| Chapter 1: | Two Cases of Heroism and Intolerance |
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23. On Macheng’s social and economic condition, political affairs, and lineage feuding before and during Li Zhi’s life, see Rowe, Crimson Rain, 83–108.
24. See Brook, Praying for Power, 33–34.
25. On the Zhou brothers, their lineage, their political influence, and the complex of pavilions and temples they constructed around the shores of Longhu, see Rowe, Crimson Rain, 94–95.
26. On the publication policy of the group, the literati belonging to it, and Li Zhi’s involvement in commercial publishing, see Chow Kai-wing, Publishing, Culture, and Power in Early Modern China, 134–138. Chow also notes that Li Zhi “led a deceptively reclusive life” (136), but he was well-connected with his friends and patrons and the other members of the group, disciples, and admirers everywhere, potential readers, through complex merchant and religious communication networks.
27. Cangshu 藏書, Geng xu 耿序, 5.
28. Ibid., 4–5.
29. By probing into the private, psychological side of Li Zhi’s quarrel and by offering a new reading of those elements which contributed to his isolation from local politics (e.g., his personality and ideas, and social relations), Jin Jiang (“Heresy and Persecution in Late Ming Society,” 1–34) has substantially modified Li Zhi’s image as presented in past scholarship. On the supposed inconsistencies in Li Zhi’s writings and behavior and his contradictory personality, see the comment of his close friend Yuan Zhongdao 袁中道 (1570–1624), (Li Wenling zhuan 李溫陵傳), cited by Hou Wailu, Zhongguo sixiang tongshi, 1056–1057.
30. Li Zhi describes his path to enlightenment in one of his letters; using Buddhist and Confucian rhetoric and comparing experiences of seclusion to life pleasures, he writes: “When I was in Huang’an, every day I shut myself in the room and did not breathe the dust of this world along with common folks (與眾同塵). It was only after I came to Macheng and began to frequent the brothels that I was able to breathe the dust of this world along with commoners 游戲三昧，出入於花街柳市之間，始能與眾同塵. Yet, I was still not able to share enlightenment with them, for I was arguing with Geng the Vice-Censor-in-Chief in many letters. Today, when I think of it again, I realize that it was useless to argue” (Li Zhi, Fenshu, Da Zhou Erlu 答周二魯, A reply to Zhou Erlu, Fenshu zengbu, 1:259, or Li Wenlingji 2:4 李溫陵集; https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=367076#p5, translated and cited in Jiang, “Heresy and Persecution in Late Ming Society,” 14. Li Zhi rejected all charges