Zhu Xi Prescribes Jingzuo: 'Half a Day Sitting, Half a Day Reading' (12th c.)
Zhuzi Yulei juan 116 records Zhu Xi's famous prescription of half-day sitting, half-day reading — addressed to one scattered student as a remedy, not a universal program.
Event: In the recorded sayings of Zhu Xi (1130–1200), Zhuzi Yulei juan 116, the master tells a departing student Guo Deyuan — whose mind was scattered and unstable — that he should use “half a day for quiet sitting, half a day for reading books.” The context makes it a remedial prescription for a specific condition (散乱), not a universal schedule. The same tradition records Zhu Xi and his teachers (the Cheng brothers) holding quiet sitting as a daily practice of moral self-cultivation, with warnings against sinking into emptiness or neglect of study.
Evidence class: recorded sayings compiled by disciples (13th c. compilation of 12th-c. teachings) — attributed teaching, close to the source but not verbatim guarantee.
Why it matters here: this is the most famous jingzuo passage in Chinese history and also the most misquoted — the half-day formula is conditional medicine, not a general rule. See the jingzuo page, where the context is quoted in full.
Sources
- Zhuzi Yulei, juan 116 (recorded sayings of Zhu Xi)