At fifteen Mou left his home in Shan-tung and at twenty-one entered Peking University. First he studied western Philosophy, then studied Buddhism under Hsiung Shihli, and finally entered into Chinese Confucianism.
牟先生十五歲離開山東棲霞老家，廿一歲赴北大就讀哲學系，先是由西方哲學入門，後轉入熊十力先生門下研究佛理，終而歸入中國儒學，數十年來未曾改變其心志。