洪垣、歸安唐樞。懷之言變化氣質，遷之言知止，樞之言求真心，大約出入王、湛兩家之間，而別為一義。垣則主於調停兩家，而互救其失。皆不盡守師說也。懷，字汝德，南京太仆少卿。遷，字益之，南京刑部侍郎。垣，字峻之，溫州府知府。樞，刑部主事，疏論李福達事，罷歸，自有傳。

The most notable of Zhan's disciples were Lü Huai of Yongfeng, He Qian of De'an, Hong Yuan of Wuyuan, and Tang Shu of Gui'an. Huai taught the transformation of one's temperament; Qian taught knowing where to stop; Shu taught seeking the true mind. Broadly, they moved between the Wang and Zhan schools, yet each carved out a doctrine of his own. Yuan took reconciliation as his aim, mediating between the two schools and correcting each where the other fell short. None of them wholly kept to their master's doctrine. Huai, styled Rude, served as Vice Minister of the Nanjing Court of the Imperial Stud. Qian, styled Yizhi, was Vice Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Justice. Yuan, styled Junzhi, was Prefect of Wenzhou. Shu, a principal secretary in the Ministry of Justice, submitted a memorial on the Li Fuda case, was dismissed, and returned home; he has a separate biography.

蔣信，字卿實，常德人。年十四，居喪毀瘠。與同郡冀元亨善，王守仁謫龍場，過其地，偕元亨事焉。嘉靖初，貢入京師，復師湛若水。若水為南祭酒，門下士多分教。至十一年，舉進士，累官四川水利僉事。卻播州土官賄，置妖道士於法。遷貴州提學副使。建書院二，廩群髦士其中。龍場故有守仁祠，為置祠田。坐擅離職守，除名。信初從守仁遊時，未以良知教。後從若水遊最久，學得之湛氏為多。信踐履篤實，不事虛談。湖南學者宗其教，稱之曰正學先生。卒年七十九。時宜興周沖，字道通，亦遊王、湛之門。由舉人授高安訓導，至唐府紀善。嘗曰：「湛之體認天理，即王之致良知也。」與信集師說為《新泉問辨錄》。兩家門人各相非笑，沖為疏通其旨焉。

Jiang Xin, styled Qingshi, came from Changde. At fourteen, while mourning his parents, he was so stricken with grief that his body wasted away. He was close to Ji Yuanheng, a fellow townsman. When Wang Shouren was banished to Longchang and passed through the area, Jiang and Yuanheng went together to attend him. In the early Jiajing reign he went to the capital as a tribute student and once more became a disciple of Zhan Ruoshui. When Ruoshui was Chancellor of the Southern National Academy, most of his disciples were sent out to teach in separate appointments. In the eleventh year he passed the jinshi examination and eventually rose to Assistant Commissioner for Water Conservancy in Sichuan. He turned back bribes from the Bozhou native chieftain and had a rogue Daoist priest dealt with by law. He was transferred to Vice Commissioner of Education in Guizhou. He founded two academies and maintained a company of gifted scholars in them. Longchang already had a shrine to Shouren; he set aside land to support it. He was stripped of his name from the register for abandoning his post without leave. When Xin first studied under Shouren, the doctrine of innate knowing had not yet been taught. He later studied longest under Ruoshui, and most of what he gained came from the Zhan school. Xin was steadfast in conduct and would not waste words on idle speculation. Scholars in Hunan took his teaching as their standard and honored him as Master of Correct Learning. He died at seventy-nine. At the time, Zhou Chong of Yixing, styled Daotong, also studied in the circles of both Wang and Zhan. From an instructor's post in Gao'an he advanced to Record-keeper in the household of the Prince of Tang. He once said, "Zhan's inward apprehension of Heavenly principle is the same thing as Wang's extension of innate knowing. He and Xin gathered their teachers' teachings into the Records of Inquiry at Xin Spring. Disciples on both sides derided each other; Chong set himself to opening a path between their intentions.

鄒守益，字謙之，安福人。父賢，字恢才，弘治九年進士。授南京大理評事，數有條奏，歷官福建僉事，擒殺武平賊渠黃友勝。居家以孝友稱。

Zou Shouyi, styled Qianzhi, came from Anfu. His father Xian, styled Huicai, became a jinshi in the ninth year of Hongzhi. Made Evaluating Secretary in the Nanjing Court of Judicial Review, he submitted many pointed memorials; rising through office to Assistant Commissioner in Fujian, he captured and killed the Wuping bandit leader Huang Yousheng. In private life he was praised for filial devotion and brotherly kindness.

守益舉正德六年會試第一，出王守仁門。以廷對第三人授翰林院編修。逾年告歸，謁守仁，講學於贛州。宸濠反，與守仁軍事。世宗即位，始赴官。嘉靖三年二月，帝欲去興獻帝本生之稱。守益疏諫，忤旨，被責。逾月，復上疏曰：

Shouyi ranked first in the metropolitan examination of the sixth year of Zhengde and was a pupil of Wang Shouren. Placing third in the palace examination, he was appointed a Hanlin Compiler. A year later he sought leave to go home, visited Shouren, and lectured at Ganzhou. When the Prince of Ning rebelled, he served with Shouren in the field. Only after Emperor Shizong took the throne did he finally assume office. In the second month of the third year of Jiajing, the Emperor wished to drop the designation of the Xingxian Emperor as his biological father. Shouyi remonstrated by memorial, ran against the imperial will, and was reprimanded. More than a month later he submitted another memorial:

陛下欲隆本生之恩，屢下群臣會議，群臣據禮正言，致蒙詰讓，道路相傳，有孝長子之稱。昔曾元以父寢疾，憚於易簀，蓋愛之至也。而曾子責之曰：「姑息」。魯公受天子禮樂，以祀周公，蓋尊之至也。而孔子傷之曰「周公其衰矣」。臣願陛下勿以姑息事獻帝，而使後世有其衰之嘆。且群臣援經證古，欲陛下專意正統，此皆為陛下忠謀，乃不察而督過之，謂忤且慢。臣歷觀前史，如冷褒、段猶之徒，當時所謂忠愛，後世所斥以為邪媚也。師丹、司馬光之徒，當時所謂欺慢，後世所仰以為正直也。後之視今，猶今之視古。望陛下不吝改過，察群臣之忠愛，信而用之，復召其去國者，無使奸人動搖國是，離間宮闈。

"Your Majesty wishes to magnify the debt owed to your biological father and has repeatedly called the ministers into conference; they answered according to ritual, only to be questioned and reproached. Word in the streets has it that you are a filial eldest son." "Long ago, when Zeng Yuan's father lay ill, he could not bear to change the mat beside him—love pushed him that far." "Yet Zengzi rebuked him with the word 'indulgence.'" "The Duke of Lu received from the Son of Heaven the rites and music for sacrificing to the Duke of Zhou—honor could go no higher." "Yet Confucius grieved over it, saying, 'Alas for the decline of the Duke of Zhou.'" "I beg Your Majesty not to show the Xingxian Emperor the indulgence that invites later ages to lament your decline." "Moreover, the ministers appeal to the classics and the past because they want Your Majesty to hold fast to the legitimate line of succession. That is loyal counsel offered for your sake—yet you fail to see it and instead rebuke them as defiant and disrespectful." "I have read the histories: men like Leng Bao and Duan You were praised in their day as loyal and devoted, yet posterity condemned them as flatterers." "Men like Shi Dan and Sima Guang were denounced in their day as deceitful and insolent, yet posterity honors them as upright." "Posterity will judge our age as we judge the ages before us." "I pray Your Majesty will not refuse to amend your course, will recognize the ministers' loyal devotion, trust and use them, recall those who have gone into exile, and not allow schemers to unsettle the nation's settled policy or drive wedges into the inner court."

昔先帝南巡，群臣交章諫阻，先帝赫然震怒，豈不謂欺慢可罪哉。陛下在藩邸聞之，必以是為盡忠於先帝。今入繼大統，獨不容群臣盡忠於陛下乎。

"When the late Emperor toured the south, the ministers piled memorial upon memorial to stop him; he flared with anger and no doubt judged such counsel deceitful and punishable." "Your Majesty, then still in the princely residence, must have taken that to be the measure of loyalty to the late Emperor." "Now that you have entered the great succession, will you alone refuse the ministers the same perfect loyalty they owe to you?"

帝大怒，下詔獄拷掠，謫廣德州判官。廢淫祠，建復初書院，與學者講授其間。稍遷南京禮部郎中，州人立生祠以祀。聞守仁卒，為位哭，服心喪，日與呂柟、湛若水、錢德洪、王畿、薛侃輩論學。考滿入都，即引疾歸。久之，以薦起南京吏部郎中，召為司經局洗馬。守益以太子幼，未能出閣，乃與霍韜上《聖功圖》，自神堯茅茨土階，至帝西苑耕稼蠶桑，凡為圖十三。帝以為謗訕，幾得罪，賴韜受帝知，事乃解。明年遷太常少卿兼侍讀學士，出掌南京翰林院，夏言欲遠之也。御史毛愷請留侍東宮，被謫。尋改南京祭酒。九廟災，守益陳上下交修之道，言：「殷中宗、高宗，反妖為祥，亨國長久。」帝大怒，落職歸。

The Emperor flew into a rage, had him thrown into the imperial prison and tortured, and banished him to the post of Assistant Magistrate of Guangde. He abolished illicit shrines, founded the Fuchu Academy, and lectured to scholars within it. He was soon promoted to Director in the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, and the people of Guangde raised a living shrine to honor him. On hearing of Shouren's death he set up a place to mourn, wept for him, observed heart-mourning rites, and each day debated learning with Lü Kun, Zhan Ruoshui, Qian Dehong, Wang Ji, Xue Kan, and the like. When his term was complete he went to the capital, then at once pleaded illness and went home. Long afterward he was recommended back to service as Director in the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel, then summoned to be Reader in the Directorate of Education. Seeing the crown prince still young and not yet installed in his own quarters, Shouyi joined Huo Tao in presenting the Diagram of Sagely Achievement—thirteen illustrations running from the thatched halls and earthen steps of the Divine Yao down to the Emperor's farming and sericulture in the Western Park. The Emperor read it as slander and Shouyi nearly came to grief; only Huo Tao's standing with the Emperor saved the matter. The following year he was made Vice Minister of Ceremonies and Concurrent Reader and sent out to head the Nanjing Hanlin Academy—Xia Yan wanted him far from court. Censor Mao Kai petitioned that Shouyi be kept to serve the Eastern Palace and was himself demoted. Before long he was reassigned as Chancellor of the Nanjing National Academy. When fire destroyed the Nine Temples, Shouyi laid out the path of mutual reform above and below, saying, "The Middle and High Ancestors of Yin turned evil portents into blessings and held the realm for ages. The Emperor was furious and stripped him of office, sending him home.

守益天姿純粹。守仁嘗曰：「有若無，實若虛，犯而不校，謙之近之矣。」裏居，日事講學，四方從遊者踵至，學者稱東廓先生。居家二十余年卒。隆慶初，贈南京禮部右侍郎，謚文莊。

Shouyi's nature was pure and unclouded. Shouren once said of him, "To possess yet seem not to possess, to be full yet seem empty, to be wronged yet not strike back—Qianzhi comes near to this. In retirement he lectured every day; students from every quarter flocked to him, and scholars honored him as Master Dongkuo. He died at home after more than twenty years in retirement. At the opening of Longqing he was posthumously made Nanjing Vice Minister of Rites, with the posthumous title Wenzhuang.

先是，守仁主山東試，堂邑穆孔暉第一，後官侍講學士，卒，贈禮部右侍郎，謚文簡。孔暉端雅好學，初不肯宗守仁說，久乃篤信之，自名王氏學，浸淫入於釋氏。而守益於戒懼慎獨，蓋兢兢焉。

Earlier, when Shouren supervised the Shandong provincial examinations, Mu Konghui of Tangyi ranked first; he later served as Reader, and after death was posthumously made Vice Minister of Rites with the title Wenjian. Konghui was refined and devoted to learning; at first he refused Shouren's doctrine, but in time came to embrace it wholeheartedly, took the name of the Wang school, and little by little sank into Buddhist ideas. Shouyi, by contrast, lived in constant vigilance—wary, reverent, and scrupulous in solitude.

