THE AWAKENING OF JAPAN
fangled interpretation of Buddhism and Taoism. They invited scholars to return to the original texts of the sage himself and find anew the real meaning thereof. It was a bold stand for them to take, considering that Shiuki’s commentaries were considered orthodox and their authority had remained unquestioned both in China and Japan since the Sung Illumination of the eleventh century. This school for the first time frees the Tokugawa mind from the trammels of formalism, though its liberalism does not result in any particular conclusions.
Its very attitude, that of inquiry, prevents it from crystallizing into any single solution of Confucianism. Some of its adherents, like Sorai, go as far as to maintain that Confucius was purely a political philosopher and not a teacher of ethics. Some, on the other hand, like
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