Mind Wandering in Neo-Confucian Meditation

• In Event: Mind Wandering in Meditative Traditions

Abstract

Starting in the Song dynasty, the Neo-Confucian meditative practice of “quiet sitting” (jingzuo) was largely borrowed from Buddhist and Daoist sources. An alternative form of meditation termed “the practice of reverence” (zhujing) was more narrowly Confucian. In both types, the Neo-Confucian attitude to mind wandering was different and in most cases more accepting than that of Buddhism and Daoism, mainly to avoid the emphasis on "emptiness" often inherent in the non-Confucian approaches.

Author

• Rur-bin Yang, National Tsing Hua University