子善，嘉靖三十五年進士。以刑部員外郎恤刑湖廣，矜釋甚眾。擢山東提學僉事，時與諸生講學。萬歷初，累官廣東右布政使，謝病歸。久之，以薦即家授太常卿，致仕。子德涵、德溥。德涵，字汝海，隆慶五年進士。歷刑部員外郎。張居正方禁講學，德涵守之自若。御史傅應禎、劉臺相繼論居正，皆德涵裏人，疑為黨，出為河南僉事。御史承風指劾之，貶秩歸。善服習父訓，踐履無怠，稱其家學。而德涵從耿定理遊，定理不答。發憤湛思，自覺有得，由是專以悟為宗，於祖父所傳，始一變矣。德溥，由萬歷十一年進士。歷司經局洗馬。善從子德泳，萬歷十四年進士。官御史。給事中李獻可請預教太子，斥為民。德泳偕同官救之，亦削籍。家居三十年，言者交薦。光宗立，起尚寶少卿，歷太常卿。魏忠賢用事，乞休歸。所司將為忠賢建祠，德泳塗毀其募籍，乃止。

His son Shan became a jinshi in the thirty-fifth year of Jiajing. As an Outer Section Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, he carried out the autumn review in Huguang and showed mercy to a great many prisoners. Promoted to Assistant Commissioner of Education in Shandong, he lectured regularly to the students there. In the early Wanli reign he rose to Right Administration Commissioner of Guangdong, then retired on grounds of illness. Long afterward, on recommendation, he was appointed Minister of Ceremonies without leaving home, then formally retired. He had two sons: Dehan and Debo. Dehan, styled Ruhai, became a jinshi in the fifth year of Longqing. He served as an Outer Section Secretary in the Ministry of Justice. When Zhang Juzheng first banned public lecturing, Dehan kept teaching just as he had. Censors Fu Yingqi and Liu Tai impeached Zhang Juzheng in turn; both were Dehan's fellow townsmen, he was suspected of belonging to their faction, and was posted out as Assistant Commissioner in Henan. Another censor, reading the mood of the court, piled on accusations, and Dehan was reduced in rank and sent home. Shan lived by his father's teaching without slackening and was praised for sustaining the family's scholarly tradition. Dehan sought instruction from Geng Dingli, but Dingli would not accept him. Stung to resolve and plunged into hard thinking, he came to feel he had grasped something; from then on he made sudden awakening his sole standard, and for the first time broke with what his grandfather and father had handed down. Debo became a jinshi in the eleventh year of Wanli. He served as Reader in the Directorate of Education. Shan's nephew De Yong became a jinshi in the fourteenth year of Wanli. He served as a censor. Supervising Secretary Li Xianké petitioned for the crown prince to receive instruction in advance and was stripped of office and reduced to commoner status. De Yong joined his colleagues in defending Li and was stripped of office and removed from the register as well. He remained at home for thirty years, while censors and officials one after another recommended him for recall. When Emperor Guangzong took the throne, he was recalled as Vice Commissioner of the Court of Imperial Treasures and eventually rose to Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Once Wei Zhongxian came to power, he asked to retire and went home. When the authorities were about to erect a shrine to Wei Zhongxian, De Yong defaced its subscription register, and the project was abandoned.

錢德洪，名寬，字德洪，後以字行，改字洪甫，余姚人。王守仁自尚書歸裏，德洪偕數十人共學焉。四方士踵至，德洪與王畿先為疏通其大旨，而後卒業於守仁。嘉靖五年舉會試，徑歸。七年冬，偕畿赴廷試，聞守仁訃，乃奔喪至貴溪。議喪服，德洪曰：「某有親在，麻衣布绖弗敢有加焉。」畿曰：「我無親。」遂服斬衰。喪歸，德洪與畿築室於場，以終心喪。十一年始成進士。累官刑部郎中。郭勛下詔獄，移部定罪，德洪據獄詞論死。廷臣欲坐以不軌，言德洪不習刑名。而帝雅不欲勛死，因言官疏，下德洪詔獄。所司上其罪，已出獄矣。帝曰：「始朕命刑官毋梏勛，德洪故違之，與勛不領敕何異。」再下獄。御史楊爵、都督趙卿亦在系，德洪與講《易》不輟。久之，斥為民。德洪既廢，遂周遊四方，講良知學。時士大夫率務講學為名高，而德洪、畿以守仁高第弟子，尤為人所宗。德洪徹悟不如畿，畿持循亦不如德洪，然畿竟入於禪，而德洪猶不失儒者矩矱雲。

Qian Dehong—born Kuan, courtesy name Dehong, later known by that name and then as Hongfu—was from Yuyao. When Wang Shouren came home from the Ministry of War, Dehong was among several dozen who gathered to study with him. Scholars from every quarter soon followed; Dehong and Wang Ji first helped open the great themes of the teaching, then finished their training under Shouren himself. In the fifth year of Jiajing he passed the metropolitan examination and returned home without waiting for the palace audience. In the winter of the seventh year he and Ji went up for the palace examination; on hearing that Shouren had died, he hurried to Guixi for the funeral. When they debated mourning dress, Dehong said, "I still have a parent living—I dare not wear more than plain hemp and a mourning sash. Ji said, "I have no parent left alive." So he put on the full mourning of a bereaved son. When the funeral was over and they had returned home, Dehong and Ji built a hut at the burial ground to fulfill their heart-mourning. Only in the eleventh year did he at last complete his jinshi degree. He rose through the ranks to Director in the Ministry of Punishments. When Guo Xun was held in the imperial prison and the case was sent to the Ministry of Punishments for judgment, Dehong, going by the prison confession, argued that he should die. Court officials wanted to convict Guo of treason, but objected that Dehong was no expert in penal matters. The Emperor, however, had no wish to see Guo Xun die; acting on a censor's memorial, he sent Dehong to the imperial prison. The authorities reported his offenses, yet by then he had already been released. The Emperor said, "I had first ordered the penal officials not to shackle Guo Xun, yet Dehong deliberately defied me—how is that different from Guo's refusing to accept the edict? Dehong was thrown back into prison. Censor Yang Jue and Regional Commander Zhao Qing were imprisoned as well, and Dehong kept lecturing on the 《Classic of Changes》 with them without pause. After a long imprisonment he was dismissed and reduced to commoner status. Once disgraced, Dehong wandered the realm lecturing on the doctrine of innate knowing. In those days scholars mostly lectured to burnish their names, yet Dehong and Ji—as Shouren's foremost disciples—were revered above all others. Dehong's sudden insight did not match Ji's, nor did Ji's steady discipline match Dehong's; yet Ji in the end slipped into Chan, while Dehong never lost the Confucian rule.

穆宗立，復官，進階朝列大夫，致仕。神宗嗣位，復進一階。卒年七十九。學者稱緒山先生。

When Emperor Muzong took the throne, Dehong was restored to office, promoted to Grand Master of the Court for Official Reception, and then retired. When Emperor Shenzong succeeded, he was given one further promotion in rank. He died at seventy-nine. Scholars honored him as Master Xushan.

初，守仁倡道其鄉，鄰境從遊者甚眾，德洪、畿為之首。其最初受業者，則有余姚徐愛，山陰蔡宗袞、朱節及應良、盧可久、應典、董涷之屬。

When Shouren first began to teach the Way in his own country, students from neighboring districts flocked to him in great numbers, with Dehong and Ji at their head. The earliest to take instruction included Xu Ai of Yuyao; Cai Zongdu and Zhu Jie of Shanyin; and Ying Liang, Lu Kejiu, Ying Dian, Dong Dong, and the like.

愛，字曰仁，守仁女弟夫也。正德三年進士。官至南京工部郎中。良知之說，學者初多未信，愛為疏通辨析，暢其指要。守仁言：「徐生之溫恭，蔡生之沈潛，朱生之明敏，皆我所不逮。」愛卒，年三十一，守仁哭之慟。一日講畢，嘆曰：「安得起曰仁九泉聞斯言乎！」率門人之其墓所，酹酒告之。

Ai, styled Yueren, was married to Shouren's younger sister. He passed the jinshi examination in the third year of Zhengde. He rose to Director in the Nanjing Ministry of Works. At first many scholars did not accept the teaching of innate knowing; Ai clarified and argued its points until its essentials stood plain. Shouren said, "Xu's warmth and courtesy, Cai's depth and quiet strength, Zhu's bright quickness—each is beyond me. When Ai died at thirty-one, Shouren mourned him with anguished weeping. One day, when a lecture was done, he sighed, "If only Yueren could rise from the underworld and hear this! He took his disciples to Ai's tomb, poured wine in offering, and told him what he had said.

蔡宗袞，字希淵。正德十二年進士。官至四川提學僉事。

Cai Zongdu, styled Xiyuan. He became a jinshi in the twelfth year of Zhengde. He rose to Educational Intendant in Sichuan.

朱節，字守中。正德八年進士。為御史，巡按山東。大盜起顏神鎮，蔓州縣十數。驅馳戎馬間，以勞卒。贈光祿少卿。

Zhu Jie, styled Shouzhong. He became a jinshi in the eighth year of Zhengde. He served as a censor on inspection tour in Shandong. A great outlaw rose at Yanshen Town and spread through a dozen or more prefectures and counties. He dashed back and forth in the saddle until exhaustion from the campaign killed him. After his death he was posthumously made Vice Commissioner of the Court of Imperial Entertainments.

應良，字原忠，仙居人。正德六年進士。官編修。守仁在吏部，良學焉。親老歸養，講學山中者將十年。嘉靖初，還任，伏闕爭大禮，廷杖。張總黜翰林為外官，良得山西副使，謝病歸，卒。

Ying Liang, styled Yuanzhong, was from Xianju. He became a jinshi in the sixth year of Zhengde. He served as a Hanlin Compiler. While Shouren was at the Ministry of Personnel, Liang became his pupil. When his parents aged, he went home to care for them and lectured in the hills for nearly ten years. At the opening of Jiajing he returned to office, knelt before the palace gate to protest the Great Rites, and was beaten in court. When Zhang Cong drove Hanlin scholars out to provincial posts, Liang was made Vice Commissioner in Shanxi; he pleaded illness, went home, and died there.

盧可久，字一松。程粹，字養之。皆永康諸生。與同邑應典，皆師守仁。粹子正誼，歷順天府尹。

Lu Kejiu, styled Yisong. Cheng Cui, styled Yangzhi. Both were licentiates of Yongkang. They and their fellow townsman Ying Dian all studied under Shouren. Cui's son Zhengyi rose to Prefect of Shuntian.

應典，字天彜。進士。官兵部主事。居家養母，不希榮利。通籍三十年，在官止一考。

Ying Dian, styled Tianyi. He was a jinshi. He served as Director in the Ministry of War. At home he cared for his mother and never sought rank or gain. Though registered for office for thirty years, he actually served for only one term of evaluation.

可久傳東陽杜惟熙，惟熙傳同邑陳時芳、陳正道。惟熙以克己為要，嘗言：「學者一息不昧，則萬古皆通；一刻少寬，即終朝欠缺。」卒年八十余。時芳博覽多聞，而歸於實踐。歲貢不仕。正道為建安訓導，年八十余，猶徒步赴五峰講會。其門人呂一龍，永康人，言動不茍，學者鹹宗之。

Kejiu's line passed to Du Weixi of Dongyang, and Weixi's to his fellow townsman Chen Shifang and Chen Zhengdao. Weixi made self-restraint the heart of learning and once said, "Let the scholar keep every breath clear, and all ages lie open to him; let one moment slacken, and the whole day is lost. He died in his eighties. Shifang read widely and knew much, yet brought it all back to practice. Though recommended as a tribute student, he never entered office. Zhengdao served as Instructor at Jian'an; even past eighty he still walked on foot to the Wufeng lecture meetings. His disciple Lu Yilong of Yongkang was scrupulous in speech and conduct, and scholars everywhere looked to him as a model.

董涷，字子壽，海寧人。年六十八矣，遊會稽，肩瓢笠詩卷謁守仁，卒請為弟子。子谷，官知縣，亦受業守仁。

Dong Dong, styled Zishou, was from Haining. At sixty-eight he journeyed to Kuaiji with a gourd, bamboo hat, and roll of poems on his shoulder to call on Shouren, and in the end begged to become his disciple. His son Gu served as a county magistrate and also studied under Shouren.

王畿，字汝中，山陰人。弱冠舉於鄉，跌宕自喜。後受業王守仁，聞其言，無底滯，守仁大喜。嘉靖五年舉進士，與錢德洪並不就廷對歸。守仁征思、田，留畿、德洪主書院。已，奔守仁喪，經紀葬事，持心喪三年。久之，與德洪同第進士。授南京兵部主事，進郎中。給事中戚賢等薦畿。夏言斥畿偽學，奪賢職，畿乃謝病歸。畿嘗云：「學當致知見性而已，應事有小過不足累。」故在官弗免幹請，以不謹斥。畿既廢，益務講學，足跡遍東南，吳、楚、閩、越皆有講舍，年八十余不肯已。善談說，能動人，所至聽者雲集。每講，雜以禪機，亦不自諱也。學者稱龍溪先生。其後，士之浮誕不逞者，率自名龍溪弟子。而泰州王艮亦受業守仁，門徒之盛，與畿相埒，學者稱心齋先生。陽明學派，以龍溪、心齋為得其宗。

Wang Ji, styled Ruzhong, was from Shanyin. While still young he passed the provincial examination and lived with a free, self-satisfied air. Later he studied under Wang Shouren; hearing his teaching he felt no inner blockage, and Shouren was delighted. In the fifth year of Jiajing he passed the jinshi examination; he and Qian Dehong both declined the palace audience and went home. When Shouren marched against the rebels in Si and Tian, he left Ji and Dehong to run the academy. Before long they hurried to Shouren's funeral, saw to the burial, and kept heart-mourning for three years. Years later he and Dehong at last completed their jinshi degrees in the same round of examinations. He was appointed Secretary in the Nanjing Ministry of War and later promoted to Director. Supervising Secretaries Qi Xian and others recommended Ji for office. Xia Yan attacked Ji as a peddler of false learning, stripped Qi Xian of his post, and Ji then pleaded illness and retired. Ji once said, "Learning is only a matter of extending knowledge and seeing one's nature; minor slips in daily affairs should not weigh against a man. Accordingly, in office he could not keep free of improper solicitations and was dismissed for indiscretion. Once out of office, Ji threw himself still more into teaching; his steps ranged across the southeast, and lecture halls sprang up in Wu, Chu, Min, and Yue—past eighty, he still would not rest. He was a gifted speaker who could move men's hearts; wherever he went, listeners gathered like clouds. In every lecture he wove in Chan turns of phrase and made no secret of it. Scholars honored him as Master Longxi. After him, frivolous and unbridled men mostly called themselves disciples of Longxi. Wang Gen of Taizhou also studied under Shouren; his following was as great as Ji's, and scholars honored him as Master Xinzhai. In the Yangming school, Longxi and Xinzhai were held to have received the true transmission.

