 These are the contours of Zhu Xi’s approach to moral self-cultivation and interpersonal ethics. The standard ethical norms work well in standard situations, normal families, good communities, and ordinary social circumstances. But, Zhu also understood that people are richly complicated and that human affairs often become complex, get out of hand, and go awry. Life is just not that ideal, not that simple. We sometimes encounter ethically anomalous situations to which the standard sets of feelings and responses as prescribed by the received norms and ritual actions simply do not fit. In many instances, standing on the norm and being moralistic simply would make matters worse. Zhu himself said that one must have ample experience and self-cultivation so that,