船山論性理、必實之以氣，今人逐有以唯物主義目之者。實大謬不然。明 清間儒者，船山可謂為最具宗教信仰之一人，其故正在於重氣。船山之論性與理也，不離乎 氣；其論氣也，亦不離乎理與神。船山以為，氣中本含神，理即自神出。氣因清濁之異，可 分三等：最清者，太虛之氣 (亦曰太和 )，全是神，全是理。最濁者凝成形質，其本含之神 因失其所以為神。介於其間者，乃常人所謂氣也，上可通太虛，下可入形質；太虛與萬物， 藉此以感通。氣者，無始時來，法爾本有，有轉變，無生滅。人之死也，氣返於虛，決非滅 盡無餘；畢生所行之清濁善惡，亦與氣俱而流散於兩間。莊子有見乎此，揭其綱要於「能移 而相天」；是為合幽明、通生死之極致。相天之方，則在性命雙修，氣化於神，與天合一； 此即道家重玄之旨。然為道家之術者，煉精化魄，回執先天氣以歸於己；亦即勿任天地盜己 而己盜天，所謂還丹也。而船山之旨，則以此內丹之術養人之善氣，俾身死之後，清醇不改 ，為吉祥之所翕聚，以大益於天下之生；其終極關懷，仍屬儒家，此之謂以儒用道。船山處 鼎革之際，躬與恢復之役，深知事之無可復為，遂遯跡窮山，屏絕外事，不薙髮，不易服， 砥礪精思，無時或怠；所守死以篤信者，諸行不滅、神氣長存也。而此信仰，固亦可與佛家 唯識宗種子現行彼此熏生之說明印證者也。

　　　　　Wang Fu-chih (1619-1692) may be regarded as one of the most religious among Ming-Ch'ing Confucians because of his emphasis on the shen (spirituality/mentality) character of ch'i. (In his view ch'i is multidimensional and inseparable from shen.) According to him, there are three states of ch'i: the cosmic ch'i which is original, purest, and most spiritual; the less pure state of ch'i which circulates within a thing; and the most thickly condensed ch'i-constitution which is encumbered and passive and loses the original shen-nature. Ch'i can neither be created nor destroyed but only transformed. The same is true of human mental and sensory operations, which are incorporated into human spiritual ch'i. (This view reminds us of the "seeds" theory of Yogacara Buddhism, that is, the mutual "perfuming" between "seeds" and "manifestations.") It is from such a vision that Wang's religiosity derives. He believes that after death men's spiritual ch'i, together with the results of their lifelong mental and physical activities, dissolves into the cosmic ch'i and thereafter goes into transmigration (but not individually as suggested by Buddhists). Therefore it is the Confucian gentleman's duty to refine his ch'i incessantly during his lifetime in order to keep its purity and thereby "assists" Heaven and Earth after it leaves its body and merges into the cosmic ch'i. In working on his ch'i the gentleman, Wang holds, inevitably adopts the Taoist method of inner alchemy.