艮，字汝止。初名銀，王守仁為更名。七歲受書鄉塾，貧不能竟學。父竈丁，冬晨犯寒，役於官。艮哭曰：「為人子，令父至此，得為人乎！」出代父役，入定省，惟謹。艮讀書，止《孝經》、《論語》、《大學》，信口談說，中理解。有客聞艮言，詫言：「何類王中丞語。」艮乃謁守仁江西，與守仁辨久之，大服，拜為弟子。明日告之悔，復就賓位自如。已，心折，卒稱弟子。從守仁歸裏，嘆曰：「吾師倡明絕學，何風之不廣也！」還家，制小車北上，所過招要人士，告以守仁之道，人聚觀者千百。抵京師，同門生駭異，匿其車，趣使返。守仁聞之，不悅。艮往謁，拒不見，長跪謝過乃已。王氏弟子遍天下，率都爵位有氣勢。艮以布衣抗其間，聲名反出諸弟子上。然艮本狂士，往往駕師說上之，持論益高遠，出入於二氏。

Gen, styled Ruzhi. His original name was Yin; Wang Shouren gave him a new one. At seven he began reading in the village school, but poverty kept him from finishing his studies. His father served as a kitchen conscript, braving the winter cold each morning on corvée for the government. Gen wept and said, "As a son, to have brought my father to this—what kind of human being am I!" He went out to take his father's place in corvée, and whenever he came home to pay his respects morning and evening, he was unfailingly careful. Gen read only the 《Classic of Filial Piety》, the 《Analects》, and the 《Great Learning》, yet could speak extemporaneously and hit the meaning every time. A guest who heard Gen speak cried out in astonishment, "How like the words of Vice Censor-in-Chief Wang!" Gen thereupon went to visit Shouren in Jiangxi, debated with him at length, and was utterly won over; he bowed and became his disciple. The next day he told Shouren he had changed his mind and resumed his place among the guests as if nothing had happened. Before long his heart was won over, and in the end he acknowledged himself a disciple. On returning home with Shouren, he sighed and said, "My teacher has revived and clarified the supreme learning—why does this teaching not spread everywhere!" Back home he built a small cart and traveled north; wherever he passed he invited and gathered men of note, preaching Shouren's Way, and crowds of hundreds gathered to watch. When he reached the capital, his fellow disciples were shocked and alarmed; they hid his cart and pressed him to go back. When Shouren heard of it, he was displeased. Gen went to call on him, but Shouren refused to receive him; only after Gen knelt for a long time to beg forgiveness did Shouren let the matter drop. Disciples of the Wang school were spread across the land, and for the most part all held noble titles and an imposing air. Gen, a man in plain cloth, stood among them, yet his renown in fact surpassed that of the other disciples. Yet Gen was by nature a wild scholar; he often pushed his master's doctrine to extremes, his arguments growing ever loftier and more remote, drifting in and out of the two teachings of Daoism and Buddhism.

艮傳林春、徐樾，樾傳顏鈞，鈞傳羅汝芳、梁汝元，汝芳傳楊起元、周汝登、蔡悉。

Gen passed the teaching to Lin Chun and Xu Yue; Yue passed it to Yan Jun; Jun passed it to Luo Rufang and Liang Ruyuan; and Rufang passed it to Yang Qiyuan, Zhou Rudeng, and Cai Xi.

樾，字子直，貴溪人。舉進士。歷官雲南左布政使。元江土酋那鑒反，詐降。樾信之，抵其城下，死焉。詔贈光祿寺卿，予祭葬，任一子官。

Yue, styled Zizhi, was a native of Guixi. He passed the jinshi examination. He rose through office to Left Administration Commissioner of Yunnan. Na Jian, a tribal chieftain of Yuanjiang, rebelled and feigned surrender. Yue believed him, advanced to the foot of his walls, and was killed there. An edict posthumously made him Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, granted him sacrificial rites and burial, and appointed one son to office.

春，字子仁，泰州人。聞良知之學，日以朱墨筆識臧否自考，動有繩檢，尺寸不逾。嘉靖十一年會試第一，除戶部主事，調吏部。縉紳士講學京師者數十人，聰明解悟善談說者，推王畿，誌行敦實推春及羅洪先。進文選郎中，卒官，年四十四。發其篋，僅白金四兩，僚友棺斂歸其喪。

Chun, styled Ziren, was a native of Taizhou. When he encountered the learning of innate knowing, each day he used red and black ink to mark right and wrong and examine himself; in every act he held to the rule, never overstepping by a fraction. In the eleventh year of Jiajing he ranked first in the metropolitan examination; he was appointed a Director in the Ministry of Revenue and transferred to the Ministry of Personnel. Several dozen gentry and scholars lectured in the capital; for quick wits who grasped things readily and spoke well, Wang Ji was chiefly praised, while for steadfast conduct Lin Chun and Luo Hongxian were chiefly praised. He rose to Director of the Bureau of Civil Appointments and died in office at forty-four. When his chest was opened, there were only four taels of silver; colleagues and friends provided a coffin and escorted his body home.

汝芳，字維德，南城人。嘉靖三十二年進士。除太湖知縣。召諸生論學，公事多決於講座。遷刑部主事，歷寧國知府。民兄弟爭產，汝芳對之泣，民亦泣，訟乃已。創開元會，罪囚亦令聽講。入覲，勸徐階聚四方計吏講學。階遂大會於靈濟宮，聽者數千人。父艱，服闋，起補東昌，移雲南屯田副使，進參政，分守永昌，坐事為言官論罷。初，汝芳從永新顏鈞講學，後鈞系南京獄當死，汝芳供養獄中，鬻產救之，得減戍。汝芳既罷官，鈞亦赦歸。汝芳事之，飲食必躬進，人以為難。鈞詭怪猖狂，其學歸釋氏，故汝芳之學亦近釋。

Rufang, styled Weide, was a native of Nancheng. He passed the jinshi examination in the thirty-second year of Jiajing. He was appointed Magistrate of Taihu. He summoned students to discuss learning, and many official matters were decided at the lecture hall. He was transferred to be a Director in the Ministry of Justice and later served as Prefect of Ningguo. When brothers among the people quarreled over property, Rufang wept before them; the people wept as well, and the lawsuit ended. He founded the Kaiyuan Assembly, and even condemned prisoners were allowed to listen to the lectures. When he came to court for an audience, he urged Xu Jie to gather accounting officials from the four quarters for lectures on learning. Xu Jie then held a great assembly at the Lingji Palace, and several thousand people came to listen. When his father died he observed mourning; when mourning ended he was recalled to serve at Dongchang, then moved to be Vice Commissioner of Military Colonies in Yunnan, promoted to Administration Commissioner, and assigned to guard Yongchang; he was dismissed after censorial officials impeached him over an affair. Earlier, Rufang had studied under Yan Jun of Yongxin; later Jun was imprisoned in Nanjing and faced death, and Rufang supported him in prison, sold property to rescue him, and obtained a commuted sentence of frontier guard duty. After Rufang was dismissed from office, Jun was also pardoned and returned home. Rufang served him, always presenting food and drink in person—a thing people found hard to do. Jun was eccentric, strange, and wildly unrestrained; his learning returned to Buddhism, and so Rufang's learning also drew near to Buddhism.

楊起元、周汝登，皆萬歷五年進士。起元，歸善人。選庶吉士，適汝芳以參政入賀，遂學焉。張居正方惡講學，汝芳被劾罷，而起元自如，累官吏部左侍郎。拾遺被劾，帝不問。未幾卒。天啟初，追謚文懿。汝登，嵊人。初為南京工部主事，榷稅不如額，謫兩淮鹽運判官，累官南京尚寶卿。起元清修誇節，然其學不諱禪。汝登更欲合儒釋而會通之，輯《聖學宗傳》，盡采先儒語類禪者以入。蓋萬歷世士大夫講學者，多類此。

Yang Qiyuan and Zhou Rudeng both passed the jinshi examination in the fifth year of Wanli. Qiyuan was a native of Guishan. Selected as a Hanlin Bachelor, he happened to study under Rufang when Rufang entered the capital as Administration Commissioner to offer congratulations, and so became his pupil. Zhang Juzheng was then hostile to lecture gatherings; Rufang was impeached and dismissed, but Qiyuan went on as before and rose in office to Left Vice Minister of Personnel. When he submitted a memorial of remonstrance he was impeached, but the Emperor did not pursue the matter. Before long he died. At the beginning of Tianqi he was posthumously granted the title Wenyi. Rudeng was a native of Sheng. At first he served as a Director in the Nanjing Ministry of Works; because tax collection fell short of quota he was demoted to Salt Transport Judge of the Two Huai circuits, and rose in office to Nanjing Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. Qiyuan was pure in conduct and prided himself on integrity, yet his learning did not shrink from Chan Buddhism. Rudeng wished even more to unite Confucianism and Buddhism and harmonize them; he compiled the 《Lineage of the Sage Learning》, gathering in every utterance of earlier Confucians that resembled Chan. Thus among scholar-officials who lectured in the Wanli era, many were of this sort.

蔡悉，字士備，合肥人。嘉靖三十八年進士。授常德推官。築郭外六堤以免水患。擢南京吏部主事，累官南京尚寶卿，移署國子監。嘗請立東宮，又極論礦稅之害。有學行，恬宦情。仕五十年，家食強半。清操亮節，淮西人宗之。

Xi, styled Shibei, was a native of Hefei. He passed the jinshi examination in the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing. He was appointed Push Officer of Changde. He built six dikes outside the city wall to avert flooding. He was promoted to Director in the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel, rose in office to Nanjing Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, and was transferred to serve concurrently at the Directorate of Education. He once petitioned to establish the Eastern Palace and also spoke forcefully against the harm of mining taxes. He had learning and conduct, and was indifferent to office and emolument. In fifty years of service, half his life was lived at home without salary. With pure integrity and bright principles, people west of the Huai looked to him as their model.

歐陽德，字崇一，泰和人。甫冠舉鄉試。之贛州，從王守仁學。不應會試者再。嘉靖二年策問陰詆守仁，德與魏良弼等直發師訓無所阿，竟登第。除知六安州，建龍津書院，聚生徒論學。入為刑部員外郎。六年詔簡朝士有學行者為翰林，乃改德編修。遷南京國子司業，作講亭，進諸生與四方學者論道其中。尋改南京尚寶卿。召為太仆少卿。以便養，復改南京鴻臚卿。父憂，服闋，留養其母，與鄒守益、聶豹、羅洪先日講學。以薦起故官。累遷吏部左侍郎兼學士，掌詹事府。母憂歸，服未闋，即用為禮部尚書。喪畢之官，命直無逸殿。時儲位久虛，帝惑陶仲文「二龍不相見」之說，諱言建儲，德懇請。會有詔，二王出邸同日婚。德以裕王儲貳不當出外，疏言：「曩太祖以父婚子，諸王皆處禁中。宣宗、孝宗以兄婚弟，始出外府。今事與太祖同，請從初制。」帝不許。德又言：「《會典》醮詞，主器則曰承宗，分藩則曰承家。今裕王當何從？」帝不悅曰：「既雲王禮，自有典制。如若言，何不竟行冊立耶？」德即具冊立儀上。帝滋不悅，然終諒其誠，婚亦竟不同日。裕王母康妃杜氏薨，德請用成化朝紀淑妃故事，不從。德遇事侃侃，裁制諸宗藩尤有執。或當利害，眾相顧色戰，德意氣自如。

