天理是宋明理學中之重要概念。王陽明屢言天理，但又不採程朱之解釋，就其所 常說之「心之本體即是天理」、「良知即是天理」以觀，天理乃作為心之本體（良知）之呈 現狀態或效果而存在。其與程朱理學中天理的涵義有何重要之理論分辨，而足以自成一新說 ？是本文所欲探討的問題。 本文說明陽明心學中之天理與心之本體及良知之關係，批評朱子「析心與理為二」之理 論依據，及天理在實現上面所面臨之客觀性的要求。經由陽明相關文獻之理論分析及與朱子 之天理觀的對照，期較完整地說明陽明心學中之天理觀的新義，以進一步瞭解陽明心學之特 色及其實踐上之相關問題。

　　　　　Heaven Principle (t'ien-li天理) is an important conception in Sung- Ming's Neo- Confucianism. Wang Yang-ming mentioned the term of Heaven Principle more than once, but he did not adopt the explanation of Heaven Principle by Ch'eng-Chu School. As for Wang, Heaven Principle was regarded as an effect or original situation of the substance of Mind (liang-chih良知). This article is aimed to explain the theoretical distinction between Wang Yang-ming's understanding of Heaven Principle and that of Chu Hsi, and make sure that Wang's new interpretation contributed a new dimension to the development of Neo-Confucianism. The author explained the relation of Heaven Principle and the substance of Mind in Wang Yang-ming's philosophy, then reflected the background of Yang- ming's criticism of Chu Hsi's doctrine and finally discussed the question of the realization of Yang-ming's view point of Heaven Principle. By analyzing Yang- ming's related text and comparing it with Chu-Hsi's theory, we could evaluate precisely the contribution and restriction of Yang-ming's achievement.