During his career as an official for more than 20 years, he heard and witnessed all kinds of darkness in officialdom, as well as the reality that the people rebelled against the mutiny and the Japanese pirates harassed my southeast coast, and deeply felt the decay and decline within the Ming Dynasty. He is incompatible with those stupid officials, pedantry and hypocrisy. At the age of 54, he resigned and lived in Huang An (now Hong 'an County), Hubei Province, where he studied under the great bureaucrat second brother Geng Ding. After the death of Geng Theorem, Geng repeatedly wrote letters accusing Li Zhi of "detachment", and their ideological and political differences developed into an open and fierce debate. Li Zhi had to move to a city in Huang An, a neighboring county, where he passed through Mo 'an and lived a semi-monk and semi-vulgar life. Later, he simply sent his wife and daughter back to their hometown, while he was sent to Zhifu Courtyard in Longhu, where he gave lectures with his friend Zhou under the ancient Buddha. His book Burning was carved here at this time. The book contains several letters questioning Geng's orientation. Geng learned that it was Li Zhi's "slander" and used it as an excuse to instruct his disciples to besiege and persecute Li Shakang. Li Zhi was forced to leave Longhu and travel around for a long time.
In the face of evil forces, Li Zhi is fearless and always believes that justice is on his side. Under extremely difficult conditions, another important work of Li Zhi, Collection of Books, was carved in Nanjing. The following year, Li Zhi returned to Longhu from Nanjing, where he had planned to die. Unexpectedly, Geng instigated Mei Guozhen, a good friend of Li Zhi, to collude with local officials, secretly fabricated a lie that "monks and nuns declared prostitution", shamelessly slandered Li Zhi, and set off a vicious wave of "degrading monks and destroying temples". In the name of "maintaining corruption", local officials ordered gangsters to burn down the Zhifu Temple in Longhu and ordered a search for Li Zhi. Facing the harsh reality, Li Zhi avoided shopping malls in Henan. At this time, Ma, a good friend who dared to speak out, was demoted to visit. Later, Li Zhi stayed at Ma's home and continued to engage in the work of "renewing books". In the thirty years of Wanli (1602), the great bureaucrat Shen instructed zhangwenda to impeach Li Zhi, which was "confusing". "With Qin Shihuang as the emperor and Confucius as the evidence, it was crazy and violent, and countless." Ming Shenzong arrested Li Zhi on the charge of "dare to advocate unhealthy practices and mislead the people" and burned his works. After Li Zhi went to prison, someone explained that he would be escorted back to his hometown of Fujian. He said with emotion, "I am seventy-six years old and deaf. How can I be classified as? " So he killed himself in a rage.
Li Zhi's progressive thought is first manifested in opposing the feudal rulers to say that Confucius' thought is eternal. Li Zhi believes that for thousands of years, "the right and wrong of Confucius has been regarded as right and wrong, so there is no right and wrong." In other words, there is no fixed standard for people's comments, and there is no fixed conclusion. Right and wrong, like old friends, develop and change day and night, and the standard of measurement should also develop and change with the progress of society. Li Zhi also refuted the propaganda of Confucius, who has been touted by Neo-Confucianism since the Song Dynasty, that "Heaven does not give birth to Nepal, and eternity is like a long night". He said: "One is born, and the other has its own use, not for Confucius. Suffering must get enough from Confucius, so there will be no Confucius before the ages, and finally it will not be a person? " He also used words like "eternal" and "Millennium" to ridicule Confucius' thought, which is tantamount to "barking before, barking after". In view of Zhu's preaching of "keeping justice in nature and destroying human desires", Li Zhi put forward the progressive thought that "dressing and eating is the physics of human relations, and there is no human relations except dressing and eating". Li Zhi's admiration for Confucius' speech and criticism of Neo-Confucianism are powerful lashes against feudal defenders.
In addition, Li Zhi sympathized with the sufferings of the lower classes. He once said: "petty in the market is a matter of personal performance, but he said it is a matter of mouth." As a producer, he said he made it, and those who worked hard in the field said he worked hard in the field. This is really interesting and ethical. " He publicly defended the businessman and said, "How can a businessman be contemptible?" We advocate that everyone should give full play to their strengths and personalities according to their own interests. Li Zhi's progressive thought objectively reflected the wishes and demands of the emerging citizen class at that time. In the era when feudal ruling thought was absolutely dominant, Li Zhi's thought undoubtedly hit the sore spot of feudal thought like a sword. This is the fundamental reason why the feudal ruling class tried to kill Li Zhi.