One evening in 1575, the educated literatus Zhang Yuanbian 張元忭 (1538-1588) and the ambitious monk Lianchi Zhuhong蓮池袾宏 (1535-1615) decided to sit together in meditation. Knowing about this, the second-generation Yangming Confucian leader Wang Ji王畿 (1498-1583) and his friend, Wang Siyuan王泗源 (d.u.), went to visit. During the evening the monk and Siyuan began to debate the merits of several Buddhist meditation techniques. As others joined in, their far-ranging discussion touched upon the Book of Changes易經 and the Platform Sutra 六祖壇經 and ended with references drawn from The Great Learning 大學 . Shortly thereafter, Zhang Yuanbian shared details of this event in a letter to another Yangming Confucian, his friend Deng Yizan 鄧以讚 (1542-1599). After Deng read Wang Longxi s description of the evening, entitled, Comments on a Meeting at the Studio in Xingpu 興浦庵會語 he came to the conclusion that Wang Ji should have focused on how to understand the relationship between thought 意 and nature 性 , not on the meditation techniques contemplation觀 and investigation察 . My work seeks to analyze these events and place them within late Ming Buddhist-Confucian discourse on methods of self-cultivation and their philosophical underpinnings. Zhang, the two Wangs, and Deng were all followers of the Confucian exegete Wang Yangming 王陽明 (1472-1529), yet their practice of Buddhist meditation techniques and deep familiarity with Buddhist doctrine demonstrates a willingness to cross exegetical boundaries, debate with Buddhist monks, and engage in Buddhist learning. Through studying the affinities that they discovered during such explorations I will endeavor to explain what attracted these Confucian-trained literati to Buddhist praxis and how they in turn influenced elite lay Buddhist traditions.
