Research On Cheng Hao's Neo-Confucianism

Cheng Hao(1032-1085)occupies an important position in the history of Chinese thoughts and has contributed to the emergence and development of Neo-confucianism.He had no independent writings handed down,and his writings were mixed with Cheng Yi’s writings without distinction.Therefore,to distinguish materials is the basic work of studying Cheng Hao’s thoughts.Predecessors mostly identified materials according to the two chengs’ differences,which were subjective.The law of document research is relatively objective,and its identification results would not be affected by the subjective presupposition of researchers.Through this method,hundreds of quotations can be identified.The theory of principle was an important part of Cheng Hao’s philosophy.Opposing Buddha and reviving Confucianism were the main themes of Cheng Hao’s theory.Buddhism believed that both human beings and nature were caused by some reasons,thus denying the authenticity of the real world,the natural desires of human beings,and the ethical principles of Confucianism.Cheng Hao proposed the theory of principle to oppose Buddha.First,explaining the source of the real world.Second,explaining the rationality of the real world.Third,providing a metaphysical basis for Confucian morality.The theory of human nature and mind was also an important part of Cheng Hao’s philosophy,and it was also related to the background of opposing Buddha.Buddhism opposed the natural nature of human beings,but Cheng Hao commended the natural nature.He also developed Mencius’ s theory,and believed that both human beings and nature had a benevolent nature.Cheng Hao’s theory of human nature had two aspects: natural nature and benevolent nature,but there was no clear distinction between them.They were essentially the same,but represented different states of existence.Cheng Hao believed the mind was an important symbol that distinguished human and nature.He also believed that human mind had two dimensions of being good or evil,and had two states of easiness or uneasiness.Cheng Hao’s self-cultivation theory included cultivation methods and cultivation results.Regarding the cultivation methods,he emphasized the cultivation of the mind,including the positive method of expanding good aspect and the reverse method of overcoming evil aspect.In addition,he also advocated observance of etiquette.Regarding the results of cultivation,Cheng Hao not only payed attention to mind cultivation,but also emphasized the rules of words and deeds.The political thoughts were also an important part of Cheng Hao’s philosophy,mainly including the thoughts of enriching the people and education.The idea of enriching the people was expressed as: in the distribution of wealth between the state and the people,the protection of the interests of the people was the primary principle.Therefore,he did not agree to encroach on the interests of the people in order to increase the income of the state treasury.Therefore,he disagreed with the Wang Anshi Reform of the purpose of enriching the country and strengthening the military.The idea of education was expressed as: paying attention to the moral education of emperors,bureaucrats and the people.There were obvious differences in the two Chengs’ thoughts.In the theory of principle,they all admited that Qi had both good and evil,but Cheng Hao did not distinguish principle and Qi clearly,which lead to the relationship between principle and evil was difficult to explain,while Cheng Yi clearly distinguished principle and Qi,and attributed the evil to Qi completely,thus ensuring the perfection of principle.As far as the theory of human nature,Cheng Hao did not clearly distinguish the natural nature and benevolent nature,and he had a positive attitude towards both.Cheng Yi clearly distinguished them and affirmed the latter and devalued the former.Different understandings of good and evil led to differences in their self-cultivation.Cheng Hao attributed good and evil mainly to the human mind,so his self-cultivation method was mainly in mind.Cheng Yi attributed good and evil mainly to Qi,so his self-cultivation method focused on changing temperament.Cheng Hao had an important position in the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming Dynasties.He laid the theoretical foundation for the Neo-Confucianism,and his disciples contributed to the spread of Neo-Confucianism.His academic thoughts had an impact on Cheng Zhu Li Xue and Lu Wang Xin Xue.Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi created a relatively mature principle ideology system based on his thoughts.Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Shouren created a relatively mature system of mental thoughts based on his thoughts.