“Preserve the principles of nature and destroy human desires” is one of the important views in Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucianism, but this famous saying was not invented by Zhu Xi. For a long time, "preserving heaven's principles and destroying human desires" has been circulated as Zhu Xi's invention. In fact, this concept has already appeared in the "Book of Rites and Music", which says: "Those who turn humans into things are those who destroy the laws of nature and make the poor have desires. Therefore, there is a rebellious and deceitful heart, and there is lewdness and chaos. "The so-called "those who destroy the laws of heaven and have poor desires" here refer to those who destroy the laws of nature and do whatever they want. Ercheng said: "The human heart is full of selfish desires, so it is in danger. The Tao is in the heart of heaven, so it is subtle. If selfish desires are eliminated, then heaven's principles will become clear." The so-called "if selfish desires are eliminated, then heaven's principles will become clear" means to "preserve heaven's principles and destroy human desires." Later, Zhu Xi said: "Confucius called 'restraining oneself and restoring etiquette', "The Doctrine of the Mean" called 'zhizhonghe', 'respecting virtue', 'Tao wenxue', "The Great Learning" called 'Ming Ming De', and "Book" said ' The human heart is dangerous, the Dao heart is weak, and the essence is only one, and the words of the sages are just to teach people the principles and destroy their desires." Zhu Zi's discussion was mainly aimed at the ruler at that time (the emperor). Get rid of the arrogant and extravagant worldly desires, and govern the country according to the way of heaven. This is what the saying goes: "The emperor is good and let virtue be in heaven." Zhu Xi said: "The sage's thousands of words only teach people to preserve the principles of nature and destroy human desires." "A scholar must eradicate human desires and restore the principles of heaven before he can start learning" (Volume 4 of "Zhu Zi Yu Lei").