Life and career

Zhen was born in Pucheng (now part of Fujian province). His original family name was Shen (慎), but was changed to Zhen (真) owing to the naming taboo of Emperor Xiaozong. He earned his jinshi qualification in 1199. He held a number of court positions, including Prefect of Quanzhou, Vice Minister of Rites, Minister of Revenue and eventually Vice Counsellor. He was also appointed to the Hanlin Academy. During the early part of his political career Zhen enjoyed the patronage of the Prime Minister Han Tuozhou, despite the latter's opposition to the Neo-Confucianist school of thought that Zhen represented (based on political rivalries with the Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi). It was not until Han Tuozhou's death that Zhen started to openly advocate the positions of Zhu Xi. Zhen was widely regarded among his peers as the successor to Zhu Xi's teaching, and was able to overturn the ban on the Cheng-Zhu school implemented during Han's premiership.

During the reign of Emperor Lizong, he was known for his uprightness and integrity. Shi Miyuan, then the prime minister, saw Zhen as a potential threat to his political monopoly and removed him from the imperial court. Zhen had not returned to the central government until Shi passed away. During this time, he served as government official in various counties while gaining positive reputation. He died in the year of 1235, several years after his return to the court.

Philosophy

Zhen was a student of Zhan Tiren (himself a student of Zhu Xi's school), but adapted Zhan's philosophy to incorporate doctrinal elements of Daoism and Buddhism, modernising it and making it more palatable to the politicians of his day. He also included elements of Lu Jiuyuan's "School of the Universal Mind", despite the rivalry between this school and Zhu Xi's. As a result, Neo-Confucianism became the primary philosophy of the Song court. His works continued to be influential long after his death; more than a century later, Song Lian was recommending Zhan's work to the Hongwu Emperor, the first of the Ming dynasty, who was so impressed that he had the text of Zhan's Expanded Meaning of the Great Learning copied onto the walls of his palace so he could review it daily.

The Sinologist Wm Theodore de Bary regarded Zhen's Heart Mind Classic as the quintessential expression of the Heart-Mind school of Neo-Confucianism, considering it to be Confucian equivalent to the Heart Sutra. In this work, Zhen advocated strict personal discipline and an ascetic lifestyle, focused on personal morality and social reform. He believed that the moral rectification of one's own spirit was the foundation of correct rulership, and felt that it was the duty of the court to encourage the ruler's efforts in personal moral improvement.

Zhen's short primer Instructions for Children expounds his view on education, showing that he felt the purpose of education was to replace the wild nature of childhood with the dignity and respectability of adulthood as quickly as possible. Taking the form of a selection of short aphorisms and instructions, it was a popular text in schools for many years, though it fell out of favour after Western pedagogical methods were introduced to China.

Zhen also touched on literary criticism with his Writings of the Orthodox School, which addressed literature from a Daoist perspective. Unlike other literary critiques of the time, which classified writings in to as many as 100 categories, Zhen felt that there were only four major categories of literature: instruction, discussion, narration and poetry.

List of works

• Expanded Meaning of the Great Learning (Daxue yanyi 大學衍義)

• Heart Mind Classic (Xinjing 心經)

• The Classic on Government (Zhengjing 政經)

• Notes of the Secretariat (Du Shu ji 讀書記)

• Writings of the Orthodox School (Wenzhang zhengzong 文章正宗)

• Instructions for Children (Jiaozi zhaigui 教子齋規)

• Collected works (Zhen Xishan quanji 真西山全集)

生平

四歲開始讀書，過目成誦。十五歲父逝，其母吳氏力貧教之。同郡楊圭讓他與自己的孩子一起學習，又把女兒許配給他。後來又師于朱熹弟子詹體仁。真德秀於宋寧宗慶元五年（1199年）登進士，開禧元年（1205年）中博學宏詞科。嘉定元年（1208年），升任太學博士，侍奉經筵。後因與史彌遠對金和戰的立場產生矛盾，遂力請去。嘉定十五年（1222年），真任湖南安撫使兼知潭州，他立有《西山政訓》，以四事與同事共勉。

宋理宗寶慶元年（1225年），真德秀被召回，任中書舍人，後升任禮部侍郎，負責領導學士院，但不久後仍然因為不能容於史彌遠而去職。

紹定五年（1232年），史彌遠失勢，真德秀被重新起用，先後在泉州、福州任知府。

傳說泉州大旱時，真德秀向安溪縣的守護神清水祖師求雨，果然立刻下起大雨，真德秀為感謝神威，於是在祖師廟「真人」之匾額之上，添上一個「真」字，成為「真真人」，其意為誇獎清水祖師是「真人」之中的「真人」。

端平元年（1234年），史升任戶部尚書，真德秀被改任翰林學士知制誥，宗端平二年（1235年）任參知政事，時已得疾，不久因病辭職，同年五月初十日午時逝世，諡文忠。

一般以為真德秀是程朱理學的繼承者。陳衍錕說：「閩學之倡也始于龜山，其盛也集于朱子，其末也振于西山。」全祖望也說：「乾淳諸老之後，百口交推，以為正學大宗者，莫如西山。」但有學者以為還接受了陸九淵之說。

真德秀的著作有《西山甲乙稿》、《大學衍義》、《西山先生真文忠公文集》等書，不止於此，真德秀也是宋朝著名的詩詞作家。真德秀第十九代孫真採編有《西山年譜》。

嘉定年間廢除歲幣爭議

宋寧宗開禧二年五月（1206年，金章宗泰和六年），主戰派的韓侂冑對金發動戰爭，史稱開禧北伐，結果為金人所敗。史彌遠為首的主和派因此興起，南宋最後以「伯姪關係、歲幣增為銀絹各30萬、疆界如舊」與金訂立嘉定和議（1208年，寧宗嘉定元年）。嘉定七年（1214年，金宣宗貞祐二年）七月，金人遣使告知遷都汴京一事後，南宋興起反對輸納歲幣的言論。其中，真德秀在同年七月、十一月提出罷歲幣、北伐的主張，使得主戰言論獲得支持。

真德秀立場的轉變

關於真德秀在嘉定年間歲幣爭議的立場，過去對此多注意於真德秀反對求和、罷歲幣，但真德秀在嘉定六年（1213年）對金的態度仍是支援金朝，以抗衡蒙古。當時真德秀奉命出使金國，並藉此研究形勢，提出與蒙古交涉是最難處理的狀態。而在得知金人南遷至汴京後，南宋反對輸納歲幣意見興起，真德秀原本「因而撫柔，尚易為力」的立場，轉變為罷歲幣，支持主戰、北伐。