Wang Yangming Cracks the Heavenly Mystery

Wang Yangming: The Secret of Heaven Revealed

He did not speak until he was five. On his wedding night, he left his bride behind and sat talking with a Taoist priest long into the night. Out of a sense of justice, he submitted a memorial to the throne, only to receive forty strokes of the imperial cane and be banished thousands of miles away. At Longchang in Guizhou, trapped in a stone coffin and facing utter despair, he grasped the Way, opening the door to the School of the Mind. Though he had never commanded troops, he put down Prince Ning's 100,000-strong rebellion in just forty-three days. As he lay dying, a disciple asked if he had any final words. He said only, "My heart is luminous. What more is there to say?"

He was Wang Yangming, one of the very few sages in Chinese history to achieve the Three Immortals: establishing virtue, establishing merit, and establishing words.

This book offers a sweeping portrait of Wang Yangming's tumultuous life: from his childhood at Ruiyun Tower in Yuyao to the treacherous currents of official life in the capital; from his desperate realization of the Way at Longchang Station to the bloody campaigns in the mountains of Nangan; from the life-or-death showdown on Poyang Lake to his final teaching at Tianquan Bridge. Here are the young man's arrogance and confusion, the middle-aged man's hardships and sense of duty, and the old man's equanimity and compassion. There are battles of good and evil against corrupt power brokers, life-or-death contests with a rebel prince, steadfast bonds with close friends, and the passing of the torch to his disciples.

But in the end, this is a story about you. Wang Yangming said, "The streets are full of sages." He proved one thing: no matter what circumstances a person finds themselves in, they can live with their head held high, guided by the light within.

Drawing on historical records as its bones and literature as its flesh, this book brings to life a Wang Yangming who laughs and weeps, a man of flesh and blood. Dedicated to everyone who has ever asked, in a moment of hardship, "Where should I go from here?"