Ouyang De, styled Chongyi, was a native of Taihe. While still in his teens he passed the provincial examination. Going to Ganzhou, he studied under Wang Shouren. Twice he declined to take the metropolitan examination. In the second year of Jiajing the palace examination's policy question covertly denigrated Shouren; De, with Wei Liangbi and others, straightforwardly expounded their master's teaching without any flattery, and in the end placed on the rolls. He was appointed Prefect of Lu'an, built the Longjin Academy, and gathered students to discuss learning. He entered the capital as an Associate Director in the Ministry of Justice. In the sixth year an edict selected court scholars of learning and conduct for the Hanlin Academy, and De was changed to Compiler. He was transferred to Vice Director of the Nanjing Directorate of Education, built a lecture pavilion, and led students and scholars from the four quarters in discussing the Way there. Soon he was changed to Nanjing Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. He was summoned to be Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Stud. To facilitate supporting his parents, he was again changed to Nanjing Minister of Ceremonies. When his father died he observed mourning; when mourning ended he stayed to support his mother, and daily lectured with Zou Shouyi, Nie Bao, and Luo Hongxian. On recommendation he was recalled to his former office. He rose in succession to Left Vice Minister of Personnel and Academician, directing the Household of the Heir Apparent. When his mother died he returned home; before mourning had ended he was immediately appointed Minister of Rites. When mourning was complete he took office and was ordered to attend at the Hall of No Dissipation. At that time the heir apparent had long been vacant; the Emperor was misled by Tao Zhongwen's saying that "the two dragons must not meet," avoided speaking of establishing an heir, and De earnestly petitioned. Just then an edict went out that the two princes should leave their residences for weddings on the same day. De held that the Prince of Yu, as heir designate, ought not leave the palace, and memorialized: "In the past the founding Emperor, when fathers married off sons, kept all princes within the forbidden precinct. The Xuande and Hongzhi Emperors, when elder brothers married off younger brothers, were the first to send them to outer residences. Today's affair is the same as the founding Emperor's; I ask that the original system be followed." The Emperor did not assent. De spoke again: "In the liturgical texts of the 《Collected Regulations》, for the chief vessel of sacrifice it says 'to inherit the lineage,' but for a prince granted a separate fief it says 'to inherit the house. For the Prince of Yu now, which shall it be?" The Emperor, displeased, said: "Since this concerns princely rites, there are statutes of their own. If it is as you say, why not go ahead and perform the investiture outright?" De thereupon submitted the full rites of investiture as a memorial. The Emperor grew still more displeased, yet in the end made allowance for his sincerity, and the weddings were not held on the same day after all. When the Prince of Yu's mother, Consort Kang of the Du clan, died, De asked that the precedent of Consort Ji of the Chenghua reign be followed, but this was not granted. De met affairs with upright forthrightness, and in restraining the various princely fiefs he was especially firm. When interests were at stake and the rest looked on in fear, De's spirit was as calm as ever.

當是時，德與徐階、聶豹、程文德並以宿學都顯位。於是集四方名士於靈濟宮，與論良知之學。赴者五千人。都城講學之會，於斯為盛。德器宇溫粹，學務實踐，不尚空虛。晚見知於帝，將柄用，而德遽卒。贈太子少保，謚文莊。

At that time De, with Xu Jie, Nie Bao, and Cheng Wende, were all renowned elder scholars holding high office. He thereupon gathered noted men from the four quarters at the Lingji Palace and with them discussed the learning of innate knowing. Five thousand people came. Among lecture gatherings in the capital, none in this period was grander. De was warm and pure in bearing; in scholarship he pursued real practice and scorned hollow speculation. Late in life he won the Emperor's trust and was on the verge of high appointment, when De died suddenly. He was posthumously made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and honored with the posthumous title Wenzhuang.

族人瑜，字汝重，亦學於守仁。守仁教之曰：「常舀然無自是而已。」瑜終身踐之。舉於鄉，不就會試，曰：「老親在，三公不與易也。」母死，廬墓側。虎環廬嗥，不為動。歷官四川參議，所至有廉惠聲。年近九十而卒。

His kinsman Yu, styled Ruzhong, likewise studied under Shouren. Shouren instructed him: "Be ever earnest and unassuming, and never take yourself to be in the right—that is all there is to it." Yu lived by that teaching to the end of his days. He passed the provincial examination but declined the metropolitan examination, saying, "While my aged parents live, I would not trade them even for the three highest offices in the realm." When his mother died, he built a hut and kept vigil beside her tomb. Tigers prowled around the hut and howled, yet he never moved. Serving in turn as Administration Commissioner in Sichuan, he left a name for integrity and kindness wherever he went. He died not far short of ninety.

羅洪先，字達夫，吉水人。父循，進士。歷兵部武選郎中。會考選武職，有指揮二十余人素出劉瑾門，循罷其管事。瑾怒罵尚書王敞，敞懼，歸部趣易奏。循故遲之，數日瑾敗，敞乃謝循。循歷知鎮江、淮安二府，徐州兵備副使，鹹有聲。

Luo Hongxian, styled Dafu, came from Jishui. His father Xun had passed the jinshi examination. He rose to Director in the Military Appointments Section of the Ministry of War. During an examination to select military officers, Xun stripped more than twenty commanders who had long been clients of Liu Jin of their posts. Jin raged and cursed Minister Wang Chang. Chang, terrified, hurried back to his ministry to have the memorial revised. Xun deliberately held back; within days Jin fell from power, and only then did Chang thank him. Xun served in turn as prefect of Zhenjiang and Huai'an and as Vice Commissioner of Military Affairs for Xuzhou, winning a fine reputation in each post.

洪先幼慕羅倫為人。年十五，讀王守仁《傳習錄》好之，欲往受業，循不可而止。乃師事同邑李中，傳其學。嘉靖八年舉進士第一，授修撰，即請告歸。外舅太仆卿曾直喜曰：「幸吾婿成大名。」洪先曰：「儒者事業有大於此者。此三年一人，安足喜也。」洪先事親孝。父每肅客，洪先冠帶行酒、拂席、授幾甚恭。居二年，詔劾請告逾期者，乃赴官。尋遭父喪，苫塊蔬食，不入室者三年。繼遭母憂，亦如之。

From boyhood Hongxian admired the character of Luo Lun. At fifteen he read Wang Shouren's 《Instructions for Practical Living》 and was captivated; he wished to travel to study under him, but Xun forbade it, and the plan came to nothing. He thereupon took Li Zhong of his own county as teacher and received his doctrine. In the eighth year of Jiajing he ranked first among the jinshi, was appointed a Compiler, and at once asked leave to return home. His father-in-law Zeng Zhi, Superintendent of the Court of the Imperial Stud, said with delight, "How fortunate that my son-in-law has won such fame." Hongxian replied, "A Confucian's calling holds greater things than this. One man in three years—what is there to celebrate?" Hongxian was deeply filial toward his parents. Whenever his father received guests in formal dress, Hongxian put on cap and sash to pour wine, brush the mat, and set out the armrest, all with the utmost reverence. After two years an edict censured those who had overstayed their leave, and only then did he take up his post. Soon afterward his father died; he dwelled in a hut on coarse food, and for three years did not cross the threshold of his home. When his mother died in turn, he observed mourning in the same way.

十八年簡宮僚，召拜春坊左贊善。明年冬，與司諫唐順之、校書趙時春疏請來歲朝正後，皇太子出禦文華殿，受群臣朝賀。時帝數稱疾不視朝，諱言儲貳臨朝事，見洪先等疏，大怒曰：「是料朕必不起也。」降手詔百余言切責之，遂除三人名。

In the eighteenth year he was chosen from among the palace staff and appointed Left Assistant to the Heir Apparent's Household. The next winter, together with Remonstrating Secretary Tang Shunzhi and Proofreader Zhao Shichun, he memorialized that after the New Year's audience the following year the Crown Prince should appear at Wenhua Palace and receive the congratulations of the court. The Emperor often pleaded illness and skipped court, and would not hear of the heir presumptive holding audience; when he read the memorial of Hongxian and the others, he flew into a rage and said, "They take it for granted that I will never recover." He issued a handwritten edict of more than a hundred words sharply rebuking them, and struck all three from their posts.

洪先歸，益尋求守仁學。甘淡泊，煉寒暑，躍馬挽強，考圖觀史，自天文、地誌、禮樂、典章、河渠、邊塞、戰陣攻守，下逮陰陽、算數，靡不精究。至人才、吏事、國計、民情，悉加意諮訪。曰：「茍當其任，皆吾事也。」邑田賦多宿弊，請所司均之，所司即以屬。洪先精心體察，弊頓除。歲饑，移書郡邑，得粟數十石，率友人躬振給。流寇入吉安，主者失措。為畫策戰守，寇引去。素與順之友善。順之應召，欲挽之出，嚴嵩以同鄉故，擢假邊才起用，皆力辭。

Hongxian went home and pursued Shouren's learning with redoubled zeal. Content with plain living, he hardened himself through heat and cold, leapt on horseback and drew the heavy bow; he studied maps and read history—from astronomy and geography, rites and music, institutions and regulations, rivers and frontiers, the arts of attack and defense, down to yin-yang lore and reckoning—there was nothing he did not pursue to the bottom. Talent, official affairs, state revenue, and the people's circumstances—all received his deliberate inquiry. He said, "Whatever falls within one's charge is one's own affair." The county's land tax was riddled with old abuses; he asked the responsible office to equalize the burden, and the office handed the matter over to him. Hongxian investigated with painstaking care, and the abuses vanished at once. In a famine year he wrote to the prefectures and counties and obtained several dozen shi of grain; then he and his friends went out in person to distribute relief. When bandits entered Ji'an, the officials in charge lost their heads. He drew up plans for attack and defense, and the bandits withdrew. He had long been close to Tang Shunzhi. When Shunzhi answered the imperial summons, he tried to draw Hongxian back into office; Yan Song, as a fellow townsman, promoted him on the pretext of frontier talent—all such overtures Hongxian refused with all his strength.

洪先雖宗良知學，然未嘗及守仁門，恒舉《易大傳》「寂然不動」、周子「無欲故靜」之旨以告學人。又曰：「儒者學在經世，而以無欲為本。惟無欲，然後出而經世，識精而力鉅。」時王畿謂良知自然，不假纖毫力。洪先非之曰：「世豈有現成良知者耶？」雖與畿交好，而持論始終不合。山中有石洞，舊為虎穴，葺茅居之，命曰石蓮。謝客，默坐一榻，三年不出戶。

Though Hongxian followed the school of innate knowing, he never actually studied at Shouren's gate; he constantly taught his students the purport of the 《Great Commentary on the Book of Changes》, "Still and unmoved," and Zhou Dunyi's words, "Without desire, therefore still." He also said, "Confucian learning exists to order the world, yet its root is freedom from desire. Only without desire can one go forth to order the world—with keen insight and great power." At the time Wang Ji held that innate knowing is spontaneous and requires not the slightest effort. Hongxian objected: "Can there truly be ready-made innate knowing in this world?" Though he and Ji remained friends, their views never fully aligned. In the mountains was a stone cave that had once been a tiger's lair; he thatched it over and lived there, calling it Stone Lotus. He turned away visitors, sat in silence on a single couch, and for three years never left his door.

初，告歸，過儀真，同年生主事項喬為分司。有富人坐死，行萬金求為地，洪先拒不聽。喬微諷之，厲聲曰：「君不聞誌士不忘在溝壑耶？」江漲，壞其室，巡撫馬森欲為營之，固辭不可。隆慶初卒，贈光祿少卿，謚文莊。

When he first asked leave to go home, he passed through Yizhen, where his examination cohort Xu Qiao was serving as chief secretary of the salt monopoly. A rich man condemned to death offered ten thousand in gold to buy leniency; Hongxian flatly refused to hear of it. Qiao gently hinted that he should accept; Hongxian said sharply, "Have you never heard that a man of principle never forgets he may die in a ditch?" When the river rose and wrecked his house, Grand Coordinator Ma Sen wished to rebuild it for him, but he steadfastly refused. He died early in the Longqing reign and was posthumously made Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, with the posthumous title Wenzhuang.

程文德，字舜敷，永康人。初受業章懋，後從王守仁遊。登洪先榜進士第二，授翰林編修。坐同年生楊名劾汪鋐事，下詔獄，謫信宜典史。鋐罷，量移安福知縣，遷兵部員外郎。父憂，廬墓側，終喪不入內。起兵部郎中，擢廣東提學副使，未赴，改南京國子祭酒。母憂，服闋，起禮部右侍郎。俺答犯京師，分守宣武門，盡納鄉民避寇者。調吏部為左。已，改掌詹事府。三十三年，供事西苑。所撰青詞，頗有所規諷，帝銜之。會推南京吏部尚書，帝疑文德欲遠己，命調南京工部右侍郎。文德疏辭，勸帝享安靜和平之福。帝以為謗訕，除其名。既歸，聚徒講學。卒，貧不能殮。萬歷間，追贈禮部尚書，謚文恭。

Cheng Wende, styled Shunfu, came from Yongkang. At first he studied under Zhang Mao; later he traveled in Wang Shouren's circle. Ranking second on Hongxian's examination list, he passed as jinshi and was appointed a Hanlin Compiler. Implicated in his examination cohort Yang Ming's impeachment of Wang E, he was sent to the Imperial Prison and demoted to Record Keeper of Xinyi. After Wang E fell, he was transferred to serve as magistrate of Anfu and was promoted to Assistant Director in the Ministry of War. When his father died, he built a hut beside the tomb and did not enter his home for the full mourning period. Promoted to Director in the Ministry of War, he was next made Vice Education Commissioner of Guangdong; before he could take up that post he was transferred to Chancellor of the Nanjing Directorate of Education. After his mother's death and the end of mourning, he was recalled as Vice Minister of Rites. When Altan Khan attacked the capital, he was assigned to hold the Xuanyang Gate and sheltered all the local people fleeing the raiders. He was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel as Left Vice Minister. Soon afterward he was reassigned to head the Household of the Heir Apparent. In the thirty-third year he served in the Western Park. The azure-phrase compositions he drafted carried pointed admonition, and the Emperor nursed a grievance against him. When he was recommended for Minister of Personnel in Nanjing, the Emperor suspected Wende meant to keep his distance and ordered him transferred to Right Vice Minister of Works in Nanjing. Wende memorialized to resign and urged the Emperor to enjoy the blessings of peace and quiet. The Emperor took this for slander and struck his name from the rolls. After returning home he gathered disciples and lectured. When he died, his family was too poor even to provide a coffin. During the Wanli reign he was posthumously made Minister of Rites and honored with the posthumous title Wengong.

