在嚴灘問答中，王陽明提出了著名的「嚴灘四句」，其意圖和天泉證道一樣，是為了促使王畿和錢德洪二人相互取益。具體而言，嚴灘四句不僅如王畿所指出的那樣談論了特定工夫層面的問題，而且談論了包含不同工夫在內的完整為學進路層面的問題。並且，有心工夫和無心工夫一樣，也是受到本體指引和推動的工夫。只是由於同時包含了刻意、執著，因而有心工夫只能稱為廣義的本體工夫，而不足以稱為狹義的或說嚴格的本體工夫而已。在兩者同為本體工夫，從兩者入手的兩條為學進路均能達到工夫最高境界的意義上，兩條為學進路是無優劣之分的。唯有如此理解，才能真正把握陽明嚴灘四句的本意。

Among the Questions and Answers in Yan Tan, Wang Yangming put forward the famous “Four-Sentences in Yan Tan”, whose intention was to encourage Wang ji and Qian Dehong to learn from each other, which is embodied in Enlightenment in Tianquan, too. Concretely speaking, “Four-Sentences in Yan Tan” not only involves the discussion of specific efforts, as Wang Ji pointed out, but also involves the discussion of the overall paths of learning which include specific efforts. As for the specific types of efforts, both of them are governed by substance, no matter accompanied with deliberation or not. And the distinction is just that the effort is regarded as substance-governing effort in a loose sense or a strict sense, depending on whether it is accompanied with deliberation or not. And because both types of efforts are substance-governing efforts, two paths of learning share a totally equal status. And that is what “Four-Sentences in Yan Tan” really means.