The Goose Lake debate
In 1175 Lu debated Zhu Xi at Goose Lake Temple — Lu for the "simple and easy," Zhu for painstaking study; they could not agree, and the meeting marked the parting of the schools of Principle and of Mind.
💡
Lu Jiuyuan
Forerunner of the School of Mind; "mind is principle"
Those Who Ground an Idea Into a Whole System · Disciples & School-Builders
School of MindMind is principleOriginal mind
Who they are
Lu Jiuyuan (1139–1193) founded the Song School of Mind, holding that "mind is principle" and "the universe is my mind, my mind is the universe." Against Zhu Xi’s "nature is principle" and investigation of things (their Goose Lake debate), he urged recovering the original mind directly — later developed by Wang Yangming into the "Lu-Wang" School of Mind.
Primary sourcesComplete Works of Master Xiangshan
Key stories
Relationships
Disciple
Nemesis
Echoes today
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
The Goose Lake debateHis debate with Zhu Xi became the emblematic split between the schools of Principle and of Mind.