 Xin “heartmind” is the locus of both thoughts and emotions as well as the faculty responsible for directing them properly. Confucians in the Song-Ming period took a great deal of philosophical interest in the nature, characteristics, and function of the heartmind, explications of which could help to identify and specify features of moral and epistemic virtues. One of the most contentious issues, however, had to do with the relation between heartmind and Pattern.