Interpretation of the Essence of ‘The Great Learning (Daxue)’ in Ouyi Zhixu’s ‘Direct Pointing to The Great Learning (DaxueZhizhi)’

The comparative analysis reveals that, based on the ideological foundations of Confucianism and Buddhism, the definitions of a great person(大人) and the implications of their scholarship are divided into governance (weizheng) and the realization of one's heart-mind (yixin) by an enlightened person. Moreover, Zhu Xi critically inherits Zheng Xuan's doctrine, indicating the education of rulers, but the tendency to interpret a great person has become more internalized in Zhu Xi's interpretations than in Zheng Xuan's, following the academic climate of Han Dynasty exegesis and Song Dynasty Neo-Confucianism. Furthermore, Wang Yangming, as a representative of Ming Dynasty idealism and sharing similarities with Buddhism, emphasizes 'practice(行)' based on Confucian ideology, while the monks Hanshan Deqing and Ouyi Zhixu emphasize the 'wisdom(慧)' of Prajna wisdom. This characteristic is well reflected in the title 'Direct Pointing (zhizhi)' of "The Commentary on the Four Books by Ouyi (SishuOuyijie)," which Ouyi Zhixu annotated to attract Confucians of his time, and the book is confirmed to have a strong distributive nature (liutongfen).