在整個宋明道學運動中，《定性書》有著極為尊崇的地位，但它也同是宋明道學家諸經典文獻中最受爭議的篇章之一。其一為工夫與效驗之爭，《定性書》所說的究竟是一種工夫，還是如朱子所說的為工夫醇熟後的一種效驗？如果是一種工夫，則為什樣的工夫？其次，《定性書》中多有佛老之語，則明道究竟是襲取釋老之學，還是自家體認發明？本文擬就此兩個問題展開討論。

Ding Xing Hsu is the most important as well as the most controversial piece of writing about Sung Ming neo-Confucianism. One of the controversies is about whether Ding Xing Hsu is a book about moral cultivation or a work on the effect of the maturity of moral cultivation. If it is about moral cultivation, what kind of moral cultivation is it about? As for the Buddhist and Taoist discourses in the book, are they continuance of Buddhism and Taoism or are they original ideas? These two issues are the main points of this paper.