Abstract: In the atmosphere of pursuing happiness, YUAN Zong-dong, a representative of literateurs at the end of Ming Dynasty, made hard inquires into the personal existential value. Under his steadiness lay restlessness. As he longed for the hermit life in the wild, he could not give up the luxury of the real life. He fell into a dilemma between pursuing personal comfort and abiding by the social rites. He felt contradictory and worried. This paper has probed into the roots of formation of YUAN’s contradictory personality so that it can revivify the literateur.