Abstract: The current studies on the relationship between WANG Yangming's and ZHAN Ganquan's thoughts are mostly at the cultural and historical level,but lack of a comparative study of their theoretical essence,which led to no “explicable” answer to the question:what is the essential difference between the two thinkers’ understanding on “xin”,“liangzhi”,and “tianli”? In order to answer it,this paper investigates the construction mode of their philosophical thinking from their understanding on the “xin”,and following this method to present a theoretical explanation of the different thoughts of the two thinkers.In short,WANG and ZHAN responded to the theoretical defects of ZHU Xi's philosophy in various aspects.WANG considered the “xin” as a philosophical stand and focused on what its reality in existence is,in order to answer the question where the “li” is in the mode of observing the supreme “li” in mind,whereas,ZHAN defined the “xin” as an ontological concept and combined “xin” and “li” in his knowledge to answer the question what the “li” is.A clear distinction between them may provide a valuable reference for the studies on many academic topics in Neo-Confucianism.

Key words: xin-xing, ZHU Xi, Mencius, WANG Yangming, ZHAN Ganquan