来书云：「近时学者务外遗内，博而寡要。故先生特倡『诚意』一义，针砭膏育，诚大惠也。」
吾子洞见时弊如此矣。亦将何以救之乎？然则鄙人之心，吾子固已一句道尽，复何言哉？复何言哉？若「诚意」之说，自是圣门教人用功第一义。但近世学者乃作第二义看，故稍与提掇紧要出来，非鄙人所能特倡也。
来信说：「近来的学者务外遗内，博学而不得要领。所以先生特别提倡『诚意』这一要义，针砭积弊，真是莫大的恩惠。」
您对时弊看得如此透彻，那么又打算怎样救治呢？既然如此，我的心，您已经一句话道尽，还有什么可说的呢？还有什么可说的呢？至于「诚意」之说，本来就是圣门教人用功的第一要义。只是近世学者把它当作第二义看待，所以我稍稍把紧要处提掇出来，并非我所能特别提倡的。
Your letter says: 'Scholars today pursue the outward and lose the inward, broad but without essentials. Hence you specially champion sincerity of intention, needling the deep-seated illness — a great boon indeed.'
You see the sickness of the age so clearly — how then would you cure it? As it is, my heart you have already summed up in one phrase: what more is there to say? What more? As for sincerity of intention, it has from the first been the first principle of the sages' teaching. Only because recent scholars treat it as second did I lift out what is essential — not something I could specially champion.