**The street is full of saints**, or called **the street is full of saints**, and the Japanese Yangming School is also referred to as "Man Street Saints" , which mainly refers to the views of the great Confucian philosopher Wang Yangming and his disciples on human nature. This point of view holds that human nature is good, and people have the heart of sages. It also reflects the civilianization, popularization and equality of Confucianism in the middle of the Ming Dynasty  .

Provenance and History
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**The streets are full of sages,** which is recorded in Wang Yangming's masterpiece "Biography and Xilu ", which is one of the important philosophical arguments of Yangming's philosophy of mind. Template:SquoteModern translation  :Template:Squote

> Mr. Wang Yangming's words on cultivating people are the most moving.
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> One day, Wang Gen returned from his outing. Wang Yangming asked him, "What did you see on your trip?" Wang Gen replied, "I saw saints everywhere on the streets." Wang Yangming said, "If you see saints everywhere, then they see a saint in you too."
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> Another day, Dong Yun returned from his outing and saw Wang Yangming. He said, "I saw something unusual today in broad daylight." Wang Yangming asked, "What was unusual?" Dong Yun replied, "I saw saints everywhere on the streets." Wang Yangming said, "That's nothing unusual. You just haven't realized it yet."
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> In general, Wang Gen still had rough edges in his character, while Dong Yun had some understanding in his confusion. Therefore, Wang Yangming asked them the same question but gave them different answers, teaching them by turning their words around.
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> Qian Dehong, Huang Zhengzhi, Zhang Shuqian, and Wang Ruzhong participated in the imperial examination in the year of Bingxu and returned. They described to Wang Yangming the situation of lecturing during their journey home, saying that some people believed them while others did not. Wang Yangming said, "If you bring a saint to teach people, they will be afraid and leave. You have to lower your own posture and be like a fool to teach others."
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> Qian Dehong also said that it is easiest to distinguish a person's character today. Wang Yangming asked, "How do you know that?" Qian Dehong replied, "Sir, you are like Mount Tai in front of me, making me look up to you. Anyone who doesn't respect you is blind." Wang Yangming said, "Mount Tai is not as big as the flat ground. What is there to look up to on the flat ground?" With one sentence, Wang Yangming cut through Qian Dehong's arrogant attitude, and everyone listening to the lecture was awakened.
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Philosophical meaning
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In "Biography and Xilu," there is a brief conversation about Wang Yangming's teaching method with three students: Wang Gen, Dong Yun, and Qian Dehong. He taught them differently based on their abilities. This was different from the Confucian tradition of teaching each student according to their specific needs, which had been in practice since Confucius.  .

Wang Yangming believes that everyone has a kind heart and the potential to become a saint. He thinks that "the streets are full of saints" is not strange and looks at people from their essence. This belief is consistent with Mencius's theory of "human nature is good" and Chinese folk opinions since the Song Dynasty, such as "human nature is inherently good" in the "San Zi Jing". Wang Yangming also wrote "Ode to Conscience" in simple language, where he says that everyone has a Zhongni in their heart, and they will cover up their confusion by seeing suffering. He thinks that once their sincerity is recognized, they will not doubt their conscience. Wang Yangming thinks that saints are not different from ordinary people; they have the same heart and nature. He believes that "the streets are full of saints" is a generally accepted fact, and it is not unusual . 

  

Wang Yangming believed that education was important. He also made a comparison between "Mount Tai" and "flat land" to emphasize that saints are not better than others and should not be worshipped. As a teacher, one should present oneself as an ordinary person, and sometimes even lower one's posture to be like a "foolish man and a foolish woman" before teaching.

Disagree with the same text
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There is a saying in Quanzhou, Fujian that "the streets are full of saints", which is a compliment to the city of Quanzhou . According to legend, it comes from Zhu Xi 's saying: "This place is called a Buddhist country, and the streets are full of saints." It is said that in the Song Dynasty, there were many local temples in Quanzhou, the folk customs were pious, and the humanities were prosperous, without philosophical meaning  .