 The Neo-Confucian position may not seem particularly profound unless we consider a Buddhist position it opposes. Namely, some Buddhists held that the mind is essentially empty delusion and ignorance. Rather than dismissing the everyday mind as the source of error, or advocating the realization of a mind that is “no-mind,” Neo-Confucians sought to describe the mind as a real, substantial entity in which intelligible ethical and rational principles indwelled, enabling humanity to know both what is, and what is right. The knowledge provided by the mind was not considered delusional or unreal, but rather as real as any could possibly be. Insofar as the principles that dwell within the mind are identical with those pervading the external world, the mind became the foundation for a mystic union with all existent things.