Joseph Adler’s fascinating article, Chu Hsi and Divination, is available free online. This small excerpt will show why I’m recommending it:
After one had ascertained the intended meaning, according to Chu, a certain subjective involvement with the text is necessary for full understanding. One must extend one’s mind into the thing, responding to its pattern and making it one’s own:
‘One must first read thoroughly, so that all the words seem to come from one’s own mouth. Then think cogently, so that all the ideas seem to come from one’s own mind. Only then will one be able to get it.’
‘In reading books one’s body and mind must enter inside each paragraph.’
Ultimately the purpose of reading is not simply to recover the wisdom of the sages but to use it to bring something new into the world. And the emphasis is always on the creative subject, the self:
‘Approach the old teachings in order to bring out new views.’
‘In reading books one should not simply look for the pattern of the Way on the page. One must come back and investigate one’s own self.’