吳悌，字思誠，金溪人。嘉靖十一年進士。除樂安知縣，調繁宣城，征授御史。十六年，應天府進試錄，考官評語失書名，諸生答策多譏時政。帝怒，逮考官諭德江汝璧、洗馬歐陽衢詔獄，貶官，府尹孫懋等下南京法司，尋得還職，而停舉子會試。悌為舉子求寬，坐下詔獄，出視兩淮鹽政。海溢，沒通、泰民廬，悌先發漕振之而後奏聞。尋引疾歸，還朝，按河南。伊王典楧驕橫，憚悌，遺書稱為友。悌報曰：「殿下，天子親藩，非悌所敢友。悌，天子憲臣，非殿下所得友。」王愈憚之。夏言、嚴嵩當國，與悌鄉里。嘗謁言，眾見言新服宮袍，競前譽之，悌卻立不進。言問故，徐曰：「俟談少間，當以政請。」言為改容。及嵩擅政，悌惡之，引疾家居垂二十年。嵩敗，起故官，一歲中累遷至南京大理卿。時吳嶽、胡松、毛愷並以耆俊為卿貳，與悌稱「南都四君子」。隆慶元年就遷刑部侍郎。明年卒。

Wu Ti, styled Sicheng, came from Jinxi. He passed the jinshi examination in the eleventh year of Jiajing. Appointed magistrate of Le'an, he was transferred to the difficult post of Xuancheng and was then summoned as a censor. In the sixteenth year, at the metropolitan region's provincial examination, the chief examiners' evaluative comments omitted the candidates' names, and many examination essays satirized current policy. The Emperor was furious; chief examiners Lecturer-in-Waiting Jiang Rubi and Reader-in-Waiting Ouyang Qu were sent to the Imperial Prison and demoted; Prefect Sun Mao and others were handed over to the Nanjing judicial offices. They were eventually restored, but the provincial graduates' metropolitan examination was suspended. Ti pleaded for leniency on the graduates' behalf, was sent to the Imperial Prison, and was then released to inspect the salt administration of the two Huai regions. When the sea overflowed and drowned the homes of the people of Tong and Tai, Ti first dispatched grain-transport relief and only afterward reported to the throne. Soon he cited illness and went home; after returning to court he conducted investigations in Henan. The Prince of Yi, Dian Mu, was proud and overbearing; he feared Ti and sent a letter calling him friend. Ti replied, "Your Highness is a prince of the Son of Heaven—I dare not call myself your friend. I, Ti, am an inspecting minister of the Son of Heaven—Your Highness cannot befriend me." The Prince feared him all the more. When Xia Yan and Yan Song held power, they were Ti's fellow townspeople. Once, calling on Xia Yan, he saw everyone rush forward to praise Yan's new palace robe; Ti hung back and would not join them. Yan asked why; Ti said calmly, "When we have spoken a little, I will raise matters of state." Yan's manner changed at once. When Yan Song monopolized power, Ti detested him, pleaded illness, and remained at home for nearly twenty years. When Yan Song fell, Ti was restored to his former office and within a single year rose in succession to Vice President of the Nanjing Court of Judicial Review. At the time Wu Yue, Hu Song, and Mao Kai were all elder worthies serving as vice presidents; together with Ti they were called the Four Worthies of the Southern Capital. In the first year of Longqing he was immediately promoted to Vice Minister of Justice. He died the following year.

悌為王守仁學，然清修果介，反躬自得為多。萬歷中，子仁度請恤。吏部尚書孫丕揚曰：「悌，理學名臣，不宜循常格。」遂用黃孔昭例，贈禮部尚書，謚文莊。鄉人建祠，與陸九淵、吳澄、吳與弼、陳九川並祀，曰五賢祠，學者稱疏山先生。

Ti followed Wang Shouren's learning, yet in personal conduct he was pure, austere, resolute, and upright, devoting himself chiefly to turning inward and finding satisfaction within. During the Wanli reign his son Ren Du petitioned for posthumous honors. Minister of Personnel Sun Piyang said, "Ti was an eminent Neo-Confucian minister and ought not be judged by ordinary precedent." Accordingly, following the precedent of Huang Kongzhao, he was posthumously made Minister of Rites and honored with the posthumous name Wenzhuang. His fellow townsmen built a shrine in which he was worshipped together with Lu Jiuyuan, Wu Cheng, Wu Yubi, and Chen Jiuchuan. It was called the Shrine of the Five Worthies, and scholars called him Master Shushan.

仁度，字繼疏。萬歷十七年進士。授中書舍人。三王並封議起，抗疏爭之。久之，擢吏部主事，歷考功郎中。稽勛郎中趙邦清被劾，疑同官鄧光祚等嗾言路，憤激力辨。章下考功，仁度欲稍寬邦清罰，給事中梁有年遂劾仁度黨比。時光祚引疾去，而仁度代為文選，御史康丕揚復劾仁度傾光祚而代之，詔改調之南京。自邦清被論後，言路訐不已，都御史溫純恚甚，請定國是，以剖眾疑，而深為仁度惜。仁度尋補南京刑部郎中，擢太仆少卿，進右僉都御史，巡撫山西。砥廉隅，務慈愛，與魏允貞齊名。居四年，以疾歸。熹宗初，起大理卿，進兵部右侍郎，復稱疾去。再起工部左侍郎。天啟五年，魏忠賢以仁度與趙南星、楊漣等善，勒令致仕，尋卒。仁度，名父子，克自振勵，鄒元標亟稱之。

Ren Du, styled Jishu. In the seventeenth year of Wanli he passed as a presented scholar. He was appointed a drafter in the Secretariat. When the controversy over enfeoffing all three princes erupted, he submitted a memorial in protest. After some time he was promoted to principal secretary in the Ministry of Personnel and rose through the Merit Review Section to director. When Merit Verification Director Zhao Bangqing was impeached, he suspected his colleague Deng Guangzuo and others of inciting the remonstrators against him. Infuriated, he argued his case with all his force. When the memorial reached the Merit Review Section, Ren Du wished to soften Bangqing's punishment slightly; supervising secretary Liang Younian thereupon impeached Ren Du for factional collusion. Guangzuo then pleaded illness and left office, while Ren Du took over as director of Appointments. Censor Kang Piyang again impeached Ren Du for driving Guangzuo out so as to replace him, and an edict transferred him to Nanjing. After Bangqing came under attack, the remonstrators kept up their accusations without end. Censor-in-Chief Wen Chun was greatly angered and asked that the state's right course be settled to dispel public doubt, and he deeply regretted what had befallen Ren Du. Before long Ren Du was appointed director in the Nanjing Ministry of Justice, promoted to vice minister of the Imperial Stud, advanced to vice censor-in-chief, and made grand coordinator of Shanxi. He honed his integrity and devoted himself to benevolence, winning a reputation equal to Wei Yunzhen's. After four years in office he retired on grounds of illness. At the beginning of Emperor Xizong's reign he was recalled as chief minister of the Court of Judicial Review, promoted to vice minister of the right in the Ministry of War, and again pleaded illness and resigned. He was recalled again as vice minister of the left in the Ministry of Works. In the fifth year of Tianqi, Wei Zhongxian, because Ren Du was on good terms with Zhao Nanxing, Yang Lian, and others, forced him to retire; he soon died. Ren Du formed a famous father-and-son pair with his father; he exerted himself to improve, and Zou Yuanbiao repeatedly praised him.

守仁之門，從遊者恒數百，浙東、江西尤眾，善推演師說者稱弘綱、廷仁及錢德洪、王畿。時人語曰：「江有何、黃，浙有錢、王。」然守仁之學，傳山陰、泰州者，流弊靡所底極，惟江西多實踐，安福則劉邦采，新建則魏良政兄弟，其最著雲。

At Shouren's gate, followers numbered in the hundreds, with eastern Zhejiang and Jiangxi especially well represented. Those most skilled at elaborating their master's doctrine were Honggang, Tingren, Qian Dehong, and Wang Ji. People said at the time, "In Jiangxi there are He and Huang; in Zhejiang there are Qian and Wang." Yet where Shouren's learning spread in Shanyin and Taizhou, its abuses knew no bottom; only in Jiangxi was practice generally earnest—in Anfu it was Liu Bangcai, in Xinjian it was the Wei Liangzheng brothers. These were the most eminent.

邦采，字君亮。族子曉受業守仁，歸語邦采，遂與從兄文敏及弟侄九人謁守仁於裏第，師事焉。父憂，蔬水廬墓。免喪，不復應舉。提學副使趙淵檄赴試，御史儲良才許以常服入闈，不解衣檢察，乃就試，得中式。久之，除壽寧教諭，擢嘉興府同知，棄官歸。邦采識高明，用力果銳。守仁倡良知為學的，久益敝，有以揣摩為妙悟，縱恣為自然者，邦采每極言排斥焉。

Bangcai, styled Junliang. His clansman Xiao had studied under Shouren; returning home he told Bangcai of it, and Bangcai together with his older cousin Wenmin and nine younger brothers and nephews went to Shouren's private residence to pay their respects and took him as their master. During his father's mourning he lived on vegetables and water in a hut beside the tomb. After the mourning period ended, he no longer sought to enter the examinations. Education intendant Zhao Yuan summoned him to take the examination; censor Chu Liangcai promised he might enter the hall in ordinary dress without being searched—only then did he sit for the exam and pass. After some time he was appointed instructor of Shouning, promoted to vice prefect of Jiaxing Prefecture, then abandoned his office and returned home. Bangcai had clear and lofty insight and applied himself with decisive sharpness. Shouren had made innate knowing the aim of learning, but over time the teaching grew stale; some took crafty imitation for subtle enlightenment and unrestrained behavior for naturalness—Bangcai always spoke out forcefully against such views.

文敏，字宜充。父喪除，絕意科舉。嘗曰：「學者當循本心之明，時見己過，刮磨砥礪，以融氣稟，絕外誘，征諸倫理、事物之實，無一不慊於心，而後為聖門正學，非困勉不可得入也。高談虛悟，炫未離本，非德之賊乎？」曉，字伯光。舉於鄉，後為新寧知縣，有善政。

Wenmin, styled Yichong. After his father's mourning period ended, he abandoned all thought of the civil examinations. He once said, "Scholars should follow the brightness of the original mind, constantly see their own faults, scrape and polish themselves to merge the qi endowed by nature, cut off external enticements, and test everything against the reality of ethical principle and concrete affairs. Only when nothing fails to satisfy the heart does one enter the orthodox learning of the sage's gate; without striving through effort one cannot enter. Lofty talk and empty enlightenment, display that has never left the root—is this not the enemy of virtue? Xiao, styled Boguang. He passed the provincial examination and later served as magistrate of Xinning, where his policies won praise.

良政，字師伊。守仁撫江西，與兄良弼，弟良器、良貴，鹹學焉。提學副使邵銳、巡按御史唐龍持論與守仁異，戒諸生勿往謁，良政兄弟獨不顧，深為守仁所許。良政功尤專，孝友敦樸，燕居無惰容，嘗曰：「不尤人，何人不可處；不累事，何事不可為。」舉鄉試第一而卒。良弼嘗言，「吾夢見師伊，輒汗浹背」，其為兄憚如此。良器，字師顏。性超穎絕人，雖宗良知，踐履務平實。良弼，自有傳。良貴，官右副都御史。

Liangzheng, styled Shiyi. When Shouren governed Jiangxi, he and his elder brother Liangbi and younger brothers Liangqi and Lianggui all studied under him. Education intendant Shao Rui and touring censor Tang Long held views at odds with Shouren's and warned the students not to visit him; the Liangzheng brothers alone paid no heed and won Shouren's deep approval. Liangzheng's effort was especially concentrated. Filial, fraternal, and plain in character, he showed no slackness even in daily life at home. He once said, "If one does not blame others, what person cannot one live with? If one does not burden affairs, what affair cannot one undertake?" He placed first in the provincial examination and then died. Liangbi once said, "Whenever I dream of Shiyi, sweat soaks through my back"—such was the awe he felt as elder brother. Liangqi, styled Shiyan. His nature was surpassingly keen; though he revered innate knowing, in practice he strove for plain solidity. Liangbi has his own biography. Lianggui served as vice censor-in-chief of the right.

