Abstract

Lederman makes a distinction between the _ben ti_ 本體 (“original natural condition”) of knowledge and action and the _gong fu_ 工夫 (“training”) of knowledge and action, associating “unity” with _ben ti_ and “joint advancement” with _gong fu_. This essay argues that both “unity” and “joint advancement” are used to describe the _ben ti_ of knowledge and action, and W ang Yangming 王陽明 emphasizes the unity of the _ben ti_ and _gong fu_ of knowledge and action. Yangming’s doctrine of the _ben ti_ of knowledge and action is ultimately for practical potency and should not be reduced to a theoretical philosophy of the truth about knowledge and action. Yangming’s philosophy is for genuine knowledge of genuine knowledge and action. If Yangming’s philosophy is genuine, it must be characterized by the unity of knowledge and action. In other words, the appropriate methodology to read Yangming must be the unity of knowledge and action.