Body, Things and Nature-On Wang Yi-an's Theory about Studying Things and the Sincerity of the Will

Wang Yian believes that the "things" of "studying things" is a gradual extrapolation from the subject himself (basis) to the family, the state and the world (end), before reducing such an extrapolation to self-respect and self-control; this is the axis that strings heavenly principles, self (mind, conscience) and things (people, all things and creatures) together with self as the foundation. Furthermore, he employs the sincerity of the will to evaluate the potential faults of the given conscience and raises "will" to the ontological level through the link of "body-mind-will," while the ontological will guarantees the cultivation of character, displays the succinct and direct theory of cultivation, and highlights the natural popularity of the heavenly way and the human way. As the same token, Wang Yi-an's doctrine about the sincerity of the will is naturally easy in terms of methodological consciousness, concentrating the efforts of cultivation on the subject himself, and manifests naturalness of the Confucian tradition of character cultivation.