Cheng Yi Philosophical Thought II

According to the function of “deducing the way of the heaven to make the people know therule of society and human” from the Book of Changes, the CHENG brothers discusses ontologyof “the nature and the way of heaven”. Based on it, they reanalysis the Confucianism andestablish a philosophical system which is founded on the theory of ontological Principle. In amanner of speaking, the Yi-ology is the foundation that the CHENG brothers used to constructthe Neo-Confucian. Discussing the Yi-ology of the two brothers can promote the research ofNeo-Confucianism of them.This paper is divided into three chapters. The first chapter is the way of heaven in theYi-ology of CHENG brothers. They take li as the universe-ontology which is the highestcategory in their Yi-ology, and turn the principle of Yi-ology which is “principles and actualpracticing are of the same origin, explicitness and implicitness are in the same continuum” intothe philosophy “things and principles are in common sense, implicitness and explicitness are ofthe same origin”. In this way, li and human self are closely linked. The second chapter is thetheory of heart-mind in the Yi-ology of CHENG brothers. Combined with the theory of “inheritgoodness and form nature” in the Book of Changes, the theory of “heaven endowed nature” inthe Doctrine of the Mean and the theory of “original goodness of human nature” in the Mencius,they come to a conclusion that human nature is rooted in the perfection of li, and make anexplanation by the category of qi when they recognize that human beings make a differentrepresentation between good and evil in common society. The last chapter is the theory of moralcultivation. Heaven endowed nature is hiding behind the inborn nature and can be presentedthrough training, which not only need the moral cultivation of “respect to straight in mind”, alsoneed moral practice of “righteousness to upright in outside”. Only by this, can learner be saint.Through conducting an in-depth, detailed analysis and research into the thought of theCHENG brothers’ Yi-ology, the foundational role of Yi-ology in their philosophy system isproved. At the same time, according to the argument of this paper, it is found that although thetwo brothers are different in some specific theories, the basic idea is the same.