Question 1

What is the best book to start with?

Accepted Answer

Reflections on Things at Hand, tr. Wing-tsit Chan. His own selection of what matters.

Question 2

What is the most famous quote?

Accepted Answer

This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Zhu Xi that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “Investigate the principle in each thing, one after another, and after long effort understanding will one day connect everything.” (Supplementary commentary on the Great Learning, ch. 5, summary, Summary).

Question 3

What is the most misquoted line?

Accepted Answer

None of the lines this library files for Zhu Xi is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.

Question 4

What is one key idea, in a sentence?

Accepted Answer

Principle and material force: Li is the pattern, qi the stuff. Neither exists without the other.