王時槐，字子植，安福人。嘉靖二十六年進士。授南京兵部主事。歷禮部郎中、福建僉事。累官太仆少卿，降光祿少卿。隆慶末，出為陜西參政。張居正柄國，以京察罷歸。萬歷中，南贛巡撫張嶽疏薦之。吏部言：「六年京察，祖制也。若執政有所驅除，非時一舉，謂之閏察。時槐在閏察中，群情不服，請召時槐，且永停閏察。」報可。久之，陸光祖掌銓，起貴州參政，旋擢南京鴻臚卿，進太常，皆不赴。

Wang Shihuai, styled Zizhi, came from Anfu. He passed as a presented scholar in the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing. He was appointed principal secretary in the Nanjing Ministry of War. He served in succession as director in the Ministry of Rites and as surveillance commissioner of Fujian. After successive promotions he rose to vice minister of the Imperial Stud, then was demoted to vice minister of the Imperial Household. At the end of Longqing he went out as administration commissioner of Shaanxi. When Zhang Juzheng held power, he was dismissed and sent home in the capital inspection. In the Wanli era, Grand Coordinator Zhang Yue of southern Ganzhou memorialized recommending him. The Ministry of Personnel said, "The capital inspection every six years is an ancestral institution. If the ruling faction removes people on its own initiative outside the regular schedule, it is called an intercalary inspection. Shihuai was caught in an intercalary inspection and public sentiment was not satisfied. We ask that Shihuai be summoned and that intercalary inspections be permanently halted." The reply granted it. After some time Lu Guangzu took charge of appointments, recalled him as administration commissioner of Guizhou, then quickly raised him to chief minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainment and chief minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices in turn—he accepted none of them.

時槐師同縣劉文敏，及仕，遍質四方學者，自謂終無所得。年五十，罷官，反身實證，始悟造化生生之幾，不隨念慮起滅。學者欲識真幾，當從慎獨入。其論性曰：「孟子性善之說，決不可易。使性中本無仁義，則惻隱羞惡更何從生。且人應事接物，如是則安，不如是則不安，非善而何？」又曰：「居敬、窮理，二者不可廢一。要之，居敬二字盡之。自其居敬之精明了悟而言，謂之窮理，即考索討論，亦居敬中之一事。敬無所不該，敬外更無余事也。」年八十四卒。

Shihuai's teacher was Liu Wenmin of the same county. Once in office he questioned scholars everywhere, yet in the end declared he had gained nothing. At fifty he left office, turned inward to verify through practice, and only then realized the subtle stirring of creation's ceaseless generation—it does not rise and fall with thoughts. For scholars who wish to discern the true subtle stirring, the way in is watchfulness in solitude. On human nature he said, "Mencius's doctrine that nature is good absolutely cannot be changed. If benevolence and righteousness were not originally in nature, from what would compassion and shame and dislike arise? Moreover, when people respond to affairs and meet things, acting thus they are at ease; acting otherwise they are ill at ease—if this is not good, then what is? He also said, "Reverent attentiveness and investigating principle—the two cannot have one abandoned. In essence, the two words 'reverent attentiveness' exhaust the matter. Speaking from the clarity and enlightenment attained in reverent attentiveness, this is called investigating principle; even examination, inquiry, and discussion are one matter within reverent attentiveness. Reverent attentiveness embraces all things; beyond reverent attentiveness there is nothing else to be done. He died at the age of eighty-four.

廬陵陳嘉謨，字世顯，與時槐同年進士。為給事中，不附嚴嵩，出之外。歷湖廣參政，乞休歸，專用力於學。凡及其門者，告之曰：「有塘南在，可往師之。」塘南，時槐別號也。年八十三卒。

Chen Jiamo of Luling, styled Shixian, passed as a presented scholar in the same year as Shihuai. As a supervising secretary he refused to attach himself to Yan Song and was sent out of the capital. He served in succession as administration commissioner of Huguang, requested retirement, and devoted himself wholly to learning. All who came to his gate were told, "With Tangnan still here, you may go study under him." Tangnan was Shihuai's style name. He died at the age of eighty-three.

許孚遠，字孟中，德清人，受學同郡唐樞。嘉靖四十一年成進士，授南京工部主事，就改吏部。已，調北部。尚書楊博惡孚遠講學，會大計京朝官，黜浙人幾半，博鄉山西無一焉。孚遠有後言，博不悅，孚遠遂移疾去。隆慶初，高拱薦起考功主事，出為廣東僉事，招大盜李茂、許俊美，擒倭黨七十余輩以降，錄功，賚銀幣。旋移福建。神宗立，拱罷政，張居正議逐拱黨，復大計京官。王篆為考功，誣孚遠黨拱，謫兩淮鹽運司判官。歷兵部郎中，出知建昌府，暇輒集諸生講學，引貢士鄧元錫、劉元卿為友。尋以給事中鄒元標薦，擢陜西提學副使，敬禮貢士王之士，移書當路，並元卿、元錫薦之。後三人並得征，由孚遠倡也。遷應天府丞，坐為李材訟冤，貶二秩，由廣東僉事再遷右通政。二十年擢右僉都御史，巡撫福建。倭陷朝鮮，議封貢，孚遠請敕諭日本，擒斬平秀吉，不從。呂宋國酋子訟商人襲殺其父，孚遠以聞，詔戮罪人，厚犒其使。福州饑，民掠官府，孚遠擒倡首者，亂稍定，而給事中耿隨龍、御史甘士價等劾孚遠宜斥，帝不問。所部多僧田，孚遠入其六於官。又募民墾海壇地八萬三千有奇，築城建營舍，聚兵以守，因請推行於南日、彭湖及浙中陳錢、金塘、玉環、南麂諸島，皆報可。居三年，入為南京大理卿，就遷兵部右侍郎，改左，調北部。甫半道，被論。乞休，疏屢上，乃許。又數年，卒於家，贈南京工部尚書，後謚恭簡。

Xu Fuyuan, styled Mengzhong, came from Deqing and studied under Tang Shu of the same prefecture. In the forty-first year of Jiajing he passed as a presented scholar, was appointed principal secretary in the Nanjing Ministry of Works, and was soon transferred to the Ministry of Personnel. Before long he was transferred to the northern capital. Minister Yang Bo disliked Fuyuan's lecturing on learning. When the great assessment of capital officials came around, nearly half the Zhejiang men were dismissed while not a single man from Bo's native Shanxi was touched. Fuyuan spoke critically afterward; Bo was displeased, and Fuyuan thereupon resigned on grounds of illness. At the beginning of Longqing, Gao Gong recommended him and recalled him as principal secretary in the Merit Review Section. He went out as surveillance commissioner of Guangdong, recruited the great bandits Li Mao and Xu Junmei, and captured over seventy Japanese-affiliate ringleaders to surrender. His merit was recorded and he was rewarded with silver and silks. He was soon transferred to Fujian. When Emperor Shenzong took the throne, Gao Gong was dismissed from power. Zhang Juzheng proposed purging Gao's faction and again conducted a great assessment of capital officials. Wang Zhuan ran the assessment and falsely charged Fuyuan with belonging to Gao's faction; he was demoted to assistant salt transport judge of the Two Huai circuits. He served as director in the Ministry of War, went out as prefect of Jianchang Prefecture, and in his leisure gathered students to lecture on learning, taking presented scholars Deng Yuanxi and Liu Yuanqing as friends. Before long, on supervising secretary Zou Yuanbiao's recommendation, he was promoted to education intendant of Shaanxi, treated the presented scholar Wang Zhishi with respect, and wrote to those in power recommending Yuanqing and Yuanxi as well. Later all three were summoned to office—this began with Fuyuan. He was transferred to assistant prefect of Shuntian Prefecture; for pleading Li Cai's innocence he was demoted two ranks, returning from Guangdong surveillance commissioner to vice commissioner of communications of the right. In the twentieth year he was promoted to vice censor-in-chief and made grand coordinator of Fujian. When the Japanese invaded Korea, there was debate over enfeoffment and tribute missions. Fuyuan requested an imperial instruction to Japan to capture and execute Hideyoshi, but this was not accepted. The son of a Luzon chieftain sued merchants for attacking and killing his father. Fuyuan reported it; an edict ordered the criminals executed and the envoy richly rewarded. Famine struck Fuzhou and the people plundered government offices. Fuyuan arrested the ringleaders and the disorder eased somewhat, yet supervising secretaries Geng Suilong, censor Gan Shijia, and others impeached Fuyuan as deserving dismissal; the emperor took no notice. In his jurisdiction there was much monastic land; Fuyuan had six parts of it incorporated into government holdings. He also recruited commoners to reclaim more than eighty-three thousand mu of tidal flat, built city walls and barracks, and gathered troops to garrison it. He then requested that the same policy be extended to the islands of Nanri, Penghu, and in Zhejiang Chenqian, Jintang, Yuhuan, Nanji, and the like—all were approved. After three years in office he entered the capital as chief minister of the Nanjing Court of Judicial Review, was immediately made vice minister of the right in the Ministry of War, then vice minister of the left, and was transferred to the northern capital. Halfway there he came under attack. He requested retirement; after memorials were submitted repeatedly, permission was granted. Several years later he died at home. He was posthumously made Nanjing Minister of Works and later honored with the posthumous name Gongjian.

孚遠篤信良知，而惡夫援良知以入佛者。知建昌，與郡人羅汝芳講學不合。及官南京，與汝芳門人禮部侍郎楊起元、尚寶司卿周汝登，並主講席。汝登以無善無惡為宗，孚遠作《九諦》以難之，言：「文成宗旨，原與聖門不異，以性無不善，故知無不良。良知即是未發之中，立論至為明析。無善無惡心之體一語，蓋指其未發時，廓然寂然者而言之，止形容得一靜字，合下三語，始為無病。今以心意知物，俱無善惡可言者，非文成之正傳也。」彼此論益齟齠。而孚遠撫福建，與巡按御史陳子貞不相得，子貞督學南畿，遂密諷同列拾遺劾之。從孚遠遊者，馮從吾、劉宗周、丁元薦，皆為名儒。

Fu Yuan was a firm believer in innate knowing, yet he despised those who used it as a bridge into Buddhism. As prefect of Jianchang, he found himself at odds with his fellow townsman Luo Rufang whenever they lectured on learning. Later, in Nanjing, he shared the main lectern with Rufang's disciples Yang Qiyuan, Vice Minister of Rites, and Zhou Rudeng, Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. Rudeng made 'neither good nor evil' his creed; Fu Yuan answered with 《The Nine Theses》, arguing that 'Wencheng's essential teaching was never at odds with the sage's school—because nature knows no evil, knowledge knows no wrong. Innate knowing is precisely the stillness before the heart stirs—a point argued with luminous clarity. The line 'neither good nor evil is the substance of the mind' speaks only of that vast, silent moment before the heart moves—it captures nothing but stillness. Taken together with the three phrases that follow, the teaching stands without flaw. But to claim that mind, intent, knowing, and things alike are beyond good and evil—that is not Wencheng's true transmission. Their disputations grew ever sharper and more irreconcilable. When Fu Yuan governed Fujian, he clashed with touring censor Chen Zizhen, who had once overseen education in the southern capital region and now quietly urged his colleagues to dredge up omissions and impeach him. Those who studied under Fu Yuan—Feng Congwu, Liu Zongzhou, and Ding Yuanying—were all scholars of note.

尤時熙，字季美，洛陽人。生而警敏不群，弱冠舉嘉靖元年鄉試。時王守仁《傳習錄》始出，士大夫多力排之，時熙一見嘆曰：「道不在是乎？向吾役誌詞章，末矣。」已而以疾稍從事養生家。授元氏教諭，父喪除，改官章丘，一以致良知為教，兩邑士亦知新建學。入為國子博士，徐階為祭酒，命六館士鹹取法焉。居常以不獲師事守仁為恨，聞郎中劉魁得守仁之傳，遂師事之。魁以直言錮詔獄，則書所疑，時時從獄中質問。尋以戶部主事榷稅滸墅，課足而止，不私一錢。念母老，乞終養歸，遂不出，日以修己淑人為事，足未嘗涉公府。齋中設守仁位，晨興必焚香肅拜，來學者亦令展謁。晚年，病學者憑虛見而忽躬行，甚且越繩墨自恣，故其論議切於日用，不為空虛隱怪之談。卒於萬歷八年，年七十有八，學者稱西川先生。其門人，孟化鯉最著，自有傳。

You Shixi, styled Jimei, came from Luoyang. From childhood he was quick and singular; in his early twenties he passed the provincial examination in the first year of Jiajing. When Wang Shouren's 《Instructions for Practical Living》 first appeared, most scholar-officials fiercely rejected it—but Shixi read it once and sighed: 'Is the Way not here? All this time I have slaved over literary ornament—how petty! Later, on account of illness, he turned briefly to the arts of nourishing life. Appointed Instructor at Yuanshi, he returned to office after his father's mourning and was transferred to Zhangqiu, where he taught the extension of innate knowing; in both districts the local gentry came to know the New Teaching. He entered service as a Doctor of the Imperial Academy; when Xu Jie became Chancellor, he ordered the students of all six halls to take Shixi as their model. He always regretted that he had never studied directly under Shouren; hearing that Vice Director Liu Kui had received Shouren's transmission, he took Kui as his master. When Kui was imprisoned for his blunt memorials, Shixi wrote down his doubts and from time to time sent them into the prison to be answered. Soon after, as a Principal in the Ministry of Revenue, he collected taxes at Hushu; once the quota was met he stopped, never keeping a single coin for himself. Thinking of his aged mother, he asked leave to retire and care for her to the end; thereafter he never went out again, devoting himself daily to self-cultivation and nurturing others—his feet never crossed the threshold of any yamen. In his study he set up a place for Shouren; each morning at rising he burned incense and bowed with reverence, and required newcomers to do the same. In his later years, distressed that scholars chased hollow insight and neglected personal practice—some even overstepped all bounds and did as they pleased—he kept his discourse close to daily life and would not indulge empty talk of mystery and strangeness. He died in the eighth year of Wanli, aged seventy-eight; scholars called him Master Xichuan. Among his disciples, Meng Huali was the most prominent and has his own biography.

