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Adapted from Hayhoe, Ruth. (2006). Portraits of Influential Chinese Educators (pp. 31–38). Hong Kong: Comparative Research Centre, University of Hong Kong and Springer.
Wang Yangming, born in 1472, was a scholar-official whose belief in challenging imperial decisions that did not uphold Confucian tradition was itself challenged, forcing him into exile. Disciples flocked to study with him and follow his conviction that all the knowledge needed for sageliness can be found in the self—by recognizing the power of the subjective mind and the value of practical personal knowledge based on experience, instead of on stores of bookish knowledge.
