Summary |
Cheng
Hao (Cheng Mingdao程顥, 1032-1085) and Cheng Yi (Cheng
Yichuan程頤, 1033-1107), commonly known as the Two Chengs, in that
their sayings, writings, anecdotes are compiled together as the Collected Works of the Two Chengs (Ercheng Ji
二程集). Some
of the remarks in this collection are simply referred to as “Master Cheng says”
without indicating which of the two brothers said it. As a result, their view(s) are often jointly
presented as the Two Chengs’ view, such as in Graham 1992 and Huang 2003.
Nevertheless,
many contemporary Chinese scholars such
as Chen 2005 (cited under Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism) have convincingly argued
that Cheng Hao’s ideas paved the
ground for the later Lu-Wang school that stresses the role of the heart/mind (xin 心), while
Cheng Yi’s view, under Zhu Xi’s elaboration, established the school of Li (lixue
理學). What is
usually called the Cheng-Zhu School typically refers to the followers of Cheng
Yi’s and Zhu Xi’s teachings. The Cheng
brothers’ major contributions to neo-Confucianism include Cheng Yi’s conception
of Li (理),
Cheng Hao’s singling out “humaneness” (ren
仁) as the primary virtue, and the two Chengs’
theories of human nature. These ideas
were later further developed by Zhu Xi into a more systematic philosophy. |