張後覺，字誌仁，茌平人。父文祥，由鄉舉官廣昌知縣。後覺生有異質，事親考，居喪哀毀，三年不禦內。早歲，聞良知之說於縣教諭顏鑰，遂精思力踐，偕同誌講習。已而貴溪徐樾以王守仁再傳弟子來為參政，後覺率同誌往師之，學益有聞。久之，以歲貢生授華陰訓導，會地大震，人多傾壓死，上官令署縣事，救災扶傷，人胥悅服。及致仕歸，士民泣送載道。

Zhang Houjue, styled Zhiren, came from Chiping. His father Wenxiang, a provincial examination graduate, served as magistrate of Guangchang. Houjue was born with unusual gifts; he served his parents with filial devotion, and in mourning was so shattered that for three years he did not take a wife. In youth he heard the doctrine of innate knowing from the county instructor Yan Yao, then pondered deeply and practiced hard, studying together with like-minded companions. Later Xu Yue of Guixi, a second-generation disciple of Wang Shouren, came as Assistant Administrator; Houjue led his companions to study under him, and his learning grew ever more refined. After a long while, as a tribute student he was appointed Assistant Instructor at Huayin; when a great earthquake struck and many were crushed, his superiors put him in charge of the county affairs, and he relieved the disaster and tended the wounded until all were won over. When he retired and returned home, scholars and commoners wept and escorted him, filling the road.

東昌知府羅汝芳、提學副使鄒善皆宗守仁學，與後覺同誌。善為建願學書院，俾六郡士師事焉。汝芳亦建見泰書院，時相討論。猶以取友未廣，北走京師，南遊江左，務以親賢講學為事，門弟子日益進。凡吏於其土及道經茌平者，莫不造廬問業。巡撫李世達兩詣山居，病不能為禮，乃促席劇談，飽蔬食而去。平生不作詩，不談禪，不事著述，行孚遠近，學者稱之為弘山先生。年七十六，以萬歷六年卒。

The prefect of Dongchang, Luo Rufang, and the Education Vice Commissioner Zou Shan both upheld Shouren's learning and were Houjue's companions in the Way. Shan built the Yuanxue Academy and had scholars from six prefectures take Houjue as their master. Rufang also built the Jiantai Academy; the two often met to debate. Still thinking his circle of friends too narrow, he went north to the capital and south through the Jiang-Zuo region, bent on drawing near to the worthy and lecturing on learning; his disciples grew daily in number. Every official who served in those parts or passed through Chiping on the road would visit his lodge to inquire after learning. The governor Li Shida twice came to his mountain retreat; when Houjue was ill and could not perform full courtesies, Li simply drew close and talked earnestly, then left sated on plain vegetables. All his life he wrote no poetry, spoke no Chan, and published no books; his conduct matched his words near and far, and scholars called him Master Hongshan. He died in the sixth year of Wanli, aged seventy-six.

其門人，孟秋、趙維新最著。秋，自有傳。維新，亦茌平人，年二十，聞後覺講良知之學。遂師事之。次其問答語，為《弘山教言》。性純孝，居喪，五味不入口，柴毀骨立，杖而後起。鄉人欲舉其孝行，力辭之。喪偶，五十年不再娶。嘗築垣得金一篋，工人持之去，維新不問。家貧，或並日而食，超然自得。亦以歲貢生為長山訓導，年九十二，無疾而終。

Among his disciples, Meng Qiu and Zhao Weixin were the most prominent. Qiu has his own biography. Weixin, also of Chiping, was twenty when he heard Houjue lecture on the learning of innate knowing. He thereupon took Houjue as his master. He arranged their question-and-answer sayings into 《Hongshan's Teachings》. Pure in filial nature, in mourning he took no food with the five flavors, wasted away until only bones remained, and could rise only leaning on a staff. When neighbors wished to recommend his filial conduct, he firmly refused. After his wife died, he did not remarry for fifty years. Once, while building a wall, he unearthed a chest of gold; the workmen took it away, and Weixin never asked. His household was poor—sometimes he ate only every other day—yet he remained utterly at ease. Also as a tribute student he became Assistant Instructor at Changshan; at ninety-two he died without illness.

鄧以贊，字汝德，新建人。張元忭，字子藎，紹興山陰人。二人皆生有異質，又好讀書。以贊幼，見父與人論學，輒牽衣尾之，間出語類夙儒。父閔其勤學，嘗扃之鬥室。元忭素羸弱，母戒毋過勞，乃藏燈幕中，俟母寢始誦。十余歲時以氣節自負，聞楊繼盛死，為文遙誄之，慷慨泣下。父天復，官雲南副使，擊武定賊鳳繼祖有功。已，賊還襲武定，官軍敗績，巡撫呂光洵討滅之。至隆慶初，議者追理前失亡狀，逮天復赴雲南對簿，元忭適下第還，萬里護行，發盡白。已，復馳詣闕下白冤，當事憐之，天復得削籍歸。

Deng Yizan, styled Rude, came from Xinjian. Zhang Yuanbian, styled Zijin, came from Shanyin in Shaoxing. Both were born with unusual gifts and loved reading. While still a child, Yizan would tug at his father's robe when he debated learning with others, and his occasional remarks sounded like those of a veteran scholar. His father, pitying his zeal, once locked him in a small room. Yuanbian was naturally frail; his mother warned him not to overwork, so he hid a lamp behind the bed curtain and studied only after she had fallen asleep. In his teens he prided himself on moral courage; when he heard of Yang Jisheng's death, he wrote a eulogy from afar and wept with passion. Yizan's father Tianfu served as Vice Commissioner in Yunnan and won merit crushing the Wuding bandit Feng Jizu. Later the bandits struck Wuding again; the army was routed, and the governor Lü Guangxun wiped them out. At the beginning of Longqing, critics reopened the old failures; Tianfu was summoned to Yunnan for trial, and Yuanbian, having just failed the examinations, escorted him ten thousand li until his hair turned fully white. Then he galloped to court to plead his father's innocence; the authorities took pity, and Tianfu was stripped of office and sent home.

隆慶五年，以贊舉會試第一，廷試第三，授編修，而元忭以廷試第一，授修撰。萬歷初，座主張居正枋國政，以贊時有匡諫，居正弗善也，移疾歸。久之，補原官，旋引退。詔起中允，至中途復以念母返。再起南京祭酒，就擢禮部右侍郎，復就轉吏部，再疏請建儲，且力斥三王並封之非，中言：「中宮鐘愛元子，其願早正春宮，視臣民尤切。陛下以厚中宮而緩冊立，殆未諒中宮心。況信者，國之大寶，建儲一事，屢示更移，將使詔令不信於天下，非所以重宗廟，安社稷也。」會廷臣多諫者，事竟寢。尋召為吏部右侍郎，力辭不拜。以贊登第二十余年，在官僅滿一考。居母憂，不勝喪而卒，贈禮部尚書，謚文潔。

In the fifth year of Longqing, Yizan placed first in the metropolitan examination and third in the palace examination, receiving appointment as Compiler; Yuanbian placed first in the palace examination and was appointed Revisionist. At the start of Wanli, his chief examiner Zhang Juzheng held state power; Yizan sometimes offered corrective counsel, which Juzheng disliked, so he took sick leave and returned home. After a long while he was restored to his former post, then soon withdrew again. An edict recalled him as Vice Director of the Hanlin Academy, but midway he turned back out of concern for his mother. Called again as Chancellor of the Nanjing Academy, he was soon promoted Vice Minister of Rites, then transferred to the Ministry of Personnel; he memorialized again asking for the heir's investiture and forcefully denounced the error of simultaneously enfeoffing three princes, writing in part: 'The empress dotes on her eldest son and wishes the Eastern Palace established early—her desire is even keener than that of officials and people. Your Majesty, seeking to indulge the empress, delays investiture—perhaps you have not grasped her heart. Moreover trust is the great treasure of the state; to show repeated shifts on the matter of establishing the heir will make edicts untrusted under Heaven—that is no way to honor the ancestral temple and secure the realm. Many court officials joined in remonstrance, and the affair was shelved. Soon he was summoned as Vice Minister of Personnel but forcefully declined the appointment. Yizan had passed the examinations more than twenty years earlier, yet held office for barely one full evaluation period. In mourning for his mother he died overcome by grief; he was posthumously made Minister of Rites and given the posthumous title Wenjie.

元忭嘗抗疏救御史胡涍，又請進講《列女傳》於兩宮，修《二南》之化，皆不省。萬歷十年奉使楚府還，過家省母，既行心動，輒馳歸，僅五日，母卒。元忭奉二親疾，湯藥非口嘗弗進，居喪毀瘠，遵用古禮，鄉人多化之。服闋，起故官，進左諭德，直經筵。先是，元忭以帝登極恩，請復父官，詔許給冠帶。至是復申前請，格不從。元忭泣曰：「吾無以下見父母矣。」遂悒悒得疾卒。天啟初，追謚文恭。

Yuanbian had memorialized to save the censor Hu Kan, and asked that the 《Biographies of Exemplary Women》 be read before the two palaces to restore the transformation of the 《Two Souths》—all went unheeded. In the tenth year of Wanli, returning from an embassy to the Chu princely establishment, he stopped home to see his mother; after departing his heart misgave him, he rushed back, and within five days his mother died. Yuanbian nursed both parents in illness; he never offered medicine he had not tasted himself; in mourning he wasted away and followed ancient rites, and many in his district were moved to reform. When mourning ended he returned to his former post, advanced to Left Tutor, and attended the Classics lectures. Earlier, at the Emperor's accession amnesty, Yuanbian had asked restoration of his father's office; an edict allowed him only cap and sash. Now he repeated the request and was refused. Yuanbian wept and said, 'I have nothing with which to meet my parents beneath the earth. He sank into gloom, took ill, and died. At the beginning of Tianqi he was posthumously given the title Wen'gong.

以贊、元忭自未第時即從王畿遊，傳良知之學，然皆篤於孝行，躬行實踐。以贊品端誌潔，而元忭矩矱儼然，無流入禪寂之弊。元忭子汝霖，江西參議。汝懋，御史。

Yizan and Yuanbian had studied under Wang Ji from before they passed the examinations, transmitting the learning of innate knowing, yet both were steadfast in filial conduct and earnest in practice. Yizan was upright and pure in purpose; Yuanbian was rigorously proper—neither fell into the pitfall of Chan quietism. Yuanbian's son Rulin served as Jiangxi Assistant Commissioner. Rumao served as a censor.

孟化鯉，字叔龍，河南新安人。孟秋，字子成，茌平人。化鯉年十六，慨然以聖賢自期。而秋兒時受《詩》，至《桑中》諸篇，輒棄去不竟讀。化鯉舉萬歷八年進士。授戶部主事，時相欲招致之，辭不往。榷稅河西務，與諸生講學，河西人屍祝之。南畿、山東大饑，奉命往振，全活多。改吏部，歷文選郎中，佐尚書孫鑨黜陟，名籍甚。時內閣權重，每銓除必先白，化鯉獨否，中官請托復不應，以故多不悅。都給事中張棟先以建言削籍，化鯉奏起之，忤旨，奪堂官俸，謫化鯉及員外郎項復弘、主事姜仲軾雜職。閣臣疏救，命以原品調外。頃之，言官復交章救，帝益怒，奪言官俸，斥化鯉等為民。既歸，築書院川上，與學者講習不輟，四方從遊者恒數百人。久之卒。

Meng Huali, styled Shulong, came from Xin'an in Henan. Meng Qiu, styled Zicheng, came from Chiping. At sixteen Huali resolved to measure himself against the sages. As a boy Qiu received the 《Classic of Poetry》; at the songs of 《Sangzhong》 and related pieces he would cast the book aside and not finish. Huali passed the jinshi examination in the eighth year of Wanli. Appointed Principal in the Ministry of Revenue, the chief minister wished to win him over, but he declined. Collecting taxes at Hexiwu, he lectured with scholars there; the people of Hexiwu venerated him as if he were a god. When great famine struck the southern capital region and Shandong, he was ordered to relieve it and saved many lives. Transferred to the Ministry of Personnel, he rose to Director of the Civil Appointments Section and assisted Minister Sun Zuan in promotions and demotions; his reputation was great. The Grand Secretariat then wielded heavy power; every appointment had to be reported there first—Huali alone refused; eunuchs' requests likewise went unanswered, so many were displeased. Chief Ceremonial Receiving Officer Zhang Dong had earlier been stripped for memorializing; Huali memorialized to restore him, defying the throne—his superiors' salaries were cut, and Huali with Vice Director Xiang Fuhong and Section Chief Jiang Zhongshi were demoted to miscellaneous posts. Grand Secretaries memorialized in his defense; the order was to transfer them at their original rank. Soon remonstrating officials again submitted joint memorials; the Emperor grew angrier, cut their salaries, and banished Huali and others to common status. After returning home he built the Chuanshang Academy and never ceased lecturing with scholars; students from all quarters who came to study constantly numbered in the hundreds. After many years, he passed away.

