Zhu conceptualized nature and natural phenomena in terms of li (pattern, patterning) and gewu (the investigation of things), qi (primal vapor), yin-yang, wuxing (five phases), shu (number, probability, ratio), xiang (images); figures from the Book of Changes), ghosts and spirits (gui-shen), heaven and the sage (tian-shengren), stimulus-response (ganying), and transformation and change (bianhua). In this context, it was important to treat li matter-of-factly as the intrinsic patterning of things