Confucius and Mencius: the Main Sourses of Yuan Mei's Thought

Yuan Mei's thought had its source in Confucius' and Mencius' thought and its secondary source in Zhuangzi's thought. On the one h and, he respected Confucius and used his and Mencius' thoughts as the basis ofhis criticism of Neo-Confucianism and the Han school of classical philology; onthe other hand, he distrusted Confucius and daringly put forth views conflicting with Confucius'and Mencius' thoughts. This shows that he was an ideological and academic critic during the period of transition from feudal to modern societ y. In addition, Zhuangzi's outlook on life and death and philosophy of life had an important effection on Yuan Mei's road of life.