秋舉隆慶五年進士。為昌黎知縣，有善政。遷大理評事，去之日，老稚載道泣留。以職方員外郎督視山海關。關政久馳，奸人出入自擅，秋禁之嚴。中流言，萬歷九年京察坐貶，歸塗與妻孥共駕一牛車，道旁觀者鹹嘆息。許孚遠嘗過張秋，造其廬，見茆屋數椽，書史狼藉其中，嘆曰：「孟我疆風味，大江以南未有也。」我疆者，秋別號也。後起官刑部主事，歷尚寶丞少卿，卒。秋既歿，廷臣為請謚者章數十上。天啟初，賜謚清憲。

Qiu took his jinshi degree in the fifth year of Longqing. As magistrate of Changli, he earned a reputation for sound governance. Promoted to reviewer at the Court of Review, he left to such an outpouring of grief that old and young filled the roads, weeping and begging him to stay. He was made Vice Director in the Bureau of War and sent to supervise Shanhai Pass. Administration at the pass had long gone slack, and ruffians passed in and out unchecked; Qiu tightened the restrictions with severity. Slander reached the capital, and in the ninth year of Wanli he was demoted in the metropolitan review of officials. On the journey home he rode in a single oxcart with his wife and children, and every passerby along the road sighed in pity. Xu Fuyuan once traveled through Zhangqiu and called at his dwelling. He found only a few thatched rafters, books and records strewn about inside, and exclaimed, "The spirit of Meng Wojiang—nothing like it has been seen south of the Yangtze." Wojiang was Qiu's style name. Later he was recalled as a principal secretary in the Ministry of Punishments, advanced through Vice Director and Junior Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Regalia, and died in office. After Qiu died, court officials submitted dozens of memorials asking that he be granted a posthumous title. Early in the Tianqi reign he was posthumously honored as Qingxian.

化鯉自貢入太學，即與秋道義相勖，後為吏部郎，而秋官尚寶，比舍居，食飲起居無弗共者，時人稱「二孟」。化鯉之學得之洛陽尤時熙，而秋受業於邑人張後覺。時熙師曰劉魁，後覺則顏鑰、徐樾弟子也。

Huali entered the Imperial Academy as a tribute student and at once joined Qiu in urging one another along the path of righteousness. Later Huali served in the Ministry of Personnel while Qiu held office in the Court of Imperial Regalia; they lived side by side and shared every meal and every hour of the day. Their contemporaries called them "the two Mengs." Huali received his learning from You Shixi of Luoyang; Qiu studied under Zhang Houjue, a man of his own county. You's master was Liu Kui; Houjue had studied under Yan Yao and Xu Yue.

來知德，字矣鮮，梁山人。幼有至行，有司舉為孝童。嘉靖三十一年舉於鄉。二親相繼歿，廬墓六年，不飲酒茹葷。服除，傷不及祿養，終身麻衣蔬食，誓不見有司。其學以致知為本，盡倫為要。所著有《省覺錄》、《省事錄》、《理學辨疑》、《心學晦明解》諸書，而《周易集註》一篇用功尤篤。自言學莫邃於《易》。初，結廬釜山，學之六年無所得。後遠客求溪山中，覃思者數年，始悟《易》象。又數年始悟文王《序卦》、孔子《雜卦》之意。又數年始悟卦變之非。蓋二十九年而後書成。萬歷三十年，總督王象乾、巡撫郭子章合詞論薦，特授翰林待詔。知德力辭，詔以所授官致仕，有司月給米三石，終其身。

Lai Zhide, styled Yixian, came from Liangshan. Even as a boy he showed extraordinary moral conduct, and the local authorities nominated him as a filial youth. In the thirty-first year of Jiajing he passed the provincial examination. His parents died one after the other; he kept vigil at their graves for six years, taking neither wine nor meat. When mourning ended, anguished that he had never been able to support his parents on an official salary, he wore hemp and ate plain food for the rest of his life and vowed never again to present himself before the magistrates. His scholarship rested on extending knowledge and took the full fulfillment of human relations as its essential aim. He wrote 《Records of Self-Reflection》, 《Records of Simplifying Affairs》, 《Disputing Doubts in Neo-Confucian Learning》, and 《Clarifying the Obscure in Heart-Mind Learning》, among other works, but it was his 《Collected Commentaries on the Book of Changes》 alone that held his deepest devotion. He declared that no learning runs deeper than the 《Book of Changes》. At first he built a hut on Mount Fu and studied there for six years without result. Later he withdrew as a guest to the mountains of Qiuxi and brooded for years before he first grasped the imagery of the 《Changes》. Several years more passed before he understood the intent of King Wen's 《Sequence of the Hexagrams》 and Confucius's 《Miscellaneous Hexagrams》. Several years more passed before he saw through the error of hexagram-change theory. In all, twenty-nine years elapsed before the book was complete. In the thirtieth year of Wanli, Governor-General Wang Xiangqian and Provincial Governor Guo Zizhang jointly recommended him, and he was specially appointed Hanlin Attendant Draftsman. Zhide refused firmly. An edict allowed him to retire with the rank offered and ordered the local authorities to supply three shi of rice each month for the rest of his life.

鄧元錫，字汝極，南城人。十五喪父，水漿不入口。十七行社倉法，惠其鄉人。已為諸生，遊邑人羅汝芳門，又走吉安，學於諸先達。嘉靖三十四年舉於鄉，復從鄒守益、劉邦采、劉陽諸宿儒論學。後不復會試，杜門著述，逾三十年，《五經》皆有成書，閎深博奧，學者稱潛谷先生。

Deng Yuanxi, styled Ruji, came from Nancheng. At fifteen he lost his father and refused all food and drink. At seventeen he put the community granary system into practice and brought relief to his neighbors. Once he had become a licentiate, he studied under Luo Rufang, a fellow townsman, then traveled to Ji'an to learn from several elder masters. In the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing he passed the provincial examination, then resumed his studies in debate with such senior scholars as Zou Shouyi, Liu Bangcai, and Liu Yang. He never again sat for the metropolitan examination. Shutting his door to write for more than thirty years, he produced finished works on all Five Classics—vast, deep, and abstruse—and scholars honored him as Master Qian'gu.

休寧範淶知南城時，重元錫。後為南昌知府，萬歷十六年入覲，薦元錫及劉元卿、章潢於朝。南京祭酒趙用賢亦請征聘，如吳與弼、陳獻章故事。得旨，有司起送部試，元錫固辭。明年，御史王道顯復以元錫、元卿並薦，且請仿祖宗征辟故事，無拘部試。詔令有司問病，痊可起送赴部，竟不行。二十一年，巡按御史秦大夔復並薦二人，詔以翰林待詔征之，有司敦遣上道，甫離家而卒。鄉人私謚文統先生。

When Fan Cai of Xiuning was magistrate of Nancheng, he held Yuanxi in the highest regard. Later, as prefect of Nanchang, he came to court in the sixteenth year of Wanli and recommended Yuanxi, Liu Yuanqing, and Zhang Huang to the throne. Zhao Yongxian, Chancellor of the Nanjing Imperial Academy, also petitioned for their summons on the precedent of Wu Yubi and Chen Xianzhang. An edict came down ordering the authorities to summon them and send them to the Ministry for examination; Yuanxi refused outright. The next year Censor Wang Daoxian again recommended Yuanxi and Yuanqing together and asked that the old imperial practice of direct summons be restored, free of the Ministry examination. An edict instructed the authorities to inquire after his health and, once he was well, to summon and escort him to the Ministry—but in the end he never went. In the twenty-first year touring censor Qin Dakui again recommended both men together. An edict appointed Yuanxi Hanlin Attendant Draftsman and summoned him to court. The authorities pressed him to set out, but he had scarcely left home when he died. His neighbors privately honored him with the posthumous title Master Wentong.

元錫之學，淵源王守仁，不盡宗其說。時心學盛行，謂學惟無覺，一覺即無余蘊，九容、九思、四教、六藝皆桎梏也。元錫力排之，故生平博極群書，而要歸於《六經》。所著《五經繹》、《函史上下編》、《皇明書》，並行於世。

Yuanxi's learning traced its roots to Wang Shouren, though he did not follow every tenet of the school. Heart-Mind Learning was then in full sway. Some held that true learning lay in forgetting all awareness, that one flash of awakening left nothing further to cultivate, and that the Nine Appearances, Nine Thoughts, Four Teachings, and Six Arts were nothing but fetters. Yuanxi fought this view with all his strength. He read exhaustively through every book in his lifetime, yet always brought his learning back to the 《Six Classics》. His 《Commentaries on the Five Classics》, the upper and lower volumes of 《Histories in a Box》, and 《The Ming Dynasty Record》 all circulated widely.

元卿，字調父，安福人。舉隆慶四年鄉試，明年會試，對策極陳時弊，主者不敢錄。張居正聞而大怒，下所司申飭，且令人密诇之，其人反以情告，乃獲免。既歸，師同邑劉陽，王守仁弟子也。萬歷二年，會試不第，遂絕意科名，務以求道為事。既累被薦，乃召為國子博士。擢禮部主事，疏請早朝勤政，又請從祀鄒守益、王艮於文廟，厘正外蕃朝貢舊儀。尋引疾歸，肆力撰述，有《山居草》、《還山續草》、《諸儒學案》、《賢弈編》、《思問編》、《禮律類要》、《大學新編》諸書。

Yuanqing, styled Tiaofu, came from Anfu. He passed the provincial examination in the fourth year of Longqing. The next year, in the metropolitan examination, his policy essay laid bare the ills of the age with unsparing candor, and the examiners dared not pass him. Zhang Juzheng, hearing of it, flew into a rage, ordered the responsible offices to rebuke him, and sent a man to watch him in secret; the watcher instead confided the scheme to him, and so he escaped unscathed. Back home, he took Liu Yang of his own county as teacher—Liu Yang was a disciple of Wang Shouren. In the second year of Wanli he failed the metropolitan examination, abandoned all thought of office, and devoted himself wholly to seeking the Way. Recommended again and again, he was finally summoned to serve as Erudite of the Imperial Academy. Promoted to principal secretary in the Ministry of Rites, he memorialized asking for early audiences and diligent governance, petitioned that Zou Shouyi and Wang Gen be admitted to sacrifice in the Confucian temple, and called for a correction of the old ceremonial for foreign tribute missions. Before long he pleaded illness and returned home, throwing all his energy into writing. Among his books are 《Mountain Dwelling Drafts》, 《Further Drafts on Returning to the Mountains》, 《Records of Various Confucian Schools》, 《Worthy Go Compositions》, 《Inquiries and Responses》, 《Essentials of Rites and Law》, and 《New Compilation of the Great Learning》.

潢，字本清，南昌人。居父喪，哀毀血溢。構此洗堂，聯同誌講學。輯群書百二十七卷，曰《圖書編》。又著《周易象義》、《時經原體》、《書經原始》、《春秋竊義》、《禮記劄言》、《論語約言》諸書。從遊者甚眾。數被薦，從吏部侍郎楊時喬請，遙授順天訓導，如陳獻章、來知德故事，有司月給米三石贍其家。卒於萬歷三十六年，年八十二。其鄉人稱潢自少迄老，口無非禮之言，身無非禮之行，交無非禮之友，目無非禮之書，乃私謚文德先生。自吳與弼後，元錫、元卿、潢並蒙薦辟，號「江右四君子」。

Huang, styled Benqing, came from Nanchang. While mourning his father, his grief was so extreme that blood seeped from his body. He built the Cixi Hall and gathered like-minded scholars to lecture together. He compiled one hundred twenty-seven juan drawn from many books, calling the work 《Compilation of Diagrams and Writings》. He also authored 《Image-Meanings of the Book of Changes》, 《Original Substance of the Seasonal Classic》, 《Original Foundations of the Book of Documents》, 《Private Meanings of the Spring and Autumn Annals》, 《Incisive Words on the Record of Rites》, and 《Concise Words on the Analects》. Students who came to study under him were exceedingly numerous. Recommended many times, he was at the request of Vice Minister of Personnel Yang Shiqiao remotely appointed Instructor of Shuntian on the precedent of Chen Xianzhang and Lai Zhide, with the local authorities supplying his household three shi of rice each month. He died in the thirty-sixth year of Wanli, aged eighty-two. His neighbors said that from youth to old age Huang never spoke an unseemly word, never committed an unseemly act, never kept unseemly company, and never read an unseemly book; they therefore privately honored him with the posthumous title Master Wende. After Wu Yubi, Yuanxi, Yuanqing, and Huang were all summoned by imperial recommendation and came to be known as the "Four Gentlemen of Jiangyou."

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