宋明儒學發展至王陽明心學，「本體與工夫」之辨凸顯為儒學的核心話題。王陽明本人側重於本體，取消了工夫的獨立性。王門後學中，泰州學派消解了本體，失落了工夫；江右王門將良知本體向內收攝，在工夫修養上回歸程朱。明末劉蕺山通過改造「慎獨」、「誠意」、「立人極」、「遷善改過」等傳統話語所產生的一套新論，將「本體與工夫」之辨發揮到理論極致。由此，作為宋明儒學殿軍的蕺山學方得以成立。

As Neo-Confucianism advances to the time when Wang Yangming’s philosophy of mind prevails, the relationship between “benti” (fundamental being) and “gongfu” (practice) becomes the core topic of Confucianism. Wang Yangming’s thought focuses on “benti” and negates the independent status of “gongfu.” Among Wang’s followers, the Taizhou School eliminates “benti” and loses hold of “gongfu”; the Jiangyou followers, on the other hand, turns inward by referring Innate Knowledge (as fundamental being) to human mind, and returns to the Cheng-Zhu thought for the cultivation theories. Liu Jishan, who lived in the late Ming Dynasty, carries the “benti/gongfu” discussion to an unprecedented theoretical height. He does this by reforming traditional discourses of “vigilance in solitude,” “sincerity of will,” “setting up the human ultimate,” and “abiding by the good and reforming faults.” The Jishan scholarship as the last peak of the Neo-Confucianism is thus established.