Neo-Confucianism

Neo-Confucianism. The modern western term for the branch of Confucian studies known as "Song Learning" (sòng xué 宋學) in Chinese. This branch developed during the Song dynasty (960–1279).

The Digital Dictionary of Buddhism states:

The major branch of Confucian studies that arose during the Song period in China. Developing to a great extent as a reaction to Buddhism, but at the same time receiving much philosophical influence from [the Chinese Buddhist] Huayan zong, Song period Confucians such as Cheng Hao 程顥, Cheng Yi 程頤, and Zhu Xi 朱熹 offered new philosophical interpretations to the Analects and the Mencius, also incorporating ideas from the Yijing. Zhu Xi came to be regarded as the grand systematizer of this branch of study, which is also known by the terms 程朱學, 朱子學, 理學, 性理學, etc., all of which fall under the rubric of the modern western term 'Neo-Confucianism.'

This branch of study became the Confucian orthodoxy in Korea, and was also influential in Japan—although the Japanese were also greatly influenced by Wang Yangming 王陽明, whose approach tended to be more practically-oriented, bearing similarities to Zen. [Charles Muller; source(s): Kadokawa, Gakken, Hanyu]

Source

• 宋學, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (to sign in, see DDB sign-in)

Further reading

• Neo-Confucianism, Wikipedia